For the episode today, I am really excited to welcome Orsolya Elek, a Hungarian birth photographer living in France. Orsolya is the mother of two young children and a member of the Postnatal Support Network (PSN) and the French Birth Photographer’s Collective. Orsolya’s personal journey into motherhood led her to specialise in maternity and birth photography as well as doula work. She firmly believes in the power of images to change the social norms around birth photography and parenthood.
Orsolya studied photojournalism and contemporary art but it wasn’t until after her first birth that she came to birth photography. She shares with us that having her first child raised many questions for her about values, how to be and connect in society and what she should do with her life. After working with a coach she came to birth photography and doula work as a vocation.
We know that birth photography is powerful, and Orsolya shares the ways that having a record of birth can be a potent way to connect across generations. She explains transgenerational transmission and how knowing and sharing birth stories across a family’s history can give us power and knowledge.
Orsolya shares with us what she understands an empowered birth experience to be like for parents and how deep listening to your own intuition and inner knowledge is vital.
Being informed is a cornerstone of Orsolya’s approach and she encourages us to understand our rights and the things we can do to make birth our own experience.
We also discuss how overlooked the postpartum period is, the steps you can take to make it as beautiful as possible and how to be with the difficulties throughout this time.
This is a really juicy conversation that shines a light on the overlooked and unacknowledged parts of birth, pregnancy and postpartum. Orsolya has a beautiful way of looking at the world and I know your journey into or through parenthood will be made all the richer after listening to this conversation.
LINKS
Where to find Orsolya Elek:
Instagram: @orsolya.elek.photographie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OrsolyaElekPhotographie/
Where you can find us:
Our website: International Association of Professional Birth Photographers
If you’d like to become a member you can sign up here!
