When Roksana first reached out about an underwater pregnancy photoshoot, I realized we had to move fast. She was already 33 weeks along, full of ideas (she’s a fellow photographer!), and clearly not looking for just “something cute” in the pool. Ok, the cover is cute, but look further! She came with a vision, props, styling, and enough trust to let this New Jersey art project grow into something much stranger and more striking than either of us could fully predict.
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Photographer for Photographer
Roksana is one heck of a creative photographer behind Roxy Art Lab, so she was not coming in blank. She knew enough to have a vision and still trust another photographer’s process. That’s a rare and delicate combination. A photographer in front of the camera can be both the best client and the hardest client because we see too much.
I recall another prominent photographer who entrusted her boudoir in 2008 and several years later, her wedding-themed sessions: the one and only Vanessa Joy, a luxury wedding photographer:
No Time to Waste
Roksana found me through Google and wrote through my website’s contact form. Nice and direct: she was 33 weeks along, wanted an underwater pregnancy photoshoot, and asked if I had free spots in the next couple of weeks.
At 33 weeks, “next couple of weeks” means something. You don’t sit on it, exchange 18 emails, and circle back next month. Mom’s comfort changes, energy changes, breathing underwater changes. Everything changes.
We had a prep call on July 8 and agreed this would NOT be a quick portrait session. Roksana wanted to tell a story through color, motion, and light. White to pink to black to red. A feeling of transition. Wigs, fabrics, props, creative tools, controlled lights, a photo book later.
She reminded me of another adventurous soul way in Alaska, whom I photographed in the snowy mountains weeks before giving birth:
Underwater Pregnancy Photoshoot
An underwater pregnancy photoshoot needs planning even when the concept is simple, and this one was NOT simple.
I have my 10-Step Client’s Guide to Epic Underwater Photo Shoot that I share to explain what many clients don’t think about early enough: breath, comfort, hair, makeup, wardrobe, rest, expectations, and how much slower everything becomes once people start going under water.
Roksana had concerns about breath-holding, which is normal. Add late pregnancy to it, and of course we had to respect the pace. I explained that we start with short submersions, not heroic movie dives. We build comfort, reset, we try again. If the first few attempts look awkward, so what? That’s how underwater works.
We rented a pool in New Jersey, close enough to Jersey City where Roksana and her husband live. I can arrange pools throughout NY, NJ, CT, and PA, depending on the concept, depth, privacy, schedule, and whether we need more control over light. For this one, the full-day rental was the right call.
A shorter underwater pregnancy photoshoot can work beautifully for a simpler maternity session. This one needed hours. We had wardrobe changes, wigs, makeup renewals, lighting changes, optical play, posing resets, BTS, and a pregnant photographer with more ideas than the clock wanted to allow.
I also brought more than we used. Three studio lights, extra options, even a drone.
The drone never came out.
That’s what happens when creative people get a full day. They fill it, then complain that the day is too short. 🙂
Cold Start
The first images have a cold, inward feel. Pale wig, blue water, silver-white styling. Roksana close to the surface, partly calm, partly broken apart by movement and reflections. We also had those small sun spotlights touching the water, adding just enough natural shimmer before the set moved into heavier artificial light.
This is where we started playing with creative lens add-ons, the real in-camera kind, not “let’s fake it later in Photoshop” filters. One frame has this circular pull around her, almost like a portal. That word came to me when I first looked at it and it stuck.
Those effects worked because they happened in the water, with her, the surface, the light, and all that underwater unpredictability fighting and helping at the same time. Hair went where it wanted, fabric drifted on its own. The lens add-ons bent the scene even further. All of that only added to your own interpretation of a quiet cold beauty.
Soft Water
The white look opened things up. More body, more floating fabric, more maternity shape.
This is where underwater pregnancy photoshoot posing gets tricky. People look at the final image and see ease. The body looks light. The dress moves. The face seems calm. In reality, the subject is holding breath, fighting buoyancy, trying not to look like she’s fighting buoyancy, and listening to direction through splashes, echoes, and my hand signals.
For Roksana, the white and pale looks gave us that softer stage. Not weak soft. More like a pause. She is still inside herself, still before birth, still quiet, but the image starts breathing more.
The fabric made a huge difference. Underwater, fabric can save an image or ruin it. Too heavy, it sinks and clumps. Too stiff, it looks dead. Too much of it, and the body disappears. But when it works, it gives you shape without over-directing the pose.
Roksana understood that part. She came with styling, props, and a mood board. I had fabrics too, and we had enough visual material to keep adjusting instead of forcing one look to carry the whole shoot.
A little practical note for future underwater clients: this is exactly why prep matters. In my underwater photo shoot guide, I talk about attire, hair, makeup, and expectations because those details decide how far we can go once the shoot begins. We don’t want to discover in the pool that the best-looking fabric turns into a wet towel.
Magic Stage
Then came the purple, blue, and more colorful stage, where the shoot started feeling less like maternity and more like Roksana’s own little movie.
The hair changed everything. The color near the face added fantasy, but not the sweet mermaid kind. More mysterious than that. The fabric wrapped around her body, the surface reflected parts of her face, and her posing became stronger. She was no longer just floating through the idea, but she was starting to command it.
This middle part also gave the underwater pregnancy photoshoot a stronger pulse. The first series whispered. This one started talking back.
Red Hair
The red phase woke everything up.
I know, I know, “red is power” is almost too easy to say. But look at the images and tell me it didn’t change the whole shoot. The hair, warm fabric, and harder light pulled Roksana out of that cool quiet water and into something fiercer.
