Smith Mountain Lake Maternity Session | LaToya and Baby E

This session is extra-special to me, because this is my beautiful sister-in-law! I've been looking forward to her session for so long, and we finally got the perfect evening for it last week at Smith Mountain Lake. 

When I look at these images, the best thing I see is LaToya's gorgeous smile. Her pregnancy has been a rough one for sure, but she has pushed through with such resilience. Even when we took these photos, she had just driven almost five hours and didn't feel 100 percent – but she and her badass red lipstick totally rocked it!

That's something I learned while taking her photos (a message to all moms-to-be): Yes, your pregnancy might be draining you. You don't feel beautiful or "glowing" as you spend your mornings over the toilet, or when you use your growing belly as a plate. Maybe pregnancy is making you feel scared or stressed.

But at the end of the day, you are doing an amazing thing.  Actually, two amazing things. First, you are growing a human, which takes an unbelievable amount of energy and pain. Second (and maybe most important), you are becoming a mother — one who sacrifices daily for the well-being of your baby, whom you've never met but already love with all your heart. And that alone means you deserve the opportunity to feel beautiful, loved and seen.

Maternity photos are, of course, for you to enjoy and cherish, but they're also for your child, so that decades from now, he can hold them in his hands and see his mother for the strong and beautiful person she was.

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Laura Richards is a natural light photographer specializing in maternity, newborn and family photography. She is based in Roanoke, Virginia. See more work here.