Can I just get all the digitals?

Why on earth would anyone want MORE digital files? I have - and I’m not even joking - thousands of images of my own family, let alone all my client images!

What will happen to all our digital files in 5 years? In 10 years? In 20 years? Remember floppy discs? What about CD roms? Even USBs are now becoming obsolete and our devices are increasingly being updated and released without the holes to accommodate and use them anyway!

What about all your negatives from the pre-digital age? Do you sit and longingly browse through them or are they in a musty shoe box in the roof space? That’s exactly where today’s digital files will be. Well, ‘virtually’ that’s where they will be. Unloved, unlooked upon and forgotten. Or worse, they’ll just be lost one day in a hard drive failure or back-up mystery or phone in the harbour situation!

But when you print your images? Holding them in a beautiful album, walking past them every day on your wall, admiring while you eat breakfast, glimpsing while you head to the laundry for another load of washing. Remembering a beautiful day, a special moment, a little facial expression, a fat roll, an in-joke or how those squashy family hugs felt. Now, that is gold.

I want to help you enjoy your photos. Celebrate your family. Cherish your people. Mark the moment. Handing over a collection of beautifully printed images does that. Downloading a selection of digital files does not.

Life is so bonkers. I thought as my kids got older that life would get simpler and I’d have more time. I think it’s the opposite actually as I strive to keep up with them, maintain a marriage, build a business, support my friends, spend time with my family. There is literally so little time for extra jobs which is why I love being able to offer my clients a full service with photography. Because I understand that there isn’t enough time in the day for all the good stuff, let alone the bottomless job list that we are all updating every day.

I know that if you buy the digital files, you’ll never get around to printing them. You’ll feel quietly pleased you got ‘all the images’ and you’ll put some on Facebook, but you’ll never fully get to fully enjoy them.

My philosophy is to respect the time you’ve invested to have the photos done, enjoy the process of viewing and selecting the photos that you REALLY love, the ones that give you joy, that make you smile, that you keep going back to because they make your heart sing and to work with you to find the best options to print, display and celebrate them every day.

I have a great space in Willoughby now with lots of samples so that when we talk about 18” x 12” box framed canvas, you can SEE how big that is, you can FEEL how solid it looks, you can IMAGINE how fabulous it will look on your wall. In fact, with my custom software, you can literally place products onto images of your own home to visualise exactly how a single hero shot or a collection of images would look. We can also put them onto beautifully curated designer rooms without clutter but it’s sooo much better when we can see your space, to scale, to ensure your art is going to look absolutely perfect.

There are lots of gorgeous ways to print your images - on acrylic, on fine-art paper, on canvas, on wood even! We can frame in different colours, we can put multiple images in one frame, we can display a collection of different products together, we can print all your favourites in an album, we can produce a smaller album so grandma and grandpa can enjoy the images too.

So many ways to get the photos from your phone, your computer, your digital vortex and into the world to celebrate. And the best part? All print orders mean that you get the matching digital file to keep anyway!

Come on - let’s create something really gorgeous together and display it for everyone to see and enjoy!

And hey - all those photos sitting in your social media feed? All those images on your phone that maybe aren’t quite loungeroom wall-worthy? Still print them. There are lots of photobook options that allow you to still celebrate your images - I have a collection of tiny little 8” x 8” ChatBooks that are my Facebook and Instagram feeds for 8 or more years. They are my people, there to enjoy all the time. Even when they’re not around.

Getting a new headshot? Here's some fashion tips to help you get camera-ready!

As we look to the end of lockdown and re-engaging with the outside world, I thought you’d appreciate some contemporary hints and tips for fashion choices when planning for a corporate headshot session. With thanks to “Fashion Critical” for the images and the celebs at the Met Gala and VMAs for the inspo. Please take advice with a giggle.

Your headshot needs to be an accurate reflection of you and instantly recognisable. It’s probably best to avoid face coverings that make you impossible to identify.

Outfits should be well-fitting, tailored and present well. Make sure you try on possible outfits beforehand to ensure they sit well across your shoulders.

