Last month Joe and I went to a showing of The Business of Being Born brought to Fort Wayne by Birth Matters.
We have been working with Birth Matters for nearly a year now by getting them photos of our to use for their promotions. They are great people and we are so happy that we found each other. Before the movie showing they had a loop on the movie screen of great statistics and quotes about birth and they had our pictures in between every few statistics. So our photos were seen by a full theater of people.
They also used our card on their Birth Matter promotional cards that they gave out before and after the movie as well.
The movie was really fantastic. Throughout the entire film I was an active participant. I was either crying because of the way that women are treated in hospitals during labor and birth or I was crying because of the empowering and joyful births that women had in their own homes. I was also shaking my head, biting my lip and few times jaw dropped open in shock and disaproval. Apparently I am still very passionate about natural child birth.
There are times when a doctor’s/hospital intervention is necessary and I am thankful that in those times women have resources available to them. However I don’t feel that a hospital is the best place or even necessary for a woman that is not a high risk. What I feel matters only to me though. What I want for all people but especially pregnant women is that they educate themselves. Don’t take what a doctor or nurse or even midwife says at face value. Investigate your options. Ask questions. If you don’t know what questions to ask then seek people out who might.
I love that I can be involved in someway, even if it is through images alone, with Birth Matters here in Fort Wayne. Hallie and Jordan and so much information that they are so happy to share with people. They aren’t judgmental and they really do want women to make there own choices about where and how to have there babies but to have the information that they need.
Birth is so powerful and unlike anything else that we ever do on a day to day basis. It seems that in hospitals birth has become managed and kept on a clock and is just “routine” now. I don’t feel that way at all though. I know that the birthing mother is one of the most awe inspiring forces in our human existence. Both the mother and her birth are not anything to be handled.
During the movie both Joe and I were inspired. We want to continue to photograph pregnant women and newborns but we also want to begin photographing births. It would be just me photographing the birth. I would not use flash and I would be as unintusive as possible. I would only photograph births that were at home. The style of the photography would be very photojournalistic.
When I mentioned this idea of photographing births to some of the women at the wine and cheese party after the movie, they were very receptive and also that it would be so nice to have more of an artistic portrayal of the birth. What I gathered is that many women have pictures of their births but the pictures are very graphic and “business” oriented. Havign been a birhting mother myself I think that a few shots of the baby’s head crowning and actual birth is interesting but I think that what is going on around the mother and in her surroundings is just as, if not more interesting. So I really want to capture everything around the mother as well. Also I want to capture the little things like a holding of hands or sweeping of moms hair from her face as she labors. If their are other children around I want to capture them and what they are up to during the labor as well.
I am so excited when I think about photographing births! I really am so very passionate about birth and respecting the mother and the new baby. It is such a precious time in our lives and photos can help keep those memories fresh and vivid. Also another reason that I am excited about this work is that I want to help change the perception about birth. In our modern day society birth is seen as painful and scary. I think if we could just shift the conciousness just a little by seeing birth as strong, not painful, and exciting, not scary then we could have so many more women with wonderful birth experiences. Maybe I can help make that change with the birth pictures that I want to take.
~Koren Albright
