DORA
BARENS
BIRTH
PHOTOGRAPHY & FILM
DORA BARENS
AMSTERDAM BIRTH PHOTOGRAPHER
Hi, I'm Dora and I'm super glad you've stopped by! Why? Because I don't want you to make the same mistake I did. I don't have any pictures of the birth of my children. And of course I will never forget it. But do you what's the difference? I can actually tell all the facts, but I've got no emotion whatsoever. I can't relive that day. I have no idea how I reacted.Or my husband. And the most painful is that I can't show my kids their birth stories.
At that time birth photography did not exist in The Netherlands and it was only years after my last birth that I started working as one of the first birth photographers in the country.
Fortunately, you can still make the choice!
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HOW DID I BECOME A BIRTH PHOTOGRAPHER?
I was born and raised in Hungary where I worked as a journalist after my bachelor. Once I had to go to Amsterdam for work, I met a nice guy and the rest is history. :-) We are now parents of Bence, Adam* and Emma.
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My second son was born unexpectedly way too early and only lived for an hour. We got an hour only, but that hour together meant everything to me. I was so proud of my so tiny but so strong baby! The nurse pulled out an old Polaroid camera. At the time I thought it was weird. I don't know why, but I wouldn't have come up with the idea myself. Now I know it better.
Those 3 small, blurry, square photos I will treasure forever.
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Lesson learned: Photos have no value or priority at the time they are taken. The valure of a photographs grows each and every day. Especially when it comes to an event that can never be repeated. The photos of the birth of your baby are priceless.​
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In 2012 I was as one of the first photographers in the Netherlands who documented a birth story. What an intensely beautiful experience! Since then I have seen hundreds of babies born, my photographs awarded have won several international competitions and I want nothing more than to show more and more people what birth photography is all about: the emotions of that day, the love between you and your partner, all the little , but oh-so-important details and the moment when you finally meet your little one for the very first time.
