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BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Laura Swift has four clients due to give birth in August. She keeps her cell beside her on at full volume 24/7. Her bag is packed with all she needs to handle a labor that could last 24 hours or more.
Swift is no longer a labor and delivery nurse, her profession for almost 25 years. In 2011, she became a professional birth photographer. Her job now is to capture images of one of the most significant events a family can experience. She is one of two members of the International Association of Professional Birth Photographers in western Virginia.
"I hate being on call, but I love getting that call," said 59-year-old Swift. "Childbirth is something I'm passionate about. I want the family to remember how they felt at this special moment, the first time they saw their baby."
Birth photography is not just about the moment the baby's head emerges, the crowning shot, Swift says. Some parents don't even want that image, preferring the moment when the doctor holds up the baby.
"I watch for special moments," Swift said, "like the mom's face when she's in labor, pushing hard; the baby being placed on the mom's chest and the tears of joy when she holds the child. I photograph the dad, how he supports the mom, holds her hand, his face when he sees the baby. I capture the siblings when they first see the baby, the awe and even the jealousy. It's part of this family's story."
Swift, of Newport, has photographed home births and hospital births. Only a few doctors don't allow her to photograph the actual delivery. Swift understands sterile procedure and knows how to move around the room without getting in the way. With her years of nursing experience, Swift is a quiet, comforting presence. She's even been asked to help.
"Luckily, I have a wide angle lens because when they asked me to hold a mom's leg, I was stuck in one position," Swift said.
Swift's presence documenting the birth frees the father or birth partner to fully participate in the birth experience without worrying whether the right moments are being captured on camera. Swift catches expressions and actions the parents might not even notice at the time because they are so caught up in the labor.
"I try to stay in the background," Swift said. "Natural, candid photography is what I do. I use existing light, no flashes, even during a candlelit home birth. I never ask anyone to pose. I don't interrupt what my subjects are doing. I move myself around to get what's happening. I don't use a tripod; I always hold the camera. I watch and I wait until I see the right shot."
During her nursing career, Swift has assisted at several hundred births and delivered 20 babies on her own before the physician arrived. She is almost embarrassed to admit how easy it was to give birth to her own three children, now in their 30s. So quick and easy, in fact, that her second child was born on the way to the hospital after just 20 minutes of labor.
"It only took one push," Swift said. "I didn't break a sweat. My third child was born at the hospital, on a busy night. The staff asked me if I'd take him up to the nurses' station and watch the monitors for them. I wasn't at all tired."
Despite the ease of her own birth experiences, Swift has a deep well of empathy for parents who are having a harder time. She has been present when the baby has died.
"I kept photographing," she said. "I thought they would want the images later. I showed the medical staff working on the baby, when they allowed me. I photographed the baby in its blanket. This would be all the parents would have of this child."
Swift is very careful of the shots that will be posted on the Internet. Even with the family's permission, Facebook, Instagram and others have banned professional photographers for showing nudes. Breastfeeding, too, was not allowed until fairly recently.
"I don't show the most private body parts of the mom or the baby. Even my breastfeeding shots are modest; you know what's going on, but you can't see the breast. I'm telling a story, not doing medical photography." Swift said.
Swift took up photography at 50, enrolling in every photography class she could find at New River Community College and Radford University.
She started out shooting weddings and even photographed a funeral or two, but she soon realized that the rite of passage she loved the most was childbirth.
"The day my first grandchild was born, I held him in my lap. 'I will always want to remember this moment,' I thought. I took his photo in the hospital and I haven't stopped taking birth photos since. I would photograph all my friends who were having babies and I realized I had an eye for this. I stopped photographing weddings and focused on what I loved: moms having babies."
Swift's birth package starts at $499 to shoot active labor, delivery, and then breastfeeding and first bath a few hours after delivery. She also offers at-home shots of the baby and family during the first week. She creates albums, slide shows of images set to music, and digital and print photographs
"I love photographing the parents after delivery, their faces are just glowing. But I think I take these pictures for the baby. It's the story of their starting out."
Swift's work has been exhibited at galleries in two Christiansburg churches, the Bridge and the Dwelling Place. Her motherhood exhibit is also being considered for exhibition in Virginia Tech's Perspectives Gallery.
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