It’s the most wonderful time of the year for us Birth Photographers! Time for this year’s 12th Annual Birth Image Competition from the International Association of Professional Birth Photographers!
This particular competition is near and dear to me, because as you may recall, I was awarded Member’s Choice “Best in Fresh 48” in the 2020 image award with this organization with one of my most favorite images of all time, “Her Cup Runneth Over”.
That was the highlight of my photographic career at that point, and I was honored to see my art resonate with SO MANY humans worldwide. Still to this day, 2 years later, I still find this image being shared, circulated and reposted. I am ever so grateful I was able to make this image, with the help of a now dear friend who was brave and completely transparent about my sharing ALL of her most intimate birth and pospartum moments. We need more of this, so we can continue to normalize all things birth and postpartum. Because let’s face it,
BOTH OF THESE TRANSFORMATIONAL TIME PERIODS ARE INCREDIBLE, AND SO HARD! It’s always been my mission to show families that they are not alone in their struggles, that they are doing just fine, that none of us have it figured out and we are just doing the best we can on a moment-to-moment basis. That its not all Pinterest worthy moments, that a lot of time it’s messy and drippy and choatic AND beautiful somehow at the same time.
For me, photographs have always evoked a visceral reaction. I can FEEL the moment so much when I see an image that moves me…I can smell what is happening, and feel it deep in my bones. These images leave a deep imprint on my energy field and stay with me forever, and influence who I am. I wanted to share some of my favorites from the 2020 Image Competition. These artists inspired me and gave me the confidence to keep moving forward in my own body of work.
“Unmasking the Many Layers of Birth”. This image just blew me away immediately, and truly inspired me and gave me some serious #birthgoals when it comes to birth photography. Talk about perfect framing and compsition! Image by Alexandria Mooney.
“A Moment of Silence”. This was the first place winner overall, image by Jessica Innemee with vi photography in the Netherlands. This took my breath away because it was so serene, so perfect it almost looks like a painting.
“Warrior” by Bree Garcia of J&B Photography LLC. What a perfect moment capturing the incredible strength of the human body.
Another image the truly resonated, because again it was almost like a classical painting. Honorable Mention “Dance With Me On Your Long Walk” by Kate Carlton with Kate Carlton Photography.
In 2021, I did NOT get the opportunity to enter any images to the 11th Annual Competition….because I had the honor of being a judge that year! It was an INCREDIBLE experience, and I will forever be grateful to IABPB’s fearless leader, Liz Cook, who invited me to do so. This experience gave me SUCH insight and such respect for the judging process!
So this year, I almost missed the deadline to submit thanks to COVID (the gift that keeps on giving) hitting our home…but I was able to focus and compose and get together some of my VERY FAVORITE images of 2021 to submit to this year’s competition. It may be a little overkill, but I justify it because I did not submit last year, and I love so, so many that I just had to. So if you made it this far….HERE YOU ARE!
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That’s a wrap for the images, and for 2021! I hope you enjoyed them. Please take a moment and comment below and tell me which are your favorites and why!