Recently Bertha’s sweet family decided to surprise her with a gift certificate for a maternity session with me. We had planned on doing a longer session in the morning with her whole family, but the day of the session she started having contractions. I was determined to give this gorgeous mama her session before the baby came, so we decided that we would play it by ear and would do a shorter session that evening if she felt up to it. After hearing from her that she still wanted to do the session, we set up a quick sunset shoot and got the most incredible photos. Good thing we did, because her precious little boy was born just hours later! She looks so at peace in the photos, you’d never know she was having contractions all through the shoot! She reminds me of an exotic goddess or even The Birth of Venus painting. Congratulations, Bertha! I can’t wait to photograph your beautiful – and growing- family soon!