Comme c'est merveilleux d'accueillir une nouvelle vie dans le monde. Extraordinaire, impressionnant, bouleversant et un peu effrayant !

C'est quoi un reportage d'accouchement ?

It is a photographic account of your birth story. It is not just the moment of the baby’s expulsion as some may imagine. For me it starts from the contractions, surrounded by your companion, midwife and/or doula, at home, in a birthing centre or at the maternity. The idea is to capture the moments of emotional intimacy, the parents’ experience of the hours leading up to meeting their child,  and of course the moments following baby’s arrival in the world, the first glances, the first kisses.

Pourquoi photographier les accouchements ?

Most people discover the birth world once already right in it, so to speak.  And here I am having discovered it thanks to photography, thanks to a wedding client who allowed me to document her labor in a way that helped her remember the positive memories through physical pain.

I don’t have kids, so maybe I don’t have a clue. But maybe it’s even better to arrive with a blank page and discover everything before experiencing it intimately. Since then, I researched quite a lot about pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. I find it quite unfortunate that we are never told about it in school, or growing up, and above all I have the impression that if we talk about it, it is only to women.

Mais le papa dans tout ça ? Il est souvent un peu à l'écart, ne connaissant pas le sujet, ni le langage, ne sachant pas comment s'y prendre...mais cela ne veut pas pour autant dire qu'il n'en a pas envie. Si seulement on en savait tous plus sur le sujet avant de se retrouver neuf mois avant l'arrivée du bébé à devoir tout apprendre, à accepter les changements du corps, des hormones, et de son âme, tout en travaillant et en cachant la grossesse pendant des mois...franchement je n'imagine même pas le stress et le chamboulement pour tout le monde.

I definitely feel a need to lift the veil of the scary and unknown for these future parents, but also for all of us. It is still taboo, people are afraid to hear the “gory” details, and don’t want to think about physical pain. How can we support our loved ones if we never talk about it, if we don’t know how to support them?

I don’t pretend to be an expert,  but perhaps my images can help people not only prepare for their own birth story, or to help a loved one, but also have memories of the beautiful power of childbirth instead of seeing it as a painful experience with a positive outcome. Some clients have told me that it has helped them get past post party trauma, others have told me that it brought them closer to their partner to have these photographic memories, and most cannot wait to show the images to their children and tell them how they came into the world.

Ce que je souhaite le plus, c'est que vous vous sentiez forte et épanouie par votre histoire de naissance, et pour que vous puissiez la célébrer à travers ces moments capturés.