Basically, this Portland Sunset Maternity photography session was a dream. I’m so excited to share it! Jess was expecting her second child and really wanted to do some special portraits to honor it. She was interested in sunsets and silhouettes, and I thought that sounded amazing too. Here in Portland, it’s hard to get a clear sunset without either the city, or some hills and mountains in the way. So I started looking around for parks and places to get a good sunset view. I read about Skidmore Bluffs, which neither of us had actually seen before, and we decided to try it. It’s a really small, skinny park in inner Northeast Portland, literally on a cliff indeed, just at the end of a residential street. Not a standard park like you’re used to, but it had a perfect view across the river. (It also overlooks a trainyard, so if you have a toddler it might be a great place to go, as long as you ensure no one goes over the cliff, of course.)
We met in the middle of a gorgeous golden hour, so I wanted to take advantage of some of the foliage to create some images with that amazing rim light and flare. Then we moved to the clear-sky view as the sun went down. We did a few partial and full silhouettes, and some AMAZING flare came out. I also set up an umbrella to get a different look with the red maternity gown. I was squealing all over the place because it was all just so beautiful and amazing. See for yourself: