Fiona Lake grew up in country Victoria and is now a professional photographer dedicated to explaining life in rural and remote areas. Since the first photograph sale in 1982, Fiona has developed a unique, multi-strand business to support this life-long advocacy. In 1992, she began concerted efforts to not just ‘preach to the converted’ and printed her first cattle station postcards which she sold to tourists across northern outback Australia. To bring the bush to the heart of urban Australia, she has held exhibitions in venues such as Sydney’s Bondi Pavilion and the Sofitel Hotel in Melbourne. Fiona has written feature stories for R.M. Williams’ Outback magazine since 1999 and has sold thousands of copies worldwide of her three books featuring Australia’s largest cattle stations.

Fiona’s pioneering website has been included in the National Library of Australia’s ‘Pandora’ project – a permanent record of websites deemed to be culturally significant.

Fiona was the first Australian appointed to the three-person panel judging the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists ‘Start Prize for Photography’. Other career highlights include an ABC television Landline feature, being invited to speak at the UK ‘Farmers on Film’ festival, and she is one of few artists to have had an exhibition opened by the Governor General of Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery. Fiona won this year’s Queensland Rural Press Club ‘Rural Social Media’ award.

Fiona has taken aerial photographs from choppers since 1988 and she is now a licenced drone pilot. Her work takes her across Australia and further afield, running workshops and public speaking, to pass on what she has learned. In August and September 2018, Fiona is leading a fabulous ‘Paddock to Plate’ farm tour to Ireland and the UK, with other tours to follow.

Fiona will be holding three workshops at the annual Women on Farms Gathering for 2018. The Gathering is being held in Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 March (see ‘Events’ below for more details). The weekend is jam packed full of workshops, including these three digital workshops run by Fiona: https://www.fionalake.com.au/fiona-lake-mckindlay

Farm district digital sustainability: social media and your return for investment

This workshop will include easy to understand information, photos, videos, and a good open discussion, for you to understand how to use social media and get a return for investment, when campaigning for better rural infrastructure, promoting rural events and building up your town to be a global Ag travel destination, while sharing your local stories about your region’s Agricultural businesses.

Fiona was the Journalism winner for Social Media coverage, in the Rural Press Club of Queensland 2017 Rural Media Awards.

Social media and apps: which are best for you?

This workshop is an introduction to how useful social media and apps are for rural and farm living. This is a basic information session, with easy-to-understand information on how to use social media for your own needs. Bring along your phone and learn how to download an app and which apps are most useful for your needs.

Learn more: Before the session, make sure you know your data plan on your phone, and your email address for your Play Store or App store.

For background on this workshop, visit https://www.fionalake.com.au/corporate-services/rural-workshops/workshop-topics and read Efficient and effective social media use, for rural and regional residents.

AgTech farm drones 101: all areas covered and no hype

This workshop will include easy-to-understand information, photos, videos, and a good open discussion to enable you to understand the technology that exists in today’s agricultural businesses.

In this workshop, Fiona, an experienced and licenced drone pilot, separates the facts from fiction with drone use on farm. Drones seem to be the new tool for the farm, but do you understand the responsibility and rewards of owning and using a drone? Fiona will cover how to get started in the world of drones; the range of agricultural photography and business-related uses; what drones can and can’t do (and is there something else that can do the job?); the uses on farm; vital safety information; and the laws and licencing of drones and pilots relating to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). This workshop will include the value and use of aerial photography for the farm (using drones, fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters), and the current trends and predictions for the future of drones in agriculture.

For background on this workshop, visit https://www.fionalake.com.au/blog/drones-farming-photography/what-is-the-best-drone-to-buy/

For more information on attending these workshops at the Women on Farms Gathering 2018 see ‘Events’ below or visit https://www.wofg2018.com/