Belly

A new favorite!
This is from a recent session, I was so excited to get this film back. You can see why.

Mothers Day Belly

With Mothers day fast approaching I thought it only seemed appropriate to share some images from a special families recent session. These guys have been with me from when I first started getting my official business off and running. Our first belly shoot was with little Nuala and she is now 3 and very excited to be a big sister. Rebecca is due right around Mothers day, what better gift could you ask for? I have been including more and more children in these shoots, as returning clients have new babies and families grow. I am continually surprised at how well the children listen and put up with my manual focusing and directing. Photographing children can be tricky and with film even trickier. Nuala was great, she is so sweet and already showing mom and dad what a good big sister she will be.

With our first belly shoot when Nuala was in the belly we did a shot in this same chair and a slightly different angle on the legs, they have it framed above their bed so for the new baby we did this variation which will join the other print on the wall.

Rebecca looks gorgeous. She has such a perfect belly.

A nice little moment between mother and daughter.

Happy Mothers day to all my Mom's out there, I hope you have a wonderful day! I am off today to visit my Mom in New Mexico for Mothers day. I couldn't tell you the last time I spent Mothers day with her so when she requested a visit and I didn't have a wedding booked it was a no brainer.

New Bellies

Spring is always the busiest time for me with bellies. I am not sure what it is about the spring. The cycle of new life maybe?

I haven't shared any bellies in a while. This work is very intimate and private. I always say it but I never want anyone to feel uncomfortable so a lot of my belly work never makes it to the blog.

I have been having a blast with these sessions. Its such an awesome time in a families life.

Here are a few I would like to share.

Punk Rock Belly & Tattoo Love

A couple of weeks ago I had such a blast with Susan & Tim. Tim wanted to surprise her with a belly shoot since they missed the opportunity to have any done with their twins. I have to say that this is the most fun I have ever had on a belly shoot. I always have a great time but Susan and Tim were just infectious with their laughs and personalities that my cheeks hurt when I left. I love that they have a look all their own, love the tattoo's and the character around their apartment. It was a good thing we did the shoot when we did because had we waited 5 days later it would have been too late! Last week Susan gave birth to Jewel Mellita. I can't wait to meet her and the twins since they were at day care when we did the shoot.

Enough chit chat, check out these awesome images.

Susan went to cosmetology school and had these "heads" going up the stairs. I love that it so cool but just a tad creepy, all in a good way.

One of my favorites. Tim does the best job of making Susan laugh.

This is the only belly session I have done where I have found myself wishing I had a roll of color film. Their tattoos were super vibrant, but I still love them in B&W.

They have such great chemistry and I already know they are fun parents.

Congratulations guys! It was such a blast and I am so excited to meet the new family.

Mothers Day Contest

I thought it might be fun to hold little contest for Mothers day. What do you think?

Here's the deal.

I will give away ONE baby shoot and ONE belly shoot. The catch? Well I want to hear your stories, why you or your mom deserves it, why you want it or why someone you know deserves/wants this shoot. Send me your stories AND a creative photograph of your mom, yourself, your mom when she was pregnant with you or your belly. Self portraits are the best as you are always your most available subject.
I have never done this kind of thing before so I thought it might be fun. I hope you guys are up for it or can nominate someone who you think deserves a photo shoot with me.

I will post images as I receive them and a winner on Mothers day. Due to the timing of this I will be deciding the winner but I will also be posting the top three stories in each category along the way.
(if you don't think you can take a creative photograph of yourself or your belly, you can submit sentimental photos of your mother that you love.)

send submissions to: joy at joymoody dot com

So get to it! :)

Here are some old photos of my mom that I have always loved and may give you an idea for what you could submit if you go down the old photograph route.

Andrea's Belly

A few weekends ago I had the pleasure of spending some time with Andrea and Michael. They are expecting a little bundle in mid May. We had a great time and they were oh so gracious to let me hang out and wait for the passing thunderstorms! I love when I get clients that live in high rises in the city, the view and the light they get are just amazing!

We did a wide variety of shots, poses and locations throughout the apartment. These are a few of my favorites.









So wonderful getting to know you guys! I can't wait to find out what you are having.

