Blog about the workshop birthphotography

First Workshop birth photography

In April I gave birth my first birth photography workshop. I had spent months preparing, because once I decided to give a workshop I wanted to do it right! The workshop was quickly filled with six enthusiastic (amateur) photographers. Three of them had photographed a birth before and the others not yet, but all six knew one thing for sure: birth photography is their passion!

The workshop was given in a great location in Zevenbergen where 2 photographers shared a room with bathroom and where classes were given in the main room. All meals were included and wow, there was a lot of food! I did not even know in advance, we had some delicious food this weekend! The best thing would have been if we could photograph a birth all together but this is out of the question. For that reason, I hired an actress. There was also a midwife and my boyfriend Denny played the dad.

On Friday night and Saturday we covered a lot of theory (interview, preparation, birth, tips for shooting etc). Saturday afternoon it was time to practice: namely the labor stage. We practiced under different lighting conditions different scenarios’ of the labor stage with the actress and Denny. Then we visited a hospital where we were given a tour. A busy day 🙂 After we enjoyed an excellent meal, it was time for more theory, because what do you do when things go wrong for example?

With all this information it was time for everyone to really practice on Sunday. Per person everyone got the opportunity to document an acted birth and everybody did very well! Roselie, Denny and Kristien (the midwife) brought a baby, namedDries, in this world 6 times : great job! After a bit of marketing it was time for the real baby Dries who came with his parents. The midwife showed all the exames that are done shortly after birth with Dries and everybody could practice to document this part. In the afternoon there was time to edit in Lightroom and get more information about editing.

Although I’ve talked a whole weekend I was not finished. There is so much to tell about birth photography I can talk about it for a week :-). If you also have six such enthusiastic photographers, it is only more fun! The Netherlands and Belgium are 6 good birth photographers richer and now we can also be each other’s backup! It was such a good weekend that I consider to give another workshop to in November. More information can be found here, you can also subscribe to the newsletter here.

Marry Fermont