A Pregnancy Session

Digital original

Directly after the session with L_ and Elisabeth, I had arranged to work with Christina, a new model. The session was to take place in my own apartment, revisiting the small bedroom where so much of my indoor work has been produced over the last couple of years. I have known Christina for several years through her sister, Victoria, but this was my first time working with her as a figure model; the purpose of the session was to begin to document her pregnancy. Just like the work made with Aurora last fall, the images of Christina would focus on the last four months. The gift of being able to work with her is a hard one to describe; pregnant models are uncommon, and coming so close to my work with Aurora, it permits me the opportunity to continue building on my pregnancy imagery.

6x7 cm film

Christina was somewhat nervous about modeling initially. It wasn't that she had any doubts about wanting to have the photos made, more that she was nervous about taking the first step. She'd asked Victoria to come along for the company but there was a scheduling conflict, so Christina came alone. Once we began working, however, she relaxed and became much more comfortable. Because of the small bedroom we worked in, almost all the poses were either lying or sitting on the bed, which was both natural and restful for Christina, both of which only helped her confidence with the session.

6x7 cm film

The greatest frustration of the session was the same as I felt with most of the other pregnant models - a sense of loss for missing the first stages of the pregnancy. It is a wonderful gift to be permitted to work with Christina while she moves through her first pregnancy, but I can't help think of how rich the series would be if it moved from pre-pregnancy, through all the stages of gestation, through to portraits of mother and child afterwards.