[Leica] Birthing. Chalk another for the old campaigner! ;-)

["Ted Grant" <tedgrant@home.com>]

Hi Guys & Gals,
I realize we had conversation on birthing in the past, so be it, simply
because every birth is different despite what some of you may think, I
thought there maybe something from this one! ;-)   Please try to not
complain about the topic coming up again, as you may just learn something,
besides this is about "using Leicas!" Not talking about them. ;-)

Yesterday spent 8 hours in a birthing room: Neopan 1600 & Delta 400,  2
R8's - 2 M6's.
15 mm Voigtlander, 28 mm 2.8, M&R, Noctilux f. 1.0, 80 R 1.4, no twinkie
light! ;-)

14 rolls later, an aching old bod, very tired legs, headache, hungry and
thirsty! I went home and crashed! Hey come on, the mom isn't the only one
who gets tired in these things. ;-)

I wasn't standing around doing nothing, as I was shooting the little nuances
during a birthing, you know the nurse carrying out various things, the
husband holding the mother to be's hand or caressing her brow.  It was
standing there, however it was a camera always at the ready in hand and
watching every little thing going on. Mother's facial expressions as a
contraction began, me waiting camera to eye for a particular expression.

Not only that,  there is a kind of  "mental strain" of staying absolutely
alert and not falling into a "bored mode!"  I over come this by locking all
body senses into neutral, relaxing and  forcing a complete visual
concentration of "high vision reaction time."

If you do this, much like covering the Olympics where you have absolutely no
control over the time, I clear my mind of anything but, "I'm here until
everything is over"  it's much easier to cope. You can't be standing there
looking at your watch entertaining any thoughts of, "when the hell is this
going to be over?"  Simply because, it's over when it's over and the baby
starts hollering!! ;-)

As the afternoon dragged into evening, the lighting became worse, loosing
daylight from the window. To make things worse, the duty nurse turned the
soft room lighting down to softer. Like how about ASA1600 at 1/8th and
1/15th at 1.4 and 1! Talk about "real available darkness!" And some with the
28 at 1/4!

The R8's were used similarly to the M6. It means you concentrate on the
camera handling at the moment of release more so than one might when shutter
speeds are higher. Do I expect to have "squigglys?"  Yep, no doubt about it,
no one is 100% perfect at those shutter speeds. What one hopes for, a
squiggly isn't on one of the "good ones!"

To cover this kind of event when you have no idea what the time will take, I
do the following to make it easier on oneself.

Do not drink a lot of liquid before you start!  Wear very comfortable shoes
and clothes, the kind you can get out of in a hurry if the patient is moved
to the OR and you must change to OR garb. Loose clothing is best, no neck
ties or constraining clothing, a small bag of raisins in the camera bag to
keep the hungrys away.

Stay relaxed at all times, you ain't going anywhere! Don't take the doctor
or nurses word that ":nothing is going to happen for some time!" It's
Murphy's law, that if you leave for a coffee or food.... the baby will
automatically know you've left and arrive while your away!  If you stay ...
the little son of a gun will take for ever, just as the doctor told you!"
Trust me the bambino knows you are out there waiting! :-) or not! ;-)

Take lots of film and avoid at all costs running out of frames on all 4
cameras at exactly the same time!  Very bad scene trying to re-load in a
panic when everything is happening!  Just like covering the Olympics keep an
eye at how many frames are left on each camera to avoid this.

Bottom line? Stay cool and relaxed! The end results will be better if you do
and the proof of how well you did will be when the film is developed.

Oh yeah and a shoot like this always reminds me of how bad a physical shape
I'm getting into! Whomever said the "Golden Years are great,was an idiot!"
:-)

There you go eh? Piece of cake. Hopefully you learned something. ;-)
ted

Ted Grant Photography Limited
www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant