Maternity
Soft light, warm sand, and an hour that is entirely about you before everything changes.
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The maternity experience
Whether you are visiting Navarre Beach for a getaway before baby or lucky enough to call the Emerald Coast home, your maternity session should feel easy, relaxed, and full of connection. We photograph on the white sand at golden hour and among the dunes and sea oats, with gentle posing and prompts the whole way through so you are never left wondering what to do with your hands.
You leave with both the posed portraits you will frame for the nursery and the natural, unguarded frames you will be glad someone caught. When you want shade and moss-draped oaks instead of open beach, I also travel to Naval Live Oaks in Gulf Breeze.
Plan your session →Recent sessions
A few favorites
The practical part
Planning your session
Timing
When to book your maternity session
Somewhere between 30 and 34 weeks is the sweet spot. You are unmistakably pregnant, which is the whole point, and you are usually still comfortable enough to walk on sand and stand for an hour without regretting it.
Earlier than 28 weeks and the bump often does not read clearly in photographs. Later than 36 and most people are tired, swollen, and no longer enjoying the idea of a beach at all. If you want the version where you are actually enjoying yourself, aim for early in the third trimester. If you are expecting twins, move everything up by about four weeks.
What to wear
What to wear when you are pregnant on a beach
A long dress that moves. That is genuinely most of the advice. Something flowing in cream, sand, blush or sage will catch the breeze coming off the Gulf and give the whole set a sense of motion.
Fitted through the bump and loose everywhere else photographs better than something tent shaped. Bring a second option if you cannot decide — changing takes five minutes. I have a full what to wear guide that covers palettes and fabrics in more detail.
Location
Where we shoot
Most maternity sessions happen at Sand Dollar Pavilion on Navarre Beach. There is parking right there, a boardwalk over the dunes so you are not climbing anything, and a clean stretch of white sand with no buildings in the background.
Navarre has no high-rise wall along the beach, so the horizon behind you is water and sky rather than condominiums. If you want the dunes and sea oats instead of open water, we can walk a little east from the pavilion — a short, flat walk.
Bringing the family
Bringing older children along
A lot of maternity sessions here are really family sessions with a bump in them, and those are some of my favorites.
We photograph the children first, while they still have patience left, and then let them run while I photograph you and your partner. Nobody is asked to stand still for an hour. Bring a snack and a change of clothes for anyone small — sand and seawater are undefeated.
The light
The light, and why the time matters
Maternity sessions run at golden hour, the hour or so before sunset. The light is low and warm and it comes across the beach sideways rather than straight down, which is what makes the sand glow and keeps anyone from squinting.
In summer that means starting close to seven. In winter it can be as early as four. When you book I send the exact start time for your date. If you want the detail, I wrote a whole guide on the best time of day for beach photos in Navarre.
Session collections
Every maternity session includes gentle direction the whole way through, help choosing your spot on the beach, and a gallery of hand-edited, full-resolution images delivered through your private online gallery.
An hour that is all about you
- A 45-minute session at golden hour
- Your partner and children welcome
- Gentle posing and prompts throughout
- Hand-edited, full-resolution images
- Private online gallery with a print release
A $100 retainer reserves your date and the balance is due before your session. View current availability and book online — no inquiry or back and forth required.
Amber made me feel beautiful at a time I felt anything but. The photos on the beach at sunset are the ones we framed for the nursery, and they take my breath away every time.
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Let’s capture this moment
Golden-hour evenings book up quickly. Let’s find the date that’s still yours.
See if we’re a fitBefore you book