This one started over text. Gabri reached out about a maternity session and said she wasn’t totally sure what she wanted. Maybe something outdoors in the woods behind her house. Maybe something indoors, more studio-like. She had a few inspiration photos and a clear visual sense, but she admitted she’d never done this before. That’s fine. Most people haven’t.
We talked through the options. Indoor and outdoor portraits don’t mix well in the same session most of the time and based on the inspiration that she sent, this wasn’t going to be an exception. The light and setup, the pacing. It’s just all very different. I told her that, and she said she wanted both anyway. And honestly, who am I to argue what someone wants me to do more of something I enjoy? So we decided to do the two separate sessions. One in her home, and one in the woods out behind her house.
A few days before our first shoot, I stopped by her place just to take a look around. I don’t do site visits very often. It’s just not generally necessary. But since her property was close, and the outdoor location was basically her backyard, it made sense. We walked the space, looked at where the light came through, and decided early mornings would be best. The nursery, which she’d just finished painting white, would briefly catch the light I wanted around sunrise. That room would become the heart of the indoor session. The woods were less predictable. Or, predictably unpredictable. Lots of character, but tricky. Green light everywhere, thick canopy, and bugs. I came home from the visit with a tick on my ankle. Somehow a good omen.
The Indoor Session
The indoor session came first, around mid-August. I showed up just before seven in the morning, before the sunlight climbed too high. The nursery was still empty. Clean white walls, bare carpet, a couple windows placed where I needed them. Basically a blank canvas with nice light, which is about as good as it gets.
Gabi and her partner Joel were easygoing and funny. The sorts of people I could hang out with. Gabi and I bonded over our love for dogs and a shared admiration for a mutual veterinarian. We played around with a mix of natural light, and more proper studio style light to keep things interesting as the sun moved. They changed outfits once, from white to black, just to mix up the vibe a little. Some photos turned out sentimental, or artsy, some were more playful. One or two had that strange quality that shows up when people forget that I’m just some guy they met with a conveniently disarming personality and a lot of experience with a camera.
The whole shoot was quiet and unhurried. We didn’t need much space. I don’t think we even left the room the whole time. Just the light, and a few good gestures. We shot for more than an hour and only quit when the interesting light ran out, and I started repeating myself. How many different ways can a person put their hands on their belly, exactly?
The Outdoor Session
A little later that month, we met again for the outdoor half. The plan was to start early, once the sun started cutting through the trees but before it got too harsh. The woods behind their house were deep and green, with a small creek running through them. The kind of place that looks cool in real life, but photographs there is a challenge. Every direction sort of looks the same, and all of its green.
This time, Gabri and Joel were joined by their son Isaac, and their dog Jax. The dog had opinions about everything and mostly wanted to explore, but he made it into some great shots anyway. We moved slowly through the space, looking for spots where the light slipped through the trees in interesting ways. Truly rustic environments don’t often offer much variety, at least not without a lot of walking, but every once in a while the light hits just right, and that’s enough.
When I sent Gabri a few previews later that afternoon, she texted back almost immediately. She loved them. Especially one of her and Joel together. I concur.
These two sessions, from my perspective, feel like the continuation of one story. The first half intimate and reflective. The second full of motion and life. But from the perspective of the images, the captured just the sort of variety we were looking for. Something very different on both ends, and I think had we done these sessions back to back on the same day, besides the light-problems that’d have posed, they would have felt like the same note in a different key. Personally, I think it’s a lot better this way.