where the water gathers

Where the Water Gathers is a series of actions that took place along the hidden creek bed of Billy Button Creek in Footscray.

Artist Deb Bain King circled each low-lying place, thanking the creek for the gift of water. In this performance-based work, Deb walked the lost BIlly Button Creek chanting words of sorrow for the damage done and thanking the creek for the gift of water. I was honoured to be the one to document this reverent act and contribute to the communication of Deb’s intentions. Deb’s walking art practice recognises our shame and thankfulness, recognises beauty, violence and destruction enacted. This land was Marin Balluk and Yallukit Willam country. Land never ceded.

seed mob

Tishiko King is on her way to the UN COP26 Climate Talks in Glasgow and before she left I photographed her at home to accompany a Q and A for the Groundswell journal. Go read all about this inspiring marine biologist, climate campaigner, and proud Torres Strait Island woman here.

rhubarb mural

Talk about injecting some colour and vigour into a once quiet corner of Preston Market. This retail fit-out for my client Rhubarb Rhubarb by Brave New Eco (another client) is so uplifting. Their vintage-fruit-box inspired mural collar with Beci Orpin and Studio Baker and expertly painted by Abbey Rich chose the bursts of colour and texture that their fresh organic produce pumps out on the daily. Just delightful. These guys are one of my beloved clients and working with them on their beautiful family-owned business of over 21 years is an absolute delight.

Here is a blog post over at the Brave New Eco blog that outlines the whole project.

compost your clothes

The Elemental Collection from local brand Because of Nature. Photography by Emma Byrnes

At the beginning of this year I had an email drop into my inbox and it was simply titled “HELP”.

It was from Geelong-based textile artist and natural dyer Kathy Williams and she was looking for someone to photograph her upcoming 100% compostable clothing collection and get help with visual strategy and web design to relaunch her brand Because of Nature. She also wanted to communicate the work that she was doing in India mentoring rural village women to establish a zero waste weaving and production unit.
Kathy’s SOS had landed in the right place. Immediately my interest was piqued. A brand whose focus was zero waste textiles, 100% compostable clothing and working to empower marginalised women in India. Yes to all of these things.
And when Kathy and I met up we both felt energised by hearing of each other’s worlds and the possibilities that could evolve from a collaboration. (I want to pause right here and point out that this is a very important and sometimes intangible aspect of my business - the synergy between myself and my clients. It has to be deeply felt as I often work with small business owners who are so passionate about what they do and this passion is often commensurate with - or at times supersedes - other more traditional aspects of running a successful business like cashflow projections and the bottom line. If we do “click” then generally it seems that the time and energy that is consequently poured into the project from both parties is satisfying and deeply felt - it can even be transformative).

So Kathy squirrelled away in her dye house for a month or two - dyeing and making - and then I photographed The Elemental Collection in late February. We found a beautiful location and a wonderful model Bee that when combined brought true magic to Kathy’s vision for her garments.

Kathy’s story is so interesting. It is multi-layered and quite complex as she is self taught and has been immersed in textiles for 50 years. For her website I spent hours wrangling words and trying to put all of the pieces together so her audience could make sense of the different threads without getting overwhelmed. I just wanted them to spend their time admiring Kathy’s hard won vision and appreciating her journey. I won’t double up by telling the story - just head over to the website and see for yourself. All I can say is that you will fall head over heels for her methodology and philosophies.
I’ll leave you with a testimonial from Kathy as I am always thrilled when a client gets as much pleasure working with me as I do from them:

“Sometimes running a small business becomes very overwhelming...the logistics of websites, photoshoots, branding, marketing and being all round boss girl can be quite confronting to say the least. And then gracefully with peace, dignity, joy and happiness Emma comes into your life. Ask the universe and she will always provide. Working with Emma has been such an empowering experience, I have learnt so much and she has allowed me to realise I’ve got this! From her exquisite photography, her research, her capacity to understand and embrace your business as if it’s her own and then creating the website of my dreams! Her talents have no boundaries, a truly genuine woman of integrity. A unique quality in this hectic world.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.””

— Kathy Williams: Textile artist/designer for Because of Nature and co-founder of social enterprise The Happy Hands Project

If you think your brand needs a refresh don’t hesitate to get in touch if you think we might be a good match.

taking steps

Bushland at Macedon Ranges. Photograph by Emma Byrnes

In 2020 I want to make my business more responsible and accountable by taking small, critical steps to help tip environmental, economic and social factors in more positive directions. With the overwhelming summer we are experiencing here in Australia and the resulting collective grief over the devastation, I want to ensure the decisions I make in my professional capacity contribute towards a positive future.

Over my working life I have always tried to reduce my footprint; being mindful of the impact my work has both personally and for the greater community; and by collaborating with clients who also contribute and take these matters seriously.

BUT there is always room for improvement as Maya Angelou so wisely expresses:

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

— Maya Angelou

I’ve reviewed my business practices and these are the key areas where I will make improvements in 2020:

• Transfer my business to a bank that does not support fossil fuels
  I have chosen to open an account with Bank of Australia whose stated purpose is to create mutual prosperity for their customers in the form of positive economic, personal, social, environmental and cultural impact.

• Reduce my website carbon emissions

  The global information & communication technology (ICT) ecosystem has a huge environmental impact. So large in fact, that its carbon footprint is on a par with the entire aviation industry’s emissions from fuel.
  I have three websites. This year I will do an audit and move towards making them more efficient by doing an assessment of file sizes (ie how much data gets transferred when the web page opens) and reassessing my relationships with web providers and hosts to ensure they are hosted in data centres that uses fossil fuel electricity, or renewables. At the moment my Green Web rating is poor.
  How does your website fare?

• Reduce file storage
  I capture my photography files in RAW format to give me the greatest control in post-production - an important part of ensuring a high quality product to my clients. BUT the downside is they tend to be very heavy data files.
  Up until now I have always kept and stored the original files in case my client experiences some sort of technical malfunction and lose access to the files I have delivered + processed for them.
  But I have reached the point where file storage has become a bugbear for my business and I have since researched the exponentially increasing environmental impact of data storage. Data centres in particular consume a gigantic amount of electricity — 80% of which currently comes from fossil fuel power stations.
  As a result I am offering a two month reprieve to any of my clients who wish to gain access to any past files. After April 1st 2020 I cannot guarantee that I will have your files on hand as I plan to delete big swathes of material to free up my burden on the servers, my psyche and ultimately our planet :-)

• Photographic images behind a paywall
  In order to operate a more efficient and generous small business I will be putting my photographic images behind a paywall as of April 1st 2020. This means that my invoicing terms will change whereby my clients pay their invoice before they can access and download images. I am open to discuss alternative approaches on a “per needs basis” but this will otherwise be my default payment system. 
  The purpose of this change is to allow my one-woman-show a chance to focus time and attention on more positive aspects of my business (like reducing my carbon footprint and working on pro bono jobs) rather than chasing invoices.
  BTW - If you have a pro bono request or suggestion please get in touch with me.

No doubt as the year progresses I will be enlightened as to how I can make even more improvements (this recent article on cutting carbon emissions revealed to me how much further I can potentially cut down) - yikes there is definitely some serious work to be done.
And of course I would love any feedback or suggestions you might have.

julia wharf

Images captured at the home studio of Melbourne ceramicist, Julia Wharf. Photography by Emma Byrnes.

spacecraft

I had a photo session the other day at Spacecraft to capture some of their bed linen for their online store. I also picked up a few sly shots of the beautiful clothing hanging in the shop window. It’s always a joy to spend time with these wonderful folk.