Amateur

Up we go!

A's fav. thing to do - be upside down!

Curly Sue

Daddy and daughter

My hubby owns a very fancy camera that I rarely use. I'm actually allergic to learning things that are very technological, so I usually tune him out when he tries to give me a tutorial. Up until now, I've enjoyed using my easy point-and-click camera to capture special moments.

Now that I'm a doula, though, I have a newfound desire to help parents capture their births in a beautiful way - one that I can't do well with my easy-to-use camera. At two previous births I've attended, I've surprised myself by taking several amazing shots using my client's cameras.

So this past weekend I had my first try at using one of the manual functions on Tom's camera (don't ask me what the function was called; I can't remember). He showed me how to adjust the lighting, but I actually liked when the lighting was off - it makes the last picture look so neat. I have a lot of work to do on setting up the frame (as you'll see, I cut off Tom's legs in both top pictures), but I'm quite proud of my beginnings.

There are so many wonderful moments to capture during a birth, and women sometimes surprise themselves by wishing they had their photographer (who is usually the partner, doula or other close family member - although you can hire professional photographers) take some shots from the bottom of the bed. The whole event passes by in such a blur for the labouring woman, that even if she was squeamish about the whole process, she later wishes she could go back and see how it all went down.

The good news about digital cameras is that things can be easily deleted - my suggestion is to allow your photographer complete access (within reason of course - no one enjoys a camera being shoved in their face during a contraction). You can always go back and delete the ones you find gross or scary. But give youself a few weeks before you go and delete them - you might find the ones of your baby entering the world the most poignant of them all!