Photography has a wonderful ability to document all of life’s important events. Weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and family reunions are often cause for celebration. A professional photographer can help you record images from these events while you’re left free to enjoy yourself or make sure that everything else is going as planned. Birth photography is one growing trend in the industry that falls into this category as well.

It may sound a little strange to have a professional photographer staying in the room with you while you’re in labor, working to deliver your child. However, it can be done tastefully, and many have been choosing to have a professional take birth photos as the pictures help many fondly remember the day of their child’s birth. Currently, the International Association of Professional Birth Photographers boasts 400 members, many of them operating in the United States.

One Canadian birth photographer, an Alberta resident named Stephanie Werkman, recently had her work profiled in this piece from the St. Albert Gazette. This profile piece gives any reader a good idea of how tasteful birth photography can be accomplished and what it can provide for the parents.

Werkman only schedules about one birth photo shoot per month, ensuring that birth schedules don’t conflict, and is on call two weeks before the due date to ensure that the birth won’t be missed. Although there aren’t any official courses in birth photography, Werkman said that she’s found that it’s best to hang in the back and be fairly unnoticeable. The pictures she takes are usually snapped near the mother’s face, leaving anything private hidden by hospital sheets.

It’s important to document your family’s life together, and there’s no better time to start than the birth of a firstborn. If you have questions about birth pictures, Masserman Photography can help explain our services and what we can provide to new parents.