We are yet to see Serena Williams‘ maternity photo shoot and are not sure if she will have some taken.
But just in case the tennis champ is considering joining the millions of first-time moms-to-be who came before her and who opted to memorialize her pregnancy, we would like to nominate Los Angeles, California transplant to Louisiana-based photographer Sasha Matthews of Green Tangerine Photography.
The self-taught photographer started off shooting her son with a DSLR camera that was gifted to her and eventually, people took notice and started asking her to photograph their kids.
Matthews wanted to go into Social work and had no plans to be a professional photographer until she realized that she truly has a gift.
In 2014, she took her side gig and passion full time and hasn’t looked back.
Today, Matthews focuses on family photography and the motherhood and parenthood journey from maternity, starting around 30 weeks to infant photography and beyond.
In a recent interview about her work in an outlet called Cassius, Matthews says she focuses on families of all races and color because growing up, she rarely saw black, brown and other families that look like her featured in magazines or in the media, generally.
“It’s so much deeper than just taking portraits for me,” says Matthews, who says she was shamed and not supported when she was first expecting her son. “It’s changing the narrative of what Black motherhood looks like and what reproductive justice looks like. We need to feel valued and we need to feel important and that’s part of what I like to do here.”
The Baton Rouge area photographer manages to capture her subjects quite regally and authentically, judging from the images on her website.
Her prices are reasonable starting at $495. She even rents out some of the clothing that women can wear on the shoots to help take some of the cost out of investing in a garment or garments for one shoot.
And it’s not just maternity but senior portraits, family and siblings photos as well with her work. She also offers PhotoTherapy Mentoring and professional consultation.
Take a look at the amazing work:
To book a session or buy a gift card for someone you know, start HERE and tell her Bellyitch sent you!
Here are outfit ideas for your session