If you are brand new to Birth Photography, every second or third time parent who had a nurse, friend or family member take photos at their previous birth or hired a photographer for their previous birth, (and that photographer let them down in some way), will all tell you the same thing: “Hire a Professional Certified Birth Photographer in South Florida for your birth, they are worth their weight in gold.”
It is a great idea to hire a photographer for your birth, especially if this is your first baby or if you aren’t 100% happy with photos from your previous birth that maybe your nurse, or a friend or family member took. Or maybe you really loved having those photos or birth videos but would like to step it up for this Birth with some birth photography or video that is more professional. Or perhaps you don’t want your partner/spouse or family member or friend to have to have that role of birth photographer this time around, so they can be truly present, and having a birth photographer who is trusted and recommended by your doctor, midwife, doula or hospital really makes sense.
There really is a very big difference between hiring a photographer versus a photographer who photographs births versus a professional certified birth photographer.
Here are five things. Every parent should know about hiring a Birth Photographer in South Florida.
1. Your Birth Photographer should be more than just a photographer with a camera
A photographer who has never photographed a birth before will likely not have much childbirth education about the physiological process that unfolds as your uterus contracts and brings your baby into lower and lower stations of the pelvis, and with that education lacking, they may not know when they should head over to a birth. Even after 10 years as a birth photographer in South Florida, I still have clients who aren’t sure when I should starting heading over to them, and it makes sense! It’s hard to know how much longer until your baby is born, whether it’s your first baby or your birth with your third baby.
In my experience attending over 200 births, I’ve learned that relying only on what’s being communicated by your team in the moment isn’t always enough. Birth can unfold in countless different ways, and recognizing certain patterns helps me make thoughtful calls about when to arrive. Sometimes I opt to come out a little earlier than everyone’s expecting me, not just to be safe, but to capture meaningful moments, a partner/spouse sitting quietly along his laboring wife, a midwife’s verbal support, or a doula doing double hip squeezes through tough contractions.
An experienced, professionally certified birth photographer has witnessed the most unexpected turns. I’ve seen first-time moms have precipitous labors, under 3 hours from start to finish, and other clients face true emergencies where everyone rushed to the hospital, or where babies arrived at home or in the car because there wasn’t time.
Some births, on the other hand, can stretch far longer than anticipated. If your photographer doesn’t understand the physiology of birth, they may arrive too early, exhaust themselves and need to go home to sleep, and risk missing the most important moments when your baby is actually born. This is also why your photographer must take the on-call life seriously, having their cell phone volume on for 24 hours a day, all week long, from the moment you are 37 weeks pregnant until your baby is born, even if that's at 42 weeks and three days later. It's heart-shattering when you call your birth photographer at 3 AM and they don't answer their phone because they forgot to have their volume on, or they say they have to pick up their kids from school or drop their kids off with a friend before they can get out to your birth.
Understanding birth physiology is also critical for knowing when to begin on-call time. What if you're predisposed to preterm births, your photographer should actually know better and start on-call by 32 weeks just in case. Or what if you're pregnant with twins, most twins are born before 38 weeks so your photographer should probably start on-call by 32 weeks too, and the dozens and dozens of other unique cases. These are the things that are mastered by seasoned professionals who have been doing this for years.
That’s why it’s so vital to hire someone who isn’t just a photographer. Your birth photographer should be a professionally certified birth photographer who’s taken comprehensive training to understand childbirth physiology, someone who knows when to arrive, what’s happening during your labor, and when to respectfully step back so medical staff can care for you and your baby during more sensitive interventions. Your birth photographer should also be a birth worker, someone who understands the physical and emotional intensity of labor, can support you unobtrusively, and anticipates what you need without you even having to ask.
You'll especially know you're hiring a true professional by reading their Google reviews. How many reviews do they have? Factor in that if they have 5 Google reviews, that’s probably out of at least 15 or 20 clients because not everyone remembers or has time to write a review. Do your OBGYN or midwife know your birth photographer, and do they recommend them? Have their past patients said good things about this photographer? How about your doula? How about your hospital? These are the questions you should be asking.
2. Birth Photography is not just about a baby crowning
An experienced birth photographer isn't just snapping pictures, they've honed their unique style and editing process. They're not there to document 50 crowning shots, but rather to tell your unique and beautiful story. Your story unfolds through intimate and important moments, your partner/spouse supporting you, as eager as you are with anticipation for your baby's arrival, your doula's crucial and memorable role as she guides you through labor, your obgyn or midwife helping you catch your baby, those precious, immediate skin-to-skin moments as you and your husband look at your baby and take all of her in, her face, her lips, her cheeks, her voice.
But it's not just about the big moments, it's also about noticing and capturing the delicate details of your birthing day. The clock on the wall, the baby monitor showing your baby's heartbeat, your husband holding your hand, the special necklace you wore, the color you painted your nails, the calming candles in your birthing space, or the diffuser you filled with Clary Sage or lavender oil. Even the comfy slippers you brought to the hospital are a detail of your unique story. These are the little touches you poured thought and time into, and you deserve to have them all remembered. Without that specialized experience, a photographer might simply overlook these incredibly meaningful details.