Pregnancy photography often gets trapped in one lane: soft hands, soft light, soft smile, soft everything. Nothing wrong with that. I shoot soft when it belongs. But pregnancy is not only softness. It is physical. Heavy. Weird. Beautiful. Tiring. Wildly normal and completely insane at the same time.
The red images get closer to that bigger range.
Some frames have the light breaking across her body like it was painted there. Some feel almost like a character poster. Some are calmer, with the fabric curling around her and the belly still visible under all that movement. This is where Roksana’s styling ideas and willingness to push paid off. She did not come to play safe, and I would have felt silly making her play safe.
By this time we were also moving deeper into artificial light. We started with the last natural light, then slowly gained more control as the day turned into evening. Direction, strength, and color became the tools. We both had brought studio lighting options, and the pool deck looked like a production corner rather than a simple maternity setup.
A normal person would probably ask, “Do you really need all that?” No… Yes… Depends how boring you want the result to be.
Quick Umbrella
The umbrella was almost cut.
We were already past the agreed end time of 10 PM, and everyone had reasons to be tired. We had been shooting for hours. Makeup had been renewed (see below on that). Looks had changed. Lights had moved. Snacks on the go had quietly replaced proper breaks.
I suggested we throw the umbrella in quickly, mostly as a reference.
“Quickly” underwater means 10-15 minutes if the photography gods are in a cooperative mood. Sometimes they are not. This time, we got enough.
Even though we shot it last, I would place it here in the story, after the red and before the final light work. It fits better visually. The black outfit and umbrella pull the set into a fashionable, bolder direction. It has a different attitude. Less floating goddess, more strange editorial portrait.
I like that it was almost an afterthought. Some of my favorite pieces happen that way. Not because the idea is random, but because there is no time left to overwork it. You try it, grab what you can, and move on before the pool says, “Enough, people.”
For this underwater pregnancy photoshoot, that quick umbrella section adds a little smirk. Roksana is still pregnant, still underwater, still part of this whole transformation, but now she looks like she walked into a fashion assignment that forgot gravity exists.
After Dark
The final light section is probably the biggest visual jump.
By then, natural light was gone. Full artificial control: deep blue, hot contrast, more graphic shapes, stronger color. This part looks cooler, sharper, and more experimental than the opening. If the first images feel like a portal, the last ones feel like the studio finally took over the pool.
See, her full-day package allowed both the natural-light stage and the advanced lighting work, and that makes a big difference. On my underwater photography pricing page, I explain the different underwater session levels and what longer productions make possible. This is a good example. You cannot squeeze this much light control, styling, makeup, and experimentation into a tiny or even moderate session and expect the same result.
You can have a nice underwater pregnancy photoshoot in a shorter package. Absolutely. But if you want this type of color, effects, and variety, you need time. Pool rental, setup, makeup, safety, fabric tests, pose resets, and light changes all eat the clock fast.
We were tired, but still wanted to try more. Creative minds are annoying like that, and I surely include myself.
The final images bring the project into a cooler place. Not sweet. Not sentimental. More like, “Ok, now let’s see what else water can do.” We were fellow creatives, not just as a camera guy and an expecting mom looking for a pretty keepsake. The keepsake happened, of course. It just came with extra weirdness.
Annabel the MUA
Makeup artist Annabel Vargas deserves a real shout-out here.
Underwater makeup is not a small job. It has to survive water, repeated submersions, styling changes, time, and the general nonsense of people saying, “Ok, one more look.” Annabel came prepared, worked calmly, and stayed through most of our 8-hr long shoot. She left only an hour or two before we finally wrapped, which tells you how long this day became.
She was professional, on time, skilled, resourceful, and easy to work with. That’s the whole list, and I mean every word.
I also know Annabel through her husband, John Vargas of Vargas Studios, a well-known body painter with whom I worked before, including underwater:
Nice circle there. Still, this was Annabel’s credit to earn, and she earned it.
When you plan an underwater pregnancy photoshoot with multiple looks, don’t treat makeup as a little add-on. It is part of the production. If makeup fails, the whole look weakens. If the artist is late, the whole schedule suffers. If they are not ready for water, we all find out the hard way.
We did not have that problem.
Hot Off the Press: Alisa
As this blog was waiting for its publishing turn, came the sweetest update. Roksana delivered little Alisa less than two weeks after the shoot.
At the shoot, Alisa was still part of every image without being visible as herself. A shape, a presence, a reason for the whole thing, hidden inside this wild underwater art project.
Ready to Dive?
If you are thinking about your own underwater pregnancy photoshoot, start with my underwater photography portfolio. It will give you a wider sense of what I do underwater: maternity, portraits, body art, fashion, movement, and people with ideas that don’t fit neatly into normal studio work.
For planning and packages, see my underwater photography pricing. Pool rental can be included, and I can arrange pools across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania depending on the project.
If your idea is simple, we can keep it simple. If your idea is like Roksana’s, bring snacks.
Behind the Scenes
I’ll prepare a BTS reel later, not to delay this publication any longer. Here’s a frame from it. Come back for a cool footage as never shown before!
Credits
Subject, styling, props: Roksana of Roxy Art Lab (@roxyartlab)
Makeup artist: Annabel Vargas of Vargas Beauty (@anabelvargasmakeup)
Photography and creative direction: Ed Hafizov of Zorz Studios (@ZorzStudios)
