38 pregnant women, 15 supportive fathers, 10 toddlers and 1 dog! Diana Paul of Sage Femme and the MotherBaby International Film Festival and I joined forces to gather material for the next film festival.

 

Mamas were nervous and excited. We greeting them with smiling faces and excitement as well. When the mamas entered the studio at Natural Resources, I immediately calmed them with encouraging words and compassion. Since we only had about 10 minutes per session and some of the ladies wanted to photograph in the nude I needed to comfort them quickly! We were in awe with the beauty of each woman. We laughed together and cried. I heard stories that ranged from loosing a pregnancy at full term to excitement about the 2nd or 3rd child.

 

Their invite read:
The photos from this shoot will be used to promote the Motherbaby International Film Festival (http://www.sagefemme.com/miff.html)
Photographer, Emily Payne, loves celebrating the beauty of the mother through her photography. You can see her work at www.emilypayne.organd on the walls of Natural Resources!

 

Here are some of the responses so far:

 

“Thank you Emily.  The photos are wonderful!  I can’t believe how many great shots you got in such a short amount of time.  Thank you so much.  I’m so excited!” ~Angela

 

“Thanks so much Emily. I don’t really love having my picture taken but really wanted to have some memories of this time in my life. Thank you for making it so fun and easy. Your pictures are beautiful” ~Tara

 

“Thank you so much for letting me participate in your photo shoot.  ..Your pictures are great so we’ll definitely be contacting you once our baby arrives:)” ~Jodi

 

More photos to come! Thank you to all of the beautiful moms.
Emily