Mercedes + Anthony | Maternity Session at Cherry Beach in Toronto

The last time I photographed Mercedes and Anthony, they were celebrating their engagement. This time, we met again with someone new already joining us.

Their maternity session at Cherry Beach in Toronto was a chance to document a completely different chapter of their story—the two of them preparing to become parents and the quiet, exciting stretch of time before their baby arrived.

We spent the evening wandering along the shoreline of Lake Ontario, barefoot in the sand and water, surrounded by trees and that beautiful warm light that appears as the sun begins to disappear.

Returning to Photograph a New Chapter

One of the things I value most about photography is getting to document people more than once.

A single session preserves a particular moment in someone's life. But when I have the opportunity to photograph people again, those images begin to form something larger.

I had previously photographed Mercedes and Anthony for their engagement session at Evergreen Brick Works. Coming back together for their maternity photographs meant seeing their relationship at a completely different point in time.

They're still the same two people I photographed before—the connection, laughter and ease between them are still there—but their lives are changing.

And now, their photographs tell that story too.

A Maternity Session at Cherry Beach

Cherry Beach is such a beautiful location for maternity photography because it offers a surprising amount of variety without ever needing to leave the area.

There are wooded paths and greenery, stretches of sand, exposed roots and rocks along the shoreline, and of course Lake Ontario.

It also has a wonderfully relaxed quality.

Instead of moving through a checklist of maternity poses, we could simply walk along the water, stop somewhere beautiful, sit beneath the trees, and give Mercedes and Anthony space to interact naturally.

As the evening went on, shoes came off and we moved closer to the lake.

Some of my favourite photographs from the session are the simplest ones: Mercedes and Anthony walking barefoot through the shallow water, holding hands, looking at one another and laughing.

Celebrating a Changing Body

Pregnancy is such a remarkable physical transition, and maternity photography gives us an opportunity to intentionally document a body that exists in this particular form for such a short period of time.

Mercedes wore a long white dress that beautifully highlighted her pregnant belly while still allowing her to move freely along the beach.

Rather than treating pregnancy as something that needs to be photographed in one particular way, I want the person I'm photographing to still feel recognizable as themselves.

That means leaving room for movement, personality and relationships—not only photographs of a belly.

Mercedes is pregnant in these photographs, but she's also laughing with Anthony. Walking barefoot through the lake. Looking at him. Being held by him.

She's herself, in the middle of becoming someone new too.

Before Two Becomes Three

Maternity sessions are ostensibly about a baby, but so much of what I'm actually photographing is the relationship that exists before that baby arrives.

There's a particular version of a couple that exists during this time.

You're preparing together. Imagining together. Waiting together.

And soon, the rhythm of your relationship will change in ways you can't completely understand yet.

That's why I think it's important to make photographs of both of you during pregnancy.

Not only because your child may someday want to see what their parents looked like while waiting for them, but because this chapter belongs to you, too.

These photographs get to remind Mercedes and Anthony of who they were together on the cusp of becoming parents.

Golden Hour at Cherry Beach

As the sun dropped behind the trees, we reached that fleeting stretch of evening when everything turns warm and golden.

The light came through the trees behind Mercedes and Anthony as they walked hand-in-hand across the sand, giving us one final change of atmosphere before the session ended.

No elaborate setup was needed.

Just the two of them, Lake Ontario, bare feet, warm light and a baby they were waiting to meet.

I love that I now have photographs of Mercedes and Anthony from two different chapters of their lives.

First, their engagement.

Now, their growing family.

And hopefully, these aren't the last.

Because ultimately, that's what I want photographs to become: a visual history of the people we love, the relationships we build, and all the different versions of ourselves we become along the way.

Looking for a maternity photographer in Toronto? I photograph pregnancy, couples and families with a candid, documentary-inspired approach that centres connection, changing bodies and the beautifully ordinary moments that make each chapter of your life yours.

If you're expecting and want to document this chapter in a way that feels relaxed, intimate and genuinely like you, get in touch and tell me a little about your family.