False Alarms in the Life of a Birth Photographer | Marysol Blomerus | Cape Town Birth Photographer

The glamorous #LifeofABirthPhotographer includes false alarms. I got a quick no filter #ElevatorSelfie a few weeks ago on my way out from a hospital after being sent home because “today was not the day”. This is one of the many ways where birth photography departs from other forms of event photography. Imagine your wedding photographer dashing to your wedding with no-notice only to discover it will be another day (to be determined)? When I am hired by a birth client, my packages include my *unlimited* time from active labour until 2 hours post baby being born. This means sometimes its 6 hours. Sometimes it’s 70! I believe in a premium service. Sometimes it’s running out to be sure “not to miss it” only to realise it was a false alarm in the end. This is always included at no extra cost because I build these factors into my packages.

It’s already a bummer for a mom to think her baby was on the way and then realise not yet. She doesn’t need the added stress of feeling like her birth photographer isn’t 100% on her team. I use good communication with a client and my instinct to hold back sometimes and not come when it seems too early. I also use my instinct to dash out when that little alarm is going off in my head. I have had many clients call me to say “come now!!!!”, then shocked to find out I am already downstairs in the hospital cafe knowing that call was coming. It’s taken years of experience to get to a point where I really trust my instincts and rarely get it wrong. That said, I still sweat it every-single-time.

It’s taken years of experience to get to a point where I really trust my instincts and rarely get it wrong. That said, I still sweat it every-single-time. Oh, and I got a new colour of scrubs for my collection. Fun to mix it up a bit. For more behind the scenes check out #BehindTheScenesWithMarysol on Instagram. I’m sharing a ton over there.