2016 has had some bad press throughout the year for various worldwide reasons, but for me it has been the turning point in my life. In June I turned 40 years old and I photographed my first birth. This also happened to be the very first time in my life I had witnessed a baby coming into the world and quite frankly it moved me to tears.
It was durning this first birth that I discovered my passion for photography had once again ignited after laying doormat for the past twelve years. I realised as the labour, birth and postpartum period unfolded in front of my lens that this was something truly magnificent.
It was in April 2016 that I first stumbled upon an article about a Canadian birth photographer. Like many people in the UK birth photography was fairly unknown. I decided to investigated this genre of photography further and I was totally infatuated with the images I discovered.
I fell in love…..
I picked up my camera for the first time in twelve years and began making friends with all the wonderful people working within the birthing community in and around all of South Wales. I was incredibly grateful to a fellow birth photographer from San Diego who was kind enough to provide me with invaluable advice about starting out as a birth photographer. From this moment on I photographed as much as I could and began my business venture.
2016 exceeded all my expectations ~ I have been published twice in the Huffington Post and had one of my images featured on the Birth Becomes Her Facebook page and another image on the Birth Photography Facebook page. Although the last six months have been hard work and exhausting it has been so rewarding and has been the driving force to continue into 2017 and beyond.
However, none of this would have been possible without the continued support and encouragement of my family and friends. I also have to thank the wonderful Doulas I have meet this year and intend on working along side in 2017. Special thanks to South Wales Doulas, Doula UK and The Positive Birth Movement. The online support via Birth Becomes Her and the UK Birth Photographer Tribe have also been an enormous source of knowledge and inspiration.
Above all and most importantly it has been the families, the women, the husbands and partners that have made this possible. It is the real people behind my images that allowed me into their birth space to record truthfully and artistically their birth story. Without each and everyone of them the images and achievements I have made would not have been possible. They trusted me and my camera to capture their amazing birth story.
Thank you with all my heart you special wonderful people.
Below are some of my favourite images captured in 2016 ~ I can not wait to start documenting births in 2017!
Enjoy……..
