The International Association of Professional Birth Photographers has announced the winners of the 2025 Birth Photography Image Competition!

This year’s submissions are nothing short of breathtaking and powerful. The Gala Dinner was held in Los Angeles. During our Gala Dinner, IAPBP to showcased winners in print form and online via livestream.

Natalie Broders is a professional birth photographer in Portland, Oregon whose images have been awarded the following accolades this year:

1.
“Surges Rising With The Sun” by Natalie Broders
Best in Labor: Documentary (2025)
Silver Award (2025)
After laboring through the night, she entered transition just as the sun started peeking through the windows. The funny part is that she told me afterward the bathroom was the last place she wanted in her birth photos… she had prepared the most beautiful birth space downstairs! But I love the documentary elements of this image, taken through the glass panes of the shower, including all the personal touches – the toiletries and products, the items that make this HER home. Not sanitized. Not prepared for Instagram. Just realness.

2.
“Curiosity At The Waters Edge” by Natalie Broders
Category: Birth Details – Black and White
Honorable Mention (2025)
Going from the youngest to the middle child isn’t easy. This little one wanted to climb right into the tub to be with his mama!

3.
“When Will The Baby Be Here?” by Natalie Broders
Category: Labor – Fine Art
Honorable Mention (2025)
Surrounded by her other nine children, she labored at home with her partner, midwife, and doula (that’s me!). Waiting can be so hard, their little voices could be heard asking, When will the baby be here?

4.
“Encouraging The Rhythm” by Natalie Broders
Category: Birth Details – Documentary
Top 10% (2025)
Liquid gold colostrum streams down her belly during nipple stimulation, suggested by the midwife to get her contractions closer during pushing. A TENS unit can be seen lying on the bed behind her.

5.
“Breath of Life” by Natalie Broders
Category: Delivery – Documentary
Top 10% (2025)
A mother gives her baby breaths after the little one is born stunned, showcasing her instinctual ability to do what needed to be done in a heart-pounding moment. Both mama and baby are doing well.

6.
“Barefoot and Tethered to the Source” by Natalie Broders
Category: Birth Details – Black and White
Top 20% (2025)
I love the tiny minute details; baby’s toes wiggling in the water; vernix floating on the surface; the placenta floating nearby.

7.
“Caught by her Own Hands” by Natalie Broders
Category: Delivery – Fine Art
Top 20% (2025)
Her dream was to catch her own baby, and that’s exactly what she did! It takes a lot of strength to have a home birth with your first baby, and I have so much respect for this mother.

8.
“Falling Through Worlds” by Natalie Broders
Category: Labor – Documentary
Top 20% (2025)
Moving through transition, cradled by her partner, in the beautiful glowing twinkle lights during the dark of night she floated out into another plane of existence.

9.
“My Hands, My Power, My Baby” by Natalie Broders
Category: Delivery – Black and White
Top 20% (2025)
Giving one final push, a mother reaches down to catch her own baby, birthed into her hands by her own body’s power.

10.
“Patient Hands” by Natalie Broders
Category: Labor – Black and White
Top 20% (2025)
A first-time-father patiently awaits their baby’s arrival, his hands outstretched beneath the baby’s head.

11.
“Renaissance Reverie” by Natalie Broders
Category: Postpartum – Fine Art
Top 20% (2025)
This image is a little bit risky for me but I wanted to take a chance with submitting something creative. I wanted it to feel dream-like, painterly, and to capture the hazy postpartum euphoria that accompanies unmedicated home birth.