Keep colours and patterns to a minimum so that the focus of the image is purely on you. Colourful, busy fabrics can be overwhelming and may not photograph well.

Avoid political statements in your outfit choices as it may be polarising for potential employers or customers. And smiling is recommended too.

Your image should make you look warm and approachable. Big smiles aren’t essential but a twinkle of the eye and a hint of a smile will ensure you make the right impression.

It’s definitely worth spending some time reviewing your wardrobe options before our shoot. Try things on, consider current fashion trends and check items fit well. And if there’s shoulder pads involved, it’s probably time for a visit to the shops.

For the fellas, paisley jackets might be a tad distracting. Best to stick to dark grey, navy or a light pinstripe.

Choose outfits that aren’t too risque, exposing too much cleavage. With a corporate image, you want to appear smart, professional and trustworthy.

For the fellas, a well-fitting suit in dark grey or navy tones with an ironed shirt is perfect every time.

Your image should leave a lasting impression with the viewer, showcasing your inner horse head.

Try and book your headshot with a visit to your hairdresser to ensure you are feeling confident and perfectly groomed. Flyaway hairs can be fixed in post-production but it’s always best to have it, you know, brushed.

We can work together to ensure you are comfortable and relaxed, ensuring natural and flattering facial expressions, with great eye contact

Dress age-appropriately. You don’t need to have everything on display when you’re 63. A banging frock and a huge confident smile will showcase what you got!

Make sure you consider the industry you work in and the type of job you want. Consider the image you want to portray - cool, conservative, experienced etc and plan your wardrobe accordingly. And look in the mirror before you leave the house.

For women, your hair and make-up should be natural and not overwhelming. Aim to look like you would for a great dinner out or important meeting at work.

Your headshot should be all about you - keep your outfit choices simple and timeless so that the viewer is able to focus on your eye contact and expressions and aren’t distracted by your clothing, which may date.

Accessories should be kept simple so as not to be too distracting. It’s best to avoid statement jewellery. And headwear.

Avoid outfits that are sheer or too revealing. Ensure outfits don’t reveal bra straps. Or g-strings. Probs not quite the right message.

Studded red leather with tassles is a corporate wardrobe staple for women and men. Make sure you bring it along for our photoshoot.

It is definitely worth engaging a professional stylist to review your wardrobe. A few hours with Petrina Milas will help ensure your outfit choices for our photoshoot are flattering, contemporary and professional.

With all of the above advice in mind, if you have a body like JLo and the confidence to match, you can get away with anything!

Lockdown photo projects!

Well it’s now week 10 of Sydney lockdown and I’ve been completely unable to do what I love - take photos! Well, I could take photos of my own family but with hubby hooked on Zoom for 10 hours a day and three teenagers home-schooling in their trackies, they aren’t exactly keen to pose for me.

But, I have been able to work on some personal photo projects which I never have time for otherwise and I’ve got some hints and tips for your own treasure-trove of digital imagery.

My first suggestion, actually, I really insist, is to print your photos! I reckon just on your phone there is going to tens of thousands of images, plus the ones you’ve posted on Facebook and Instagram AND the ones your brother shared from last Christmas on WhatsApp! All that digital goodness is just hiding in there, waiting to be enjoyed.

There are lots of great photo printing options from albums to canvas, acrylic blocks, gift cards, calendars, even keyrings and coffee cups for gifts.

I designed three beautiful linen-covered albums for our family, showcasing the very best times of the little lives of my two youngest daughters, aged 13 and 16, and a ‘best of sisters’ album of my very favourite images of my girls together. These were printed with the professional arm of Momento. They are an Australian company and produce absolutely beautiful albums and stationery. These bespoke babies will be treasured forever. They were an investment but the paper stock and binding are next-level gorgeous. In fact, shhhh, don’t tell my Mum, but I have ordered a copy of the Sisters one for her and Dad to enjoy their grandaughters at home.

