let's talk it out
How wonderful it is to welcome new life to the world. Extraordinary, impressive, life altering and a little scary!
So what is birth photography?
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.
Why birth photography?
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.
What about the fathers? They are often left on the sidelines, not knowing much about the details, not knowing how to go about things…but that doesn’t mean that they don’t want to. If only we all knew more about the subject before finding ourselves nine months before the baby’s arrival having to learn everything, to accept the changes in the body and in the soul, while still working and hiding the pregnancy for months… frankly I can’t even imagine the stress and upheaval for everyone.
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.
What I wish most is for you to feel empowered by your birth story, and for you to be able to celebrate it through these captured moments.