A tribute to ordinary goddesses

Since 1990, Tammy Trejo has caught the palpable, personal essences of infants, families and adults in portraits that are like fine-art paintings in her Coastside Photography studio in Half Moon Bay.

She does the same, plus a blend of spirituality and antiquity, in her coffee table book "Infinite Goddess." In portraits of scores of women taken in Mexico, Costa Rica, Arizona, the Adirondacks, Santa Cruz and the Coastside, arrayed in colorful scarves to everyday attire, Trejo attempts to highlight divinity.

"I created this book to honor the divine feminine goddess that resides in all women," she wrote on her website about the book. "The inherent powerful beauty that resides in women sometimes needs a witness to bring it to light. I have seen this so many times and am always astonished by the transformation."

Not unlike the goddess philosophy throughout history, her book evolved over time, Trejo said.

Several life events and inner transformations resulted in hundreds of photographs Trejo categorized according to eight goddess archetypes: the healer, transformer, birther, protector, Mother Earth, abundance, sensuality and keeper of the hearth.

"After many years of photographing women and studying goddess mythology I have found that women possess the attributes of one or more of the eight infinite goddesses and sometimes all of them at once," she wrote on her site.

A published work was just waiting to happen. "I had always known I had a book in me," Trejo said.

It all began in 1993 when Trejo, pregnant with her second son, considered a book centered on fine-art, black-and-white images of pregnant women.

"I thought it was going to be my book," she said. "To me, the moments before a miracle."

Then her own mother passed away. To cope with their grief, Trejo and her sister Penny went to a women's retreat, "Portals to the Self: A Women's Circle by the Sea" in Isla Mujeres (Island of the Women,) Mexico. There, surrounded by women in relaxed everyday personas, Trejo found a revelation.

"The circle of women - that's where I saw the goddess in normal women," she said. "Their authentic selves. Their true selves. Their soul essence."

Her emphasis shifted.

"Not just maternal, but a book of goddesses," she said. "What I saw was a natural, a deep connection to the earth, water, no pretence, open-hearted, no complications. Something special when a group of women circle together, retreat in a circle.

"I recognized the goddess in these ordinary women."

Eventually Trejo started her own women's circle, that met every full moon. She also started gathering portraits, allowing her subjects to bring their own clothing or just swatches of fabric. Only one of her portraits was a candid shot.

"I was giving them freedom" of choice, she said.

This spring, the book advanced another big step. In March, instead of meeting with her circle, Trejo set out all of her portraits and meditated over them.

"I thought about all the goddesses and the energy of all the women, the structure of the book," she said. "That's when it came to me. It's the infinite goddess."

Her hope for her book, she said, was that women celebrate and recognize the goddess within through portraits of women in what she calls the relaxed and natural "goddess state" she saw on Isla Mujeres. "There was a real easy spirit, totally in the moment," she said. "A slowness about them, a kindness, a real grounded deep connection to the earth."

Trejo's book is available through coastsidephotography.com, where a link to the book can be found.