Is it possible to take beautiful birth photos at the Montfort hospital?

YES.

Well, there you go. That’s the blog post.

Good-night.

Ok. I’ll elaborate if you are still here looking for more details about how a professional birth photographer can create beautiful images at a hospital birth.

This post is inspired by a comment I saw online, “I’m not hiring a birth photographer because I’m having a hospital birth and it won’t be beautiful”. I felt my heart jump forward to the commenter and I wanted to message them and say “Wait Wait!!! The story of your birth isn’t the setting!! It’s YOU, it’s your baby, it’s your partner, your caregivers and the love all around you!!” (but I didn’t…I stopped myself and chose to write this blog post instead.)

So yes of course (I will speak from my own point of view now as an Ottawa Birth Photographer), I can capture beautiful images that tell the story of your baby’s birth at the hospital.

What makes a beautiful birth photo?

The connection and energy between the people in the room. The way light moves over and through things in the room. The way people see each other. Oh there’s so much!

Hands - just for a minute while you are reading this - pause - look at your hands. Do you feel that? There’s something incredibly potent in human hands and you can be sure if I’m your photographer, I’ll be taking photos of the many hands at your birth - they truly express so much and I want more people to see that!

Love - it’s so present at births. I will move around the room to capture love - between you and your baby, between you and your partner and the care that comes from your midwife or doctor. Love is a whole other conversation so I won’t go too far into it here - but know that I believe that we can feel love in photos - so I’ll be looking for it and capturing it the whole time.

Beautiful birth photos are the ones that you can feel - and using light, feeling the energy in the space and focusing on connection is how I will capture those images for you and your family.

How do you capture images of a birth story at the hospital?

I will use the whole space - I will pan out and capture images of the whole room and I will use the light that’s available to pull out the details and moments. I hope that when you look back at your images you’ll say things like “Oh yes, I remember that old duffle bag - remember the zipper wouldn’t close but we were in such a rush we just used it anyway?” (little details) and “Oh wow, I don’t remember that but I’m so glad to see it now!” (filling in the details you may have missed).

Below are a few images to demonstrate how birth photography works at a hospital.

Setting the scene with a wide angle of the birthing space at Montfort Hospital.

As your birth photographer in a hospital, I will capture what’s happening behind and around you too so that when you look back you will see it all.

The large rooms at the Montfort Family Birthing Centre offer a birth photographer lots of space to move around to capture the whole story. The support of Mom’s doula was so beautiful and luckily I was able to move a chair to capture this photo.

A birth photographer uses wide lenses and creative cropping while editing which allows for images like these where the space was small but the lens was wide. You will see your strength and your perseverance in your birth photos.

Big brother arrived at Montfort Birthing Unit to meet his newborn brother. This is all part of your baby’s birth story and I will stay long enough (if possible) to capture this chapter.

How do you take photos of the moment a baby is born?

There are many options to capture the moment of birth. To be clear, this means when the baby is coming out of your body.

More about the moment of birth photos during birth by Cesarian here.

With your caregiver’s permission at the hospital, I may move the bed away from the wall so I can capture images like the one below. Moving the bed and standing behind your head means I can capture the whole scene. Honouring the caregiver’s privacy means that I can’t always share images here to demonstrate on my website what’s possible - but know that you will have detailed images of your baby’s moment of birth including your doctor’s, nurses’, or midwives'‘ faces.

If you wish to have images of baby’s emergence into the world, I can also be in a position to capture crowning. Many birthing people want these images because it is fascinating to see what we are capable of. Some choose not to have crowning images but they do want photos like the one above. It’s up to you and we will talk about all of that before your birth.

I want a birth photographer at my hospital birth but what about the pandemic?

A note of course about the pandemic and the ever-shifting guidelines: If you wish to have a birth photographer at the hospital with you, we will need to consider the current guidelines. Due to the unpredictability of the pandemic, I am very flexible in how I’m currently offering birth photography for families choosing the Ottawa Hospitals. As a doula and birth photographer - it is my job to keep up with the ebb and flow of it all.

With that, there are many options if you hire me as your birth photographer and then I’m not able to be present due to changes in rules. We can shift your package to a “Fresh-48” style session in your home as soon as possible after birth, I can offer you an in-home newborn film and/or we can sort out a year-long package of photo sessions as your baby grows. There is always flexibility.

I won’t offer refunds for families who book me as their birth photographer in this situation - but we will make sure the options are clear before you book and sign your contract. We will create an alternative package that works for all.