Maternity portraits at the Huntington Beach State Park and Atalaya Castle

I had a lot of fun taking maternity portraits for an expecting mother and father last week at the Atalaya Castle and beach in Huntington Beach State Park. I’m still happy that I made this park in Murrells Inlet my regular location for family pictures vs the park in Myrtle Beach. As the sunset moves to later in the day, the traffic is not that bad driving down to the Murrells Inlet area. This mother was due to have her child in about four weeks, but even though it was a little tricky for her, she did a lot of different poses and pictures with her husband.

I started taking pictures of the couple in front of the Atalaya Castle. I usually start with photos of a couple or family walking together to make them feel more relaxed. Then we did more of the typical maternity portrait posed shots in front of the palm trees around the castle. I especially loved the pictures of this expecting mother leaning against the ivy-covered wall of the castle and some of the fun photos of the two of them leaning against the trees. Next, we did some sitting together maternity portraits on the patio behind the castle before walking down to the beach.

Even though it was difficult for her to get up and down, I took some portraits of them sitting together by the sand dunes that turned out beautiful. I try to time things so we get that lovely glow from the setting sun behind the dunes in that park area. I always try to keep taking candid pictures during a session. One of my favorites is the husband helping his pregnant wife get up, with some difficulty, from sitting on the sand. They both have huge smiles, and you can tell they are having fun. It took some convincing to get them to try it near the end of the session, but he even dipped his wife back for a kiss in front of the ocean! I hope you enjoy the pictures below. If you are interested in scheduling a session, I have a special right now during April, and I still have many open spots for the rest of the year. Please get in touch!