I have had a lot of questions lately surrounding how to prepare to shoot a birth, and ultimately the more information I can get form my clients ahead of time, the easier its going to be for me to successfully capture their babies birth story. Today, I wanted to specifically talk about what I ask my clients in their client questionnaire.
This is something I send out to them before I meet with them in person to get as much information as possible, so that during our in person meeting we can spend more time getting to know each other and clarifying any questions vs me just asking basic questions that can be covered ahead of time. Here are some of my must-ask questions:
1. Their name + phone number, their spouses name + phone number, and their home address.
2. Their Estimated date of delivery.
3. Their midwife/OB practices name.
4. Is there anyone else I can contact if either your spouse or midwife is our of reach? If so, what is their name and number?
5. Where are you planning to deliver and what is the address?
6. Who will your birthing team consist of?
7. Is there anyone you plan to have in the room that is not a part of your birthing team? (your mom, sister, etc)
8. Is there anything specific you do NOT wish to have captured during labor and delivery?
9. Is there anything specific you do NOT wish to have shared via the photographers portfolio or for marketing use?
10. Do you have a written birth plan? If so, is the photographer mentioned so other birth team members will be aware of their presence?
11. Do you know your baby's gender?
12. Does your baby have a name?
13. Do you plan to bottle or breast feed?
14. Is this your first baby? If not, please tell me about any prior birth's you have had.
15. Is there anything else you would like to make the photographer aware of?
Once I have the client questionnaire, I save one in a designated folder in my email that I can access from my phone and print two copies. One that will go in my camera bag right before my on-call period begins and the other that will remain in their client folder! What do you ask your clients in your questionnaire?