It’s midnight and Hattie Bates is asleep when she receives a phone call telling her of an all-too-familiar situation;: a mother has given birth and the baby is not going to make it. Without even thinking, Bates gets dressed, grabs her camera gear and rushes to the hospital.

Once she arrives and is directed to the right room, Bates sees the family of the baby, crying for the loss they soon will bear. Bates herself is tearing up as she talks with the family, but tries to be strong and quickly goes to work. Setting up her gear in a studio room provided by the hospital, Bates takes portraits of the family and child together before the baby takes its last breath and goes back to sleep forever, leaving behind a broken-hearted but loving family.

Bates has been volunteering at the Mountain View Hospital for two years photographing newborns with birth defects or other complications who do not live long after birth.

However, Bates herself didn’t know she would be doing this type of volunteer work. She graduated from BYU–Idaho with a bachelor of fine arts degree in photography in 2005 and has been a professional photographer for six years now. And while she knew she would be photographing settings that celebrate life, she had no clue she would be photographing death as well.

“A few years ago I came across a website called www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org, and I saw the program that tries to help those with their loss and preserve a positive memory,” Bates said. “I registered, hoping I could help make a difference in the lives of others.”

Bates has since become an exclusive photographer to Mountain View Hospital and is on call 24/7. Wherever she is and whatever she is doing, she stops immediately and rushes to the hospital. The faster she gets to the hospital, the better — at times, she only has a small window of opportunity to take photos.

Even though she has photographed many terminally ill and dying infants, Bates still retains her empathy for the families, especially for the mothers, as she is a mother herself.

“Early on in my last pregnancy, I had a few calls where I went to take photos for families,” Bates said. “Seeing these families and their grief and seeing the infant was too much for me to handle and bear myself, as I knew I would soon be having a child as well. During those times, I sent my assistants to photograph so I could still help those families.”

However, even after all the experience she has had with this program, nothing had more of an impact her than a phone call she received one night.

“A few years ago on December 22, I received a phone call a little after midnight,” Bates said. “The hospital called and told me the mother had delivered the baby full term and the baby was absolutely perfect. However after the first five minutes of his life, the infant went into cardiac arrest. I immediately rushed to the hospital and arrived just in time to see the last few breaths he took before he passed away.”

On another occasion, Bates responded to a call and discovered the family she was photographing consisted of her close friends.

Yet despite witnessing all of this, Bates still has positive experiences of helping families.

“Last summer I photographed a boy who has leukemia in Rexburg,” Bates said. “His family was starting a fun run to help raise money to pay for his treatments. I was just glad I was able to help and it was fun as well.”

From all of these experiences, Bates has learned a few lessons. “When I first started this I never realized how often newborns die even with all of the advances in the medical field,” she said. “It has made me grateful for this wonderful talent I have and that God has given it to me for a reason.”

Yet out of all the lessons Bates has learned she made one observation that, while perhaps obvious, has still made a profound impression upon her. “Life is a miracle and no matter how long or short our lives are, they still can make a forever impact on those around us,” Bates said.

JR Briscoe
Campus Assistant Editor