YOU DON'T HAVE TO LOOK LIKE HER: FOR EVERY WOMAN WHO ALMOST DIDN'T BOOK
Just her + a little God light. // Candace Howe Studios, NYC
A note for the woman comparing herself to social media before booking maternity portraits
During almost every maternity consultation, usually after we’ve discussed dates, wardrobe, and styling.
A woman lowers her voice a little and says something like:
“I don’t really look like the women on your Instagram.”
“I’ve gained more weight than I expected.”
“I’m not photogenic.”
“I wish I looked more like the girls I keep seeing online.”
And every single time, I wish she could see what I see.
Because the truth is: most of the women you admire in my maternity portraits are not models!
They are teachers, lawyers, nurses.
Mothers balancing toddlers on one hip while answering work emails with the other. Women navigating swelling, exhaustion, stretch marks, insecurity, IVF journeys, injection scarring, difficult pregnancies, changing marriages, changing identities, and bodies that no longer feel entirely familiar.
They are EVERYDAY WOMEN.
Just like you.
The difference is not that they arrived already knowing how to pose or already feeling beautiful.
The difference is that they allowed themselves to be seen anyway.
NYC Luxury Maternity Portrait Studio// Candace Howe Studios
Social Media Has Changed How Women Experience Pregnancy
Pregnancy used to live mostly inside families and communities, now it lives online and while there is beauty in that, there is also pressure.
Pressure to: carry “perfectly”, bounce back quickly, stay chic through morning sickness and swelling, glow constantly, and curate the perfect Motherhood experience.
But real pregnancy is far more human than that.
Some women feel radiant.
Some feel disconnected from themselves.
Most feel both at different moments.
And yet social media has convinced many women that maternity portraits are reserved for the already confident. The already glamorous. The already-photogenic.
They are not.
You Do Not Need to Arrive Feeling Like a Model
This may surprise you, but almost none of the women you see photographed in my studio walk in saying:
“I know exactly what to do.”
Many arrive nervous and pick themselves apart. They quickly learn I DO NOT allow anyone to bully my clients, including them! Your arms, legs, and neck are just fine, I know how to pose you for the best angle. You’re not doing “too much” if ever there was a time to be extra its during your pregnancy. Dad will make jokes he’ll be right there with you and we’ll support him too (snacks and wifi included). YOU, as you are with that beautiful bump are exactly the client I want in front of my lens.
I’ll curate the mood board for you. I’ll shape the light for your best glow. I’ll flow pose you through every angle to make sure I catch you in your best frame. We’ll create images that feel soft, powerful, elegant, and honest.
The Most Beautiful Thing in the Room Is Never Perfection
It is the moment a woman stops apologizing for her changing body long enough to witness herself becoming a mother. That is where the real beauty lives.
Not in perfection.
Not in comparison.
Not in looking like someone else online.
But in honoring this exact version of yourself right now, because years from now, your child will not study these photographs searching for flaws. They will see their Mama, the one that rocked them to sleep, that made them laugh the hardest, that taught them everything. They will see their favorite person carrying them!
And one day, you may look back and realize: the body you criticized so heavily was doing something extraordinary!
You Deserve to Exist in the Story Too
So if you’ve been waiting to feel ready or worthy before booking your session, hear me when I tell you God partnered with you to bring this life into the world and you’re doing it! You do not need to earn this experience for your Motherhood. You deserve your reminder portrait for the days life feels heavy, hard, and exhausting or when you drop that baby off to their first day of college and life looks completely different. A reminder that YOU made this happen.
And you already deserve to be remembered beautifully.
If this found you right before Mother's Day — that's not an accident.
I have a limited number of Mommy + Me sessions available this month for mothers who are ready to stop waiting and start being remembered.
You don't need to feel ready. You just need to show up.
Book your session → HERE