Kelly's Belly

I am very excited to share this number of images with you all! I know I am pretty conservative when sharing belly sessions but that's the nature of what I do. Its a very personal intimate photo session and I never want anyone to be uncomfortable with me sharing their images.

So on to the good stuff! Kelly and Tom were awesome to work with. I had to work really hard not to chat through the whole session. We actually had to take breaks from conversation to get back to taking photographs. So funny when that happens but I love it, they were so easy going and we got along great. I think that really shows through in their images. Take a peak!

Their cat was very funny through the whole session. He wanted to be the center of attention, he followed us into every room and wanted to get in every shot. They said it was so unlike him that any other time you could never find him. Very funny. (I think it was a he, I forget.)

OK so this last one Kelly and Tom gave their permission for and I actually had not intended on sharing it but was really excited when they suggested I could use this one. This image has been in my head for years. I have only told Linette and my friend April about it. Its just one of those things, it so simple yet you would be surprised its so hard to get. Most of the dads are not into doing anything like this, and you know at first Tom wasn't either. But I told them about my vision and they got really excited about it and more importantly trusted me. Now part of the vision involves a man with a bit larger belly but I love how this came out. I love the juxtaposition of his hairy belly next to her smooth round belly, the blue jeans and the lacy underwear. So simply classic, so American gothic and so timeless.

Of course there are tons more images that I am not sharing. You'll have to trust me when I tell you there are some really beautiful images of Kelly from this session. She is a glowing beautiful pregnant mama. Thank you guys for being such a wonderful couple to work with. I can't wait to find out what you're having. Congratulations!

The Business Of Being Born

I attended a screening of Ricki Lake's documentary The Business Of Being Born. I want to encourage every woman whether you are pregnant or not to see this film. It is coming out on February 27th on DVD, you can rent it or buy it.

It is amazing to me the tactics that hospitals use when delivering a baby, and how uninformed women are about their rights. I have not had any children myself so I can not comment on the experience of birthing a child but as a baby that was born at home I have always had an understanding of the benefit of not being born in a hospital. Not that I remember anything about being born at home but all my life I have had a clear understanding from my mother about the whole experience. She did not have a great experience when she gave birth to my brother in the hospital so when I came along my parents made the decision to have a midwife and give birth to me at home. My mom always talks about how wonderful it was to have me at home, she was up and walking making tea an hour or so later. There is something really comforting about that. At the hospital they really don't want you to get out of your bed.

My head is so full of information right now and parts of this film just brought me to tears, happy and sad. Did you know that you as a woman and mother of your child have the right to tell the doctors and nurses that your baby will not leave your room? People take this for granted and accept it when the nurse takes the baby away to the nursery, why is that? They just don't know that they have that right.

All the women who had their children at home in this film talked about how hard it was and how rewarding it was to have their child at home, the bonding and experience of it could not be matched and they would have not had the same experience being all drugged up in the hospital. Once the hospital has an IV in you it is so easy for them to drug you up and your head is not in a rational place to have any say so. I can go on and on, I am obviously so moved and upset by watching this, I don't even know where to begin. But whatever you decide to do when having your child make sure it is your choice, know your rights, and make sure your partner and family know your rights and what you want. When you are in the heat of the moment it is hard to stick to what you think is right and the doctors have a way with threating the life of your child to get you to do what is convenient for them.

If you are about to have a child, or plan to in the future watch this film and make sure your husband or partner watches it too. I think it is really important. The film is not about trying to get every woman to have their children at home, it is about educating women on their choices.

Here is the house I was born in, I was born in Santa Fe New Mexico.
My placenta was planted under a tree in the back yard.

Jenna's amazing belly shoot

I am so excited to share this image. I am just in love with it. Jenna and Jeff are awesome and we had a great time during our shoot a few weeks ago. You will have take my word when I say the rest of the images are just as awesome. This image is in my top three from their shoot.

I can't wait to go back when the baby arrives. Thank you for having me out!

Tracy's Belly Shoot

A couple weeks ago I met up with Tracy and Mike for a belly shoot. They are such an adorable couple and both are super excited for their new baby, the sex of the baby is going to be a surprise. If I had to guess I would lean towards a girl. We will see. We had a ton of fun changing outfits and locations throughout the house for photos. I picked up the film earlier this week, which is always exciting and here are a couple of my favorites.



