Sometimes I feel fortunate to attract a particular type of clientele. I love shooting in new places and exceptionally beautiful homes. When Jaynna and Jamal reached out about commissioning some maternity portraits, I was ready to fill their request. Jaynna had sent me some photos of concepts she wanted to shoot, and that got me inspired to create something memorable for them.

I told Jaynna in our consultation that we needed to photograph at an amazing location. She took a few seconds to reply, but when she responded, she said: “Scharad hold on, I may have a house we can use.” Shortly after sending me photographs, I replied confidently, “this WILL work!”

We met later on that week to do a walk through the site, and this house was nothing short of amazing. Endless ceilings, perfect marble floors, sky-high glass panels and a view to marvel at were just a few of the things that sold me.

Usually, when I’m inspired by a location, I know the shoot will go well. I put together my shot-list in a few days and gathered my team to work. We shot a full day using only a third of the property, ( it was HUGE) but for me, I knew getting that shot outside on the private beach at sunset was vital. Jaynaa looked amazing in her dress and Jamal was equally as dapper in his custom look.

I was trying to be long-winded with this post, but it didn’t make sense because I wanted the images to speak for the work we did. Usually, I would have shot this natural light, but I decided to shoot using 1 strobe and a broad softbox modifier.

Please enjoy the images below.

Makeup: T’s Artistry

Hair: Tara Miller (Metamorphosis Salon)

Jamal’s Look: KIS Bespoke

PA: Kenton Ferguson Tariq Cartwright

Cinematography: Kyle Ferguson (Jiggy Productions)

WATCH THE CINEMATIC BTS VIDEO

If this beautiful woman looks familiar, you are not seeing things. Gail Clarke was recently shot by my team and I, 5 months ago to announce she and her husband Wenrick were expecting. Gail and Wen without question, just after that shoot, began to discuss the idea of shooting the actual maternity session.

I told Gail, we had to think out of the box, take the session outside of the studio and shoot her in an unexpected place. She has no issues with my ideas nor did she question my thought process. In fact, she told me to run with it. She’d bought a red dress already and she told me she’d fix her natural hair in a particular way.

We took the couple to the Primeval Forest, a protected park on the island of New Providence and I’d photographed numerous people here but never a maternity session! The couple had never seen this location before so they were immediately impressed when presented with the area. The thick foliage, natural trails and rock patterns gave us great backdrops to shoot Gail and her red dress certainly popped when putting into all that green. It was a great contrast!

Gail was a trooper. We fought through humidity, poison oak, mosquitoes, and other flying characters to get the frames we wanted. Oh, we threw Wenrick into a few shots for fun which he was completely ok with! Since I've gotten into maternity portraits, I’ve really just included the male as a prop! We did share a few laughs on set about this statement by the way.

Please enjoy the images below.

MUA: Khandise Bain.

Grip: Tameka Petithomme

Beautiful Maternity Couple shoots at Luxurious Location.

WATCH THE CINEMATIC BTS VIDEO

Enchanted Forest Maternity Session