Do you have lots of questions?? All good, that’s normal! Here are lots of answers:

WHAT IS BIRTH PHOTOGRAPHY?

Birth photography is NOT all about the birth……its about the whole experience of the day and the moments you share as a family.

We focus on documenting your special moments together, your emotions/reactions, the events of the day as they progress, your new bond with your baby after arrival and some special photos of your newborn and their little features.

We also capture your first family photo together.

WHY HIRE A BIRTH PHOTOGRAPHER?

Oh there are so many reasons!! Here are a few of the popular ones:

• FOR THE FOREVER – Prams, cots, baby goods…..these items are useful for 12-24 months. Photos last forever – long after material goods are gone.

• FOR THE MOMENTS – There are some incredible moments that couples share with each other and with their baby during birth. Joy, relief, pride, love!! It’s capturing these moments that people book us for.

• FOR THE MEMORY – The first thing to go when your body is managing pain or influenced by drugs is your memory!

• FOR YOURSELF – Childbirth is not easy yet you achieved it!! Many women feel proud and empowered by seeing themselves get through labour and delivery. Celebrate your strength and how incredible your body is.

• FOR YOUR PARTNER – Birth photography allows your partner to be in moment together with you and by your side supporting you, without missing out on precious memories.

• FOR YOUR CHILD – What did I look like on the day I was born? These photos are something they will enjoy looking back on when they are older.

• FOR THE QUALITY – No one wants ugly photos of themselves or blurry, dark, grainy iphone photos of their baby! We have the best equipment and expertise for the job and know how to create flattering, respectful images of you that are sharp, in focus and well exposed.

BUT WHY “BRISBANE BIRTH PHOTOGRAPHY”?

Selena is currently the leading birth photographer in Australia and the most popular in Brisbane. When you look at her work, its not hard to see why….but if you need more reasons:

1. EXPERIENCE
   Selena has photographed more than 80 births and is the 2015 and 2016 AIPP Australian Professional Birth Photographer of the Year. She is experienced with all types of birth from surrogacy and twins to homebirths and caesareans.
2. CREDIBILITY
   Selena is an Associate and Accredited Professional Photographer with the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers (AIPP) a member of the International Association of Professional Birth Photographers and Birth Photographers Australia.
3. REPUTATION
   Selena has an excellent reputation in south east Queensland’s major maternity hospitals from Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast, Ipswich to Redlands having worked extensively in these facilities and developing an excellent name for herself.
4. PROFESSIONALISM
   Selena strives to create a positive client experience in a professional manner. Her strict code of conduct, ethics, policies and values is designed to support you as the client and the medical staff she works with.
5. LOCATION
   Based in Stafford Heights, we service 15 different maternity hospitals and are less than 20 minutes from Brisbane’s major ones. Time can be of the essence when giving birth!
6. EQUIPMENT
   Selena’s gear is the best you can get for this job – with a range of lenses and back up equipment she can handle any situation!

What sort of photos do you take?

We like to tell a story with your photos. From arrival at your hospital to us leaving. We try to capture the weather on the day, the time of day or night we arrive at the hospital, the clock as the day progresses, your labour

When should we book?

As early as possible! The day you get that positive pregnancy test even.
Due to the nature of the business, we have limited spaces each month and these book up FAST because our services are the most popular in Brisbane.

Leaving it to the last minute can mean you may just miss out.

How do we book?

Booking in is as simple as completing our booking form, agreeing to our terms and conditions and paying a retainer of $250 to secure your date. Once that is done, we don’t need to do anything else until the 34 week mark.

What if you are booked on or around my due date?

We don’t use exact due dates to schedule our bookings because women can deliver any time between 37 and 42 weeks. It is highly uncommon for 2 women to birth at the same time. In the past we have had 2 women due on the same day deliver 5 weeks apart so the date isn’t a guaranteed indicator of when you will have your baby. We book you in based on your month rather than your date.

How do I convince my partner?

Partners (men in particular) often don’t understand why you want a birth photographer. Start by making a list of why it is important to you then talk to them about it. Here are some example reasons for wanting it, and the benefits for them too:

• It means that they don’t have to think about it….let alone charge the camera, clear a memory card and remember to pack it in the bag.
• It means they won’t get unflattering photos of you that you will hate looking back at for…..like…..ever.
• You want them rubbing your back or holding your hand – not holding a camera.
• You want them to be in the photos too. If they are taking photos, they can’t appear in the images.
• Emotionally you want to look back on the moment and remember it for yourself too – this is hard to do when you are the one giving birth because you are too focused on managing pain, contractions and delivery to truly enjoy the day.
• Its important to you as a woman and as a Mum – after all you’ve survived 9 months of pregnancy to get here.
• You want to leave it up to someone who knows what they are doing and can produce professional photos instead of phone photos.
• You only get to give birth how many times in your life? It doesn’t happen every day. Let’s celebrate it.