Aren't they just adorable? The light throughout the house was awesome and I don't think there is one bad photo from the whole shoot! Congratulations you two I can not wait to hear when the baby is born.

Fun website for the mom to be.

I came across this site today and had to share it, babystrology.com.
You can find baby names based on meanings and origins, you can create a countdown ticker for when the baby is going to be born (cool tool for mom's with blogs). You can buy stuff, learn stuff and have fun. I thought it was pretty cool, if you are pregnant or planning to be check this out!

Danica's Belly

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting Danica and Ben. They are getting ready to welcome their new little bundle into their lives. They are going to be surprised by the sex of the baby, which I think is so exciting. Another exciting thing is that Danica is due around my birthday, Dec 11, if she ends up having this baby on my birthday I have already told her to expect something special from me! Lets keep our fingers crossed I think that would be so cool.

I know I don't show enough bellies and its one of my favorite things to photograph, but with that said these are very intimate sessions and I only share the photos that I know my clients will be comfortable with. I am happy to show more examples of these sessions in personal meetings if you are interested in seeing more.

This is my favorite from the session. It jumped out at me when I picked up the film and looked at the contact sheets to make sure they were all way ok. I love it.
It is abstract and I love how her form mimics the pattern on the floor.

You have to love these dad shots. He is going to be a super proud daddy.

I love Danica's expression in this photograph. She is so excited and it certainly shows.

We had a ton of fun during this session. I broke away from some of my standards because it was a super dark rainy day. This is the first session I brought along my little video light. I am all about using available light but there are some circumstances that you just don't have it. This light was great because it is a constant running light, and it gets super hot which in the winter really warms a room up! Great for pregnant women wearing very little!

I can not wait to hear when you have this baby and I will be so excited for our moody baby session. Congratulations you guys.

October Specials and Celebration

October is going to be a month of specials and celebration!

First is the Celebration.
I am venturing out into the world of being a full time professional photographer! Yep that's right, bye bye day job. This means I will have the much needed time to devote to my business and my clients. Very exciting! I have worked long and hard for this day to come and you, my fantastic clients, have allowed me to get where I am today.

The Specials!
I am a member of the Professional Photographers of America and every October they host Family Portrait Month. Studios that participate in Family Portrait month commit to donating a percentage from each sitting to Operation Smile, which treats children around the world who suffer with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities. I can not think of a better chance to raise money for such a worthy cause. I plan on donating 10% of my total portrait sessions and weddings booked in October to Operation Smile.

Portrait Sittings
In addition to me donating a percentage from each portrait session to Operation Smile you will have your choice of one of the following products that I will include in your package at no charge to you.

1 set of 24 5x7 Holiday Cards, perfect timing for the upcoming holiday season! 85.00 value
or
1 12x18 print matted to 16x20, ready to be framed. 85.00 value
or
1 soft bound book filled with all the images from your session. 85.00 value

October is a great time to get the family together, the holiday season is right around the corner, so there’s no better time for a family portrait, which is always appreciated as gifts for family and friends and to send along with holiday greeting cards.

Weddings
In the month of October ONLY I am offering 10% off all 2008 wedding photography packages! I will also be donating a percentage from your wedding package to operation smile. The fine print? You must book your wedding, have the signed contract and retainer to me by October 31st. This is an amazing deal and could yield up to 700.00 off your wedding package.

Please feel free to contact me and set up your appointment

Three beautiful bellies

Last weekend I had the pleasure of photographing three different women at an amazing point in their lives. I got the film back and am very excited to share some of the images with you.

First is Jean, I can not even describe how beautiful her photos came out. The window light and the curtains in her bedroom made such an amazing back drop. I can't post my favorite photos of her here, but you can believe me when I tell you they are amazing.

Next is Robin. Again beautiful. All of these women were just amazing. Robin really liked my abstract approach so I did some of that for her.


Last but not least is Amber. We took a totally different approach with Amber and I just love these images.



Such amazing women, each totally unique. It was such a pleasure working with each of them.

Thank you for putting your trust in me, you are all beautiful and amazing.