Maternity portraits on film: Maria

There are portraits where the landscape doesn't just frame the subject—it mirrors her.

This session with Maria took place just south of San Francisco, along the wild, wind-swept coast of Half Moon Bay. We moved through salt air and shadow, between cliffs and pine, into a forest that felt almost sacred in its quiet.

Maria was in the final hours of pregnancy, though time felt suspended. We didn’t speak much. There was no need. The light moved fast; the fog rolled in and out. She stood still in the middle of it—soft, strong, unadorned.

Everything was photographed on 35mm and medium format film. No digital preview. No rush. Just presence. Film has a way of catching breath, weight, texture. It doesn’t interrupt. It observes.

What we created isn’t a traditional maternity session. It’s a record of a threshold—a woman between one life and the next, held by earth, water, and light. The images feel sculptural, almost like stills from a story without words.

Maria gave birth the next morning to a beautiful and healthy baby girl.