Exclusive Interview
with the First Place Winner of the
IAPBP Birth Photography Image Competition
Jessica Vink
I am excited to introduce to you Jessica Vink, an incredible birth photographer from the Netherlands. Today’s blog post is an exclusive interview with her!
Jessica is the amazing photographer who won First Place in the 10th Annual IAPBP image competition with her gorgeous post partum photograph! It is an honor to be part of the International Association of Professional Birth Photographers with such a talented artist. We have over 1,100 members from 52 different countries.
Below you will find my interview with Jessica, you will get to know her a little better and her passion for her work and the story behind her photo.
Enjoy and thanks for reading!
Paulina Splechta (PS): How long have you been a photographer for?
Jessica Vink (JV): I started my own business in 2013. Before that I worked in retail. I took on everything, from weddings to animals....and slowly I specialized myself to only births.
PS: What inspired you to become a birth photographer?
JV: After I had my son in 2008, I really missed having pictures of his birth. I could't remember much because of the medicines they gave me, and my son was not doing well and was taken away from me so I would have loved to have pictures to complete my birth story in my head.
PS: What kind of families do you typically work with? Do you find that majority of your clients are first time moms, women overcoming trauma, birthing out of hospital, hospital births with midwives, etc; or do you find that you have a balance between a little bit of everything?
JV: I try to focus on my ideal client, that would be a hands off home birth. I show a lot of that, and really raw real images. I'm not scared of showing blood, placenta's and stuff. I like to keep it as real as possible. I almost always get to share birth images from my clients. That is really amazing. My client get how important sharing is for me, my business and my future clients. Most of my clients are moms that are having their second, third child. They book me because they really missed photos of their previous birth, which some of them really found traumatic. I really do have so much respect for first time moms that book me, and I can be so proud of them when they rock the home birth of their first child. But I also love to shoot births in hospitals. Some woman just don't have the option to give birth at home, or just don't want it and that's totally fine with me. I'm just there to document their story in the most beautiful way. I love every birth, love doing c-sections as well because that's a real big challenge with the lights and workspace you have to work in. I think I have a nice balance between various births.
PS: How do you prepare for births?
JV: I live close to my mom. My son is eleven years old already and when I know a baby is coming he sleeps at grandma's house so he doesn't have to get up alone in the morning. Other shoots that I plan I double in my agenda, 'in case I'm at a birth'.
I always go to bed early, so I get enough sleep. My suitcase is always packed, and I even have a sleeping bag and an airbed in my car in case of a long birth. I always have a food stash to take with me, a book and my ipad.
PS: Do you get to know your client's better and spend time with them to establish relationships?
JV: I go to their house for a meeting and to talk about how they want their birth to be, what they expect from me and I give them tips in point of clothing and lights. In the last weeks we have whatsapp contact to bond even more.
PS: What are your emotions during your work? Do you treat it like taking wedding photos, for example, or is it something more?
JV: I am really really sensitive. When I first started, I cried with every first cry. That's getting better now. I have had a client with a really really hard birth, the mom was in so much pain and nothing worked for her to ease the pain...the birth took 2 days, mom screamed 'please kill me, please...I can't take it anymore'. At that moment I hugged her and her partner, and we just cried together. Sometimes you become so close in so little time, and I'm only human too. I photographed a baby that was born sleeping. That time I cried too. Holding dad in my arms crying, you become so much more than just the photographer. You were there and shared that moment with them. I will never forget them and they won’t forget me. I often tear up when the big brother or sister comes to see their new baby brother or sister for the first time. So a lot of happy tears, sometimes sad tears. I always cry when I make their birth video, when it all comes together with the music, exactly how I planned it, I never keep my eyes dry.
PS: It is known that it is difficult to plan the date of delivery precisely. Do you have to be on-call 24 hours a day for many weeks?
JV: I am on call from 38 weeks until baby is born. I'm on call almost the whole year. this year is the first year I gave myself some weeks off! 4 weeks, 1 in April and 3 in the summer. I need to reload, and my family deserves to have some time with me and to be able to go somewhere without having to think about mom being called when a baby wants to be born. When a baby comes before 38 weeks it's never a problem, my phone is always on.
PS: What would you recommend to an experienced photographer who is about to photograph their first birth?
I would advise to watch a lot of birth movies, I think I saw every movie on youtube! It's really an advantage if you have knowledge of the birth process, and how inductions work etc. Make sure you know how to act in an operating room, and that there will be blood, poo and mom being sick. Got to have a strong stomach! Bring enough food and drinks, a camera (better to have 2) that can handle high ISO and a light sensitive lens. (I would recommend a 35mm 1.4) Look at the work of other photographers for compositions. And communication with your client is key!
PS: How do you feel that your image won first place in an international contest with members in 52 different countries?
JV: I still can't believe it. I love the image, mom loves it...but we were there, we are prejudiced. To find out that there are so much more people that love it is so amazing. I have worked so so hard the last years, and this is such an amazing reward. Birth photography is my life. My world turns around it, it's my love, my passion. And this price is the recognition that I'm doing the right thing.
PS: Has winning the contest had any local impact for you? Have local people congratulated you and asked you about your winning image?
JV: I have 2 local interviews planned for now. The Dutch media didn't pick it up yet. I gained a lot of new Instagram and Facebook followers and other photographers I never met certainly want to 'drink coffee with me to hear how to start with birth photography. Haha!
Thank you so much Jessica for this amazing interview and a small insight into your incredible life as an artist, healer, and on-call birth photographer! I am excited to have a new friend and colleague for when I visit the Netherlands one day!
To Read about the story behind the winning image, click below to Jessica Vink’s blog post and check out her incredible work while you are there too! If you are currently expecting and live in the Netherlands, don’t hesitate to contact Jessica as early as possible to assure she will have availability in her schedule for your estimated due date!
https://www.vi-photography.nl/post/overall-winner-and-winner-postpartum-a-dream-has-come-true
Please take a look at the other winners on the IAPBP website:
https://birthphotographers.com/2020-birth-photography-image-competition/
