Birth photography

My great friend Natasha Hance photographed my last labor and birth, In fact she photographed every moment of his pregnancy. It is something that I will forever treasure. I am posting a little something she wrote on the importance of birth photography. Enjoy and when you need a good photog in the Dallas/Fort Worth area - drop me an email and I will hook you up.

You can find her on facebook - just search NHance Photography. She rocks my world and will rocks yours as well.


"You're going to have a WHAT at your birth? A PHOTOGRAPHER?" That's pretty much the response that most people get when they mention hiring a professional birth photographer to attend their birth. But why shouldn't that be the norm? We hire photographers to capture memories of our wedding day, a day we dream about as a little girl. Most of us dream of becoming a mother as little girls long before we ever dream about being married. We were created to give life, it's part of who we are from the very beginning. If you were to sit down and ask a woman in her 80's about the day she gave birth to her children, she could probably tell you everything including smells she remembers even if she can't remember what she had for lunch. Birth changes who we are as women. It is monumental. It has the ability to empower us, to break us, to strengthen bonds between friends and loved ones... it tests who we are. However, our memory of our births often fall short of the "big" picture. We become so focused on the process that we often don't "see" the beauty in it. We don't always see our husbands face as they look at us with a sense of helplessness. We don't always see our young daughter who is wiping the sweat off of our forehead, we know she's there, we know she's doing it, we don't always see our mothers who are looking at us wishing they could do it for us.. we don't "SEE" it how everyone else see's it. We sometimes miss so much and it's a day we have been planning for, envisioning, and dreaming of for at LEAST the last 40'ish weeks! Birth photography gives that back to you. Birth is completely unpredictable. We never know what birth path we were meant to walk. Sometimes the birth we get, is completely opposite of the birth we wanted. These types of births can be very hard to process for many women. We really struggle to find the positive out of a hospital transfer, emergency c section and then immediate nicu stay. Being able to look back at the journey birth took us on through images is priceless. Life is captured through the lens and the memories captured are always there to revisit, anytime.



"My aunt Susie is going to take pictures for me". Ok. I'm sure you will cherish pictures your aunt Susie takes. My first homebirth, the birth of my 4th child, was the first one to be captured with images and they were not professional. I DO cherish those images and LOVE that I have them to look back and reflect and remember that special day... but they don't even begin to compare to the professional images I was able to get with my hired birth photographer for my 5th birth. They truly take my breath away. Snap shots do capture memories.. but professional birth photography tells the story in a beautiful artistic way.. a way in which you can FEEL the emotions through each image. Birth photographers are there only to capture your story through careful framing, use of creative angles and cropping, specific camera settings, KNOWING how to read a womans body language and understanding birth in a way that she anticipates moments before they even happen so that she is ALWAYS ready. She is a fly on the wall, always waiting to capture the perfect moments. The flash is bounced so that it is not flashing in your eyes (and because it looks better than the pop up flash!), most mothers don't even notice the flash or the photographer while they labor. It doesn't stop there. After each birth the images are uploaded and carefully edited and converted to a black and white conversion that is nothing compared to an "auto" black and white conversion you can do at the kiosk at walmart. Sometimes a few are left in color, but for the most part, birth photography is converted to black and white so that there are no distractions, you are left with pure and raw emotions. The images are artistic and full of emotion that tells a story. Once all the images are edited, they are placed in a slideshow set to music that compliments your birth to help tell the story, the birth of your child, the day you became a birth warrior. The images are tastefully captured and edited so that you can proudly show them off to friends and family.


Sometimes, as in Anna's birth, it isn't possible to photograph the actual birth, and that's ok. Her birth was amazing nonetheless, and her images still make ME cry when I view them. I am pretty sure that everyone in that room as she labored and then was transferred and wheeled back for an emergency c section, was empowered that day. I know I was. I also know that she gave a very special gift to her daughter that day allowing her to be the nurturing soul that she is and hold her mothers hand, she will cherish those images when she becomes a mother. I am continually amazed and in awe of the power of a woman in labor, no matter what kind of labor or birth she has. EVERY labor and birth is amazing. EVERY life is amazing. They each deserve to be memorialized for future generations to see what birth really looks like, to see the love and the sacrifices that go into it. What a gift to give your children and grandchildren to be able to SEE the day they were born! The gift you gave them. It is empowering and breathtaking to be able to look back and see your labor how everyone else saw it. It's one thing for people to TELL you how amazing you were in labor, but it is something entirely different to be able to look back and SEE it and say, "YA! I WAS amazing wasn't I? I AM a freaking birth warrior!".






Natasha Hance


~Nhance Photography