Maternity Photographs - A Growing Pregnancy Trend to Celebrate Life
By SnapSquad - January 10, 2019
“Bellies”, as titled by photographer Christina Houser on her website is about pregnant women’s bellies and how they celebrate the dramatic period of transformation of their body and their life, how they nurture the ultimate creation of a new life. This is no time for hiding underneath layers of cloth anymore but rather for feeling gorgeous. Let’s face it, Maternity or Pregnancy Photography has become a trend with mums and the family too.
Maternity Art – How did it start?
I reckon that painted (later sculpted) pregnant women appeared on cave walls when hunted animals’ drawings did. It is understandable both subjects occupied centre place in the life of humans and pregnancy was and still is a fascinating event.
With the evolution of society and its beliefs, the belly had to hide and for women who wanted to celebrate motherhood, artists had to wait till the late 14 hundreds to dare paint pregnancy, in full dress of course. For a long, long time, such portraits were not of any such women like you and I (or your wife if you are a male reading this) but rather of madonnas and queens. Did you know that Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was very much likely pregnant when she was painted? This was found out using infra-red scans that revealed her maternity garment.
Fast forward to modern days, Gustav Klimt in the early 1900s painted two explicitly heavily pregnant women in profile, Hope I and Hope II those were not portraits though.
With the evolution of society and its beliefs, the belly had to hide and for women who wanted to celebrate motherhood, artists had to wait till the late 14 hundreds to dare paint pregnancy, in full dress of course. For a long, long time, such portraits were not of any such women like you and I (or your wife if you are a male reading this) but rather of madonnas and queens. Did you know that Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was very much likely pregnant when she was painted? This was found out using infra-red scans that revealed her maternity garment.
Fast forward to modern days, Gustav Klimt in the early 1900s painted two explicitly heavily pregnant women in profile, Hope I and Hope II those were not portraits though.
Along Came Demi
Demi Moore gracing the cover of Vanity Fair’s August 1991 became a legend and an icon of pregnancy portrait photography. Although the nude picture was labelled “too shocking for the newsstand” by many, the printed portrait started a revolution and transformed the way people reacted to pregnancy. The belly came out of hiding in embarrassment to be celebrated with glory.
A number of famous women have since had their portrait taken while expecting their baby:
Beyonce on a lavish couch or standing Venus-like “I have three hearts”; Heidi Montag in a magical forest; Alanis Morissette swimming under water; Christina Aguilera wearing nothing but a big biker’s jacket; Kate Hudson, Mariah Carey, Pink (I love it!), Serena Williams, Kim Kardashian (of course), Kelly Rowland, Cindy Crawford, Shakira, Britney….
Those stars of the show business have definitely lead the way for all women to want to chronicle and immortalise the most dramatic period of their life on print.
For pictures of stars’ pregnancy portraits, click here
Getting Ready for your Maternity Shoot
More mothers-to-be are celebrating their growing bellies in print, with the help of professional photographers.
Scheduling Your Maternity Shoot?
You will want your belly to appear in full shape; for this, the recommended time seems to be around 35 weeks into pregnancy, when you are not too heavy and feel comfortable to pose. When you reach 30 weeks will be a good time to schedule your shoot with the photographer.
You Are Expecting Twins or More!
A multiple pregnancy will make your belly look bigger earlier, so plan your shoot to be around the 24th week.
The preparation leading to the actual shoot will definitely be exciting: choosing a style, an outfit (formal or glamorous, or no outfit at all), perhaps a theme, a pose (still or with movement, facing the camera or not), a venue… Will the future mum model alone or with an earlier child? Will she make it a family portrait too? Will the print be in colour or black and white?
Mum, this is your most important staring moment after your wedding, so make it what you want it to be (reserved or over the top), feeling beautiful and relaxed; make it a moment of joy.
Have FUN!
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