Giving birth is an incredibly intense experience, and one gorgeous way to capture the rawest, most honest moments is through birth photography. Having a photographer present is a very personal decision, and one that isn’t right for everyone. In the same vein, taking photos at a birth is not a job for just any old photographer.
Photographer Lyndsay Stradtner launched the International Association of Professional Birth Photographers (IAPBP) in order to help parents who wanted a birth photographer to find the right person for them.
The association also runs an annual competition where photographers can submit their best images taken during labor, delivery, or the moments postpartum, and the results are truly moving.
The images submitted show a huge range of choices women make for themselves when it comes to childbirth. Some choose to deliver in hospitals, others at home or in a birthing center. The people present may vary from just a partner to a team of medical professionals, a doula, a midwife, siblings, grandparents, and other loved ones. The photos capture water births, Caesarean sections, women who labored with and without drugs.
Because birth involves women literally pushing a brand-new human out of their vaginas, some of the images below contain nudity and may be considered NSFW. But trust us, they’re worth looking at.
Here are just 17 of the stunning moments captured by birth photographers this year.
.
.
.
.
.
