When I said newsletters/mailouts are few and far between, I wasn’t exaggerating! The last newsletter was sent out in 2009.
Here’s the latest news, that I couldn’t fit onto the postcard that everyone on my Australian mailing list will received recently. (Residents of other countries – please see the note at the end.)
Written in a rush – apologies for any typos – but I’m buried in book orders waiting to be packed.
BOOK NEWS:
My fourth labour of love was printed last month. Hope you all find the new book, “Biggest Mobs – Longest Shadows”, interesting. A mammoth amount of work went into it – not just taking the photographs, but sorting through thousands of them, digging up interesting historical facts and writing pithy captions.
“A Million Acre Masterpiece” will be sold out soon. “Life as an Australian Horseman” will be next.
There are no plans to reprint either of these outback books as I have too many other new projects on the go. So to avoid disappointment I recommend purchasing sooner rather than later.
Detailed information on these outback books can be found on the Book Contents website page.
OUTBACK CUSHION COVERS:
New! Details are now on the website regarding custom-made outback cushion covers, featuring some of my most popular photos.
RB Sellars customers are included in a special prize draw; drawn in 2016. The prize is a set of unique outback cushion covers plus postage, to the value of $220. (Entry details are printed on the flyers sent out with RB Sellars orders, over the coming months.)
OUTBACK GREETING CARDS:
The outback greeting cards have all sold out. I do plan to print more next year, but it may not be before September/October.
WHAT’S COMING UP?
2016:
Sydney Royal Easter Show; 17 – 30 March 2016.
I’ll have a stand in the Home, Lifestyle & Garden pavilion, only a couple of rows away from the Woolworths Fresh Food Dome.
I’m really excited about meeting people visiting Australia’s largest Royal Agricultural Show. Everyone has an interesting story to tell, and you just never know who will appear in front of you when you have a trade stand.
(Unfortunately I don’t have the time to visit events regularly – so like Equitana in Melbourne, the visit to the Sydney Royal Show will be a one-off.)
2017:
A tour overseas, especially for rural women. Stay tuned, or contact me for details or to express interest.
WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO? HERE’S JUST A FEW THINGS:
This year:
- Spent a bit of time at various events, public speaking on how to get the best out of Twitter and how rural residents can benefit. I describe Twitter as the modern bush grapevine – rural residents have taken to it like ducks to water (warning; I am a bit zealous on this topic, I just see such fantastic opportunities for networking and mutual helping between rural regions, agricultural industries and countries).
- This year I set up & ran the ‘rural women’ photography competition for the Rural Women’s conference in Adelaide, as well as the Twitter account (which was @IRWC15, but I’ve now turned it into @Agri_events and use it to promote rural & agricultural events, worldwide).
- Road trip with “Farmers on Film” Sarah Gayton, from Adelaide to Sydney.
- Attended the NRWN E-Leaders 2 day workshop in Canberra – fantastic group of women, excellent couple of days filled with really useful information; likewise, the webinar series.
- Tradestand at Rockhampton’s Beef 2015 exposition.
- On a panel talking about rural storytelling, at the Australian Women in Agriculture conference in Alice Springs.
- And created a book, from start to finish. Producing a book is not something I recommend anyone jams into one year, especially self-publishers. Working 7 days/week & 15+ hour days isn’t something that will continue after this Christmas!
2014:
- Invited by Sarah Gayton to speak at the Farmers on Film Festival, held at the International Cheese Awards, the largest cheese fair in the world. Another couple of UK radio interviews (heard the replay of one, & to my horror discovered I sounded like an ex [nameless] PM. Much laughter.) The Nantwich show is on at the same time as the Cheese Fair – and this show is the UK’s Largest one day show. So many interesting events – especially enjoyed seeing the gun dogs in action, and the horses and hounds. Also went to a number of other events, including the Royal Welsh Show (sheep lover’s paradise), Blenheim Palace (the jousting was great fun to watch, excellent horsemen) and the largest antique fair in the UK.
2013:
- Engaged by Quadrant Australia to accompany their farm tour of the UK & Ireland, to take photographs. Such an interesting trip and travelling with such a great bunch of farmers from all over Australia was a highlight for me – many laughs were had. It was great to have a couple of BBC interviews during this trip. I produced a commercial-quality book as a memento for fellow travellers.
2012:
- Attended Rocky’s Beef Australia exposition, and talked to a huge number of the 80,000 plus visitors. Enjoyable as ever!
2011:
- The National Library of Australia asked if they could include my website in the NLA’s “Pandora” project; which records Australian websites deemed to be of cultural significance, in perpetuity. Fantastic recognition for this website, which is the largest and oldest website of its kind.
- Judged the Meat & Livestock Australia & Australian Women’s Weekly photography competition, “Champions of the Land”, with MLA’s Deborah Leake, AWW’s Editor Helen McCabe, and other AWW staff. (Fantastic fun!).
2010:
- Had a trade stand at Equitana Melbourne, and was delighted to meet a truckload of interesting people, including an amazing amount of remote area residents – from the Pilbara, Kimberleys, Top End, and elsewhere (including my own backyard, Townsville). Highly recommend attending Equitana – it’s horselover’s paradise – every kind of horse event is on offer. I got to see the night sessions (after tradefair ‘knock off’ time) and they were excellent.
NEWSLETTERS FOR OVERSEAS CUSTOMERS:
Unfortunately it’s not possible to mail newsletters to addresses outside Australia. The primary reason is that many people change addresses so the cost of printing & mailing newsletters would be largely wasted. Ideally everyone would also keep the same email address for life but many people seem to change email addresses nearly as often as their clothes, so emailing has not been successful either. Wish it were otherwise! The only option is to check this website regularly for news.
NEWSLETTERS IN FUTURE:
Postage is set to rise in 2016, possibly to $1 per standard stamp. I love sending out a newsletter by mail, but unfortunately mailouts don’t just cost many thousands of dollars to print then mail, they’re time consuming to send. And keeping the mailing list up to date is a monster-sized job (as it runs to thousands of people now).
So I’m not sure when the next newsletter or postcard will be mailed out – sadly, this year’s might be the last. In future I recommend checking this blog for updates (especially around October & March). News can also be found on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn.
LASTLY
– thank you again to all those who’ve enabled me to record life on Australian cattle stations by buying my photographs, cards and books. Without you, this work would not have been possible. I have seen many changes over more than thirty years, and am glad I’ve been able to record some things that no longer exist. I have plenty of ideas for new books! Stay tuned.
Tags: Fiona Lake Photography