Brill Maternity Portraits with Louise & David

With just a few weeks to go before her due date, Louise was keen to capture the magic and anticipation of pregnancy in an outdoor maternity shoot with her husband, David.

Louise and David are university sweethearts who met while studying at Reading University. They have been inseparable ever since, which has involved a lot of travelling as their families live on opposite sides of the country (Wales and Norfolk).

They are hugely excited (well, ok, and a teeny bit nervous) about the imminent birth of their first child and they wanted to capture all those feelings in a picturesque maternity shoot on location.

Louise and David love the landscape and village life feel of nearby Brill, so we headed there on a warm, sunny evening. We started with some portraits of Louise, surrounded by the beautiful slopes and greens of the English countryside:

I love Louise’s smile, here, the movement of her hair in the wind and the matching peach tones of the dress and flower crown.

I cropped in closer to focus on Louise’s baby bump:

I love the peach tones in the sky just to the right of Louise’s top hand here, which perfectly complement the dress. Louise and David have chosen to wait until the birth to find out if they’re having a little boy or girl, so they are doubly excited to find out who is inside this baby bump!

I also captured a few of Louise on her own without the flower crown, to give her maximum variety in the final set:

David stepped in for the rest of the portraits. I chatted away to them and gave them prompts and challenges to help them relax and to generate authentic smiles like these ones:

The temperature – and the sun – were dropping so it was important to work quickly so that Louise and David didn’t get too cold, and so we still had enough light in the sky. I asked David and Louise to face away from the camera then look back towards me. This gave a completely different pose in just a matter of seconds:

Then it was time for another cuddle for our last maternity portrait in this location:

This is one of Louise’s favourites and I can see why: I love her gentle smile, downwards glance, and hands wrapped around her baby bump, as well as the affection and joy you can see on David’s face.

For the grand finale, we walked the 20m back up to the windmill to capture a wide shot next to the famous landmark:

I love the colour and drama in the skies, the sense of space and the fact that this is a landscape and a portrait combined. It really was the perfect place for a maternity shoot.

Afterwards, David said:

“Fantastic maternity shoot with Sarah. There was a real focus on fun and laughter which helped to capture the excitement of the impending birth. We are so happy with the photos which are a great way to remember the journey to parenthood. Sarah helped us to feel completely relaxed which allowed us to enjoy the experience. We are so grateful to Sarah and have already booked her to do our baby shoot too.”

If you’re interested in maternity portraits and would like to find out more, please get in contact by emailing [email protected] or submitting the form below:

Sarah Plater is a maternity portrait photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

(c) Sarah Plater Photography