For a fabulous North Shore local retail option run by a great team, I can’t recommend Pixels Plus highly enough. Alex, Susan and Vicky are an awesome bunch and they have a great online ordering system as well as a shopfront to provide support and advice. I particularly recommend their canvas products but they also do albums, high-quality prints with accurate colours and lots of gifts. The team are great with advice on whether an image will reproduce well and they also provide scanning of negatives and slides if you are really going to delve into a historical photo project! You can find them on Willoughby Road in Crows Nest, when you are allowed to leave the house (although they are doing click & collect for any online orders).

Now, onto all those social media posts? What if Facebook just suddenly didn’t exist anymore and all your years of posts and photos and moments and love just disappeared? And what if Instagram swallowed all your perfectly curated imagery? Allow me to introduce ChatBooks. This is a family-run American company with a mission to ‘strengthen families’. Cool huh? A few years ago, I went crazy and popped my social media feeds into ChatBooks for them to produce about 15 photobooks. It was so easy peasy and the books are really cute and super affordable. They come as 6” x 6” square books and are customisable. The quality is great and they make a great stack on the coffee table to flick through over a coffee or laugh at with the kids. Definitely worth checking out and so easy, you can do it while chilling on the couch, watching Netflix and drinking wine!

What about something for the wall? I LOVE a good gallery display and we had an awesome one in our hallway for years …. until I decided it needed overhauling at the start of lockdown and now it is still bare!

Gallery displays like this allow you to feature a whole bunch of images rather than a single hero shot that really needs to be high-quality, super-sharp and a big enough file size to reproduce well. You can see from my collection here that it was holiday shots, happy moments, great portraits and group shots, none of them particularly award-winning shots, but definitely images that defined good times for our family.

You can find lots of inspiration on Pinterest on how to arrange frames in an organic way that still makes sense. These kinds of displays are great for hallways and staircases and allow you to keep growing and updating the images as your family grows.

EBay has loads of suppliers of light, simple frames in white and black in sets of 20 or more in varying sizes, usually a few 4” x 6”, some 5” x 7” and some larger options to mix it up. They can be easily attached to the wall using 3M velcro stickers and the best tip to getting them right on the wall is to cut out the frame sizes in newspaper and arrange them on the wall first, moving them around until you’re happy!

One final supplier that I’ve used and love is Wondermade. These fabric wall stickers are a fantastic option if you want something on the wall but want the flexibility to move it around as your mood changes or if you are renting and not able to put art on your walls. You can upload your own images for production and they also have a great range of quotes and affirmations you could add into your display for some fun. My favourites are the photo dots that come in 15cm, 20cm, 30cm, 40 and 50cm sizes with sets available also. Great for a series of images of the kids, like this display of my daughter, Evie, below:

Don’t hesitate to give me a call if you want some advice on photo book design, canvas printing, gallery walls or anything. If I can’t actually DO photography, I’m still in my happy place if I can talk about it!

Finally seeing the family after lockdown!

We will all have had PLENTY of time with our immediate family in 2021. I know my own little gang are a bit over each other’s company as we head towards the end of week 6 with many weeks still to come! You have to laugh at the dinner table each night with the conversation starter, “what did you get up to today?” when you’ve been in each other’s faces 24/7!

BUT - the grandparents, the sisters, the uncles and aunts, the cousins …. how GOOD is it going to feel when you can hang out with that bunch again? I would LOVE nothing more than to sit in the sun with my Mum and have a chat in the afternoon sun today.

Each week, I am posting on my personal Facebook page “what did you do to find joy today” as a way of blocking out all the miserable news, all the negative political stabs and just pop the Covid bubble for a bit. Inevitably, my feed is full of stories of walks outside, swims in the ocean, time in the garden and more than anything, efforts made to reach out to those we love.

We are kind of lucky that this nasty old pandemic has hit the world at this point in time and not say 20 or even 10 years ago when we wouldn’t have had nearly the same technology to help us all at least stay in virtual contact. Zoom drinks, online banter across WhatsApp groups, swapping photos and memes to keep our spirits up!

But virtual ain’t nothing on a good old hug from Grandma, a story ready by Grandpa, Mum’s home-cooked lasagne or an afternoon in the pool with all your cousins. You get the drift!