Birth is such a private moment, how do you manage that?

Yes, birth is a very private moment and very special for you as a couple – we are totally respectful and conscious of that. As a result, we work hard to ensure a discreet presence in the birth space by taking a “fly on the wall (with a camera)” approach so that you barely notice that we are there. We discuss your preferences for interacting with you during the birth and in most cases its limited to moments when you address your photographer first.

I don’t want a stranger present

Neither do we. That just makes for an awkward day. It is important to us that you feel like you have an ally, a support person or a friend with you during your birth. We work hard on getting to know you and part of the purpose for your pre-birth consult is so that we can feel comfortable with each other. We meet with you as little or as often as you’d like during your pregnancy until you reach a point where you feel comfortable with your photographer.

What if I don’t want the “birth” photos? Eeewww….

We realise that some people feel confronted by the actual birth itself. And that’s perfectly OK. There are ways in which we can avoid those altogether. There are many different shots and angles that we can take during a birth so if you would prefer the family moments without the birth, then we can make that happen.

What are your packages and pricing?

We offer a range of birth and portrait packages designed to suit most budgets. Our portrait sessions start at $490 and our birth packges start at $995. Inquire here for more details.

What payment options do you have?

Payments are made in a series of installments to help break up the cost. A $250 booking retainer is taken at the time of booking to secure your date and place in our schedule. The balance of the birth session fee (or base package fee) is then due at 36 weeks. Couples can either pre-purchase their package before the day or upgrade at the design appointment 6-8 weeks after the birth. We also offer payment plans and work with you to put together a payment schedule that works for you and your budget.

How long do the photos take?

We try to get through our shoots as quickly as possible. During quieter times this can be as soon as 4 weeks after the birth. For busier periods, allow up to 8 weeks. Our services are in such high demand and birth shoots produce many many photos so working through them to create the professional polished look that you see takes time.

How many photos do you produce?

Birth sessions can produce anything between 150 and 500 photos. The amount depends highly on how the day progresses, how long we are with you and how long we stay post-birth. We will always guarantee to create a minimum of 150 photos from the day.

Will my photos be colour or black and white?

If you purchase a package with digital images, we provide both. Any books we put together for you can have all colour, all black and white or a combination of the 2.

Do you share photos publicly?

Our business is built on imagery. It is how you find us and how other people will find us in the future. As a result, we need to share images from our shoots in a public forum in order to continue to market our services and grow our business. If we can’t use photos, we can’t market ourselves. When doing so however, we are always mindful of the private and sensitive nature of birth and the content shared is intended to be respectful of our clients whilst still sharing photos. We are very cautious over the content that we share and the nature of our business is built around the beautiful moments rather than anything graphic or highly private. This is an area that we discuss in depth at your pre-birth consultation.

Do you direct us or pose us at all?

No, the inherent nature of birth is photojournalistic or documentary in style. We capture things as they happen and find angles and compositions to suit based on what we’ve got to work with. We may direct you to sit together at the end to capture your first family portrait but that is the extent of our involvement.

Do you interact with us during the birth?

Not a great deal no. We only really do so if you want us to or you instigate it.

Do you meet with us before the birth?

Yes, we organise a pre-birth consultation at approximately 36 weeks. In this consult, we go through your plans for your birth, discuss any issues that may impact on our involvement, talk about when to contact us, discuss your preferences for the day and find out what type of photos are most important to you. This meeting goes for approximately 90 minutes and is usually our last meeting before you deliver. If you have a maternity shoot booked also, we do both one after the other to avoid a second meeting.

Are you up to date with your vaccinations?

Yes, all photographers are up to date with their whooping cough vaccinations and each receive the flu shot every year to assist with protecting the families and baby’s we work with.

When do we contact you on the day?

Communication is the key to being there at the right time. You will usually contact us at the first sign of labour or if you have made the decision to be induced or have a c-section. Contacting us early increases your success of being there in time (particularly if things move fast). As a general rule, we aim to be with you when you head to the hospital or when contractions are approximately 3-5 minutes apart. However, things can go super slow or change really quickly so we gauge each situation on a case by case basis. Such is the nature of birth.

