Photoshoot - Bump to baby 31/01/17

Yesterday was my first attempt at my portrait project series. I wanted to show that it's not just the women going through the journey but the men to!

I understand that depending on the family situation depends on the journey, whether its; adopting, giving birth, Surrogacy, or being a single parent. Parent(s) go through the same journey, picking out clothes, going to scans, picking out names, buying furniture, decorating the nursery, and what they look forward to the most. 

My older sister Hannah and her partner Scott are having a baby and he's due on the 4th March 2017, so it's very exciting do be having a new member of the family. It's also very exciting because for a few years now multiple doctors told Hannah she will never have children because of the medication she'd have to go on. 

Hannah's story 

"About 12 years ago, A series of unfortunate circumstances lead to me loosing a considerable amount of sight in my left eye. Over time, the virus kept flaring up and scarring right down the centre of my eye making the vision worse and the cornea very very thin.

Last week, the cornea tore which caused a leak which led me to spending 3 days in hospital under constant watch because there was a real danger of my cornea tearing more, exposing my optic nerve and me going totally blind. For a week, I've had a contact lens on which is soft on the bottom and was plugging the hole so that they can keep the eye stable ready for surgery.

There is so many things they could do from putting amniotic fluid on it to special eye glue! But as my eye was so poorly it was decided that I would have a cornea transplant.

Yesterday, thanks to the most incredible donor, I now have vision in my eye which I never would have imagined could happen again. Considering I started the year being partially blind and this morning I can read words on a board I haven't been able to for over a decade it is almost a miracle."

So the medication she'd have to go on to stop her rejecting the new cornea would stop her from being fertile. 

The doctors gave her a 5 year window to take the medication before her body would start rejecting it. 

So Hannah being pregnant is a new start for her and Scott. 

I have a niece and two nephews already, but the excitement is still there. I have some idea of what its like for watching my other sisters having babies, but to be given the chance with the skills I have developed from my course at university has given me the chance to document this beautiful journey for anyone to go on. 

Hannah gave me a few ideas on what photos she wanted to be shot, she directed me to pinterest to look at different types of poses she could do. I booked a studio and discussed with Hannah and Scott what they wanted! 

Because I have a good relationship with my sister and her partner it was easy to get the photos going, in the future when if I do other shoots its helped me realise how important it is to develop a relationship with your client to make it easier to shoot photos.

I asked Hannah and Scott to write 5 sentences on post it notes on what they are looking forward to the most. 

Scott

Hannah

This is the result from the photoshoot. 

I'm really happy with how they came out. The next steps are to take pictures of cravings, furniture, and when finally baby Brown comes along take some photos of him. Hannah feels he will come before his due date so hopefully once she is up to visitors I can take some photos of him.


The photos weren't as sharp as they could have been. Next time I will make sure the focus is completely correct before snapping the photos.