This morning, in the midst of lockdown number 5 in Victoria, I had a little party in my loungeroom as the Federation Business School Commerce Ballarat Business Excellence Awards finalists were announced. It’s a totally honour to be named a finalist in the City of Ballarat Creative Industries awards category along side two other incredible businesses – Stoke Design and Form Imagination. What a hoot! It’s wonderful to take a moment to pause and feel acknowledged for the constant adapting, re-imagining, rescheduling, and all the new skills I’ve been learning to keep my business thriving and mos ..read more

When the City of Ballarat put a call out in 2020 for art project pitches for it’s new initiative Continuous Voices I thought it was a brilliant move by the council. Ballarat has a long history of sexual abuse and a long history of sweeping it under the rug. So engaging the arts as a step towards healing, I loved, and knowing first hand the potential for photography to act as a healing tool, I sent in my submission. I designed the 6 week course to be accessible to anyone with a camera – phone, point and shoot or DSLR and the content centered around learning to see light, the way shadows ce ..read more

CAPTAIN MOONLITE RIDES AGAIN In 2020 during the Covid pandemic, I was approached by Cafs (Child and Family Services) Ballarat to take the creative lead on a project that was set to be a first for Ballarat in many ways. A public show of support for Ballarat’s LGBTIQ community, shining a spotlight on arguably Ballarat’s first LGBTIQ Bushranger and a celebration of local and internationally acclaimed artists work projected on the wall of the historic Ludbrook house on Lydiard St during the month of March 2021. Andrew George Scott (aka Captain Moonlite) was a fascinating things and was a ..read more

Commissioned by: City of Ballarat Inspired by: The voices of the Ballarat community during the Covid 19 Pandemic Performed and Choreographed by: Alison Shirley Music by: Rae Howell with support from Brannoc Whetter. Filmed and Edited by: Michelle Dunn Assistant: Yael Zalchendler City of Ballarat’s “Be Kind Be Creative” was deployed in the first lockdown to help support the vulnerable arts and culture sector as well as create a range of resources, and in the second lockdown the sector was engaged to help channel negative emotions into positive. As a result City of Ballarat commissioned ..read more

    I’ve been meaning to create an online video showreal for YEARS! I spend my life creating photography and video work to promote other people and like the builder with the unfinished home and the chef that eats toast for dinner, I’m never making time to create videos for my own business. Finally, I carved out some time and have selected some highlights to put together a showreel of video footage, most of which was created in 2018. These highlights are not only visually exciting, but also exciting for my heart. I feel incredibly lucky to so often work on projects that inspire me, fi ..read more

It wasn’t until I was at university doing a degree in Fine art, (majoring in painting) and I took some electives in Aboriginal art and culture that I realised the Australian history I was taught at school was a lie. Shame, anger, devastation and heartbreak were some of the things I felt as I learned the real version of what had happened to our Indigenous people during colonisation (and has continued to happen since). The decimation of life, of culture, of knowledge, of hope. It is beyond time to rewrite Australian history. To re-learn from the oldest living culture on earth, that has it’s root ..read more

This year is proving to be one filled with career highlights and work I am incredibly proud of. Sometimes I have to remind myself it was just over 10 years ago that I was embarking on this journey – struggling to believe it might be possible, learning new skills, making so many mistakes and feeling so, so hopeful each time I got to pick up my camera. The Biennale of Australian Art was borne of Director Julie Collins’ dream to create the largest ever showcase of Australian living artists. And I feel incredibly lucky to have been selected as one of the 150 artists to exhibit at this 6 week festi ..read more

Wow, 2018 kicked off with some incredible news as our film “A Victorian Silhouette” created for Sovereign Hill and the Gold Museum was named winner of the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival (VAMFF 2018). Working closely with the talented Erin Santamaria, head of the costume department at Sovereign Hill, we helped turn her vision into this film. The film is also screening from May 18 to November 4 at the Gold Museum for the exhibition of the same name. The exhibition draws on the Gold Museum’s incredible collection of original Victorian garments and accessories, shown alongside reprodu ..read more

This year has been a special one for me as it was our 10th year in business! I had dreamed of being a photographer way back in high school. Put off by my careers counselor in year 9 who told me I was being a bit too ambitious and should think of something else, it took me many years to get to the point where, in 2007 (ten years after leaving high school and many adventures around the world) I was ready to launch my own photography business, which has now evolved into photography and video. Ten years on, I’m so proud to say that dream is alive and thriving. It’s been lots of hard work, lots of ..read more

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has been part of the journey this year! We’ve welcomed more wonderful clients into the fold, worked on some really inspiring & rewarding projects & warmed our souls by the fire of creativity. A new staff member also came on board in 2016 – Tom, who’s been producing some amazing moments of editing behind the scenes. From corporate headshots, commercial photography, promotional web videos, social justice films, creative arts projects, events, lifestyle and product photography – it’s been at times incredibly serious and at others a total hoot! Here’s jus ..read more