DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

 

Submit A Story

Photographers visit hospitals around the world to create magical portraits for over 200 sick children

by 4 Comments

Karen Alsop and her team behind heART Project have put smiles on sick children’s faces so many times. Two years in a row, they organized The Christmas Wish Project, which brought joy and festive mood to sick children across Australia. But this year, the project has grown much bigger and it has gone global!

The project assembled a team of over 110 photographers and creatives who volunteered to photograph children in 10 cities around the world. The team created magical Christmas portraits for more than 200 children who are spending “the most wonderful time of the year” in hospital.

[Read More…]

Photographer creates touching Marvel-inspired tribute for boy killed in Barcelona terror attack

by 1 Comment

The Terror Attack in Barcelona on 17 August 2017 took lives of fifteen people. Among them, there was a sweet and charming Australian boy Julian Cadman. A year after the terrible event, Karen Alsop and her team behind The Heart Project created a heartbreaking tribute for this 7-year-old boy Marvel fan who lost his life in the tragedy. Using phone photos provided by his parents, Karen created an Avengers-style movie poster to pay an honor to little Julian.

[Read More…]

Photographers create magical scenes, bringing Christmas spirit to sick children across Australia

by 1 Comment

Last year, The Christmas Wish Project put a smile on faces of sick children in Monash Children’s Hospital in Australia. This year, Karen Alsop and her team did it for children across Australia. With the help of photography, Photoshop and of course, Santa Claus, The heART Project made the holidays happier for children from 56 families.

This year, the project is bigger, and it involved a week of traveling across the country, along with hours of shooting and post-processing. Karen has shared the photos and more details with DIYP, and I’m happy to announce that the project will grow even bigger next year – it goes global!

[Read More…]

12 photographers unite to create a fantasy photo book and comfort sick children

by 2 Comments

We’ve featured the heart-warming, beautiful projects of The heART Project before. This time, 12 photographers came together to create a wonderful photo storybook, The Get Well Tree. It contains 14 photos that look like they came straight out of a fairy tale. But the main characters are real-life girls, two little heroes.

Evie Gleeson (5) and Indy Dawes (4) met two and a half years ago in a hospital where they were undergoing childhood cancer treatment. Over this time, they became close friends, and they both managed to fight the illness. Now they want to encourage other sick children through their story. So, they posed for the photos that became a part of the Get Well Tree book. We share these amazing photos with you, together with the video and the story.

[Read More…]

Photographer creates composite that has her children meet their ancestors from early 1900’s

by 1 Comment

Using her photography and photo manipulation skills, photographer Karen Alsop created her version of a time travel. When her mother found a photo of Karen’s Great Great Great Grandmother and Great Great Grandmother, it made Karen wonder: what it would be like to meet her ancestors, sit down and talk to them? Even more, how incredible it would be for her kids to meet them? And so, the idea was born.

She had a photo shoot with her two children and photoshopped them into the photo her mom had found, which dates back to the early 1900’s. The final result is incredible, and when she shared it on Facebook, most of her family and friends thought that the kids are the relatives who only resemble her children.

Karen has kindly shared the details about the entire process with us.  From the photo shoot to compositing and colorizing the final image, even some BTS shots. It was a long and demanding task, but it was well worth the result.

[Read More…]

Photographer shoots a paralyzed mom. Hanging off a cliff. With her son. In a wheelchair

by 10 Comments

A print or a photo shoot can be a great gift for Mother’s Day. But photographers Benjamin Von Wong and Karen Alsop took it to a whole new level. They gave a quadriplegic mom a unique photo shoot and a chance to connect with her son through an adventure.

Sarah Jay (SJ) Staszak used to be a master rock climber, abseil instructor, and passionate cyclist. After a routine surgery gone wrong, she became unable to go on her adventures. The photographers and the team gave her a chance to experience the same thrill and adrenaline again. Despite bad weather and SJ’s disability, she was hanging off the edge of the cliff of the Blue Mountains once again, together with her son Hamish, for an epic photo shoot.

[Read More…]

Photographer makes a comedian’s dream come true and turns her into a Princess

by Leave a Comment

Comedian Tanya Hennessy might already be well known to some of you. She posted a video to Facebook last year, titled Things people say to Photographers, which proved rather popular. It particularly struck a chord with Australian photographer Karen Alsop. And when Tanya recently posted that she dreamed of being a princess, Karen was more than happy to help turn her dream into a reality.

Karen specialises in creating fantasy. We’ve featured her work on DIYP before. She’s also has a very busy schedule, as does Tanya. But they managed to find a way for them both to be at the same location in Sydney at the same time. Tanya freely admits that she’s not a “traditional princess”. Her goal is to inspire everybody to believe that they can be the Prince or Princess they’ve always wanted to be.

[Read More…]

Boy with a rare brain disorder lives dream to be an nba basketball star

by Leave a Comment

Joshua was born with a Vein of Galen Malformation. He has a malformation in the blood vessels of his brain that steals blood from the rest of the brain.

He has had 6 strokes, left weakness, epilepsy, intellectual disabilities. He is the eldest surviving child with his condition in Australia. Joshua’s condition is now considered progressive as he began deteriorating in 2012.

When Mette, Joshua’s mum, shared his story and Joshua’s dreams to be a basketball star, I knew immediately that we could help Josh live out that dream in picture form.

[Read More…]

How I made a photo to help a child with disabilities fly

by 1 Comment

I’m unsure how to even begin this post. To share Tahliyah’s story and my experience in creating a very special art work for her is difficult to put into words. I will precursor this with a warning; get your tissues out. Tahliyah’s story is sure to move you.

This has been a powerful, hope inspiring project. To get to know this beautiful girl and have the opportunity to visually free her from the restrictions her little body has placed on her has been life changing.

[Read More…]

Recent Posts