How to Choose a Birth Photographer Mentor

Looking for a Birth Photography Mentor?

Have you photographed your friends birth and now you are hooked? Have you been photographing births for awhile and you feel like your images are not as high quality as you would like? Are you always looking at your favourite birth photographer's page and wondering how did they do that? Finding a birth photography mentor sounds like something you should look into. How do you find the right person to be your birth photography mentor? Ask yourself the following questions to help find the perfect birth photography mentor for you.

1. Figure out who is your favorite birth photographer. Birth photography has exploded over the last five years. Now you can find all kinds of birth photographers from all over the world! Make a list of birth photographers that you love. Follow their social media pages and blogs for awhile. See if you like their content and their message. If you are not enjoying what they are putting out to the world then you might want to reconsider if they are the right photographer to work with to be your birth photographer mentor.

2. Figure out what you want to learn. Do you want to learn about editing, equipment, running your business, getting clients, editing video? Make sure your potential birth photography mentor is knowledgeable in the areas you want to learn about. Write down what you want to learn and ask them directly if they can help you with your learning needs.

3. When you look at the mentor's birth photography work, do you love it?

When you look at the photographer's website does your heart skip a beat? Do you wonder how they created such beautiful images?  What do you think about their editing style? Is the birth photographer's style consistent or are they all over the place? Do you like how they compose their images? Do their birth photography images inspire you to want to work harder for your next image? If so then reach out to them and see if you can set up an interview.

4. Find out what the Birth Photography mentor is offering.

What does the mentorship include? Are they offering a one-time meeting or is it a series of meetings? Do they give you reference material? How long does the mentorship last, do they do follow-up meetings? Is the photographer giving you a set of actions or are they teaching you how to edit? Are the meetings online or in person?

5. What is the birth photography mentor's experience?

How long has the birth photographer been shooting births and more importantly how many births they have photographed? Do they have a range of experience? Have they photographed caesarean births, twin births, home births, hospital births? Do they have testimonials from clients?  Look back on their blog, how have they have changed over the years? Have they found their stride recently or have they been developing it over time? What kind of schooling has your mentor had? Are they self-taught? Ask them why they have chosen to mentor other birth photographers? Does their level of experience surpass yours? Make sure they have something to teach you.

6. Are you able to do a pre-consult to find out if you are a good match?

Make sure that you have a pre-consult to make sure you are a good match. Does the conversation flow nicely? Is the photographer able to answer your questions easily? Are they interviewing you as well or do they mentor anyone who inquires? It is an exciting time in your life! I hope you find a birth photography mentor who is experienced, knowledgeable and offering mentorship to help guide you on this journey to one of the most rewarding, exciting jobs around. If you would like to find out more about mentoring with Morag Hastings, please go to my mentoring page to find out more. Click here for a post with fine details about what the mentorship includes. Do you want to know what is in my camera bag? Check out this blog post. Morag Hastings has been a birth photographer mentor teaching photographers around the world by helping them hone their photography skills and gain confidence in the field of birth photography. In the last five years, Morag has lead the pack locally and nationally in professionalizing the birth photography industry. People follow her work as a doula and a birth photographer through her extremely popular Facebook page. She is a co-founder of the Canadian Birth Photographers Directory, a listings site for birth photographers all over Canada. In 2016 Morag's image won the Best in Labour category in the 2016 International Birth Photography Contest and was voted one of Vancouver's top Family Photographers on Vancouvermom.ca. If you would like to see if you are a good fit for Morag's mentoring please fill out this online form.