I’ve put together a special offer to all the extended families out there. Vouchers are available for just $195 and give you $600 worth of value:

• A fabulous photoshoot experience where we capture all of you together - every combination, every bond, every smile and hug;

• A cinematic viewing session at my studio in Willoughby where you can see lots of products and decide how best to display your favourite images;

• $250 print credit towards something fabulous - like framed prints, box-framed canvases or beautifully designed albums; PLUS

• a 4” x 6” acrylic block, valued at $225.

Closing the chapter on this Covid pause to our lives will be a moment to treasure and it will be priceless to look back in another 10 or 20 years and say, “hey that was when the world stopped”.

Let’s capture some good times!

Everyone needs a bit of magic

OK, I can’t believe I would contemplate posting images of me like this, but here we go.

EVERY single time I take photos of women, I get asked about ‘photoshopping’. EVERY single time! It doesn’t matter if it’s a family photoshoot in the park or a corporate headshot, it comes up. I get it. I TOTALLY get it, although I’m thinking a degree in psychology would help me to address this with my clients!

Ladies, please understand that everyone benefits from a little bit of magic. BUT, that magic doesn’t necessarily come AFTER the photo is taken. Take this ridiculous selection of images above. (Oh God, why am I doing this?).

Image one - taken on a Wednesday morning as I arrived to see the magnificent Petrina Milas, make-up artist extraordinaire. See the red bits and the no eyebrows and the wrinkles? Yep, that’s me, looking my absolute best! Petrina was helping me prepare for a videoshoot, where I needed to look waaay better than this.

Image two - taken AFTER Petrina has used her magic skills. I am absolutely bloody useless at make-up. And hair. Like, I can’t even explain how bad I am at it. Ask any of my daughters? They’ll tell you. So if you are as rubbish as me, having professional make-up done will make you feel a solid 87% better!

Image three - taken on my DSLR, with nice lighting, in a good coloured top for my skin tones. OK, I didn’t take the photo - my clever daughter Lucy was there to assist - but the idea is this: flattering angles, lighting, clothing, comfort-levels with your photographer? That all goes a long way to improving things before …. we get to:

Image four - I do a lot of my own retouching but I also have a specialist on-hand for big projects or particular challenges (ie, my own face!). I firmly believe that retouching needs to be natural, balanced, complementary and more than anything, plausible! It needs to be an accurate reflection of you. On your best day, after a good night’s sleep, a great haircut and a nourishing breakfast, but you get my point! The retouching should be the final piece in the puzzle, the gentle pat as the end product heads off to the world. It’s subtle and kind and should make everyone go, “wow, you look awesome”, not “wow, photoshop much"?”.

I’m posting this to try and connect with you. I KNOW it’s intimidating getting your photo done. I KNOW that in your head are at least a dozen things spinning around like “I wish my teeth were whiter. I should have got my grey hairs done. I need to lose 10kg. I don’t have anything to wear. Why do I still have pimples at 49.” etc etc.

Put all that crap aside and focus on how bloody awesome you are at what you do. Mum, wife, daughter, swimmer, CEO, volunteer, accountant, dancer, lawyer, boss bitch, whatever.

Professional hair and make-up can work wonders and I can’t recommend Petrina highly enough. Her studio in Northbridge is warm, calm and inviting. She exudes the most wonderful aura and is generous with her advice and guidance and a whiz with spac-filler!

And if you’re contemplating photos for family or work, find someone who makes you laugh, keeps things real, understands how bloody awful it can feel and helps you actually walk away enjoying the process! I promise it doesn’t hurt, nobody sees the bad photos and at the end, the good ones always get a little bit of magic!

Project Stuck - a year ago today, we all got stuck at home!

This time exactly one year ago, my kids came home from school and didn’t go back.

We heard the term ‘social distancing’ and didn’t realise we would never be able to unhear it.

We had to learn to work from home. We had to teach ourselves how to home school. We had to barter toilet paper sometimes and manage our Netflix intake.

