Becoming a family, or adding to your family, is an emotional time for parents-to-be. This prompt give you a way to go deeper with expecting parents during the pregnancy, and document the excitement and nerves about their soon-to-arrive new baby.
Pregnancy feelings: emotional prompts for parents-to-be and maternity shoots
Providing a space for parents to share with each other how they are feeling will add depth and emotion to your photographs. This prompt pairs well with New Parent Feelings, if you have a maternity/newborn series booked with your clients. Use the maternity session to explore their feelings and then follow up at the newborn shoot to see how things have changed.
How to use this photo pose prompt
Give them space and silence to explore feelings. Read how they respond and follow their lead – think of yourself as an interviewer and psychologist, delving deep into one topic rather than scatter-gunning questions. When one has given an answer, then say to the other “Tell (name) how that makes you feel.”
Read their energy: if they are excited, mirror that back in your questions. If they go deep, lead them to more intimate questions. Many people will need warming up before they’re happy to share in front of you, so start with easy questions and move on to more emotional ones.
If they are shy, ask them to share with each other as you move back out of earshot and shoot the results with a long lens.
Prompt: Pregnancy Feelings
- Ask them to tell each other: What are you most excited about in becoming a parent? Switch parents and repeat, for most nervous about, appreciative of (partner) about, unexpecting thing about being pregnant / having a pregnant partner, most joyful part of the pregnancy, most difficult part.
- Describe to each other a perfect day as a family of three/four/etc. Ask how they feel about the major changes to routines, one-on-one time, personal time, work time.
- Delve deep with responses by asking for the other parent to respond to their partner’s answers: How does that make you feel what (partner) has said?
- Give them silence to answer (don’t rapid fire questions).
Creative extension
- Include older children or grandparents in the photoshoot: have siblings share how they feel about their new brother or sister, or have grandma share a story of how she felt when she went through her pregnancy herself. Ask what wishes they have for the new parents, what advice they got that was terrible, what advice they would have liked to have gotten, the one thing they wish they knew about the birth. This can be a beautiful way to document family continuity and previous generations.
Tag @promptographerguide and use the hashtag #promptographerguide to share your favorite photos captured with this prompt.
Want this prompt in your Field Cards set?
All the info in this prompt post is summarized onto a single card in the Promptographer Guide Field Cards, with the details given in the accompanying Guidebook. All the ideas are given on the one card so you have a rich, comprehensive tool for sparking ideas. I’ve designed it this way so you only need five to ten cards to build a whole photoshoot.
If you want this prompt in your set, make sure you include Set 7: New Baby Moments in your Field Cards.
