Meet your South Florida Birth Photographer, Paulina Splechta
Paulina Splechta is a full time On-Call Birth Photographer working in the tri-county area of south Florida. She works with a maximum of two birth clients each month.
What does Full-Time On-Call Birth Photographer mean?
Being a Full-time On-Call Birth Photographer means that Paulina does not accept any other types of photography clients such as weddings, events, family photography sessions, etc. This frees up her entire schedule to have her full focus on her birth clients. It gives the space to get to know each other really well and have a more connected experience. Photographers are artists. The more connected an artist is to their art, the better and more profound their art will be. She cannot imagine being on the ‘shoot and burn’ schedule (photographing many clients and having a full editing schedule) and then attending a birth. It is not a sustainable career and you will burn out quickly. And it is also the reason why Paulina has been able to do this work she loves so much for almost 8 years by creating a life around what inspires her most.
How long has Paulina been an On-Call Birth Photographer for and how many births has she captured?
Paulina dove into birth photography nearly 8 years ago, after experiencing passion in her work while capturing mothers interacting with their babies and young children in lifestyle maternity, breastfeeding and newborn photography. Since then, she has photographed nearly 200 babies being born
What was the first birth Paulina ever photographed? And how did she know that is what she wanted to do?
The moment Paulina attended her very first birth in 2014, at Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines, (it was a Midwife attended birth with a second time mama), she fell completely in love with the documentary and "fly on the wall" aspect of birth photography. The day she attended this birth she realized this is all she wants to do, full time, no other types of photography. It was literally love at first sight.
How did Paulina’s career as an On-Call Birth Photographer evolve over the years?
With time, Paulina also developed a passion for being an advocate for maternal mental health after experiencing her own two traumatic births and learning how common emotional birth trauma is in her area.
What else does Paulina love to do?
Paulina is a writer at heart and has been writing since she was very young. (She was on yearbook staff in middle and high school, wrote for her University Newspaper at Florida Atlantic University FAU - University Press but it all started with poems, songs and short stories all year round and every summer growing up. She had journals and journals of her content since as young as she can remember. These days, if you follow her on Instagram (her favorite social media platform), you'll come across passionately written posts about positive experiences she's had working alongside of doulas, midwives and other birth workers, maternal mental health pieces, fun reels about on-call life and being a birth photographer, as well as recommendations on how to pick your birth team and prepare for a positive birthing experience.
What does Paulina love to do in her free time?
In her free time she is a Netflix fan, she does - in fact - enjoy long walks and deep conversations about life and feelings. She is an INFJ and and proud to be a sensitive person, navigating this world through sensory processing challenges, two artistic children and her husband is her soulmate.
