Melbourne NICU photography
Here is something you may not know about me, for 3 years I volunteered at the Melbourne Royal Women’s hospital in the NICU ward – photographing premmie babies & their families then giving them a lovely online gallery for free – because I can ❤️ It has honestly been the most heart warming experience of my life.
When I was 15 I had cancer, and throughout my life I always had thoughts of volunteering with the Children Cancer Foundation.
But I spent 5 weeks in hospital on bed rest prior to giving birth to Frankie 5 weeks early due to Vasa Previa. Frankie spent 2 weeks in the NICU ward.
The love and care that we received during our time in NICU blew both Sean and I away and it was easy for me to make my decision on where to volunteer!
‘I am the mother of an extremely premature baby. Just like any new mom, I wished to have a photo-shoot of my first newborn, but that just seemed impossible given the physical, emotional and financial demands of the NICU. Anna provided so much relief and happiness to me and my husband by volunteering her time and giving us beautiful photos of our precious baby. Her creativity despite the very limited space and materials in the NICU setting is truly amazing!’ – Christine Tan – NICU
Putting my plan in place with the Women’s took a good 10 months, and it was a combination of my lifestyle newborn photography experience, having worked in the maternity wards for 2 years photographing babies when I first started out in my photography career, my mum was a midwife for 25 years, Frankie being in the NICU ward – oh and my constant persistence with emails and proposing my idea to the hospital ?
Finally one evening I received a phone call to say that they love my idea and its all going ahead!!!
So every third Wednesday I’d cruise around the NICU ward, chatting to families there with their babies and offering them free photography.
The photos we have of Frankie during our time in NICU are so very precious to us, and I understand how stressful this time is on families, the last thing on your mind emotionally, physically and financially is having photos taken – Im so so glad I can give back to the ward and offer myself up in this way to these beautiful families.
Yay to volunteering, yay to NICU – and all we need is love!
See more about my newborn photography HERE
