Roberta's Pregnancy #1

It was almost seven weeks from Roberta' initial contact with me about modeling, and her arrival in Moncton to work with me. The reason for the delay was that Roberta was pregnant with her first child and wanted to wait as long as possible before the session to insure her belly was as large as possible. Due to the reality of geography, however, this had be around the 7th month of her term, as she lives in the US and had to fly up to Moncton to model.

8"x10" film

When Roberta initially approach me about working together, I had questioned the sanity of flying to Moncton to model but she assured me there were no photographers in her area who did the kind of work she was looking for, or whom she wanted to work with. After a long and extensive e-mail conversation, we settled on the dates, and began setting things in motion. 

When she and her husband finally arrived, we spent a pleasant evening eating and talking, looking at work, and finalizing the plans for the coming sessions. With a three day visit, there was a finite amount of time available to work, so careful planning was necessary to make the most of what we had. The next morning, we started our first session, working in the corner of the kitchen by the deck doors.

8"x10" film

After spending so much time working with Aurora in the fall of 2002, I have grown quite comfortable working with the pregnant Nude; there is a beauty inherent in the changed lines of the body that is fabulous to work with, and while each model is different, there is a theme that flows between then, the creation that is growing within. With many models, modeling is part of a process of growing more comfortable within their own bodies, but with pregnant models, the images are very much about the mother-to-be's celebration of her changing body, and her love for the life growing inside.

Digital original

The session went very well, with Roberta quickly growing comfortable with the process, and the luminous space providing the perfect setting to begin in. I still find the kitchen corner a little small, compared to the spaces I worked with in Halifax (though I never thought I would have considered an 8'x10' bedroom large), but Roberta and I made do with what we had, and came away with images to be proud of.