Ethereal Birth Photography
Client Consent
Sabina consented to images with her face being shared online, but wishes to keep baby’s face private. We can censor images with shapes, text boxes, blurring, and sometimes crop faces out for social media purposes.
I reserve the right to share the uncensored versions on my portfolio to demonstrate my capabilities, but will not share them on social media if you’re concerned about social privacy.
ABOVE: Midwife Angie measures fetal heart tones using a doppler to chart heart rate trends through labor.
Images like this can be great promotional images for midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, or other Birth Professionals who find new clients through social media.
If you are comfortable with images like this being shared with them, please see “Other Birth Professional Release” in the Consent Form.
If you’re giving birth with hospital midwife and OBGYN teams (who tend to be on-call for all patients), this likely does not apply to you.
BELOW: Midwife Janie laughs with her birth client after getting absolutely DRENCHED in blood that had been retained behind the placenta. I felt comfortable texting the midwife this image after the birth since it does not include the birth client.
ABOVE: This placenta is heart shaped! I find these images fascinating, but they may be disturbing for someone who has a phobia of blood/tissue.
Other images from this birth include large clots from a postpartum hemorrhage, drops and smears of blood across her body, meconium on her baby’s bottom, and the sidelines birth video shows a midwife administering a shot of pitocin into her thigh to control bleeding.
If you have phobias with blood, needles, tissue, feces, chunks of vernix, poop/meconium, etc, PLEASE tell me! Let me know if you would like for images featuring these things to be edited in black and white only, or not included at all in your final album.
BELOW: This placenta has a “velamentous cord insertion” where the umbilical veins are embedded across the amniotic sac. If you’re squeamish with blood and organs, black and white is an option.
Sometimes baby needs a little help - would you like me to continue taking photos if things are getting concerning, emotional, or traumatic?
BELOW: Midwife Seasons gently gives percussive thumps up baby’s back, upward toward the head, to encourage baby to cough up any fluid in his lungs - this is technically a newborn resuscitation, as his vitals were a bit lower than they’d prefer. In other images taken at this time, we can see him “walking” or flexing one leg at a time, showing he has muscle tone and newborn reflexes - a good indicator that he’s actually doing okay!
These moments may seem distressing, but the midwife’s calm demeanor is reassuring. If your birth ends up feeling a bit traumatic, reviewing these images with me or your providers may bring you comfort, as we explain how common it is for babies to need a little help in those first minutes of extrauterine life, pointing out these details that may soothe painful memories.
This birth client’s doula was her mother. Though mom and doula’s faces are not in frame, mom’s distinctive spine tattoo that says “everything happens for a reason,” and doula’s manicured hand (if perhaps she was wearing a distinctive ring), could be identifying enough for someone who knows them to figure out who they are.
If you need to keep your birth a secret from a toxic family member or a stalker, PLEASE let me know, so I can protect your safety.
This client sent images with examples of birth photography to demonstrate just how much nudity they’re comfortable sharing online. As a photographer, this is EXTREMELY helpful for us to be able to visualize your preferences!
The first image is a side view of the moment baby’s head was fully outside of the vagina, but the shoulders had not yet come out. The side profile angle does not reveal mom’s vulva or anus, as they’re hidden behind her thigh.
The second and third images show mom’s chest, and her fully exposed and uncensored nipples, as she waited for baby to latch. We can obstruct your nipple/areola with something like an emoji heart, a text box, and try to crop or blur it in Lightroom and Photoshop for social media.
Note that in the third image, the photo was cropped in a way that the upper pubic area is included, but it does not reveal her labia, clitoris, etc - which may have been in frame in the unedited photo. This image is very consistent with my personal modesty preferences for images shared on social media and my portfolio.