In my twenties I had my head filled with studies and dreams of far far journeys. In my thirties, when most of my friends had already been happy mothers, I was dreading the lack of any maternal instincts and took interest in kids when they were able to talk and interact with me. Holding an infant was giving me chills as I was convinced I would break them into pieces!

Doris was nominated by her daughter Nicola. Originally from Germany move to Ireland and met her husband here. She learned how to cook and was working in the family restaurant for years.

My first pregnancy at 39 was sadly a miscarriage. The statistics are startling, 1 in 4 women will experience a miscarriage, and I think it's something that's not widely enough talked about. I was lucky enough to fall pregnant again and had my first daughter 3 days after my 40th birthday.

My second daughter was born 18 months later, on the date that my first miscarried pregnancy was originally due - such a lovely and meaningful coincidence.

I got married when I was only 23! My husband was just 22! Skip forward 17 and a half years later and we have 4 wonderful children. 

I’m glad we got married so young because it turns out we needed all those years! 

After having my first baby at the age of 35 and even at that age I was considered a "geriatric pregnancy", I developed postnatal depression due to the fact I was unable to breastfeed my baby boy.

I'd always wanted to be a mother - and when younger had assumed it would just happen...

Time passed, there were relationships (some more serious than others) and when I was 38 I was single and had the realisation that it might not "just happen". I had an assessment of my fertility at a clinic, and the results confirmed my feelings that it was time for me to get moving on motherhood, and I chose to try to conceive as a solo mother.

My Father died from metastatic malignant melanoma. I found out through his diagnosis that I had malignant melanoma also but mine was not metastatic. I had two rushed surgeries and although radiotherapy was discussed, I never had to have that treatment thankfully.

I was 41. My partner and I had already two boys at home, but in the back of my mind, I always thought we would have another child.

Life was busy between work, family life and trying to study for the professional exams and it just seemed like it was never the right time and now, 6 years later, it seemed like it just wasn't going to happen.

I met my husband when I was 31 and we spent an amazing 5 years together before getting married. We both knew we absolutely wanted to have children together & got pregnant with our first little girl soon after we were married. I was and still am completely fascinated by pregnancy & labour.

My husband and I had been trying to have kids for about 7 years. We had tried NAPRO, a 'natural' method of both birth control and conceiving that involves exhaustive charts and monitoring of bodily fluids. We had several friends for whom this worked, but sadly, not us. We always said that we'd never try IVF, because it was too invasive, expensive, with very slim chances for success especially after the age of 40.

I have wanted children all my life, 5 was my number. I was in a relationship before I was 40, unfortunately, it didn't last, and after my 40th birthday, I decided that was it, I was going it alone. I started researching it and by December, I had the ball rolling through Galway Fertility Clinic. I went for IUI first with donor sperm, unfortunately, it didn't work, my second attempt gave me my beautiful daughter, the best birthday present at 41. I tried 6 more times after my daughter, (a mix of IUI and IVF which gave me twins at 44. It is a rollercoaster of emotions going through it and trying to have hope.

Kerry Manning is a fabulous woman! She is originally from South Africa and has been living in Ireland for a number of years. Kerry is full of energy, joy and positivity. She divides her time between art, personal branding coaching, marketing consulting, blogging and speaking. She always finds ways to help people and she is making the world a better place one day at a time. We caught up with Kerry for an amazing photo shoot and a chat. 

We met up with Sam in Galway and had a nice chat. We thought he had a great personality and positive energy.

Barbara O’Meara is a visual artist from Wicklow. Her creativity spans into painting, writing and teaching. She is involved in artivism (art activism), most recently bringing attention to the Tuam Baby scandal and the Smear Test scandal by organising powerful art projects and events. She is an incredibly inspiring person and we had the privilege of spending time with her and taking her photograph as part of our ‘Inspirational Women’ series. Read more about Barbara and her work below. 

We recently visited Anna from We Make Brands in her design studio in Galway, Ireland for a photo shoot.

We had a great chat about the importance of brand photography and how best to present yourself and your business online. Before we started taking photos Anna walked us through her studio and showed us the various machines and tools she uses when she is making paper products for her clients, such as business cards. We made a shot list to make sure that we captured all the different processes that Anna uses when she is working. It was a wonderful experience for us to watch how her products are made.

Gareth Bromell is an editorial session hairstylist from Limerick. He left school at the age of 15 to pursue a career in the fashion industry.

After 8 years with Hershesons in London he moved to Los Angeles. He has worked on fashion campaigns and created looks for Gucci, Burberry and Alexander McQueen as well as Taylor Swift, Bella Hadid and Michelle Wiliams to name a few.

He has now returned to Limerick where, along with his business partner Mandy O’Loughlin, he has recently opened HENSHĪN, a sustainable concept hair and make-up beauty bar in Castletroy Town Centre in Limerick. Read more about Gareth’s journey below. 

Bryan O’Brien is the chief video journalist at The Irish Times. He grew up in Killarney, Co.Kerry and moved to Dublin in 1982. He has won a number of awards including the PPAI Photographer Of The Year Award five times, he represented Ireland twice in The Fuji European Press Photographer Awards and won the UK Picture Editors Guild Photographer of The Year Award in 2004. In 2017 he was runner up for The Videographer Of The Year Award by The UK Picture Editors Guild and in 2018 won that category with a short film entitled ‘Jude Hughes, underground tailor’. Bryan is currently taking an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at The University of the Arts, London. We caught up with Bryan in Dublin for a photo shoot and a chat about his life as a photographer and videojournalist.

Alice Maher is a contemporary Irish artist. She studied at The Crawford College of Art in Cork and The University of Ulster in Belfast. 

She also spent time in the San Francisco Art Institute in 1986 as a Fulbright Scholar.

Maher works in a range of media, often from outside the tradition of fine art and more from the natural and domestic world, such as hair, nettles, bees, thorns. in 1994 she represented Ireland at the Sao Paolo Biennale. She has had many exhibitions at home and abroad. in 2012 the Irish Museum of Modern Art presented a retrospective of her work, Becoming, which included many iconic works as well as a newly commissioned film and a monograph. In 2015 she became involved in The Artists Campaign to Repeal The Eighth Amendment, a group that called for a repeal of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland (Article 40.3.3) that equates the life of a pregnant woman with that of the foetus. In 2018 Alice Maher along with members of the Artists Campaign - Sarah Cullen, Rachel Fallon, Alison Laredo, Breda Mayock and Aine Phillips enacted a street procession and presented an exhibition, archive and information hub at the 38th EVA International Biennial of Contemporary Art

Maher's work is held in many Irish and international collections including the Neuberger Museum, New York, The Hammond Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MoMA, New York, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, The British Museum, London and The Georges Pompidou Centre, Paris. Alice Maher is Originally from Tipperary and now living in rural Mayo for the last 12 years with her husband Dermot Seymour, also an artist. We went to visit her at her studio to talk about her life as an artist and her upcoming projects, read more below:

Suzanna Crampton is a farmer, writer, teacher, woollen blanket designer and photographer living on her family farm in Kilkenny. Her first book Bodacious The Shepherd Cat was published by Harper Collins in 2018 and gives an insight into everyday farm life through the eyes of her cat Bodacious. Suzanna is passionate about sustainable and ethical farming. In her book you will find a wonderful quote by Aldo Leopold; ‘We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect’. We had the pleasure of talking to and photographing Suzanna on her farm on a dark wintery day in November in the company of five dogs, three cats, horses, alpacas, zwartbles sheep, doves and chickens.