LGBTQ Maternity Photographer in London, when only one of you is carrying

Two women booked a session with me at thirty one weeks, and before we’d properly said hello one of them told me she didn’t want to be the one holding the coat. She wasn’t the one carrying, her wife was. At every scan and every appointment she’d ended up standing slightly to the side of the actual event, and she’d arrived half expecting the photos to do the same thing to her.

Booking an LGBTQ maternity photographer in London usually comes down to that worry rather than anything about lighting or location. You want to know whether the person running the shoot will pose two parents as two parents, or fall back on the setup they learned on straight couples and shuffle one of you into the background of your own family photos.

The bump is the reason for the session. It isn’t the subject.

The parent who isn’t carrying

Standard maternity posing assumes a hierarchy. One body is the event, the other is scenery, standing behind with both hands on the bump and half a face showing. One of you gets a role and the other gets a position.

What I do instead is give the non-gestational parent something to do with her own body. Hands on her own knees, and her eyeline into the camera rather than down at the bump. It sounds small, but it’s the difference between a photo of a pregnant woman with someone attached to her and a photo of two people who are about to be parents together.

Ask any photographer you’re considering how they’d pose the pair of you if neither of you was pregnant. If the answer takes a while to arrive, you’ve learned something useful.

When to book, and why thirty weeks is roughly the edge of it

Thirty to thirty four weeks works for most first pregnancies. The bump has a shape by then and you’re still comfortable enough to get up and down off the floor without it becoming the main event of the afternoon.

Second pregnancies show earlier, so twenty eight to thirty weeks is safer. Twins earlier still, closer to twenty four to twenty eight weeks, partly because the bump arrives sooner and partly because twins have a habit of turning up before anyone is ready for them.

Book the photographer well ahead of the shoot window though. London portrait diaries fill six to eight weeks out, and a pregnancy won’t wait for a gap in somebody’s calendar.

Where in London it happens

Home is the underrated option. If you’ve painted the small room or you get decent afternoon light through a bedroom window in Walthamstow, that beats a park, because in eight years the room is the thing your kid will actually recognise.

Outdoors, Hampstead Heath gives you height and space without needing a permit, and the marshes up past Hackney stay quieter than London Fields on any Saturday between April and September. A studio suits anyone who wants the bump lit properly with nothing else in the shot, and it removes the weather risk at thirty three weeks.

Winter shoots go indoors. December light in London is gone by half three, and nobody eight weeks from their due date wants to stand in Victoria Park in the cold to prove a point.

What you don’t have to explain

Plenty of queer pregnancies run through a clinic, and take a lot longer and cost a lot more than anyone warns you about. Some of that is the best story you own. Some of it is nobody’s business, mine included.

You decide what the photos say about how you got here. Nobody needs the donor in the caption. If you want a photo that nods to it, the drawer of injection pens or the scan photos stuck to the fridge, I’ll shoot it, and if you’d rather the whole thing stayed between the two of you, that’s already the default.

Agree one thing beforehand: whether these photos go public. A maternity announcement travels faster than either of you expects.

What to wear when one body is changing and the other isn’t

Most maternity wardrobe advice assumes a long dress and a man in a plain shirt standing behind it. Two women have a different problem. Both of you want to look like yourselves, and one of you has been living in whatever still fits for the past month.

Pick a tone rather than an outfit. If one of you is in a soft grey knit, the other doesn’t need matching grey, she needs something of the same weight and warmth so the two of you read as a pair. A suit photographs beautifully next to a bump and hardly anyone tries it.

Bring a second option. You’ll change your mind at thirty three weeks and you’re entitled to.

What it costs

Maternity sessions usually start around £500 for a shorter shoot with an edited gallery, and climb with session length and whether you want prints at the end.

Every photographer on the roster sets their own rate and shows it on their profile, so you aren’t emailing five people to work out who’s within budget. Studio hire and travel outside zone 3 are the usual things that move the figure, and a winter weekday will often come in under a Saturday in June.

Booking a maternity and newborn session together often costs less than two separate ones. Worth asking while you’re still pregnant rather than in week two with a newborn asleep on your chest.

Older kids and everyone else in the house

Second babies mean a toddler in the shot, and a toddler at a maternity shoot has roughly a twenty minute attention span before the whole thing stops being fun. Do their photos first while they’re still interested, then let them go and eat something while the two of you finish properly. The same logic applies to any family session with small people involved.

Dogs are fine and usually better behaved than the toddler. Say so when you book, so somebody brings treats and nobody ends up improvising with a lead in shot.

Choosing the right photographer

Look through their sample work for a single couple where you can’t immediately tell which one is meant to be the main parent. That’s much harder to fake than a friendly line on an about page.

Then get on a call. Ten minutes tells you whether somebody has photographed two mums before or is going to be working it out on the day at thirty three weeks, at your expense. Every photographer on the roster is here because queer clients are the work rather than a box they’re willing to tick, and you can read rates and recent sessions on each profile before you speak to anyone.

Common questions

When is the best time for an LGBTQ maternity shoot in London?

Thirty to thirty four weeks suits most first pregnancies, when the bump has shape and you’re still comfortable moving around. Second pregnancies show earlier, so twenty eight to thirty weeks works better. With twins, most photographers shoot between twenty four and twenty eight weeks.

How do you photograph the parent who isn’t carrying?

By giving her something to do with her own body rather than placing her behind the bump. Hands on her own knees and her eyeline into the camera rather than down at the belly. The aim is a photo of two parents rather than a pregnant woman with somebody attached to her.

Do we have to explain how we conceived?

No. Your photographer needs to know who’s in the photos and what you want from them, and nothing beyond that. Ask for a picture referencing the clinic if you want one, otherwise none of it appears.

How much does a maternity shoot in London cost?

Sessions usually start around £500 for a shorter shoot with an edited gallery, and rise with length and whether you want prints. Every photographer on queer.photo sets their own rate on their profile.

Where do maternity shoots happen in London?

Most sessions happen either at home or in a studio. Home works well if you’ve decorated a room for the baby. A studio removes the weather risk, which matters at thirty three weeks in a London winter, and outdoors both Hampstead Heath and the Hackney marshes give you room to move.

Can we bring our older child or our dog?

Yes, and it’s worth saying so when you book. Photograph the child in the first twenty minutes while they’re still interested, then let them go and eat something while the two of you finish properly. Dogs need somebody to bring treats and keep the lead out of shot, and most photographers would rather know about the dog in advance than meet it on the doorstep.

Ready when you are. see portrait options, or find a photographer.