How to Create Personal Branding Photos When You're Pregnant
Personal branding photos are representative of you and your business and it’s always great to keep your brand photos current and fresh. But what if it’s time to update your photos and you’re pregnant? You could wait until baby is born and then try and schedule in a photoshoot around a newborn. But during that year, you might need to ramp up promotions to sustain you on maternity leave and the extra content would be super valuable. Or you could do a photoshoot in the early stages of pregnancy to build up your content library but, if these photos appear on your website or marketing materials for the coming years, you probably don’t want to appear perpetually pregnant! So what do you do??
Nina from Your Best Day Wedding Celebrant, came to me with just such a problem. She was in the middle of an exciting rebrand and had her logo and website design underway, and she needed the photo content get it ready for launch but, joyfully, she had a baby on the way! We chatted about her ideal launch timeline, how that fitted in with her family plans, and the pros and cons of the various options. After much discussion, Nina decided it would be best to keep the momentum of her rebrand, launch it when she origianlly intended to, and create content to use while she was on maternity leave to keep those future bookings coming.
So here’s a few tricks that allowed us to create lots of new branded content for Nina, that would still be usable long after her sweet baby is born.
Use Props and Objects to Hide Your Belly
One trick is to use props or objects to hide your belly. It doesn’t have to be overly obvious. This is a common trick used in tv and films when an actress is pregnant but her character is not (shoutout to my fave 90s sitcoms - Elaine on Seinfeld, and Debra on Everyone Loves Raymond!). Sitting at a desk, holding a laptop or book are all natural poses that also lend themselves to hiding your baby bump.
Choose Loose Fitting Outfits
The bonus for this one is that flowy or loose fitting outfits usually look natural and comfortable in photos anyway which is an extra win. This also stops any attention being specially drawn to your tummy.
Dance Baby Dance
Get moving in your photos! Dance, twist, twirl, shake it up! Movement creates distraction, especially with long flowy dresses and even though photos are still, the energy and motion translates into lovely, natural images.
Creative Posing and Cropping
As the photographer, I made sure to compose the majority of Nina’s where her belly wasn’t showing. Think outside the box with some creative posing and in-camera cropping.
Lean Forward and Use Your Hands to Draw Attention Away
This kind of pose looks very natural and conversational. It draws people’s eyes to your hands rather than your belly which is naturally tucked back in the sitting pose.
Share Your Story
As well as intentionally trying to hide a pregnant belly, it’s also fun to create a handful of photos that celebrate this beautiful season of life. With Nina being a Wedding Celebrant, her clients are probably already starting to think about creating a family. What better way to make a personal connection with her clients than to share her joy with a fun pregnancy announcement post. By bringing your clients along on your business and personal journey, you can make a real connection and start forming those valued relationships.
Congratulations Nina, on your new rebrand and your growing family! You totally rocked your photoshoot!!
If you’re currently juggling motherhood and business and need some advice on how best to keep elevating your brand while celebrating your amazing family, let’s chat. With some creative, out-of-the-box thinking, I know we can come up with a plan to create amazing brand photos that you can get great value from.