Do your research

You want someone that knows how to confidently photograph your special day because you only have one chance to capture those precious moments.

Every photographer has a unique style, and a way of capturing moments that makes them stand out, does their work appeal to your sense of style.

When you are looking for your birth photographer, have a look through their portfolios ask to see the coverage from an entire birth not just a few select images and ask them how many births they have attended and what type of births they have photographed.You want a photographer who has experience and understands the birth process. Someone who knows exactly what to do, where to stand, and how to capture that magic moment.

Does the photographer have professional equipment and do they carry two cameras in case of equipment failure? Do they use flash and know how to use it discreetly They should know their equipment and know it well. Birth Photographers should know how to shoot in tricky lighting and limited space and know the perfect way to work quietly and without being seen. Make sure your birth photographer is experienced and proficient in low-light conditions.

Being a birth photographer is about SO much more than having the technical skills required. Having a robust knowledge of the birthing process is essential in ensuring that they compliment your labour and birth experience rather than being a hindrance. Not only do they need to know what should happen throughout the course of a "textbook" labour and delivery, they need to know what they will do in the event things don't go "as planned" or, as can and does happen, in the case of medical emergencies. Hospitals have rules and procedures that photographers must abide too, so choose a photographer who has experience of this and understands policy and procedures.

Birthkeepers nurture and support the birthing person throughout labor and birth. Their essential role is to provide continuous labor support to the mother, no matter what decisions the mother makes or how she gives birth. Importantly, the birthkeeper’s role and agenda are tied solely to the birthing person’s agenda. This is also known as primacy of interest. In other words, a birthkeeper’s primary responsibility is to the birthing person—not to a hospital, nurse, midwife, or doctor.

Physical support is important because it helps you maintain a sense of control, comfort, and confidence. Aspects of physical support provided by a birthkeeper may include:

• Soothing with touch through the use of massage or counter pressure

• Helping to create a calm environment, like dimming lights and arranging curtains

• Assisting with water therapy (shower, tub) applying warm or cold compresses

• Assisting the birthing person in walking to and from the bathroom

• Ensuring you are hydrated and nourished

Emotional support helps the birthing person feel cared for and feel a sense of pride and empowerment after birth. One of the birthkeeper’s primary goals is to care for the mother’s emotional health and enhance her ability to have positive birth experience . They provide the following types of emotional support to the birthing person and their partner:

• Continuous presence, reassurance and encouragement

• Holding space and bearing witness

• Helping you and your partner work through fears and self-doubt

• Informational support. Keeping you and your partner informed about what’s going on with the course of labor, as well as providing you with access to evidence-based information about birth options.

  Aspects of informational support include:

• Helping you source evidence-based information about different options in pregnancy and childbirth

• Helping explain medical procedures before or as they occur

• Supporting your partner to understand what’s going on during labor

Advocacy: I will support you in navigating the hospital system and ensure that your wishes and rights are protected. Advocacy is defined as supporting the birthing person in their right to make decisions about their own body and baby.

• I will encourage you and your partner to ask questions and verbalise your preferences

• Ensure you are the authority on your body, your baby and your birth

• Support your decisions

• Amplifying your voice if you are being dismissed, ignored, or not heard

• Create space and time so that you can ask questions, gather evidence-based information, and make decisions without feeling pressured

• Facilitate communication between you and your care providers

Overall, people who received continuous support were more likely to have spontaneous vaginal births and less likely to have any pain medication, epidurals, negative feelings about childbirth, vacuum or forceps-assisted births, and Cesareans. In addition, their labors were shorter by about 40 minutes and their babies were less likely to have low Apgar scores at birth. There is a smaller amount of evidence that doula support in labor can lower postpartum depression in mothers. There is no evidence for negative consequences to continuous labor support. The researchers found that overall, people who have continuous support during childbirth experience a:

25% decrease in the risk of Cesarean; the largest effect was seen with a birth keeper (39% decrease)*

8% increase in the likelihood of a spontaneous vaginal birth; the largest effect was seen with a birth keeper (15% increase)*

10% decrease in the use of any medications for pain relief; the type of person providing continuous support did not make a difference

Shorter labors by 41 minutes on average; there is no data on if the type of person providing continuous support makes a difference

38% decrease in the baby’s risk of a low five minute Apgar score; there is no data on if the type of person providing continuous support makes a difference

31% decrease in the risk of being dissatisfied with the birth experience; mothers’ risk of being dissatisfied with the birth experience was reduced with continuous support provided by a birthkeeper or someone in their social network (family or friend), but not hospital staff

It is is the art of documenting your birthing experience. No matter where or how your baby is born, you will want to have those moments captured, imagine looking back at these photographs in years to come when your child first asks you questions about the day that they were born. I know as the mother to a teenager that I now would do anything to go back in time and have those tangible images of that day to show her. Giving birth is a life changing experience and birth photography captures one of the most extraordinary days of your entire life.

