It’s impossible to know when a series of pictures will come from a portrait session. A series is a perfect example of hindsight operating in human affairs. We can perceive its existence only by examining history.

In portraiture, I always finish the session feeling that I’ve missed it somehow. When I examine the results, I’m excited to find even one really good frame - a hit. Additional hits are more than can be expected, certainly more than the superstitious would advise expecting. So when several good images result, such as five in this case, there is cause for rejoicing. Superstition would probably call for the sacrifice of small creatures, lest the phenomenon never recur. I never expect it to recur; I’ve been surprised by series so rarely I can hardly believe they really happen.

This series of five is called "Meg is Pregnant." Chance, the largest factor in photography, intervened: neither Meg nor her mother planned to pose on this occasion, and I didn’t plan it either. We didn’t even have daylight. We worked in the evening, which means total darkness in December Toronto. They turned up at my studio on their way to a party. Lucky me - I got the pictures and went to the party, too!