Category

Self Portrait

Location

London

Gear

Canon 5DS

Description

I think personal work is always so important in photography. And it doesn’t get much more personal than a pregnant, naked self-portrait! I took the photograph on Valentine’s Day 2019 shortly after my 37th birthday. At first I didn’t want to be seen when I was expecting a baby. I felt like hiding. I didn’t look forward to being so physically different. Having a bump felt like a blank canvas for people to project their thoughts and feelings onto. It was weird and I felt on show. I’d always enjoyed kind of blending into the background (there’s a reason I prefer to be *behind* a camera!) but suddenly strangers would tell me what they thought about me or my bump, or ‘you should do this’, or ‘aren’t you too pregnant to do that?’ or ‘I think xxxx about how you should behave when pregnant’ etc etc I’m not sure when, but eventually something shifted and I actually started to feel ok and accept the way I looked. I started to feel proud of the bump that would eventually turn out to be Joni. It’s funny to think of her in there, kicking away (and she did love to kick!). Even though at times I found pregnancy really difficult (pain, flare ups of nasty conditions, insomnia), towards the end I wanted to document the changes and my body. I guess this image is therefore partly about an acceptance of being seen.

Photographer

Laura Lewis

Social Media

Instagram: @photolauralewis

Twitter: @photolauralewis

Facebook: @photolauralewis

Website: www.lauralewisphotography.com

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