How many pregnant women feel “luscious” about themselves and their bodies?

It is difficult to shed the Jane Fonda slim-and-trim ideal of a lifetime and allow oneself to be ‘huge for a purpose’. Few mirrors reflect back to a pregnant woman the beauty of her blossoming body. I remember walking down the street, three months pregnant, and realizing I could not relate to any of the stores I was walking past. The food stores threatened to make me nauseous. The kitchen-hardware-jewelry “thing” stores I had no intention of entering because we were budgeting for a baby. And the clothing stores—well, I had little sense of what shape my body was growing into even as I walked down the street. It was not until I began to look bigger that I became able to revel in my state. But along with this, I experienced a sense of otherness and sometimes embarassment. The sense of disorientation I felt at this time grew as my body changed. It is hard to have a point of reference for one’s self when one does not have a body that maintains a consistent weight and shape. Embracing the many facets of pregnancy in all its roundedness and voluptuousness is a challenge for any woman. By having images of pregnancy readily accessible to us we shed light on a subject of great beauty that has remained a source of awkwardness and discomfort for too long.

I began Our Beautiful Bellies: Portraits of Pregnant Women to enable women to see themselves while pregnant as beautiful, magical, and powerful. Whenever I ask a woman to strike a pose that shows her feelings about being pregnant, she cradles her belly. This gesture captures a unique paradox—one is both extremely vulnerable yet powerful enough to embrace change and to be aware of the deep center of selfhood.

One of the most amazing features of a woman’s body is its capacity to give birth to a new person. A pregnant woman has a distinctive life narrative. She faces a profound adjustment to the fact of her pregnancy and its implications for her self-understanding and her future. She often shies away from discussing her very intimate experience in social settings, and yet it is hard to be private about a process that is so publicly visible. She may feel puzzled, troubled or adrift in foreign sensations and experiences.

These photographs were created in a collaborative effort with women who have never been models, in their own home environments, and with natural lighting as the only tool to convey their beauty. Daryn does her photography work in the privacy of womens' own homes. There she creates her images to last a lifetime by photographing pregnant women, their spouses and other children when it is desired. Many women at the beginning of their photo shoot said, “I will never look like those other women you have taken photos of. They look so beautiful.” To which I responded, “That’s what each of them said to me when I began their photo sessions.”

Daryn Stier is a mother, photographer, and therapist, living in Walnut Creek, California. Her photographs are part of a larger series entitled Our Beautiful Bellies: Portraits of Pregnant Women. She hopes that this work will eventually become a book that can offer women acknowledgment and support as they experience the transition from woman to woman and mother, and convey to all the power and beauty of the state of pregnancy.

Honoring women's lives is one of Daryn's lifelong commitments. Through her gallery shows, cards, private photography sessions, and in her psychotherapy practice, she strives with women to claim back the magic and strength they have.

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