Five things friday: why yous hould hire a professional birth photographer
Why should you hire a professional birth photographer? I could probably list 100 reasons, but because I named this post “five things,” I guess I’ll stick with that 😅 Read on to find out why I think you should have a birth photographer to document YOUR birth story!
5. There are no do-overs.
Just like with a wedding (but arguably more so), you don’t get a “do-over” if you want to go back and record the moment your babe came earth side, or have photos for your family album of the exact look on your partner’s face when they met the next love of their life - you can’t rewind time and hire that birth photographer and do it all over again (and let’s be honest, you probably don’t really WANT to go through labor and birth again immediately if you are freshly post partum!) The amazing thing about hiring that pro birth photographer, is that you don’t have to regret missing those moments. And I’ll bet money that you will NEVER regret having them there capturing your birth story in images, so you can hold them close to your heart and have the physical reminders and memories to match the mental ones, for the rest of your life, and then some!
4. Moments get hazy and lose focus in the whirlwind of birth. Having a birth photographer at your birth allows you to fully be IN the moment, and not be worried about if your partner packed the camera, or if they will run out of room on their phone recording - were they there with you, totally present, holding your hand, holding your hair, and holding your heart, or were they fumbling with a phone/camera and not able to truly be there, supporting you and breathing in the moments? By hiring a birth photographer, you can release those worries, and concentrate on you, your partner, and the new family addition you’ll be meeting soon!
3. There are truly transformative moments in your life, and you don’t always know when they will be ahead of time, to be prepared enough to capture them in photographs. While birth is unpredictable, and you won’t necessarily know the time, or the day, or the method by which your babe will arrive - they DO arrive, and being able to document that for both yourself, and future generations, is an incredibly powerful and meaningful thing.
2. Speaking of weddings….did you hire a wedding photographer? If you’re like 90% of couples getting hitched, you probably did! Weddings are a huge milestone and moment in many people’s lives (see #3 above). So is having a baby. My partner has said repeatedly since we had our kiddo, that he’s so glad he didn’t balk at birth photos, and that he treasures them MORE than our wedding photos. I’ve talked with SO MANY people who regret not having a birth photographer, but haven’t once heard from someone that regretting having one.
1. My family history is recorded in photos. I have physical prints from the 1800’s of my relatives that I’ve never met, but who are undeniably a part of me and my life and who I am. I have photos of my parents as babies, as young kids in elementary school - high school, college - I have photos of their wedding, and their newlywed years together. I feel a nostalgia and visceral tugging on what I can only call my soul when I sit and hold space with those photos. I have made an effort to print the photos we take and have taken (yup, even professional photographers have OTHER professional photographers take photos) so that my home can be surrounded in memories and history, and my kiddo can take those photo albums with him to his future family and pass them along as HIS history.
If you’d like to chat about how I can support you as a birth photographer (or doula!) during YOUR birth transformation, I’d love to chat!