by Maggie Downs posted in Life

On a recent night, birth photographer Hannah Spencer was scrolling through Instagram when an image made her pause ? a post by a midwife friend showing a nontraditional home birth location. It was hashtagged #busbirth.
Spencer immediately texted the midwife, who explained that her clients, Caroline and Seamus, relocated to Ohio and were living in a remodeled school bus on a large plot of land.
For Spencer, the details faded as ?the story of a first-time mama believing in herself? emerged, as she later wrote in a blog post on her website, Milk & Hannah. ?A warrior living off the grid and rooting for alternative options in life and birth. I loved it ? I wanted to be there. I wanted to tell her story.?
I understand the instant kinship Spencer experienced with this family, because that?s how I felt as soon as I saw her photographs of this home birth. I hail from the verdant hills of Ohio, and my connection was immediate and strong. I know this landscape, how fierce and beautiful it can be, how the seeds that are planted here grow sturdy and strong. This is a place thick with roots.

 
One thing that really struck me about this series was how Spencer photographed so many details of the family?s life beyond the birth. It?s immersive, presenting a rich and vivid portrait of what their world looked like when the baby entered it.
?I love the details. Remembering the way the light hits the floor, the way the space felt, smelled, sounded,...