How long do you stay?

Once we are with you at the birth, we stay with you until you deliver and for up to 3 hours post-birth. This could be 4 hours, 14 hours or 24 hours. So long as things are progressing and your baby’s arrival is pending, we will stay.

What if I go into labour in the middle of the night?

Such is life. Babies are born at all times of the day – not just between office hours. So whether you go into labour at 1pm or 1am, you will still ring us. It’s what we do and all part of the job.

What if you have two Mums in labour at the same time?

No worries. If available, Selena will always be the primary photographer. However, if we have 2 Mums labour at the same time, we have a number of sub-contracted back up photographers who will attend in her place until she can get there. These photographers are hand picked, well trained and highly experienced with birth photography and capable of holding the fort until Selena is finished at the first birth.

Do you use flash? What if I want my birth dark?

The answer is yes and no. For the most-part no, we don’t need to. Our professional equipment and expertise means that we have other means with which to manage low light during the labour. However, we typically prefer to turn on flash during the pushing and delivery stages because things can move very quickly at this point and without enough light, we risk missing photos. Flash is used subtly – not only is it on the lowest brightness setting but it is aimed away from you at either the roof or the walls behind us. You do have the option to opt out of having flash used however, this can mean that photos are missed or that they are dark, blurry and grainy.

What if I need space?

That’s fine. We are more than happy to step out of the room at any point during the labour and post-birth if you wish. We will often take short breaks during long labours anyway to allow time to eat and use the bathroom.

What if there is an emergency?

Unfortunately emergency situations happen. In these cases, we may or may not continue to photograph. A lot of it depends on what is happening in the room and the nature of the emergency. If you or your baby needs help, we refuse to get in the way of the medical staff’s ability to do so. Your lives and health are always more important than photos – as is the need for the staff to do their jobs. If we stop shooting, we will begin again once the emergency situation has settled and there may be a gap in the photos. These situations are always case by case and we follow my professional judgement on how to approach them.

What if there is something wrong with my baby?

As with emergencies, we do our best to be perceptive of how people are feeling in these situations. We may or may not decide to continue photographing. These situations can be difficult as there are often many people in the room and alot going on. If your medical staff need to access the baby (thereby meaning that we can’t) then we will respectfully step back to allow them to do so. We use our best professional judgement in this situation.

What happens if you miss the birth?

Birth can happen very quickly so communication is key to not missing the birth. However it can and does happen – thankfully not very often. If we miss the birth, we still come in afterwards. There is always lots to capture after your baby arrives so we usually still attend and will often stay a bit longer than normal to keep photographing. Depending on how long this ends up being, we may offer you a Fresh48, newborn, herbal bath or lifestyle family shoot after the day. We are keen for you to feel like you are getting value for money from your investment.

What if I have to have a caesarean-section?

If you end up needing a caesarean-section, we work with you to seek approval from your OB and hospital before the day. If you end up requiring an emergency caesarean section on the day, we will work with you to get access to theatre. However, it is never a guarantee and sometimes we are refused access. In the end, you as the patient have the power and need to fight for us to be in theatre with you. If we cannot make that happen, we send you in with one of our cameras and between you and the theatre staff, we get what we can photos wise.

Do I need approval from the hospital?

You do not need “approval” per se because as the patient you have a right to have photos from the day. However, it is professional courtesy to let the hospital and any private medical staff know that you will be having a photographer and including this in your birth plan is a great start.

How far do you travel?

I service 16 different maternity hospitals from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast, Ipswich and Cleveland as well as homebirths in suburbs in between. These include: Mater Mothers South Brisbane, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Birth Center, Wesley, Greenslopes, Northwest Private, Sunnybank, Caboolture, Redcliffe, Gold Coast University Hospital, Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Ipswich Hospital, St Andrew’s Private Hospital, Redlands Hospital, Logan and Beaudesert. See here for a list of hospitals and travel times.

What if I go into labour early (i.e. before 37 weeks)?

Premature labour and delivery happens. If it does…..just ring me. So long as I’m still available, I will come. If you aren’t comfortable with having photos taken during this time, we will instead offer you a session in the neonatal intensive care or special units, a Fresh48 or newborn shoot. These photos are just as important as the birth images and can be quite important for you to process the event afterwards.