I was recently interviewed by SDVoyger.com
If you’re unfamiliar with SDYoyager.com, they interview local entrepreneurs, creatives and community leaders for SDVoyager's Inspiring Stories series and they were excited to feature me! Thank you SDYoyager.com for the feature! It was a lot of fun being interviewed and I appreciate your interest in looking into the why & how behind Paulina Splechta Birth Photography!
Below I’ve included some of the questions SDYoyager.com asked me in my interview as well as my answers. Cannot wait to hear your thoughts on it!
Walk us through how you got to where you are today.
The way my business was launched is living proof that when a door closes, a window opens. While I was always fascinated with photography, watching my dad take family photos as I was growing up, and especially enjoying looking through the prints later, 16 years ago, while working as an office assistant, I decided to launch my own photography business. Back then, I photographed a wide variety of subjects on the weekends while working my day job, Mondays through Fridays. Many things spiked my interest, and I wanted to see where it all led me.
11 years ago, I was expecting my first child, and as my birth approached, my boss from my office assistant job tried to bribe me with a financial bonus if I came back early from maternity leave. What he didn’t factor in was that I ended up experiencing a very emotionally traumatic first birth that also caused a lot of wear to my body, which took a substantial amount of time to recover from, so even if I had wanted to come back to work sooner, I wasn’t able to. As a result, he hired a “temp” to fill in for me while I was on maternity leave and essentially had no hours to offer me when I was finally healed and ready to go back to work. In a sneaky, modern-day world, I was let go. And in the moment, 11 years ago, I fully panicked being a brand-new mom with new and large expenses, a hefty hospital bill, and no job. I had no idea how I’d get back on my feet.
I soon found my schedule full of caring for my baby, and as we met moms and their babies during that first year as a mother, I fell in love with photographing mamas and babies and their bond. As I listened to their stories, a fire began to burn in my heart to advocate for these mamas through my work, so I became an advocate for breastfeeding mothers and captured their journeys. It was working with moms and babies that led me to my very first birth at Memorial Regional Hospital with one of my maternity and breastfeeding photography models/clients. Seven years into running my photography business, the moment I documented my client’s birth story, it was that moment brides have when they know the dress is the one. Sparks flew. I loved the combination of documentary photography married to the most profound moment of a mother’s life, meeting her baby for the first time.
Now in 2023 and 200+ births later, On-Call Birth Photography is all I do full-time, year-round.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Running a business when you’re an artist is not easy. It calls for you to have organizational skills a marketing brain to come out of your introverted shell and network with your community, among many other elements. While I took a plethora of business courses during my undergrad, none of them prepared me as much as the firsthand experience of trial and error. Even though I specialized in breastfeeding photography for several years before photographing my first birth, the first seven years of my business did not always have a clear goal in mind. I photographed many genres and subjects, seeking that “spark” that would make me feel more passion for the work I do. To become more than just an artist who knows their way around a camera. Those first seven years brought many challenges, and so did the next nine years of On-Call Birth Photography. Many times, I was uncertain whether my calendar would fill up. Many times, I wondered if this would be my last birth. Many times, I worried if I’d get canceled for photographing birth. Although all those fears and worries always worked out, my biggest struggle was COVID. When the pandemic hit, all the hospitals went on lockdown. Working predominantly with in-hospital clients for eleven months, I was unable to attend a single in-hospital birth. The amount of contracts that had to be rerouted due to inability to reschedule work as birth is not an event you can reschedule. The emotional toll it had on me. Having my kids full time at home without school, without a break for me for eleven months. So many grey hairs. I had to learn to pivot if I was going to survive. I had to think outside the box and offer services that were outside the scope of On-Call Birth Photography if in 2020, I wanted my business of 13 years to survive.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
While a photographer for 16 years now, Paulina Splechta Birth Photography has been serving the tri-county area of South Florida for nine years as the most experienced professional birth photographer in Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami Dade county.
When I say Birth Photographer, people have one of two reactions. They either think it is very sweet I get to work with babies, or they are shocked at the thought that I am taking photographs during a delivery, and they instantly think of anatomy textbook depictions of childbirth.
Birth Photography is unique from Newborn Photography by leaps and bounds. Sometimes, when a Labor and Delivery nurse says to my client, “Smile for the camera,” I will chime in and say, “Actually, it’s ok, they only want behind-the-scenes photos,” to try to help the nurse understand that my role at my clients’ births is not to be a portrait photographer, but a fly on the wall who captures all the candid moments. An excellent professional birth photographer will help you feel like you’re not being photographed so you can focus all your attention on the journey to meeting your baby.
The four elements of Birth Photography that sets it apart from any other type of photography in this world are:
Firstly, it is Documentary Photography (think photojournalism).
Secondly, Birth Photography includes on-call time; think Emergency Room doctor who gets paged into the ER during dinner or at 3 am in the morning while asleep. I know few people in this world asides from the president, celebrities, and professional athletes, who have a photographer on-call for them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for weeks on end.
Thirdly, if you welcome a Professional Birth Photographer into your birthing space, that artist is no longer just a photographer; they become a member of your birth team, and this makes Birth Photography not just photography but also birth work.
And lastly, depending on which professional birth photographer you hire, your final photos, to a large extent, will have varied end result. Because I am modest and I got into birth passionate about the mental health component of experiencing a medical birth, my work tends to be modest and not as focused on the physical act of giving birth and more focused on the emotions of meeting your baby for the first time. This last element of birth photography is unique to every individual artist and is what sets not only all Birth Photographers apart but what sets Birth Photography apart from any other kind of photography worldwide.
What is unique to Paulina Splechta Birth Photography is my consistency in the quality of my work, the quality in my presence on birth teams, my care for my clients, and my endless emotional support.
Can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
I love collaborating with Midwives, Obstetricians, Doulas, Birth Educators, Hospital Directors, and every professional working in the field of birth, including prenatal and postpartum support people such as physical therapists and baby nurses. It’s important to know a majority of my clients will book me during their first trimester; some will book during their second trimester, but few book during their third trimester. So, planning to have a birth photographed is important to communicate in the very beginning of a pregnancy. I’ve had clients who’ve experienced losses during pregnancy after already being booked with me, and have plans in place for those situations, so I do not hesitate to start working with clients as early as their first positive pregnancy test. On-call time begins at 37 weeks of pregnancy for a client without a history of preterm labor and as early as 32 weeks for clients carrying multiples or high-risk clients. And while most of my clients book early, so my calendar is usually full 6-7 months in advance, I have had a fair share of last-minute bookings due to last minute unexpected availability, so it’s never too late to check if I am available for birth photography for a scheduled delivery this week!
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