{"id":1908,"date":"2013-03-12T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2013-03-12T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mayahoodblog.com\/?p=1908"},"modified":"2013-03-10T20:51:04","modified_gmt":"2013-03-11T00:51:04","slug":"birth-photography-is-it-a-trend-or-here-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mayahoodblog.com\/birth-photography-is-it-a-trend-or-here-to-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"Birth Photography. Is it a trend or here to stay?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m obsessed with pictures.\u00a0 I’m only an amateur but I’ve been attached to a camera for as long as I can remember.\u00a0\u00a0Of course, for special occasions, I leave the picture taking to the professionals, including my wedding,\u00a0special family events and sometimes\u00a0vacation pictures.\u00a0\u00a0The only thing I haven’t captured on film (or now, digitally) is the birth of my child.\u00a0 To be honest, I haven’t heard about birth photography until recently.\u00a0 That’s why, when I received an opportunity from Andrea of Mommy Gearest<\/a> to get professional birth pictures done of the birth of my second son, I signed-up immediately. Below is my account of the experience and my thoughts on birth photography. You can read my full review and enter for a chance to win your own birth photography service, valued at $600, from Mommy Gearest here: http:\/\/www.mommygearest.com\/2013\/03\/06\/at-first-sight-birth-photography-review\/<\/a><\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

When I initially signed up for birth photography, I naturally had\u00a0some questions for the photographer, Amber from At First Sight Photography<\/a>.\u00a0 When I first met Amber, it was as if I’ve known her for ages.\u00a0 Her smile is contagious and she has such a warm personality.\u00a0 I immediately felt at ease knowing she would be in the labour room with my husband and I. I believe that this component is very important when considering your photographer.\u00a0 You need to find someone that you like, trust and feel at ease with.\u00a0 After all,\u00a0you will be sharing one of the most intimate times of your life with them.<\/p>\n

We went over the details of the day, what I should expect, when I should contact her, and if there was anything specific I wanted her to capture. For me capturing the first interaction between my older son and my newborn son was of great importance to me.<\/p>\n

While I was immediately onboard with birth photography, my husband needed some convincing.\u00a0 He\u00a0wasn’t as comfortable having a “stranger” in the delivery room or having someone taking pictures of his wife’s private parts.\u00a0 In order to ease my husband’s worries, Amber sent me a customer’s testimonial and a link to\u00a0images taken by other birth photographers\u00a0that show husbands supporting their wives during labour.\u00a0 Also, seeing her portfolio of work allowed us to see the type of pictures we should expect (i.e. no “Hoo-ha” is shown).\u00a0 This definitely helped us both feel comfortable with what we should expect.<\/p>\n

The day of my son’s birth I texted Amber on our drive to the hospital (per her request), at 4 AM<\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 She advised me that she generally likes to come to the hospital when the mother is around 5cm dilated.\u00a0 When I first got checked, I was only 3cm.\u00a0 I got an epidural right away, so my labour slowed down.\u00a0 At 8:30 AM I was only 4cm along.\u00a0 When Amber messaged me around 10:40 AM to see if she should head down (about a 45 minute drive from Bowmanville to Toronto East General Hospital), I told her to hold back because I didn’t think I had progressed much.\u00a0 But when I got checked again an hour later, I was\u00a0already 10cm<\/span>.<\/strong>\u00a0 I franticly texted Amber with the news, crossing my fingers that she would make it down in time.\u00a0 Since my son’s head hadn’t dropped down though, I was told to try to hold off on pushing.\u00a0\u00a0The moon and the stars aligned (it was a full moon that night), and somehow, Amber managed to make it there within minutes of me starting to push.<\/p>\n

When I was in labour, Amber just hung around in the back of the room, behind the Doctors.\u00a0 I honestly didn’t even notice that she was there.\u00a0 Besides, it’s just\u00a0like having another professional in the room.\u00a0 There’s already several doctors and nurses, having one additional person there didn’t feel odd.<\/p>\n

At 1:11 PM, January 27th, 2013, my beautiful second son, Ryan Lev,\u00a0was born and Amber was there to capture my labour and the precious first few moments of my newborn’s life, and the proud parent’s reactions.\"birthphotography1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To me, having\u00a0a professional take pictures of one of the most important events in\u00a0my life\u00a0was amazing.\u00a0 For one, it allowed both my husband and I to focus on the labour and to truly enjoy the first few moments with our son.\u00a0 Secondly, it allowed my support person, my husband, to focus on me and only me while I was in labour.\u00a0 Lastly, the photos capture the beauty, yes, I said beauty (even though I didn’t feel beautiful) in labour.\u00a0 There’s so much strength surrounding a birth and it’s hard to capture it in pictures unless it’s done properly.\u00a0 The pictures Amber took clearly showed the commitment between my husband and I to support one another and the immediate\u00a0love that transpired between us and our newborn son.<\/p>\n

Several hours after she left the hospital, Amber\u00a0sent me\u00a0three beautiful\u00a0pictures.\u00a0 I was able to share those pictures with my family and friends, which was a great way to announce our son’s birth.<\/p>\n

All of the pictures that Amber took\u00a0were very tasteful.\u00a0 She also gave us the option to make additional edits to any of the pictures if we weren’t comfortable with what was shown.\u00a0 She also gave us the opportunity to let her know which pictures we didn’t feel comfortable with her posting to FB and to her site and blog.\u00a0 While there were some that we loved to have for our personal memory, we didn’t want them to be shared publicly.\u00a0 Amber\u00a0made all of the changes we requested without hesitation.<\/p>\n

Within three weeks we received our pictures and slideshow on two beautiful cd’s packaged in a beautiful case.\u00a0 The\u00a0entire experience we had, from the service, down to the product, was done in such a professional manner.\u00a0 Amber has done an exceptional job at capturing one of the most amazing moments of our lives.\u00a0 I’m so glad to have my son’s birth story captured in pictures, which\u00a0my husband and I consider\u00a0priceless<\/strong>.\"birthphoto2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have to give kudos\u00a0to Amber\u00a0for choosing birth photography as a profession.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0She is on-call 24 hours, 7 days a week and will drive at all hours of the day to make sure she’s there for your labour.\u00a0 That is a tough job, especially as a mother.\u00a0 She also only takes on a limited\u00a0amount of\u00a0clients\u00a0a month to ensure that she’s available for everyone’s birth.<\/p>\n

While Amber will do everything in her power to ensure that she makes it to your labour, we all know that things are sometimes unpredictable and out of our control, especially when it comes to a child’s birth.\u00a0 That is why you should always have a back-up plan.\u00a0 Pack your own camera and video camcorder as you may need to take some of your pictures.<\/p>\n

So… is birth photography a trend?\u00a0 Perhaps, but there are lots of pros\u00a0for getting it done, if it’s done RIGHT, by a professional.\u00a0 Personally, I think more and more people are going to do this, especially as we move towards a society where we have the need (and the ability) to document and share everything.\u00a0 The way I see it, you definitely won’t regret doing it, but you might if you don’t.\u00a0 I’m so happy we documented Ryan’s birth story.<\/p>\n

What are your thoughts on birth photography?\u00a0 Would you consider doing it?\u00a0 If you did it, what was your experience like?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m obsessed with pictures.\u00a0 I’m only an amateur but I’ve been attached to a camera for as long as I can remember.\u00a0\u00a0Of course, for special occasions, I leave the picture taking to the professionals, including my wedding,\u00a0special family events and sometimes\u00a0vacation pictures.\u00a0\u00a0The only thing I haven’t captured on film (or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"Birth Photography. 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