I am present at your birth to take care of the photography so those present in the room are there to take care of you. When I am invited to join you during labour, I take the upmost care in respecting your process of birthing. I am sensitive to the sacredness of your birthing space and I quietly document in a photojournalistic style your story as it unfolds. I arrive when you are in active labour and stay for an hour or two after the baby is born. If you have any special requests in terms of timing such as grandparents, family members and especially siblings arriving to meet their new brother or sister we can work that into your contract to ensure that we co-ordinate their arrival depending on the time of day.

From the time that you are 38 weeks along until your baby arrives, I am on call 24/7. My mobile never leaves my side and my cameras are always charged and my bag packed. Birth photographers commit weeks of time to living on call. That means can't travel, my phone is on me all day and night, and I often even miss important family events, such as birthdays and holidays (the end of movies!) all to ensure that I do not miss you welcome your baby. Birth photographers are also some of the most skilled artists in the photography industry, as they have to have extensive knowledge on producing amazing quality images in the dark lighting situations that mothers often birth in, which requires having top of the line equipment. Think of the standard price range of wedding photography... Birth photography comes at a very similar price range, and often even more as weddings don’t usually occur in the middle of the night on a surprise date that you cannot plan for, or with an unknown number of hours or even days that will be required in attendance.

As soon as you know you would like my services. You can book as early as after your 12 week scan and as late as 40+ weeks. I take a limited number of births, only 3 per month to ensure my availability. I recommend booking as soon as possible so as to ensure my availability.

It's important to get to know people before entering their birth space, so I would like to meet with you to discuss your birth plan and answer any additional questions you may have. We will talk about how to keep me up to date in the weeks surrounding your due date and when to contact me during labour. We will also take this time to look at a full birth photographed by me so that you know what to expect in a completed gallery. We can discuss images that you love and the degree of coverage you are comfortable with.

That is completely up to you, I absolutely respect and understand a desire for privacy. Birth photography is more than nudity and the crowning shots, birth photography is about the emotional journey you travel on the day you birth your child. It's about capturing the raw emotion, your strength and focus, your support persons dedication and all the emotions that you experience when meeting your newborn baby. It is possible to capture this as well as respecting your modesty. Some staff will decline to be in any photographs also, so I work around this by cropping images and photograph them so they are unrecognisable through utilising shallow depth of field. Once you receive your online gallery, we extensively go over which images can and cannot be shared publicly. From those, I create a gallery on my desktop of the images for specific sharing purposes only. I never, ever share an image publicly without your permission. I shoot

You will receive a sneak peak of your images in 24hrs. I will publish 6-12 images for you to announce the arrival of your baby to family and friends. Your full gallery of edited images will be available to you in 14 working days. Your images will be delivered as high resolution Jpeg files available for viewing and sharing in a password protected online gallery. For birth documentation on average you will receive approximately in excess of 200 images, but this number will vary due to the uniqueness of each birth experience and the length of your labour. You will receive all images in both colour and black and white – All your edited files are available for direct download from your online gallery.

You could be planning to birth at home, with only tea lights lights, or in a hospital with bright fluro lighting overhead, or a water birth at the hospital birth center with no lights on at all. Babies are typically born in less than ideal lighting situations. Not only that, but the lighting can rapidly change in less than a moment’s notice. Depending on the lighting conditions in your birth space I can work with it, I try to be unobtrusive and document the birth as best as I can with the available lighting. Sometimes I will need to use bounce flash to be able to get wonderfully detailed images of your baby during delivery. I know how to quickly adjust my camera settings to accommodate for the ever-changing dynamics during labor and birth so I will do my best to discern when it is appropriate to use my flash, and ensure that you and baby will not be affected by its use. The flash is especially used during the moment of delivery and immediately after. By waiting until active labor and using the flash intentionally, you will probably never know the flash is going off. If there’s ever a point when the flash becomes a problem and it’s interrupting you, just let me know and I’ll discontinue using the flash. You’re hiring me for great images, so please trust the decisions that I make for lighting.