Orinda Woman's Photographic Study Captures the Essence of the Pregnant Nude

Orinda native Alexa Garbarino's latest photographic project features pregnant women so comfortable with their changing bodies that they took their clothes off and surrendered themselves to her camera — in public.

During a conversation about her new book, RIPE: The Essence of the Pregnant Nude, Garbarino said that despite what you might think, women were clamoring to be a part of her project.

“Normally, it’s hard to get women to have me photograph them naked,” Garbarino admitted during a phone interview from her home in Montclair, N.J. “It’s different when you’re pregnant. I wouldn’t even pose in a bathing suit, but I took pictures of myself in Times Square. I had a hard time getting pregnant and I wasn’t going to miss a minute of it.”

Garbarino said pregnancy is a fleeting moment and she invited her subjects to share their stories. Like her, many had struggled with infertility, but others were simply celebrating something they found blissful.

“Photo shoots happen very fast,” she explained. “I have the camera set up and once the model gets there it’s just fling off your coat and go. It only takes 20 or 30 seconds to shoot a roll of film.”

A very public display of nudity might get someone with less artistic intentions arrested, but Garbarino was undeterred.

“I don’t think even a policeman would arrest a naked pregnant woman," she said. "I could have used the publicity of being arrested, to be honest.”

Locations were chosen by the women for their significance: a cab, because a marriage proposal had happened in one; New York’s Twin Towers, by a woman having twins.

Garbarino shot all the images in black and white on a 30-year-old Hasselblad.

“Black and white is timeless, it’s forgiving, with less distractions than color,” she explained.

Working around restrictions placed on her by her models, she hid one woman’s breasts with a baby and obscured another’s identity by photographing her underwater.

“The only restriction I placed is that there couldn’t be any clothing," she said. "Until I’d started this series, I’d never really seen a naked pregnant body. Everything I saw interrupted the exquisite beauty of the form with arms wrapped around or panties.”

Garbarino said the women’s male partners were sometimes uncomfortable with the scenario, but in the end, the men came away with different opinions.

“Maybe it will change the taboo,” she said hopefully. “Everybody has an opinion, so I know people will have things to say. But I say, ‘Don’t look at it. Walk away if you are uncomfortable.’ I can’t be responsible for everybody’s feelings.”

Garbarino traced her interest in photography to age 12, when her father, an avid amateur photographer, taught her how to use a camera. Eventually, he built a dark room in the basement of their 1920s Orinda home.

“My dad’s family was very big into documentation. My grandfather lied about his age to get into the Army during WWI. We still have pictures of him; cavalry things from 1918. Capturing people on film is a family thing," she said.

RIPE has been awarded First Place for Fine Art Book in the PX3: Prix de la Photographie in Paris, and has won the XTO Image Award for Fine Art Book and the Black & White Spider Award.  Garbarino will discuss her photography project and the book on March 26 at 3 p.m. at Orinda Books.

• Website: www.orindabooks.com/event/alexa-garbarino
• Phone: 925-254-7606
• Email: orindabooks@thegrid.net
• Price: free