Birth photography is my favorite part of my work. I’m so lucky to live in the greater Seattle area where women have the legal right to choose whatever type of birth they want: home, birth center, or hospital. Through talking with other birth photographers around the country, I have learned that this is not always the case. We have a fabulous birth community in Seattle, and I’m honored to be a part of it. But the biggest honor is to be invited to photograph a woman as she labors and gives birth to her child. I get to witness families growing, mothers and fathers and siblings transforming right in front of my lens. How amazing is that? Thank you, thank you, to all of my wonderful birth clients.
Today I want to celebrate the births I photographed in 2011. What a year! I learn so much from each and every birth I attend. A few highlights from this year: watching my dear childhood friend give birth to her daughter at home with incredible poise and power (a VBAC!), photographing my first completely natural hospital birth (but not the last!), having TWO repeat birth clients, seeing a couple wait (for what seemed like) an hour before discovering the sex of their baby, MISSING my first birth (she was born on the sidewalk in front of the hospital while dad and I were parking our cars), a gorgeous labor at sunset with an incredible view, my first C-section (incredible!), the fastest first-time labor ever (1cm to baby in less than three hours), and the birth of another dear friend’s THIRD baby. I mean, that’s a lot of cool stuff, right?
Now on to the task at hand. I need to choose ONE image to submit to www.birthphotographers.com (yes, that’s me marveling over my Wally in the rotating images). If you are looking for a birth photographer in your area (because you live somewhere besides Seattle), this is a great resource for you. Anyway, they are having a contest to choose the best birth image of 2011. There will be MAJOR competition, and I need to choose just one image to represent my work in the contest. How in the world could I choose just one? That’s where you come in. I’ve narrowed things down to the images below. This is not a contest where you get all your friends to vote for your image because you’ll win a prize. This is me asking you for your feedback on which image I should send in. They are judging on technical merit, but most importantly on EMOTION. Please leave a comment on this post telling me which image I should send and WHY. One random commenter will receive a $100 credit to One Tree Photography to use themselves (during 2012) or to give to a friend. I’ll let random.org choose the comment. One comment per person, please. Voting/commenting will close at 5pm Friday, February 10th.
Ultimately, I will be making the decision about which image to send, but I really do appreciate your feedback. The family whose image I do submit will receive a complimentary session to be used for their child’s first birthday. OK, are we clear now? The images are numbered directly above each image for your reference. I love each and every one of these shots, which makes this decision SO tough. Thanks for your help!
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), I think you should submit #13 for the contest. I think this one just exudes the raw emotion just after birth. I also love #1 as a great artistic shot, but I think #13 may help you win the contest if it is looking at emotion.
Lucky Sara!
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