When Demi Moore bared her naked pregnancy on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine 19 years ago, sexualizing pregnancy in a revolutionary way, the actress sparked a craze for celebrities to pose while pregnant.

Fast forward to today, and more and more mothers-to-be are posing in the buff to make a statement, namely that they are grateful to be pregnant and feeling beautiful as well as sexy in their new body.

“You’re not pregnant all the time,” says young mother Agnes Kiki, explaining why she had pictures of herself taken during her pregnancy last year. “Having a ‘bloated body’ like this is momentous. It’s something you should remember for the rest of your life,” she says.

While Kiki (and perhaps other people who saw her) thought her body was “bloated”, it didn’t stop her from feeling like the sexiest woman on Earth. Wondering why some pregnant women were not confident about their new figures, Kiki had the idea of capturing her figure underwater. Wearing a simple piece of clothing, she went below the surface, reflecting her inner freedom and gratitude as a pregnant woman.

“Women should realize they exude a natural glow when they’re pregnant,” Kiki says.

“And they should let everybody see it.”

Kiki was lucky to be so confident about her body during her pregnancy. Women discussing pregnancy
in maternity forums often cite becoming fat and ugly as one of their main issues of concern. Many confess they feel unattractive and even hate getting dressed during their pregnancy.

“I often hear pregnant women saying, like, ‘Oh, why am I so fat? Look at my big arms, look at my chubby cheeks, look at my large thighs…,’ and so on,” says photographer Varinia Kusumowidagdo,
who specializes in maternity photography.

“And when someone wants to take their photo, they say, ‘no way, I’m fat and ugly, don’t take a picture of me’.”
This kind of low self-esteem and negativity during pregnancy, Vari says, drove her crazy.

“I mean, pregnancy is a precious gift from God, so why can’t we just enjoy it?”

Once pregnant herself, wedding photographer Vari decided to change the way some women felt about themselves during their pregnancy, and switched to maternity photography two years ago.

“I wanted to reverse the social stigma associated with pregnancy, which dictates that pregnant women should hide their bodies, and also highlight women’s feelings about their pregnancies,” the 33-year-old says.

“I want to open their eyes, to make them realize how attractive and sexy they are when they’re pregnant,” she adds.

Some women would “cross the desert on their knees” to have a child, so, as Vari says, pregnant women should realize how lucky they are.

“Not all women can have a child, so we must be grateful for this,” Vari says.

“Then, they [women] also have to realize they are carrying the seed of love inside them. It’s a wonderful thing.”

So why shouldn’t women feel confident when they’re pregnant, she says.

Pregnant woman send messages to their babies through their thoughts and feelings, Vari adds.

“What I learned is that if from the beginning we complain about things like being fat or our skin breaking out, we can leave ‘emotional scars’ on our baby,” Vari says.

“So I think pregnant women should not worry about such things and savor the nine months of intimacy with their [unborn] child.”

Savoring such intimate moments is also what Emi Takeya did when she had pregnancy portraits made six months ago with her sister Naomi O’Leary. At that time, Emi was pregnant with her second child and was searching for a maternity photographer. That was when she met Vari through a friend.

“I had wanted to do maternity photos ever since my first pregnancy,” says Emi.

“It’s once in a lifetime, and I believe maternity nude [photography] is very artistic.

“I think I had a perfect pregnant body,” she says, laughing.

At first, her sister did not like the idea of have their bulging bellies captured on camera. But later, she agreed, “and turned out to be very happy with the photos. She said I was right to ask her to do it,” Emi says.

Now, six months later, Emi still has a photo of herself pregnant as her Facebook profile picture.

“Some people were kind of shocked by that photo,” she says.

“They were like, ‘Wow! I can’t believe you took those photos!’” she laughs.

While Emi, Naomi and Kiki are happy with the results, Vari is also glad to be able to capture their mixed feelings about pregnancy.

Women today feel special about being pregnant because of changing trends, Vari says. Our mothers and grandmothers sometimes had up to 10 or 12 children, perhaps taking away the magic of pregnancy for them, she says.

“But today, most people have two or three kids only, so they want to capture those special moments during the pregnancy,” she says, adding that pregnant women were at their most beautiful in their seventh and eighth month of pregnancy.

To capture the moment, of course, Vari doesn’t just focus on pregnant women’s graceful bodies, but also on their experiences — in a most life-affirming light.

“My purpose is to make these pregnant women feel wonderful about themselves and positive at such a magical time in their lives,” she says.

“Having maternity pictures is also something these women can be proud of. They want to show these pictures to their families — their mothers, sisters and so on.”

It’s surely not easy to capture women’s joy and infuse them with joyful spirits at the same time. It sometimes takes intimate conversations before Vari can get women to reveal their feelings in front of the camera lense.

“It’s important for me to speak with them before the photo shoots, to gain their trust,” says Vari, who exhibits some of her work at www.varikusumo.com.

“If I can’t gain their trust, they will not be comfortable, and that will come through in their photos.”

In some cases, women want to bring their husbands and children to join the photo sessions.

“They want [me] to capture their intimacy as a family,” she says.

And this is exactly what Kiki wished for when she brought her husband and eldest son along to have her own maternity portraits taken.

“One day, I want to show these photos to my child and say, ‘see, this was me, your father and your brother when I carried you inside me’,” Kiki says.

But of course, aside from that, Vari says she wants her maternity photos to empower and encourage women.
“In 10, 20 or 30 years from now, I want these women to look at these photos and think: ‘oh wow, I was pregnant and beautiful’,” Vari says.

“And I want them to have good memories about it,” she smiles.

— Photos courtesy of Varinia Kusumowidagdo

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