Monday, January 11, 2016

birth photographer- yea or nay {my opinion}


When I was pregnant with Mia, a friend offered to take birth photos for us and I was really excited about it... until I was in labor. I was hangry (understatement), exhausted and just plain not in the mood for pictures, so we ended up not getting birth photos. I never regretted not having them done (my friend came to the hospital and snapped photos the next day, and I cherish those pictures with my brand new Mia!) but after seeing so many beautiful birth photos, I was once again curious about having our own birth photos. Fast forward (or rewind since he's already here, ha!) to being pregnant with James... I was put in touch with Chrissy and after discussing my thoughts on pictures, we agreed to tentatively plan on having her do our birth photos, but to definitely be there to photograph the first time Mia met James/the first time we were together as a family of four in the hospital. I discovered that while curious about birth photos, I knew that photos of our family after James was born was what was truly most important to me!
As you can see, birth photos worked out this time around... and I love them! I'm so glad we have them and I will cherish them forever! BUT I do feel like this was a one time deal. My curiosity has been satisfied, we have beautiful photos of bringing our baby into this world... but I don't feel the need to do them again if we have another baby. You better believe that I WILL have a photographer (definitely Chrissy if we are still in Arizona!) there to document my kids meeting each other/all of us together for the first time when/if we do have another baby! I just don't even know how to describe the way my heart glows (cheesy? yes. true? yes!) when I see the love and curiosity my daughter has for her new baby brother... or the love that is obvious on my face and Eric's seeing our babies together for the first time, when we weren't sure how we would be able to love another baby after falling head over heels for our first born. These photos give me all the feels! These photos are what I've decided are most important- a necessity for me! So I am grateful that we had a birth photographer once, but I will always have a photographer capture those first precious moments with our whole family together for the first time!
For all of my Arizona people, I have to give the biggest shout out to Chrissy from Let Me See You Sparkle Photography! Not only is she one of the kindest, sweetest souls I have ever met, but she went above and beyond as a photographer and friend! She eased my nerves/fears/concerns with the birth photos and she gave me the modest picturess I was hoping for (in a situation where all is bared, ha ha! I can only imagine how difficult it was for her to produce the vision I was asking for) She is so personable and instantly put my family at ease so the pictures from the first meet are perfectly natural and portray what a happy time it was for our family! I also had Chrissy take James' newborn photos and she really knows her stuff! She was confident with little James, knew how to comfort him and position him to capture his newborn sweetness! I just can't praise Chrissy enough and look forward to working with her in the future! If you live in the valley (or surrounding areas, she posts when she is available for traveling around Arizona) I highly suggest looking into Let Me See You Sparkle Photography!

18 comments:

Ashley G said...

These pictures are so sweet and ones you’ll cherish forever!

P!nky said...

What amazing pictures, lady! I think it's about personal preference but how wonderful is it that you have these to look back on when everything was probably hazy. And it allows Eric and close family just to be there for you, not worried about pictures! <3

Pamela {Sequins and Sea Breezes} said...

Your pictures turned out amazing! I don't know if I'd have someone there doing pictures during the birth, like you, I feel like I'd get hangy and I get super mean when I'm hangry! But love that you guys decided to do it with James because they turned out beautiful! <3, Pamela Sequins & Sea Breezes

Jenn said...

These are beautiful photos! I see why you recommended it this time around! :)

Unknown said...

Aww, such sweet pictures! So cute seeing brother & sister together for the first time!

BLovedBoston said...

These moments are ones that you not only have in memory but now on film - so special! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston

Mandie said...

Such awesome pictures. I love the pictures of Mia meeting James for the first time - those are my favorites. :)

Fatima Dedrickson said...

I wish I had someone that took mine, Cecilia was suppose to but she was out of town :(! These are beautiful my friend <3

Foxy's Domestic Side said...

These pictures are so sweet. I wish I had gotten someone to take photos of my son meeting my daughter, the pictures we got weren't that great, between my dad's shaky hands and my mom uncanny ability to cut people's heads off in EVERY picture...we only got one good one...darn! Yours was the sweetest pictures. Everyone having babies is giving me baby fever!

Elizabeth [Chasin' Mason] said...

I wish we had had a photographer there. I look back on my pictures of Mason when he was first born and while I love them, I feel like I missed out on so much. I was obviously busy and Seth was busy paying attention to me and the doctors were obviously busy and not taking pictures so we only have so many. While I'm not sure about ALL the graphics and details, I think having some would have been so special. Definitely something to think about if we have a #2.

Brady and Lindsay Wood said...

I have never thought to have a photographer come take photos of the kids meeting the new baby for the first time but I LOVE it. I think I am going to have to do this with my next one. Because we don't live by family and its just me and brady when we have a baby and its hard to enjoy the moments in the hospital and take photos therefore we don't ever end up with many photos.

Anonymous said...

I have never really thought about having a photographer in the room until now looking at all the pics. I wish I had more intimate photos from Chloe and since you can't be in charge of the camera yourself, this is a perfect idea!

Evelina said...

Such gorgeous photos! I heard from people around here that hospitals do not permit photographers during delivery in Canada so I guess it won't be possible for me. But I think it's so cool to capture those very first moments of life!

Unknown said...

good post! like you blog!
Millybridal UK

The Girl who Loved to Write said...

These are so beautiful! I've been going back and forth about this, and I think I'm kind of in your boat...I'm curious about it, but will probably be satisfied with just newborn pictures.

Jamie @ The Jamie's + 1 said...

I love these pictures. They are beautiful.

-Danica- said...

If it lucky and my sister is a photographer/videographer and since she has been there for both births, she automatically takes pictures and video. She made the sweetest video of me while I was in labor, and then footages from after my son was born and everyone was meeting him. I will treasure it forever being able to have that on film!!

Allison said...

These are beautiful. Round 1 I only wanted my husband and I in the room (obviously the doctors too), but I think Round 2 (whenever that time comes) I wouldn't mind a photographer being there especially seeing the emotion captured in these! XO

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