How The Shutter Sisterhood Started: From Bali to Bruny

Free Photography Trip to Bali, Keen???

The Shutter Sisterhood (The Hood) started because I nearly knowingly went to Bali with a pyramid scheme. Known as a Multi-Level Marketing Scheme. Albeit with an organisational chart in the shape of a pyramid. On an ordinary Saturday morning a client phoned asking if I'd be interested in a commercial assignment photographing her new “business venture” at a ‘free’ women’s retreat in Bali. I heard:

Photography.

Island holiday.

Sunshine.

Women’s Retreat.

All expenses paid and $4k in the bank! 

Marvellous. Where do I sign!!! I was keener than Keens Mustard! Then I started peeling back the layers. Why was this women’s overseas retreat ‘free’?  Would The Hood exist today if I just turned a blind eye, brought a new swimsuit, charged my camera batteries and went and made my $4k quietly? Probably not. 

Turned out the ‘free’ women’s retreat wasn’t that free, who knew there would be a catch? The more I dug, the more my arse twitched. In a past life I was an Accountant. I’d witnessed clients lose their entire life’s savings in similar “business ventures”. So, I did what all arsehole accountants do and had an iron clad contract made protecting myself. I’d still make my $4k and go on my way. The pyramid scheme actually signed and returned my contract. 

I was ‘safe’. Whilst the women attending were being encouraged to spend tens of thousands on outrageously priced products. Teabags worth over $1k for 50 cuppas. Water filters that cost more than my first car. Actually, come to think of it, more than my first and second cars! This water cured cancers, or so they claimed. I spent many hours trying to find medical evidence to back this up. If I could just find something ethical, anything, I had a plane ticket that had my name all over it! 

I still hadn’t been able to put pen to paper to sign the contract I’d bloody written. Then I started watching videos from people who had become involved. Women crying online about losing their savings and, in some cases, their entire fortunes AND families. Because as if losing all your money wasn’t enough. Entire lives were being destroyed from the financial stress.

I rang my brother and told him that I’d turned a job down paying me to travel and take photos - my lifelong dream. He told me at least now we know my ethics have a price. Apparently it's somewhere above $4k!

But the idea underneath it all stuck. They had created a community of women seeking connection. This was what I wanted to be a part of, and this was what the women were truly seeking.  It surely wasn’t the million dollar teabags or the magic water filters drawing them in. So I decided to find my own Hood. I set about to start an ethical supportive women’s photography group using the good parts of the pyramid scheme and pissing off the water filters, gold leaf teabags, financial ruin and marriage breakdowns. I told myself I would spend time, work hard and one day my hard work would pay off and I would ethically get to go on this paid photography trip. Yes, it was the hard road, but it was always going to feel better.

Enter The Shutter Sisterhood

In February 2026, The Shutter Sisterhood was born. Would people turn up to the first event? Was I shitting bricks that night. Yes. Were my hands trembling so bad I could barely read my notes during my first official speech to nearly 30 women. Yes. But something magic happened that night. The women who turned up could see the vision. I was honest and told them my idea to create a women’s community based around a love of photography on the back of a pyramid scheme. A Hood of sorts. 

A women's photography community where you can turn up with a brand new mirrorless camera, a dusted off DSLR, a Polaroid, a film camera or simply your phone. No camera wankery. No competition. No judgement. No silly questions. Just photography, friendship, travel, food and women cheering each other on. The motto ‘Kindness is Gangster’ was born slightly later and proved to be more catchy than, ‘Financially Ruining Women is Uncool’.

Six months later, there are more than 300 women in The Hood. We have had Cameras + Cocktail Nights, Trips to the Country, The Monthlies (our Monthly morning tea catchup), Whales, Coos and Flowers have been photographed, hundreds of women have signed up to our closed Facebook group. I’ve taught three Get Off Auto Workshops and several Mini Workshops. We have companies giving us actual Shutter Sisterhood discounts! Plus we have started to raise money for our local women’s and children refuge. To think not that long ago it was once just me, trembling, stumbling over my words in front of a group of strangers with a little idea.

I've had so many women thank me for starting The Hood, but the truth is, it's helped me just as much as it's helped anyone else. I’ve absolutely loved watching women who have dusted off old cameras fall back in love with photography or better yet to seeing women open up and come out of their shell genuinely finding happiness and friendship within the group.

Yes, I've worked seven days a week for months on end. I've had plenty of 14-hour days. I've been earning considerably less than I ever did as a corporate accountant. And there have certainly been moments when I've wondered whether I had taken leave of my senses. 

I’m proud to say that I’m now about to start doing what I set out to do. The Shutter Sisterhood is about to start doing photography tours for women. The Hood is about to get airborne! We are off to Tasmania and no doubt Bali in the future for that full circle moment. Honestly writing this is making me think it would have been much easier just to sign that contract…

The Hood Women’s Only Photography Tours Begin

I've just spent a week in Tasmania doing hands on research for the first official big adventure for The Shutter Sisterhood. A boutique women's photography tour of Hobart, Bruny Island and Beyond for a small group of women (8 max). Photography guidance. Beautiful places. Peony farms. Meeting local producers. Eating the freshest of fresh Tassie produce. Agrarian Kitchen (if you know you know)! Posh Pit. Suprises. Oh, almost forgot, photography and most importantly, women supporting women. 

It's not about having the fanciest camera or being the best photographer. It's about getting out into the world, taking photographs, trying new things and meeting fun women who are up for the adventure.  It’s about carving time out of your life, FOR YOU! Investing in your happiness!

And this is just the beginning.

I still want to travel.

I still want to take photos.

I still want to teach photography..

I still want to eat my way around the world and always will.

I just didn't need a pyramid scheme and an ‘easy’ ride. If Dad taught me one thing, it was to work hard for what you want. There are no quick fixes. Stay tuned the final details for the Tasmania Photography Tour are in negotiations and can I just say what’s already locked in is spectacular, but as my first photography mentor taught me it’s the ‘one percenters’ as she called them, that one percent more than anyone else is doing that gets you over the line. If you would like to be the first to hear about The Hood’s photography tours you can register here. No spam just first dibs on these small boutique tours that I’m hoping will be absolute cup-fillers for all the women who come along on this wild slightly unorthodox non pyramid scheme ride.

To say I’m excited about this new chapter is an understatement. Am I worried that I’ll be the only person on the women’s only photography tours. Absolutely. Am I going to put it out there to the universe anyway. Trembling. You bet!

In the words of Uncle Jim, “Life’s too short”. Ironically, he proved his point.

Kris xxx