We had to try really hard to have alcohol free days when the days just lasted so long!

We snuggled in for the duration. For some of us it was weeks, for some it was months and in some parts of the world, it is still going on.

I managed to photograph some beautiful local families as they spent their 2020 stuck at home. For me, this meant riding my bike to their house, or walking through the park to meet them on their front porches.

We met after bushwalks or at the end of the ‘school day’, we had a laugh and we captured some photos to mark this moment. I got to hear how other families were surviving and what I found was that most people relished the time together. It was kind of really nice to slow down a bit. We were forced to be creative, to be supportive and to focus on what mattered. There were hugs, giggles, tickles, shit-stirring and most of all, love.

I hope you all survived 2020. The year that was.

Fill your Bucket - This time last year

Damn you Facebook memories! As we bunker down for the foreseeable future and all international adventures are put on hold, Facebook has been taunting me with images of holidays past - wonderful family times exploring this amazing planet of ours.

This time last year, my then 16-year old daughter, Caitlin, and I embarked on the trip of a lifetime. We were lucky enough to join a Life Exchange Trip to Kenya with the charity we support, So They Can. The aim was to showcase all the amazing work they are doing to improve the lives of the community of New Canaan Village in Nakuru.

So They Can aims to empower the community through education and in just 10 years have established a school, provided business mentoring programs, employed locals as teachers, cleaners and cooks, and so much more.

I wrote a story for their blog last year, sharing some of the highlights & joys of this trip. Given there will be no such trips to Kenya this year, I thought I’d share some of my favourite images of smiling faces. If the joy on these faces doesn’t fill your bucket, then I don’t know what will!

This post goes live as news comes through from Kenya that schools will not open for the rest of 2020 and that all the students will need to repeat this year of their schooling. This breaks my heart, thinking of all these amazing kids missing out on their learning.

I know our sponsor child, Monica, pictured below with Caitlin & I will be devastated. She had to return home from her boarding school when Covid arrived. She is smart, dedicated, ambitious and determined. She is also full of joy and hope.

So They Can, like all charities, have been unable to host any fundraising events. If you are looking for a worthwhile charity to support, run by a team of wonderful, passionate people who are making a difference, please head to their website to find out ways you can help.

Fill Your Bucket - 100 days in iso

Today is Wednesday, 1 July 2020 and marks day 100 of quarantine for us in Sydney. I know that because I’ve spent every day since Tuesday 24 March writing a journal to document this crazy time on our planet. Day 1 is marked as the day my three girls came home from school & we started sliding into “iso”.

I’m not going to lie - those first few weeks were pretty rough, particularly for my 16-year old, grappling with the implosion of her social life. My middle-child’s happy place is curled up in her bed so she was less traumatised. My baby is vice-captain at her primary school this year and so for her, it was the realisation that there would be no leadership opportunities for the foreseeable future.

Throw into this unprecedented situation (well, in our lifetime) the fact that my father-in-law was very quickly losing his battle with pancreatic cancer, a prognosis only dealt to him on 22 December.

My husband was able to share his time between working from home and caring for his dad, ensuring he was able to die peacefully at his home, with his wife and both sons by his side. Covid gave my husband and his brother a welcome chance to spend quality time and have meaningful conversations with their dad. Covid also took away the opportunity for the whole community to celebrate a life well-lived, with just 10 of us at his graveside on a bitterly cold afternoon on Friday, 1 May (day 39).

My great joy is that I captured this image of Brian in 2018, in his happy place on the farm in Cowra, where he spent his whole life. It reminds me of the treasures that live in images and that while being a photographer is a long way from being an ‘essential service’ as classified during these iso times, it does serve as an essential archive of our lives on this planet.

His illness and the precarious nature of all our lives inspired me to undertake a photo project in those early weeks, keeping me creatively distracted. Project Stuck saw me visit around 40 local families and capture them at home.

It gave me the chance to laugh and interact and find out how other families were coping. I rode to some of the shoots, I walked my dog to others. I stayed local and loved those conversations and relaxed afternoons. I loved hearing about how people were spending the time - bushwalking, puzzles, swimming, playing with new puppy dogs, cooking, reading, Netflixing, dancing, TikToking and generally embracing the chance to slow down.

