Sioux Falls Birth Photography

Usually when I post I write a bit, post a few pics, write some more and then post a pic of two here and there.   However, with this post I want to keep all the pictures together.  My reasoning is that they tell such a powerful story all together, in sequence and I don't want to interrupt that at all.  So I am going to write my little bit first and then post the images since they are the real storyteller in this.  The story is the birth of a beautiful baby boy that I was privileged enough to witness coming into this world.  I took this job because I had been questioning whether or not I wanted to do birth photography.  When I was asked 3 times in one day I took it as a sign that I should probably consider it a bit more!  This session was sort of my "try it and see, if you don't like it, you don't have to do it again" (kind of like the thank you bite of dinner my boys have to take when I cook something).  I wasn't sure about the being on call for a delivery, wasn't sure if I could make it work with my boys and our schedule, wasn't sure about the intimacy of the situation and how I could work myself into it without intruding, wasn't sure if I could do it.  

Turns out, I LOVED it!  There is a certain rush about being on call for this (not that I would like it if I had to do it all the time like the midwives and docs do, but for a birth I'm taking pictures of, heck yeah).  I found I had a lot of adrenaline waiting for the call to come to her room.  I kept worrying I'd miss it and I nearly did!  I got there as she was pushing hard.  I barely had time to get my camera together and snap a few of her laboring before his little head was coming out. 

When I take pictures, I sometimes feel like I don't know what I'm doing.  I don't mean that I don't know what I'm doing with my camera or the technical elements of photography (though, there are moments when I definitely feel that way about that too); it's just that when I'm on a shoot I often feel like my brain shuts off, like I'm not thinking at all about shutter speeds and apertures, ISOs or framing.  It's like instinct just takes over, zones in on what I'm meant to catch and somehow, at the end of the trance that is photography, I end up with these precious, perfect moments captured on film forever.  I often find myself processing images and asking myself, "Did I really take this?  Did I really catch [so and so] with this exact expression in this exact frame at this exact time and it turned out so well?  Did I really catch that lovely moment for this lovely family?"

That's definitely how I felt going through the pictures for this family and I knew before I'd even left the room that I simply had to do birth photography again.  Their images told such a story and anyone who knows me knows I love stories.  I am very proud of these pictures and so happy to be able to share them.  I have already shared them on Facebook and I am overwhelmed at the volume of people they have reached and the overwhelmingly positive response they have brought out in those people.  I think a lot of it is because so many of us have gone through this.  We know how special this exact moment is and how it is never the same, yet evokes memories that take us back to our own birth.  I LOVE birth stories.  I think a lot of women do.  And we should.  We are amazing.  Our bodies are capable of so much.  Even when everything doesn't go as planned and we struggle to accept that, we are still amazing and deserve the time to grieve the loss of how we hoped things would go.  I believe that when we see images like these, it reminds us of our own birth stories (or of the one we hope to have) and if takes us back to the whirlwind of our own experiences, instills us with gamut of feelings we felt: scared, powerful, elated, pained, emotional, horrible, wonderful, crazy, intense, strong, amazing and absolutely, one hundred percent sure that it was all worth it - so much so that we might just do it again! 

I hope you enjoy my pictures and that it brings back your own special memories of birth.  Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this and thanks so very much to the wonderful family who allowed me to be a part of this intense, emotional, private and absolutely precious time.*
If you're interested in me doing birth photography for you, I'd be honored!  Just click on this link and message me to discuss it.

*I just want to mention that these images are only a handful of the images I captured for this family.  Obviously, there are many, many more (and their faces are in most of them, I swear) that come in a birthing package, but he mother of this baby asked me to keep faces out (for the most part) and I absolutely respect that wish!