3. How skilled is your Birth Photographer at taking high resolution photos at 3am in a dark, crowded room?
I know so many of my photos, if you follow me on Instagram or have looked through my website, are bright and airy, but many births are simply not like that, especially home births. So many home births, in fact, are very dark because my clients feel more cozy and focused in that environment.
I would estimate around 98% of my clients give birth between the evening hours of 9 or 10 PM and the early hours of 3 AM.
When you're photographing in a very dark space where the client wishes for minimal lighting, if you don't know how to work in such conditions, it will significantly affect the photos. The quality will come out either too dark or too grainy. You can't really practice this type of work in other settings because it truly takes many years and many births to master this skill.
Most photographers, such as newborn photographers, family photographers, and maternity photographers are most experienced in working in conditions with beautiful, bright light and plenty of space that they have meticulously chosen over the years due to their excellent lighting and space conditions for photo shoots.
But most birth spaces have very little light, or terrible artificial hospital lighting, and very little space for you to stand. You've got the doctor or midwife, the doula, the partner or spouse, and if it's a hospital birth, the labor and delivery nurse, the baby nurse and sometimes even the neonatologist. The hospital bed is often super crowded, there's no stool or chair for you to stand on to get a better vantage point, you've also got the hospital monitor and computer heartbeat monitor on one side, and on the other, the giant hanger with IVs. You are pressed up against a cabinet in most hospital rooms too! At home births you may come across tiny bathrooms you can’t even physically be inside of because there is only enough space for your client, her doula and midwife, or a birthing tub there is only one side of access to in their bedroom and the midwife is on that side along with your clients husband.
You've got to know what gear to have with you, and how to expertly use it in a dark, confined space. But you also need to know how to use it when the baby is crowning and comes out very quickly, so you don't end up with blurry, motion-filled photos. This is such a unique setting, perhaps equal to taking photos of your kids at night without the lights on, in a small room where they are running around you in circles. So many of my clients will tell you, don't leave this up to chance, don't just hire a photographer who's worked with beautiful studio lighting or natural lighting in the park their entire career. You want to work with a dedicated Birth Photographer who isn't practicing their craft with your birth because they’ve spent years perfecting their skill in the hardest of environments and the end result is stunning.
4. What does an entire birth photography gallery look like from your Birth Photographer?
Often you’ll see a photographer with one, two, or three really beautiful photos in their portfolio or on their socials, but what does an entire birth gallery actually look like?
Do they deliver 25, 100, or 1,500 photos? Are all the photos unique and high quality, or are they nearly identical shots taken seconds apart, almost like a camera feed upload? Do they have a lot of blurry photos in their birth gallery? Is the horizon in many of their photos lopsided, as if their camera was tilted?
Don't hesistate about asking key questions: How many years have they exclusively been a birth photographer? How many births have they photographed in total? If you're planning a specific kind of birth, such as a home birth, surrogacy story, have a history of many years of a fertility journey or are a single mom by choice, having a twin birth, VBAC, or c-section, definitely ask how many births they've attended just like yours. It's also good practice to ask how many births they've attended in your specific birthing facility, or with your particular doctor, midwife, or doula. This will give you a clear sense of how comfortable your birth team will be having this photographer working alongside them.
If you’re hiring someone just for one photo, or if you don’t have high expectations, it might be fine to settle on a photographer who is brand new (maybe they’ve photographed 1-5 births or maybe your birth is their very first) and trying to build their portfolio while simultaneously trying to improve their skills. The "portfolio building" stage typically describes a photographer who has never worked in the birth space before or has only captured a handful of births and needs to prove themselves to attract clients. If you’re one of their first clients, there's definitely a risk involved. You might get truly amazing photos if they have been a photographer for many years in other genres and when put in a difficult circumstance environmentally (poor lighting, fast delivery, lack of space) still handle the lighting and birth circumstances well. However, with their lack of specialized experience and unfamiliarity with their gear in such challenging spaces, you might also get the absolute opposite and feel your birth story was entirely lost.
That's why it is so important to ask to see multiple FULL birth galleries. This provides proof that you like the quality of their work consistently across many births, not just a handful of curated images from their portfolio, social media page, or website.
5. Lastly, what does your Birth Photographer’s communication and contracting look like?
A professional birth photographer should have a very clear and detailed contract that protects you and your expectations, especially since every birth is incredibly unpredictable.
I’ve had so many clients with scheduled c-sections and scheduled inductions whose babies arrived anywhere from a few days to even a month before their scheduled birth.
You absolutely need to be protected as a client with airtight contract details that clearly define your birth photographer's commitments.
Plus, you should also see that your birth photographer values themselves as a professional by having terms that protect them as well, ensuring you're both clear on communication protocols for your birth.
Beyond the contract, their communication should be incredibly clear from the very start.
Your birth photographer should be organized, and you should not feel like you’re the one who’s constantly following up on emails, phone calls, or invoices. In fact, they should be the one checking in with you, proactively managing expectations based on what they laid out from the very beginning. If there’s any hesitation with their communication being unclear or their services being sketchy or no one in the birthing community knowing them (such as midwives, obgyns, doulas, hospitals not knowing them) that would be a red flag.
