Rachel and I met two days before her due date.

We got to know each other a little as we watched our boys – hers are 4 and 2, mine is 3 – frolic on the playground. Rachel grew up here in Fairbanks, but has since been all over the world, and her family currently resides in Bend, OR. But, she said, her husband has always wanted to spend a summer in Alaska, and so when an opportunity presented itself this year, they packed up their clan and headed north. In a car. With two children (who where then) both under four. When she was about three months pregnant.

It became clear at this moment that Rachel is kind of my hero.

They were so excited to have their third child here in Fairbanks at the Alaska Family Health and Birth Center. It turns out that Dana Brown, midwife extraordinaire, is a close family friend, and that she was going to deliver Rachel’s child seemed especially poignant.

Two days after I first met Rachel, I got an email around 4 pm saying she’d had light but steady contractions for several hours, but her dad (a family physician) didn’t think it would go anywhere. Then around midnight, I got a text saying they were heading into the Birth Center, and I replied that I would be right behind them.

My husband happened to be out of town for work (of course), so I had to wait for my saintly babysitter to arrive before flying out the door. To say that I was excited might be underselling it. I was in the car on the way to the Birth Center, wondering what was clogging the spout on my coffee cup lid, when I realized I’d left the spoon I’d used to stir in sugar in the cup. Oops.

When I arrived at the Birth Center, I joined Rachel, her husband Ben, Rachel’s mother, and midwives Dana and Cori in the Pink Room. It was a beautiful labor: intense, but amazingly quiet, centered, and focused. Rachel struck me as almost shockingly in control at times: in the middle of what was obviously an immense series of contractions, she would only breathe, “owie owie owie!”

All in all, it was such a beautiful experience to have witnessed. Rachel and Ben had such an intimate connection throughout the labor, and then they were able to deliver their baby in the water, unassisted (by which I mean that the midwives where nearby, closely monitoring, but were able to let Rachel and Ben catch by themselves).

Welcome earthside, Eden Glory. The world is glad you are here!

In some ways, it's difficult to write about birth photography. People often come into the conversation with skepticism, with assumptions or preconceived ideas as to what birth photography is or what it will look like. It's for exactly that reason that I find "showing" tends to work better than "telling."

That is, in fact, the exact reason why an informal group of professional birth photographers I'm a part of put together this slideshow: to show everyone what birth photography is.

When my son was born, it was like the rest of the world stopped - a sudden, radical, and complete shift in perspective - my entire life was reordered according to a new sense of importance. Birth is one of the rare events that causes almost everything else to become peripheral and fall away, allowing a crystal clear moment in which to perceive and appreciate the truly important stuff of life. (And yet, while time seems to stand still, there's still the unshakable sense that moments are speeding by at breakneck speed.)

And they are. And that's one of the reasons why hiring a professional birth photographer may be the right choice for your family: if I'm there taking photographs, everyone else can forget about the cameras and can instead go about truly engaging in these fleeting, irretrievable moments. And these moments will all be captured with the artistic, create skill of a professional, resulting in beautiful, heirloom-quality photographs.

(Another slideshow, this one focusing specifically on the role of dads and partners in the birth story, titled "Hold Her Hand, Not the Camera." One of my images is featured.)

While birth photography is the story of your child's arrival, birth photography is not only about showing the story of your child's arrival - the labor, the birth, the squalling baby- it's about those moments as a family meets each other for the first time, as you take each other in and celebrate being together for the first time. The first joyful embrace; the gaze between parent and newborn; the siblings' first peek - these are fleeting yet unspeakably valuable moments.

And those are the moments I strive to photograph.

Because, of all the moments in life you're going to want to remember, this is one of them.

And this.

And - truly - even this.

These moments cannot be re-lived, and having photographs can make the experience of remembering that much more poignant. Families often express surprise at what treasured heirlooms their birth photographs have become. I've even had one mom tell me her birth photographs are more precious to her than her wedding photographs.

To see more of my birth photography work, please click here.*

*All photographs on my website and blog are shared with the express permission of the clients.

For information about birth photography rates, please see investment. For questions or more information about booking a birth photography session, please contact me.

Recommended Reading:

For more information and other perspectives on birth photography, I recommend these articles:

Birth Photography - and the truth behind what is REALLYis, at Lexia Frank Photography.

The Value in Hiring a Professional, at Carolyn Spranger Photography

Birth Photography at the New York Times

The Benefits of Professional Birth Photography - Preggie Pals Interview with Catie Stephens of Vuefinder Photography

And, just for fun: Barbie's Birth by Beach Birth Photography

Also check out my Birth Photography FAQs!