Colorado maternity and commercial photographer Ethan Herrold noticed the pregnant women he knew in his home base of Denver were biking, climbing, and running trails into their third trimester. But in portraits, they always seemed to be still. So, he decided to launch a fine art series, “Pregnant Athletes,” to showcase the active pregnant women he knew existed. “I wanted to shoot pregnancy the way I’d shoot any other athletic moment,” he says, “in motion, in real conditions, with the same intensity I’d bring to a commercial shoot for an outdoor brand.”

Finding subjects wasn’t difficult. “Colorado has an unusually high concentration of competitive and recreational athletes, so climbers, runners, and paddleboarders were already booking sessions with me before the series existed,” he says. He also reached out to pregnant professional athletes, including Brooks-sponsored middle distance runner Katie Follett, whom he photographed during her first and second pregnancies.

Since clients now come to him for an adventurous, athletic maternity session, he created an adventure maternity brand, called WanderBump. The series also caught the eye of Outside magazine, which experienced record engagement when it featured the photos on its Instagram account for Mother’s Day. “When I pitch to outdoor brands, this series is what gets the meeting, not my catalog work,” he says. “Commercial and client work pays the bills, but it rarely builds a body of work that says something on its own.” His active maternity images are today why brands take his calls and clients seek him out, he explains, which illustrates how personal projects can boost business. “I’d tell any working photographer the same thing: Pick something you’d shoot even if nobody paid you for it and give it time to become undeniable.”  

Amanda Arnold is a senior editor.