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Playboy July 1997

Play mate News
Demi Moore did it first on the cover of Vanity Fair.
Now Miss November 1988 Pia Reyes [appears] in a more reveling book.
Photographer Mary Ann Halpin blows the lid off our perceptions of pregnancy in Pregnant Goddesshood (General Publishing).
The sexy photographs feature various pregnant women in fantasy settings

The New York Post

If actress Demi Moore lifted the veil on the pregnant body in her controversial Vanity Fair cover five years ago, then photographer Mary Ann Halpin has thrown open the curtain on that lingers as a somewhat taboo image.

Her book "Pregnant Goddesshood: A Celebration of Life" is a collection of portraits - 65 expectant mothers in all - dressed in fantastic costumes, but with their full, and often decorated, bellies bare.

In the accompanying intimate essays, Halpin's subjects describe the range of emotions they confronted during pregnancy: from fear to joy, to empowerment and most of all growing love for the life they were nurturing.

The venture that began five years ago was a change for Halpin, who'd spent most of her career shooting Hollywood stars.

"These actors and actresses always said 'I'm not perfect enough. My body's not perfect.' That bothered me as a woman," says Halpin, who wanted to do a figure study for an exhibit based on more natural female forms.

Natural, almost immediately meant pregnant.
The first person who came to see me was pregnant," she recalls. "She looked like a goddess and she loved her body. In fact, she was more comfortable with it pregnant, than not."

Urged by her publisher to turn her idea into book, Halpin began recruiting subject by putting an ad in an entertainment industry newsletter. Actresses Cassandra Peterson ("Elvira, Mistress of the Dark"), Kathy Najimy ("Veronica's Closet") and Dinah Manoff ("Empty Nest") signed on, as well as a stuntwoman, a body builder, a teacher and some full-time mothers.

The essays reflect the thoughts of women of varying ages - though most are over 35 - and experiences.

One 43-year old subject describes the thrill her pregnancy would go to term after six miscarriages, another told of coming to terms with her baby after an unexpected positive pregnancy test.

The book's process also dug up Halpin's long-contained grief. After years of effort, Halpin and her husband abandoned their efforts to have children. "It put me through a lot," she says. "About six months into it I was wondering why am I doing it. But in the end it was a magical experience."

Halpin says she owes a great deal to Demi Moore for her courageous decision to pose pregnant and nude for Vanity Fair. "Thank God for her," says Halpin. "That was a risk. I don't think people would be welcoming my book without her."

Still while the days of hidden pregnancy and the confinement of expectant mothers may be over, American society has apparently yet to fully accept the pregnant female form. "I've already had some people say the book is risque," said Halpin. "I don't understand, no one seems to have a problem with the Baywatch girls."

L.A. Parent Magazine November 1997

Picturing Pregnancy "Offensive," declared critics of Demi Moore posing pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair.
Not Photographer Mary Ann Halpin.
"I was moved by how proud she was; she looked like a goddess," says Halpin, who at the time was working on a photographic essay of pregnant women.
The result, Pregnant Goddesshood: A Celebration of Life, arrives in bookstores this month.
The book contains 70 striking color photos of mothers-to-be in various poses, along with testimonials from each about being pregnant.
Halpin met with each mother-some of them friends, others who heard about her project through word-of-mouth-to discuss how she wanted to be photographed. One woman, for instance, poses as a mermaid by the sea, another wears a pair of butterfly wings.
Halpin hopes her art will stir up a little controversy.
"This celebrates what a woman's body can do," she says.

Jay Gordon, Doctor of Pediatrics

"Pregnant women don't always receive a lot of cultural affirmations (or compliments!) for the way they look and the new and unusual feelings they experience while pregnant.
Extraordinary pictures and the poignant and often humorous expressions of emotion make this a beautiful, important, and moving book."

Linda Gray

"The most beautiful energy on earth is the energy exchanged between mother and child.
Mary Ann Halpin has deliciously captured that magical energy with her eye and, especially, with her heart."

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

"Written sensitively and exquisitely photographed, this book provides a poignant reminder of the miracle of life producing life...
I loved every page."

Life Magazine, February Issue by Vanessa Bush

Labor of Love

In the six years it took to give birth to Pregnant Goddesshood, 65 portraits of expectant mothers inspired by their own fantasies, Mary Ann Halpin's maternal insticts worked overtime.

She organized photo sessions around Lamaze classes and doctors visits and even assisted at a birth when a woman went into labor while posing in windswept pink chiffon.

Long fascinated by how women see their bodies, Halpin had begun her project by photographing pregnant friends.

Soon she found herself holding a casting call for more models. Nearly 50 responded.

To Halpin's surprise, her finished portfolio has sparked controversy among some booksellers, who fear exposed pregnant bellies will offend readers.

Shocking people was never the intent: "I see this as a woman expressing the beauty of her body."

Now that Halpin's "baby" has come to term (she has no children herself), she's enjoying the fruits of her labor: A wall of baby picture.

Check out some Websites....

www.storksite.com There is a on-line magazine called Storkzine on this site that did quite an extensive interview with me.
It really tells the story.

A wonderful Diva, Penny Meslo, has a site www.birthwaves.com.
She has become quite a wonderful Canada connection!

Also, Pregnancy Today, a resource and community just for expectant parents, created to guide you through pregnancy and birth!