Cicely's Maternity Milk Bath Portrait Session!

A little over a month ago one of my best friends, Cicely, was about to give birth to her first baby.  While I don't photograph a ton of maternity sessions, I wanted to do a very small one with her, and try something a little different than the norm.  I had seen some examples of a maternity milk bath on forums and blogs and thought it was a really cool concept that hadn't been overdone.  That and I knew that Cicely had a brand spankin' new bathtub we could work with, so I thought it'd be fun to try!  Of course, she was very much on board with the idea and even her awesome husband, Jason, approved too.  Hooray!

The session went better than I could have imagined!  I brought tulle to wrap around Cicely, while Cicely picked out some flowers that we both thought would work well in the bath.  We wanted the images to look light, delicate and minimal, but also have a bit of girliness to them, as Cicely was expecting a baby girl.  I also knew the bathroom had a pretty great window that could provide some natural light for the shoot, and that's all I worked with in terms of lighting Cicely.  The results were very calm and dreamy, which is exactly what we were going for.  

For any photographers/moms-to-be out there wondering specifics, I will enlighten you!  The milk bath mixture was about 2/3 hot water mixed with 1/3 (2 gallons) of cold whole milk.  The result was somewhere between a skim-1% milk-looking bath and it was really nice and warm.  Cicely loved it and apparently it moisturizes your skin while you're in the tub!  Win-win!  For flowers, make sure to use real flowers as those float.  I've read somewhere fake ones sink, so we didn't even attempt them.  The tulle I purchased at Joanne Fabrics and I went with a neutral grey to blend well with the white of the milk.  I would definitely recommend getting the softest fabric you can find so it's really comfortable when wrapped around the skin! 

That's it!  I hope you like these photos as much as I do and that if you're a photographer or mom-to-be that you feel inspired to try it as well!  It was a lot of fun and I think the results are so beautiful.  Many thanks to Cicely and Jason for letting me take over their bathroom for these photos.  You guys are the best!  Enjoy!

Thanks for looking!

Love,

Lisa