Regular Moms Take Pregnancy Photos, Too

June 30, 2006 — -- Remember the stir caused in 1991 by a pregnant and nude Demi Moore posed on the cover of Vanity Fair?

Well, 15 years later, it's Britney Spears' turn. She's posing nude -- and pregnant -- on the cover of Harper's Bazaar magazine.

If Spears is causing less of a stir, it's partly because we're used to seeing revealing photos of expecting celebrities.

Last summer, when Spears was pregnant with her first child, magazines published plenty of paparazzi shots of her sunbathing in a bikini with her stomach fully exposed.

You don't have to be a celebrity to want to flaunt your pregnant curves -- women everywhere are doing it.

In a nonscientific ballot on ABCNEWS.com in August, respondents were almost evenly split on whether pregnant women should flaunt their bodies or show modesty and cover up. Fifty-one percent said expecting moms should not be afraid to celebrate their changing figures.

Now that pregnancy is considered beautiful, women want to immortalize their pregnant bodies.

Heather Hart, whose photography business A La Mode Photo (www.alamodephoto.com) is located in Santa Monica, Calif., said she photographed three or four pregnant women a week -- more than twice as many from five years ago.

"I just think that the belly is like artwork to me," said Hart, who likes to wrap her subjects in flowing fabrics to highlight the curves. "So, every time I even see a belly, I just think, 'Wow, they are just amazing.'"

One of Hart's clients, Ginelle Elliot, was reluctant to do a photo shoot but her husband wanted her to.

Although she said she felt "fat and disgusting," she ended up loving the photos.

"The pictures are so beautiful," Elliot said. "I couldn't believe I actually look like that. Because when you look at yourself in the mirror, you just look huge and it's not your body."