Katie & Dave | Portland Maternity Photos

Katie and I go way back. (At least, as far as I’m concerned! My family moved to Washington in 1998 and I’ve since lost touch with most of my childhood friends.) We met, at least circumstantially, in our Freshman Grammar for Journalists class at the University of Oregon. We were both students at the Robert D. Clark Honors college and enrolled in the J-School, so as time passed, we saw more and more and more of each other. There were study sessions and crazy parties and then, at the peak of class’s social nexus, which was most everyone’s senior year, I left for Japan. While I was away, Katie announced her engagement to Dave, and I staged my homecoming so that not a week after, Justin and I attended their wedding in Eugene.

That was a time of change for everyone. I was in Eugene for another year, Justin was in Seattle, and many of my graduated friends were leaving town or at least the jobs we shared at the University. Katie and Dave headed off to Cornell to pursue masters degrees, and I worried that would be the last we’d hear of them.

Thanks to Facebook, it wasn’t all static as the years passed… and suddenly, they announced their move home to Portland. Not only that, they were expecting! Before we knew it, they were moved in, months had flown by, and Katie was less than two weeks from her due date… and we still hadn’t visited!

Of course, we had to do something about that. So, last November, just before Thanksgiving, we all got together for an extended maternity & belly photo shoot around their quirky Portland neighborhood and in their beautiful home. I hope you all enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. It feels so good to be re-acquainted with our friends!

Katie and Dave are both avid cyclists. In fact, they don’t even own a car (Dave uses public transport and a car-share to get to work) and mod their own bikes for baby and grocery carrying. Portland is a very bike-friendly city… there’s a bike shop not three blocks from where these two live, and we took a few photos there later in the morning.

The expectant couple holding hands on the porch of the neighborhood church. Dave has been super supportive of Katie throughout her pregnancy. Can you imagine moving clear across the country from New York to Portland while expecting?

Katie’s happy that she had a relatively easy pregnancy. She confided in me that it wasn’t until her last few weeks that she considered she might want some photographs of her pregnant body to remember her pregnancy by… she was all to eager for her baby to finally be born so her body could start getting back to normal!

Katie wanted to document her pregnancy in their Portland neighborhood, so we took some belly photographs at the park down the street. A typical Portland November day, it had started to rain and gave the whole park a lush, green feeling.

I love the fullness of Katie’s belly. She was extremely close to her due date and all of us could feel (and even see) Jasper squirming around ready to join us on the outside.

It was a moody sort of day, chill and a bit dusky out even though it was only mid-morning. We took a few contemplative photos to capture the feeling of the day. I’m fond of this portrait of Katie leaning against a brick wall.

These two are such a tremendously cute couple. They just love each other so much. Baby Jasper is very lucky to have them as his mom and dad!

After the rain started to fall more heavily, we finished at the park and headed home so Katie could rest and we could capture some more traditional, artistic maternity photographs. We cranked the heat up and Katie laid on their fainting couch next to the window, where gauzy curtains filtered gorgeous diffuse light over her. She looks like a Grecian goddess!

Then, we moved into Jasper’s nursery for a few cutesy pictures. Did anyone else have these wooden blocks as a kid? I swear they’re the exact same as the ones I used to play with!

Our final set of photos was Justin’s concept… a bubble bath. These were taken in their awesome vintage-crazy bathroom: sea-green walls, a red and white claw-foot tub, rainbow opalescent flooring and an orange rug. Whoo! Katie was such a good sport, trying not to laugh as I stood on the toilet and attempted not to fall in, then crouched on the floor like a creepy stalker. How she managed to look so relaxed, I’ll never know. She must have really needed that bath after several hours of shooting!

It was a really great shoot, and the perfect way to spend a lazy Sunday. We spent as much time catching up as we did setting up shots. Afterward, we ordered in and ate pizza until the sun went down and Justin and I had to start the long(ish) drive back to Seattle. Thanks for being willing “victims” for my first maternity shoot, guys! I’m looking forward to coming down and taking more photos of baby Jasper.

In  fact, here’s a peek at what he looks like at three months old. Justin captured him and his dad asleep on the couch early in the morning  before we caught our flight to Maui out of Portland. SO. CUTE.  And such a resemblance! D’aww. :3