Bailey wanted photos. She’d thought about it since the beginning of the pregnancy, had imagined the beach and the light and the two of them together in that specific, irreversible moment before everything changed. The hesitation was something else entirely: the pregnancy had been hard. Nausea that didn’t stop when the first trimester ended. Vomiting well into the third. A body doing enormous work that left little room for anything else.
By the time she reached out, she was 32 weeks. The bump had arrived on its own timeline. And she was ready.
When You Almost Wait Too Long
The recommended window for outdoor maternity photography is typically four to two weeks before your due date. Not because the photos won’t work outside that window, they will, but because that’s often when the bump is most present and the body is still comfortable enough to move through a session without fatigue.
Bailey came in right at the edge of that window. Thirty-two weeks, golden hour at Manhattan Beach, a Tuesday evening when the pier was quiet and the light was doing what June light does along the South Bay.
We kept it simple by design. One hour. Two outfits. The pier, the sand, the water. No elaborate setup, no props, no pressure to perform anything. Just Bailey and her husband Brian, and whatever the evening decided to give us.
Sometimes the sessions with the least production are the ones that photograph the most honestly.
Two Outfits, One Hour
Bailey brought two styles into the session — a cute scallop edge knit cardigan over a halter ruffle edge bikini top, paired with a white flowy maxi skirt. The knit cardigan was really cute on Bailey, especially the way she paired it along with her bump, she completely embraced the session with grace, alongside her charming husband in his classic white button down shirt over khaki pants. The two took the posing cues on with their own twist, which is soft and natural to their own moves.
There’s a practical reason for two outfits in a one-hour session: it gives you variety in the gallery without adding time or complexity. But there’s something else that happens when someone changes outfits mid-shoot, they come back to the camera slightly different. A little looser. A little more themselves.
Brian was exactly what you want in a partner during a maternity session: present without being performative. He wasn’t waiting to be directed. He was just there, attentive to Bailey in the way you notice when two people have been genuinely paying attention to each other for some time.
For a couple expecting their first child, they were remarkably calm. Or maybe they’d simply moved through enough of the hard part that calm was what was left.
What It Means to Document a Hard Pregnancy
Not every pregnancy is easy. Not every bump arrives on schedule. Not every expectant mother feels the way the imagery tells her she should feel — glowing, effortless, fully present in the joy of it.
Some pregnancies are just hard. They take from you in ways that are invisible in photographs.
What a maternity session can do, in those cases, is offer a different kind of evidence: that you were there, that you got through it, that even in the middle of something difficult you chose to mark the moment. The photos from Bailey and Brian’s session don’t show the hard parts. But Bailey will know they were there. And she’ll also know, because the photos show this clearly, that she showed up anyway.
That’s worth documenting.
How to Plan a Beach Maternity Session in the South Bay
Manhattan Beach Pier is one of the most consistent golden hour locations along the Southern California coast. The pier runs due west, which means that in the hour before sunset, the light comes in warm and even all around, flattering and genuinely beautiful without any filters needed.
For a one-hour session at the pier, here’s what works:
Timing: Arrive 15 minutes before your start time to find parking and walk down. In June and July, golden hour begins around 7:15–7:30pm. Plan to start no later than 45 minutes before sunset.
Outfits: Simple and warm-toned. Flowy silhouettes photograph well in ocean breeze. Avoid busy prints. White, cream, dusty blue, and warm neutrals all work beautifully in pier light.
Movement: The pier gives you three distinct micro-locations within a short walk — under the pier (intimate, filtered light), open sand (wide and airy), and near the water (reflective, golden). We move between them naturally during the session.
Partners: Include them. The best maternity photos aren’t just bump portraits — they’re records of two people on the edge of something enormous. That story photographs better with both of you in it.
If you’re planning a maternity session in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, or Redondo Beach — reach out here and we’ll find the right evening.
You can also see more maternity and family work in the journal.