I love that the images captured in this project were used for Mother’s Day gifts, printed on canvas and acrylic and put into frames and will hopefully serve as a reminder to live each day and hug each other and focus on what’s important. That we can look back and be utterly grateful for the lives we live.

Some of my favourite photos from Project Stuck

My best friend, a Qantas flight attendant for over 20 years, was dealt the harshest blow with Covid, being stood down from a job that she lives for. She glows with goodness, this friend of mine and we often talk about how our friendship ‘fills our buckets’ when they have been drained and that sentiment is the philosophy of my refreshed attempt at blogging.

One of the core ways I have kept my bucket full during Covid has been my rediscovery of the ocean. While the Eastern Suburbs beaches were all closed down, Manly continued to allow visitors to exercise, swim and depart, which is what I did. Multiple times a week. I joined that crazy group of swimmers that lap from Manly - Shelly Beach and back and it gave me joy, clarity, a sense of wellbeing and an extra skip in my step!

My only apparel purchases during the past 100 days have been an Orca wetsuit and a rather fetching neoprene swim cap, such is my dedication to this new pursuit! Fashion and dignity be damned, I’m going swimming!

I’m going to keep on swimming through winter, filling my bucket as I chase cuttlefish and gropers and soak up the winter sun. Covid has taken away all our chances of international adventures for some time so there will be no travels to fill my bucket, except maybe a sneaky 4 nights away … in Manly!

What do you do to fill your bucket?

Totally Awesome Women #4 - Keri Chittenden

I am super excited to introduce you to this week's Totally Awesome Woman because she is who I want to be when I grow up!

This is Keri Chittenden, co-founder of the not for profit, So They Can. This amazing organisation was established coming on 10 years ago with Keri's co-founder and CEO, Cass Treadwell.

Two more passionate and determined women you will be hard to find and what they have achieved in Kenya and Tanzania is inspiring, encouraging and well, just bloody amazing. They are the epitome of demonstrating that we can make a difference, one action can change a life and one vision can transform an entire community.

I am blown away that they translated a "someone should do something" thought into the organisation they have built, which has positively influenced so many lives both in Africa and for the people at this end who have benefited from their exposure and involvement.

In 2009, Cass and Keri left their families in Sydney on a mission to find a project that would enable them to make a difference. They had a clear vision of empowering communities through education and establishing sustainable programs that would ensure they were locally-endorsed and achievable.

Their objective was to help break the poverty cycle through education.

In a Displaced Persons Camp, some 150km from Nairobi, Keri and Cass found a community desperate to work together to improve the future of their children. Facing scepticism and no doubt an overwhelming amount of logistical challenges, these ladies negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kenyan Government to parcel some land and build a school.

I can't even imagine the courage and the leap of faith that took!

Just 6 weeks after their return to Sydney, a fundraising event was held which raised $150,000 and So They Can was born with the establishment of Aberdare Ranges Primary School.

Here's Keri at various fundraising events throughout 2017 and 2018, with co-founder Cass, James & Boni (members of the team from Kenya) as well as Terri Anderson, sponsorship manager and STC ambassador Megan Morton with supporter, Nina Wines.

Some 10 years later and the first round of students have graduated at Aberdare Ranges, a remarkable achievement in a country where secondary education to this level is rarely attained.

Over 1,080 children are now educated at the school, with more than 800 sponsored. Our family has sponsored young Monica for the past 5 years and I can attest to the wonderfully tangible program that allows you to interact and communicate with your sponsor child. Monica turns 15 this year and has big plans for the future, all thanks to the amazing opportunities afforded to her through So They Can.

But the ladies didn't stop at establishing a school - they have now:

• established a children's village for 120 orphaned and vulnerable children at the Miti Mingi Village, ensuring these children have a safe and nurturing home.

• helped the community through the Micro Finance Business School, educating women and providing loans to those facing extreme poverty and giving them the skills to establish sustainable businesses that contribute to their families and future.

