I am so excited to be entering the 12th annual Birth Photographer's image competition this year! I really enjoy entering and watching the results of this competition every year because of how festive and community oriented it is.
You may recall this familiar face of a mama witnessing her son’s reaction to meeting their daughter who was born just moments earlier at home. My black and white post partum image was awarded Honorable Mention in the IAPBP’s 2020 Image Competition and it was an exciting start to 2020 with both America and Poland (my native homeland) cheering for the award (just before all the chaos that has been the last 2 years started).
Just give this image a good 3 or 4 wheel scrolls on the main birthphotographers.com website to see it’s honorable mention among my fellow peers.
After that, the world just stopped. March 13, 2020, I pulled my children out of school and wondered if we would be OK. I was worried and scared, I was also thinking this will blow over in a couple of months.
Everything between then and now, I am realizing in this moment, this competition brings me so much joy because it allows me the privilege of recognizing not only the horrible times that brought all the worst feelings, but the BEST of times that brought me elated joy.
2021 came along and our amazing owner/director and CEO of IAPBP, Liz Cook, encouraged us to submit images into the 2021 image competition. And I was SO depressed and I was SO mad.
Here we were, another year of misery, my sister had unexpectedly died, I hadn’t been in a hospital labor and delivery room in almost a year, after capturing over 150 births since 2014, and I felt defeated. I felt like there was nothing left to celebrate.
And then I pushed myself. Because that’s what Liz does. She sees the beauty, magic and brilliance in you and she doesn’t allow you to take a step back, instead, she gives you all the space and support in the universe to step into yourself, despite all the madness and chaos in the world.
And I found this image in my 3-attended-pandemic-births of 2020. All of a sudden the drama and misery of 2020 and 2021 faded away and I did not even care if this was an award winning image, all I saw was the profound emotions of being a birth worker and mother and birth supporter that day, as I witnessed a young, first time chiropractic couple bringing their son earthside. I remembered how it was a long birth for her and she was yet so powerful. I remembered giggling with my friend midwives in their kitchen during breaks over memories from past years. I remembered my best friend bringing me food and coffee from Starbucks to get me through. And suddenly, everything was ok for a moment.
The calmness in this mama brought calmness to me. The calmness in this mama during what looks to be a chaotic and messy and fast paced moment, it’s what made everything OK for me.
That is why I am proud to be an IAPBP member. Having that community that is both international but yet somehow also tight knit, I feel remembered, I feel seen and I feel the togetherness of us always being there for each other through literally the hardest times.
4 images from 2021 births I considered entering into the 2022 IAPBP image competition
It's a really awesome process to go through all my shareable birth photography from the previous year, there is so much personal growth that comes from it. This process really puts it into perspective for me how many beautiful and unique births I attended in the previous year, and it puts a smile on my face when I think of the families I had the opportunity to work with during the previous 12 months.
I also really love to look back at all the galleries from the previous year and see how my work changed during that time period.
Picking out my favorite images in preparation to submit into the annual competition is a difficult process, I am sure many can agree, because it is partly time consuming and stressful as you race against the clock, but the other side of it is that I am challenged to balance what I want to submit because it is an image I really love versus what I should submit because it has the potential to be an award winning image. I personally feel there is not a wrong answer here. Sometimes, the act of submitting an image I truly love and have great pride in is enough in itself, I don't need it to win any recognition nor award, I am simply proud to have submitted it. And other times, I will choose an image because I know it did really well in terms of composition, lighting, editing and storytelling and has a chance to be awarded something.
In my blog post today, I would love to share with you the top images from 2021 that I considered submitting into the 2022 IAPBP International Association of Professional Birth Photographers 12th annual image competition, and I invite you to give me your feedback as to which images you feel I should submit and which image, if any, you feel could become recognized!
And lastly, I really enjoy the camaraderie and solidarity of working together with my community with this process every year. I love when my colleagues share the images they are considering submitting, to see how my community has grown over the past year, how much our styles and our skills have transformed, and to witness the amazing birth stories my colleagues have captured over time.
I invite you to join us as we watch the final results of the image competition this year! I can’t wait to meet the judges, see the award winning images from my colleagues, and bring profound, transformational birth stories together as a community another year in a row!
I definitely cannot wait to see what some of my favorite artists and colleagues captured in 2021 in this year’s birth photography image competition. I am especially excited to see what my colleague from the Netherlands, Jessica Innemee, owner of https://www.vi-photography.nl submitted this year. She was the first place overall winner in 2020 with her stunning postpartum image, and every time I am able to take a peak at her work through the year, I am always marveling over her latest captures and edits.
And last year, 2021, artist and fellow birth photographer, Ashley Marston of Ashley Marston Photography from Canada took home the first place spot with her stunning post partum image "Daddy's Girls" - I just cannot wait to see which images she submitted this year and what her 2021 was like.
Not to forget anyone, but a few others I am really eager to see, after having a chaotic second year of the blahdemic are:
Hanna Hill of Hanna Hill Photography who placed best in post partum last year with her stunning image "My Body, My Birth"
I alwayyyys love to see what Dana Jacobs of Dana Jacobs Photography brings to the table… she also had an Honorable Mention alongside of me last year with her image: "Of All Our Travels, This Journey Will Be Our Greatest"
Bree Garcia of J&B Photography, LLC Always has EPIC EPIC captures and I sure hope to see her in the 2022 image competition. Her last winning award in 2020 “Warrior” left me mesmerized I’ve never forgotten it.
Alexandria Mooney of Alexandria Mooney Photography submitted the best black and white shot in delivery back in 2020 with her image “Unmasking The Many Layers Of Birth” and I can’t wait to see her work from 2021!
Without further ado, here are some of my favorite moments from my births I attended in 2021 that I considered for submission into this year’s Annual Birth Photography Competition with IAPBP. Let me know which are your favorites in the comments below!
