A Birth Experience
with Eliza Spiteri
Eliza was booked in for a cesarean with her first child. She talks about her thoughts on choosing a photographer and her experience with me as her photographer. Eliza wanted to truly document her birth of her first born son and invest in high quality images that captured a moment in time to relive and pass onto her son.
She talks about her self conscious thoughts about how she would look after giving birth and what she would look like in the photos. After a wonderful experience with me, Eliza is over the moon with her photos and urges anyone thinking about a documentary session with me to just do it!
“ I always knew I wanted photographs to document the birth of our first child. It's a moment in time that defines 'family' and I can get swept up at the best of times. I needed something to look back on the day and not just snap shots; I needed photographs that captured the emotions, feelings and candid moments so I could re-live the day just by looking at them.
My mother passed away when I was 15. I guess if she was here I would have asked her all about my birth, who was there, what her first thoughts of me were. By getting photos done by a photographer whose work truly documents the moment so honestly (as i'd seen in her previous work with other families) deep down I felt that even if I couldn't be there for my child in the future the photos would show everything.
"I was worried how I would look being in hospital, no make up etc However now I think those concerns were silly!"
"Justine reassured me that the moments just after theatre would be just as spectacular."
I didn't want perfectly prepped glamour shots, I wanted the story captured. My husband however was really relieved he didn't have the pressure of getting all the photos!
I didn't want posed photographs. I wanted a photographer to capture a moment in time, not forced smiles and awkward stances. Just natural beauty. I didn't want to have to direct the photographer and I didn't want too be directed too much. It was also really important to me that the photos were quality and artistic. Anyone can whip out an iPhone, and so many people do "photography" these days. I wanted to ensure I was spending good money on someone who really knew what they were doing professionally. I loved Justine's portfolio, education, experience, her use of light and shadow and her story telling.
Originally I had wanted to capture my birth experience in theatre. Justine had made it aware to me that my obstetrician/hospital may not allow her in theatre. Sadly this was the case and my request was denied by the hospital.
Justine has a really good way with people and on the day she was able to guide photos with family without ever directing them to stand here or do that. Justine just had a really natural way of moving around our family to get the best shots of them. I felt relaxed about the photos because I knew I was in good hands. However I felt very nervous about my c-section! I'm usually a very controlling person, I was most surprised at the fact I didn’t feel like I needed to take control over the day, I trusted that she had it covered. It felt very easy to communicate with Justine and she was able to interpret the things that were important to me and capture them in her own artistic way.
I was still in the hospital when I received a call from Justine that some of my photos were ready to view. My husband and Father in-law were with me and we all cried! We looked through the photo's together on my iPad and I just loved them.
There wasn’t anything I felt that was missing. I had a great mixture of photos of myself and my partner with our new baby and our family and their reactions. There were some intimate moments of myself which I had really hoped to capture. Some cute and funny ones that I just loved sharing with my friends and family. It was exactly what I had envisioned. I believe that Justine captures more emotion from the time rather than just posed photographs and helps me to relive the experience when I look back on the photos from the day. It was worth every penny. My photos have allowed me to share a significant moment of my life with others who live far away and were not able to attend the day my baby was born. If your thinking of a session, do it, its totally worth it haha. You'll love the photos and love Justine."
