PORTLAND - You do it for your wedding, so why not book a photographer for the birth of a child? It’s a question Vancouver photographer Stacey Schoelich asks expectant parents.
“Your family is expanding and it only happens once with each child,” she explained.
Schoelich is part of a growing number of birth photographers recently reported in the New York Times.
Contact: Birth photographer
An international group started in Texas has 400 members.
“She seemed to capture all the important aspects of the birth,” said client Carrie Sampson of her daughter Fallyn’s birth.
Shoelich started shooting professional pictures in the delivery room after her son’s birth left her with just a few photos.
“My Mom was taking the pictures and she just got caught up in things and I ended up with only a few,” she remembered.
Carrie Sampson had a similar experience with her first daughter and decided to make Fallyn’s delivery different.
“I just knew if I didn’t spend the money, I would regret it.”
Initially Schoelich charges $200 for couples to reserve her services by their due date. Packages of her work run an additional $200-$600 with each family getting about 100 images from the delivery and touching moments that follow.
“I’m on call 24/7,” says Schoelich. “I sleep with my phone next to my pillow and if we go anywhere we take two cars so I can get somewhere fast.”
Fallyn’s delivery had Schoelich at the hospital seven hours but that’s not the norm, “I’ve been there with some parents as long as 20 hours,” she remembered.
It’s the Dads she says that are usually reluctant to have her there, “Then they see my work and realize it doesn’t have to be graphic. It’s all about where you stand.”
Schoelich says her greatest compliment comes from Moms who tell her they cry when they see the images.
“I did cry when I saw them,” said Carrie Sampson, ”they were so touching and it was really rewarding to see it all over again.”
