bellies, beauty, and the beatles.

Ok, I will be the first to admit, when I embarked on my photographic career, I never thought I would be interested in shooting women while they are pregnant. The general stereotype is that women, while pregnant, are not feeling their most “beautiful” while their body is being stretched this way and that, and the “dreaded” weight gain (however temporary) can tend to make many people not interested in having a camera exposing them for long lasting memories. My fear was that it would be an uphill battle trying to show someone how beautiful they could be, while their body was going through worse changes than puberty.  How scary is THAT?

Then I met Cassandra.

How wonderful to have the stereotypes I’d heard about smashed into tiny pieces! What I experienced on my first “proper” maternity shoot has probably changed my life forever!  Not only did she open my eyes to how wonderful it could be to shoot someone who has had modelling experience in the past, but I discovered that maternity is, in this humble photographers eyes, one of the MOST beautiful times a woman goes through! Bellies are to be celebrated, flaunted, and proudly displayed for all to see!  I didn’t meet someone that day who was thinking low of herself, I met a confident, radiant woman absolutely glowing with the bundle of joy inside her. It didn’t hurt that she had made my job so much easier by getting a henna design done on her belly beforehand; what a wonderful surprise that I would have never thought of!

Now anyone who knows me, knows that my wife designs and sells maternity shirts online (http://www.jellybeanapparel.com if you’re interested), so I have been around maternity a LOT, but for the most part I’ve only encountered the bellies covered by clothing. Since this experience with Cassandra and her talented musician husband Will, I have had my eyes opened. I feel lucky to have had this experience with them, and look forward to sharing it with other bellies in the future. From now on, I will forever look towards seeing how much more we can explore the beauty of the belly, in all it’s natural and uncovered form!

Viva La Bellies!

  • September 10, 2009 - 9:24 am

    Penny L. - Usually I don’t leave a comment but I wanted to let you know that I really like your site.ReplyCancel

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