Mel’s passion for photography began when she first held a 110 film cassette camera in her hands when she was 14 years old.

It continued as she went through high school, studying photography and black and white developing and printing for the HSC, then moving onto community college courses, fitted around family and work.

Covid in 2020 finally gave Mel the chance to step up to studying her dream course - a Certificate IV in Photography and Digital Imaging at Ultimo TAFE in Sydney - a well respected institution in the photography business. This was followed in 2021 with enrollment in the Diploma of Photography at the same institution.

Initially primarily interested in local bird life, sports and photographing the students and functions at the school she had worked at for 10 years, in February, 2021 however a personal tragedy changed everything.

Coupled with a second Covid lockdown, her direction changed to still life photography, primarily flowers. Photography became a way of processing her circumstances and provided a great focus and distraction. It enabled her to negotiate her mental health and express what she was experiencing.

Her softly lit, sometimes water colour like images strive to show life in all its stages and encourage the viewer to look past the perfection and see the broken in all its beauty - as we need to do with our fellow humans.

In recent years, overseas travel and a move to Queensland has enabled Mel to develop her skills and expand her portfolio. She is currently exploring options of including multi media within her work.