I became indirectly involved with photography around 2006 through my husband’s career as a professional portrait photographer.  Over the years I’ve assisted him at many weddings and photo shoots, but I never had a strong interest in portrait photography myself.  About a year after I started my birth doula practice I decided to start offering birth photography to families who had hired me as their birth doula.   I photographed my first birth in 2011 and I quickly found that I really enjoyed this type of photography.  I still consider myself a birth doula first— I have only ever shot one birth where I was not the primary doula— but I've recently decided to offer this as a stand-alone service starting in 2018/2019.

 

why I love birth (and birth photography)

I love the raw emotion and power that is birth.  I find it to be both energizing and inspiring.  The lighting challenges of photographing a birth keep me on my toes—big time! —especially because I am dependent on ambient light since I choose not to use flash.  I enjoy being in the background, watching for the special moments and finding a way to compose a picture in a way that captures the dynamics of the room.  There are a lot of shadows and dark tones in my images because it's less overwhelming for fresh, tiny babies to be in low-lit environments.  I've included some favorite images below that I have specifically asked permission to share. If you'd like to see a more complete "start to finish" birth portfolio, I can show some in person. I do this to try to maintain some anonymity for these families. 

 

Almost all of my pictures were taken with a Canon 6D and a 50mm 1.4 lens.