A few weeks back at Nu‘uuli waterfall with Gabby. She was there for a photo shoot, and I tagged along and assisted where I could. Then we wandered off and hung out the rest of the afternoon, did an impromptu photo shoot of our own, then hiked back, went home and got some reusable tupperware, and ordered Chinese takeout for dinner. I love days like these.
This is one of my favorite maternity sessions thus far, with our friends Meagan and Hideyo.
If you know Meagan and Hideyo, you’ll know that they are easy-going, hilarious, and all around just lovely people. They wanted to do an off-the-beaten-path session so they took me and Ian to this beautiful hidden waterfall in their village. Meagan was about 7 months preggo during this shoot and was moving around with such grace and ease through the dense tropical rainforest, one might have confused her with a (pregnant) woodland fairy!
We managed 3 outfit changes within about an hour for this shoot, and that’s impressive not because of me (Ian helped a lot too, and made skirts fly hahah) but because of how easy and cooperative Meagan and Hideyo were to work with. They just ran with whatever I asked them to do, and had a lot of fun doing it. They mostly did their own thing too, hugging and talking and goofing around with each other, which was fun for me and made the session so much more genuine. I can’t help but think that maternity photos are just a tiny bit cheesy (but in the best way possible), and I’m pretty sure Meagan and Hideyo would agree… you can tell because of how much fun we had with this shoot!
They’re keeping the gender a secret, like they don’t even know what the gender is yet, so it’s going to be a great big surprise on bebe’s birthday! I can’t wait to meet their little one soon!
![Sessions: Mareike [moana/azul] – Part 3](https://i0.wp.com/nerelle.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/IMG_6249-1.jpg?resize=1080%2C675&ssl=1)
Part 3 of the session with Mareike.
Snapped these on the same morning as part 1 and part 2 of this session, using Mareike’s Canon G12 camera and underwater housing. It was such a dream to shoot Mareike in this setting… the beach is our home. I think I met her for the first time at this very beach. I’d been meaning to take her photos for the longest time, so for it to finally happen makes me so happy. And the photos came out awesome too! She actually gifted me with the camera that I used for this shoot, and I feel so lucky to have a friend like her in my life.
Part 2 of the sunrise session with Mareike.
This beautiful woman is a scientist. Her love for the ocean has taken her all over the world, drifting to American Samoa about 5 years ago. She is art–she embraces the ink of the islands etched on her skin to tell her story. Since we’ve met, we’ve gone on many adventures, shared many conversations, and laughed and danced together more times than I can even remember. She has become a neighbor and a friend, and I’m stoked to capture her essence on this beautiful morning just as the sun kisses the ocean and we thrive on another beautiful day in the islands.
There were SO MANY shots that I absolutely loved from this session, so here’s a good chunk of it.
Even more photos!
PART 1: Georgia + Mareike at sunrise | PART 2: Mareike (island style) | PART 3: Mareike [ moana/azul ]
Part 1 of a sunrise session with these two beautiful women, flat mates, and friends
This shoot was actually on Mareike’s last month in American Samoa. We woke up super early, before the sunrise, and met up by the beach in front of our houses. It didn’t seem like it was going to be a good sunrise at first, but we shot anyways, and something like an hour later, the sun shone magnificently, sending light flickering on the ocean’s ripples. I had Georgia and Mareike take turns doing portraits and shot them together too, so here’s just a few of them. I love all of these!
