"These 17 Birth Photos Captυre Raw, Powerfυl Hυmaп Emotioпs

These will tug at your heart strings.

OK I know this might sound completely weird and possibly slightly creepy, but I am fascinated by birth photography. Hear me out. We live in a world of manufactured emotion. We take dozens of selfies until we get our smile just right. We angle our bodies to look thinner. We drive out to the middle of nowhere to take pictures walking through fields that no normal person would otherwise walk through. We work so hard to portray emotions we want others to see and associate with us online.

But you rarely see that in birth photography. It’s not posed. It truly achieves one of the purposes of photography – to capture reality in a freezeframe. These photos just happen to capture that reality during one of life’s most sacred events: birth.

Each photo is meaningful and displays so many different emotions. Anticipation, relief, pain, love, wonder, excitement, joy, determination – it’s all there. Check these out, and you’ll see what I mean:

1. We’ll start with labor pains

You should see people’s faces when I tell them I’m a birth photographer and they have never heard of such a thing. So let me break down exactly what I do and what I capture.

I tell stories. I come into one of the most sacred places a woman ever enters and capture her journey. This looks like her most vulnerable moments when she questions her strength and endurance. This looks like her waiting in serene silence waiting on the next contraction with her eyes closed. This looks like her husband by her side encouraging and supporting her in every way he can. This looks like the first time she lays her eyes on the baby that has been growing in her womb for months. It looks like the relief, the joy, and triumphant waves of emotions that come afterward.

Birth photography is so much more than just capturing the actual moment of birth, which is also remarkable. It is documenting the transformative experience a woman and family go through to bring forth new life.

Birth is raw and intrinsically beautiful at the same time. I get to document these experiences. I am a birth photographer, and I LOVE my job.

2. You can cut the tension with a knife

3. In between contractions: The calm before the storm

A beautiful moment of peace before the next of contraction.

4. Her face says it all

5. Her face says even more

Today when I gently placed a fresh born baby, still attatched to its pulsating cord onto mama’s chest, the dad looked at his beautiful wife and said “Never in my life did I imagine someone to be so powerful as you were today”.

6. Pure joy (and relief)

Tbt a week ago today. A photo speaks a thousand words…

7. One happy mama

Being there in these moments, to capture the raw and real emotion of those first minutes and hours is exactly what birth photography is about.

8. And one happy daddy to even things out

9. New parents

Tot zover mijn vocubalaire. No words to describe this amazing moment.

10. The one time she’ll be glad to hear a screaming baby

11. You can tell it has been a rough journey for this mom

This moment is more than any of us can imagine. We give birth to our hearts. Our soul now has two homes.

12. What a beautiful moment

Birth photography say what!? Many people wonder why I choose to shoot births and I think it is because they have the misconception that birth photography is all vaginas and goo.But birth is so much more than that!.

I love birth photography because of the connections, genuine emotions, the growth of families and I love to show women how amazing and strong they are! No matter how you birth (I am a 2 time cesarean Mom myself) you are giving so much of yourself for another life and it is incredible to capture!.

There aren’t many professions that allow you to witness the miracle of life and it truly is amazing!.

Did you have your birth photographed?.

13. Future mamas watching