Fifty fabulous Border women will star in a new coffee table book celebrating inspirational people affected by cancer.
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Photographer and project founder Janiece McCarthy is recruiting women, affected directly or indirectly by cancer, to take part in a photo-shoot to empower them to reclaim their beauty.
Money raised through the $75 photo-shoots and the book will be donated to the Albury Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre Trust Fund.
Mrs McCarthy said it was an honour to meet and photograph such inspiring women.
“They’ve shared really incredible stories, every story is unique and inspirational,” she said.
“I believe every woman has a story and it’s their story that I want to get out.
“It’s their chance to say this thing has happened, but there is a positive way we can deal with these things in life.”
Mrs McCarthy said the photo-shoot, complete with a beauty session, was a powerful moment for many of the women and helped them feel good in the midst of loss or treatment.
“The idea was inspired by a dear friend who is a cancer survivor,” she said.
“Particularly cancer survivors have found it helps give them good self esteem and made them feel beautiful.
“I see beauty as a feeling, every woman deserves to feel beautiful and feel good about themselves.”
Mrs McCarthy hopes to launch the book at the end of the year.
Wodonga’s Debbie May lost her husband, Roger, to rectal cancer in 2014 and said she wanted to participate in the book so she can share it with her four children and 10 grandchildren.
“I feel a bit special,” she said during a photo-shoot on Tuesday.
“I lost my husband to cancer and I’m turning 60 this year so I wanted to do something special for me.”
Mrs May said the fundraising was vital because the cancer centre plays such a big role for those going through treatment.
Mrs McCarthy said the hardest and most rewarding shoot was with the woman who inspired it all.
“I told my friend Karen to come in for a photo-shoot whenever she was ready – one day she texted me saying ‘I’m ready, let’s go’,” she said.
“It was beautiful and I cried all the way through.”
Photo-shoots are $75, with all funds going to the Trust. Women can apply online on the Artisan House of Photography website.