Jennifer Loomis continued...

Why do you focus so exclusively on maternity and family?
Because I am passionate about it and I love witnessing this time in people’s lives. There is so much love. Plus, I love the pregnant nude. I think it is a very under-represented form in the art world. Initially, I did it to challenge society’s definition of beauty.  Now, I think society has started to embrace the pregnant body led by the mother’s themselves who are having photos taken.

You are so right - in a way, pregnancy used to be a very taboo subject. What has happened to bring this photography genre into the mainstream recently?
Annie Leibovitz and Demi Moore did a great thing for pregnant women when they did that shoot for the cover of Vanity Fair in 1991. That opened the vault and forced people to look at the pregnant body. I also think that the celebrity culture deserves some credit, as celebrities are very open with their bodies.  As a result we are constantly bombarded with images of beautiful pregnant women.

I agree, especially after seeing the ever-glam Catherine Zeta-Jones with her baby bump.  What does your photography provide to modern moms?
My photography provides modern moms the opportunity to feel beautiful about their bodies during their pregnancy. Sometimes mothers come in and can’t see their beauty and when they get the photos back then all of a sudden their opinions/feelings about their bodies change. I constantly hear “Wow, I look so beautiful. I can’t believe this is me!“ I love hearing that, it gives me goose bumps to think that my work can change the way a woman sees herself.

Women deserve to feel that beautiful!  Do you find that most of your clients are nervous to start?
In the beginning some people are nervous, but now that I have an established reputation, most women coming to me trust me implicitly. They know that I am going to do everything to make them look great.

So, how do you calm those who are nervous and get the inner mama mojo to come out?
Mostly through conversation.  I love talking to people and learning more about them. I ask parents how they met, how their pregnancy is, what they’ve learned. I have all these amazing stories of how couples met, their births, the challenges they face as parents and spouses.  I am actually working on a book about it.  I also share my own experiences and challenges that I have faced as a woman and a business owner; this vulnerability helps my clients to feel more comfortable opening up. 

How do you bring a new viewpoint and make the photographs individual, instead of doing the same thing every time?
I bring a new viewpoint each time because each mom is different and each family has a different dynamic. My background as a photojournalist has been invaluable, because I have been trained to tell a story with photographs. This means my eyes see more than most people’s do because I notice everything from the color of the socks to how the husband hands the mother the baby’s blanket.

Every mother is different and likes different things. It helps to talk with them. And sometimes I just ask them to trust me. I also have a bag full of lenses and film types and other things that I use if I ever feel that I need something fresh.