Special Projects
A Special Project is fuelled by inspiration and an opportunity for creativity, to bring joy, or to raise money, or to achieve both.
Across the Fence - 2020
Easter 2020 arrived with news we were in the midst of a world-wide pandemic and Australia was going into lock down.
We were asked to stay in our neighbourhoods, and keep a distance between ourselves and others.
Stuck at home like everyone with the outbreak of Corona virus, spending my first Easter at home for many years, I felt a little flat and sad wondering what was ahead for us all.
Whilst extremely fortunate to live in Australia where we have a relatively low spread of the virus, we were also scared and willing to follow the rules we were asked to adhere to, hanging out for every update with both fear and hope.
Whilst wondering if I’d remember how to intuitively use my camera and interact with people in the weeks, perhaps months ahead, missing outings with friends and family & not seeing my customers with my business forced to close for the unforeseen future I was thinking about what I could do to remain connected and have a purpose in these uncertain times.
I had seen photographers across the world photographing people in their driveways and on their porches, so I asked my ‘should have been’ Easter camping friends if they’d like photos of their families “Across their Fences”, whilst I maintained social distance requirements from the footpath.
What I thought would be x20 friends concluded 6 weeks later with 120 photo sessions in the front yards of local families in my area.
Offering my services for free, families are allotted 10 minutes, they are photographed "across-the-fence" from the footpath.
The resounding emotional joy this project brought to neighbours, friends and the community has been remarkable in this unprecedented time of isolation and social distancing.
It’s brought me as much joy as those photographed, it’s connected a community, friends old and new, made new acquaintances and introduced new friends.
At the beginning of stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne, I was contacted by Catherine Forge who is a curator at Museum VIC.
She was in the process of curating a digital project for Museums Victoria called “Museums in my Neighbourhood.” This project is exploring how neighbourhoods and communities have responded to life under lockdown, Catherine heard of “Across the Fence” and expressed interest in putting together a Feature Story on our “Across the Fence” photographs.
Fast forward to now, and from the x120 families and x60 local Fairfield Traders photographed during March to May 2020, they originally were planning to select x6 images for a digital exhibition, however, this grew, and x23 images were selected by Catherine and her colleagues, and have since been curated with their stories collected and all related permissions. Not only have these images been curated for inclusion in this digital exhibition but also have made acquisition into the permanent State Collection under their "Collecting the Curve" collection.
This means that this selection of photos will be preserved for posterity for future generations and given a permanent home and safekeeping in the Museum archive.
To see this historical collection and to read their stories, please head over to Museum Victoria’s website on this link below:
https://museumsvictoria.com.au/one-year-on/across-the-fence/
https://museumsvictoria.com.au/one-year-on
A little something that has been happening this year, a little piece of history created. I didn't imagine this as anything other than a little fun......the rest is now, and forever history.
Fine Art Kids - MND - 2018-2019
In March 2018, I launched ‘Fine Art Kids’ in loving memory of Nancy Mazza Trimboli.
Nancy was a much-loved Lifeworks client since 2004.
In October 2018, just over two years after a devastating diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease (MND), a beautiful family lost an incredible mum, a devoted, loving wife, a much-adored daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, and for many of us, a gorgeous friend.
Nancy was a very special lady and her courage and determination was an inspiration to all who knew her. She touched my heart in more ways than I can express. With her husband Frank’s blessing, I was honoured to continue her legacy by dedicating our portrait project in Nancy’s memory and raising much-needed funds to fight MND.
Lifeworks donated all session fees of those involved in this project to the Fight MND campaign and raised over $2,000.
The emphasis was capturing each child in a stunning portrait, either as a Classic beautiful portrait or revealing their passion for something that is current and very important to them. Something they feel “in” the moment’ with, whether it be Sport, Dance, the Arts, Reading, Fashion, Drama, Music, and much more.
WatchMeGrow -I’m Taller now - Cure Brain Cancer - 2015-2016
Losing a family member to Brain Cancer at just 22 years of age, I wished to keep Steph’s memory alive and support the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation. The scary reality is that more children and young people die in Australia from Brain Cancer than any other cancer. Through much-needed funding for research, the CBC Foundation’s ultimate goal is to reduce the mortality from this horrendous disease and hopefully soon.
With the help of our Lifeworks Clients, we raised a staggering $10,000 simply by the donation of our session fees during a 12month period in 2015-2016.
We also created a beautiful keepsake Coffee table book from this project titled, “WatchMeGrow®, I’m Taller now”.
It featured an earliest portrait of children we have photographed at Lifeworks, on the left-hand page with a portrait taken between 2015- 2016 on the right-hand page.
Thank you sincerely to all those who were involved..
PAWtraits Pets and their People Books - I, 2 and 3 - 2014-2018
In 2014 in the search of new inspiration, we commenced a Book project “Best Friends, Pets and their People”, the success of this led to creating a whole separate genre to the business and PAWtraits of pets and their people was born.
Each book was filled with 128 pages of pets of all sorts with their people. We had the usual family favourites, cats and dogs, but also had, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, pythons, alpacas, horses, and much more! Filled with stories of the love the humans have for their animals.
Since then we have completed 3 Books raising $22,000 for animal charities, our first Book was a runner-up in the Book Category of the Victorian Professional Photography Awards.
To see more, the link below will take you to our PAWtraits website.
www.pawtraitsofpets.com.au
