***All images in this post are copyright Patience Salgado unless otherwise noted***

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Patience sent me a little piece she wrote about being a birth photographer. I've included it here as the first part of her interview.

Shooting From Your Soul

It’s 9:30pm and the phone rings. “Tonight?” He says. My husband knows this means we all are in for a long one. I nod my head and smile wondering how I got us into this crazy life. This man knows what words like dilate, effacement and placenta mean. He also knows we are all in this together because it just doesn’t work any other way. I am a birth photographer.

After years of working with young families in various roles, it was my kindness work that lead me to this love of capturing birth. Being a young mom myself, it seemed I was always gathering kids in car seats to go deliver a meal to a new mom or dropping flowers on a door of some kind soul in postpartum hell. I knew these places myself and these tiny acts brought me joy in a way nothing else did. This way of life evolved over time and became known as my kindness work.

My trusty Rebel XT landed on my lap for an anniversary present and the little camera found its way into my kindness world of babies, kids and moms just trying to make it. My camera became permanently attached to my body. I felt like I was carrying around a magic machine that could show you a secret or something you had never seen or noticed before. In about 2 more seconds, I knew birth was where I was headed. It is a place that can show women’s power and beauty like no other. I am humbled and in awe every time.

In today’s lifestyle photography world, it is a completely untapped market. We are taking pictures of everything else, why not this? Truth be told, marketing, management and business were all secondary, it was just a call from that small place inside. A call that has grown every day since. My first birth session came, my husband was out of town and 2 of my 4 children were sick. I had a momentary freak out and then like every working mother, I found a way to make it work. The birth was dreamy, the photography challenging, my kids were fine and I was hooked.

I have to tell you though, nothing is easy and I found I’m kind of having my own re-birth. Each day I’m learning and finding my way on so many levels. There are moments of sheer panic that the most important shot will be blurry, hours of questioning my skill and the lack of a fine arts degree on my resume, days spent lamenting over other people’s amazing processing. And then there are times my eye saw the perfect angle, knowing I held space for hope in the room, or seeing the quiet moment of love no one else caught. I realize I’ve been preparing my soul for this work long before I ever picked up a camera.

Isn’t this the exact place where we all are, still learning? Whether you have been shooting events for 20 years, or your first small wedding in someone’s backyard, everything gets better when we let our souls look through the lens. I am grateful to be part of a greater tribe of women in this work, claiming and seeing beauty, joy and power everyday.

Interview

I found you through the shutter sisters blog because of your birth photography work. What drew you to birth photography?

 I had been involved with young families in a variety of ways in my professional career over the years, but there is something so magical about the beginning of being. The challenge of event photography mixed with a certain level of personal and intimate connection was a great fit for me. Mostly, I believe in the power of women and birth and feel honored to be able to be present to capture it.

You have a family, how does birth photography fit into your family life?

I have four kids so it’s definitely tricky, but every mother working is probably in the same boat. Dependable babysitters, back-up babysitters, back-ups to the back-ups. I have to have a multitude of options since my work is so unpredictable. I think this might be the hardest part of my job.

What do you do to help your clients be so comfortable with you during such an intimate time?

We meet at least once face-to-face for tea or coffee usually before the birth to talk and come up with a birth photo plan. I am a trained doula so I think it helps that I am familiar with women in this stage of life and birth in general. If she is having a rough time at the end of pregnancy, I might ding-dong-ditch her. I’ll leave flowers or a note on her doorstep, ring the doorbell and run away. Its very fun and an unobtrusive way to connect. I know what it is like to be 3 days overdue and feel like a cooked turkey. My work tends to be more personal due to the nature of this particular photography and my personality.

What would you say is your best way of bringing in new clients aside from word of mouth?

Social media can be a powerful tool. Facebook, Twitter and blogs allow people to be involved in your everyday work and life. People are interested in what we do and what we capture, they enjoy knowing us as part of a large community. It is an easy way to spread the word on who you are and what you do.

Many photographers have multiple streams of income. Do you have other streams of income in addition to photographing births? What do you do?

I am a writer and kindness worker. One pays my bank account, the other fills my soul.

I write for a PBS blog with my three sisters called the Supersisters. (Link-http://www.pbs.org/parents/supersisters/) My husband and I also write on parenting for a local hip online news source in Richmond, VA called RVANews. (Link- www.rvanews.com)

What do you do to keep from feeling overwhelmed?

Oh, I must tell you I still often feel overwhelmed. It reminds me to live in the moment before me, just like birth. One contraction at a time, one shoot at a time. Knowing that what we are doing is really special and important helps me to keep going. My kind partner and friend calls me from the edge when I need it most and countless girlfriends listen to my dribble on a day to day basis.

Thank you Davina, for including me among such amazing women doing such wonderful work. I still feel so small and humbled by the whole thing. May kindness and perfect lighting meet you at every turn.

To see Patience's work:

Blog

SuperSisters (I love all of the entry's by Patience!  awesome for moms...)

More

Updated to add:

website

***All images in this post are copyright Patience Salgado unless otherwise noted***