So you’ve decided you’d like to hire a birth photographer, that’s great! But after you looked upp the price maaayybe you’re changing your mind a bit.. How does a photographer get away with charging THAT much?
By reading this post you'll feel educated because you'll gain an understanding of what goes into birth photography which will help you decide if you want to hire one for yourself!
So, let me walk you through everything that your photographer is doing and why they have priced themselves the way they do....
Think Of It Like Wedding Photography
When you got married, whether or not you should hire a photographer wasn’t even a question was it? Of COURSE you wanted pictures of your special day. Sure they may be a bit expensive, but these are picture’s you’ll look back on the rest of your life! And the photographer is with you all day and giving a lot of her time!
All of those things are also true for birth photography. The birth of your child is also a special day that you’ll want to remember forever! Your birth photographer will be with you for the whole day (or days!) only unlike a wedding photographer, a birth photographer doesn’t know how long they’ll be there or when it’ll even happen!
Being On Call
Your birth photographer will go on call and wait to hear when you go into labor, and she’ll drop everything she’s doing at the time when she hears you’re ready! You’re paying for that dedication and willingness to rearrange her life.
No Time Limit
No one knows how long their labor will last, and many birth photographers will stay with you for it all, we won’t clock out after the 10 hours you’ve paid us for, we’ll stay to get that “I did it” shot when you finally get to hold your baby no matter how long it takes! You are paying one flat fee for you photographer to be there for as long (or short) as it takes.
Exclusivity
Because of the unpredictability and on call nature of birth work, many birth photographers only take on so many clients a month so they can ensure they’ll be ready for you whenever the time comes. You are paying for that exclusivity and dedication your photographer is pouring into you.
Time Commitment
After the birth is over, your midwife, doula, doctor, nurses, all the workers who were present at the birth have done their jobs and move on to the next. But for the photographer, we still have to sort through and edit the thousands of pictures we took from your day, and this is where a majority of our time is spent! You are paying for the behind the scenes work that you don’t even see.
Do you see it now? Can you understand why it might cost so much to hire a birth photographer? If you’re still on the fence and you’re not sure if you’d like one or not maybe reach out to someone you know who has hired a birth photographer. Additionally, you can also start a birth photography fund that your friends can contribute to as a baby shower gift!