• supported a community medical centre that contributes to the health of the broader Nakuru community.

• established the Mamire Teachers' College in Tanzania to help develop a pool of talented, educated teachers.

It currently costs around $2.5 million a year to operate the projects So They Can have underway and yet .... the team forges on and the latest project for So They Can is the recent establishment of an Education Collaborative, aimed at working with existing schools in Tanzania and Kenya to upgrade, upskill and empower them to deliver better education to over 7,000 children.

This includes children such as Chamkal (pictured below with Keri), a young girl in the terribly impoverished area of East Pokot, who was willing to risk her life in a quest for education. That So They Can is able to make such an incredible impact on lives just like Chamkal's just fills me with awe.

And here is the reason Keri and the team do what they do - girls like Chamkal, who will have the life-changing opportunity of access to an education.

In recognition of their efforts, Keri was named as an AFR Westpac 100 Women of Influence in 2015 and Cass was in the running for New Zealander of the Year, also in 2015.

The ladies have built a great team around them, with similarly-minded, passionate people, helping with fundraising, sponsorship and the ongoing management and growth of the organisation, both here in Australia, New Zealand (where Cass is now based) and in Africa.

Their enthusiasm and commitment to their work is infectious and you can't leave one of their fundraising events without feeling wholly positive that the world could be a better place with more people like this.

There are heaps of ways you can be involved with So They Can.

They are currently looking for additional child sponsors to help support the education of an outstanding 200 or so students at Aberdare Ranges Primary School. This is a small investment of $50 per month that provides a quality education, two hot meals a day, access to clean water and all the support they need to succeed. It is a tangible program and the highlight is the sponsor letters - both giving and receiving to really connect with your sponsor child.

There are opportunities to buy beautiful items made by Sew Women Can (via this website -  www.bibiandme.com), a business that allows women in the community to work and support their families while their children are educated, and plenty of other avenues to donate and also volunteer.

I would love to visit Aberdare Ranges and have put it on my wishlist for 2019, where you will hopefully find me, camera clasped in hand, capturing all the smiles that the So They Can team have enabled.

You can find out more at www.sotheycan.org.

Keri, on the ground in East Pokot, earlier this year.

Totally Awesome Women #3 - Tanya Taylor

Do you know those women who just seem to get more done than the rest of us? Who seem to maybe have an extra 3 or 4 hours each day to tick things off on their lists? Who we maybe joke about being "bloody over-achievers" and yet look at with total awe. 

This blog is about those amazing women who we want to be when we grow up.

This is Tanya Taylor. Mum of three - 15 year old Ava, 12 year old Bligh and 10 year old Daniel. She's been married to Mark for 17 years and quite literally never sits still.

I first met Tan as a new parent at Willoughby Public School and quickly came to realise she was a force to be reckoned with. Tanya took the helm at our school and rallied the troops for many years of fundraising, including our spectacular year of festivities celebrating the school's 150th birthday, including a landmark fete day and fabulous cocktail function at Norths.

With husband Mark, Tan has worked tirelessly with their son Daniel, who was born with cerebral palsy, to create a better future for him and in the process, raised awareness of CP in her local community as well as thousands of dollars of funds for the CP Alliance.

Tanya has also hosted many a Girls Night In, raising funds for cancer (and putting on a hell of a fun event) AND manages to get to book group, walk her dog and maintain some solid long-term friendships.

Let's not forget that Tanya has a real job, runs the local scouts program and in just over a month (because she had some free time after doing Coastrek in April) will be competing in Dancing with the Stars at Norths, raising money for the Cancer Council. That's right: Tanya will be dancing. The tango. On stage. Respect! 

She's an awesome role model for her teen daughters, a fierce advocate for Daniel and a pretty damn good wife to Mark too!

Here's her link to raise funds - help out a great chick for a great cause. Good luck Tan - we'll all be with you - in our seats, drinking bubbles, looking on with awe:

https://starsofthenorth2018.everydayhero.com/au/ttdoestango