Edmonton birth photographer | Welcome home Baby Jack

As an Edmonton birth photographer, I have the privilege of witnessing and capturing the birth experience. This role is one I take so seriously. What I will and won’t capture is defined ahead of time by the woman who will be giving birth and how it incorporates her partner.

With birth photography, there is so much that can’t be planned ahead of time. I am ready to adapt at any given moment.

For Shannon, the birth of her second child, baby Jack, was as uneventful as one would hope. Shannon was an absolute pillar of strength. I was in awe of her. Before Jack’s birth, I went through a plan with Shannon and Steve. Shannon made it clear what she would like me to capture, which included crowning and the placenta. While I always, always honour what the birthing woman wants, when I look at those images: the baby entering the world, the placenta after 9 months of providing a baby with oxygen and nutrients (like, how incredible is that?),and the umbilical cord tying mama to baby, they make me realize just how incredible it is to grow a baby and birth it into this world. Just… wow.

When I talk to new parents, especially moms, they often mention how the day their child was born, often during the wee hours of the night or very early morning, that it was the most intense, most beautiful day of their lives. Certain details and feelings stand out, things they will never forget, but others are blurry because they were labouring and singularly focused on the safe entrance of their baby.

That’s what makes my role as a birth photographer so special—through documentary style images, I can capture the entire experience—including a Fresh Session—and provide images from a vantage point that both the labouring woman and her partner would not otherwise see.

I had previously captured the birth of Shannon and Steves’s first child, Amelia. So, it was such a cool experience to be invited to photograph Amelia meeting her little brother Jack for the first time during a Fresh Sesh. And seriously… there’s just too much sweetness between those two!