{"id":142029,"date":"2025-09-14T07:08:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T07:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/142029\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T07:08:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T07:08:14","slug":"birds-of-a-feather-salife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/142029\/","title":{"rendered":"Birds of a feather – SALIFE"},"content":{"rendered":"

When photographer Grier Neilson tuned into an industry webinar in 2023 to hear that women aged in their 50s are the least photographed demographic, she was appalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018hang on a second. I\u2019m turning 50 next year. I don\u2019t like that. I want to help these women be seen\u2019,\u201d Grier says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more I spoke to women in their 50s the more I realised this was a real problem. They feel invisible. I was determined to change that narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

So began a passion project for this self-taught photographer, who then set about photographing 49 other women who were turning 50 in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"\"Grier is now turning her lens on women aged in their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond. Photograph Naomi Jellicoe.<\/p>\n

Grier explains that\u2019s how her Flock 50 idea was \u201chatched\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything has to do with feathers or birds because for me feathers represent us as women,\u201d she says. \u201cFeathers weather the storms, they come in many sizes and colours, water runs from them, and they represent freedom. I love feathers, they are really important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grier, who is also a hair and make-up artist and body painter, began the project with her own self portrait, a way to show potential subjects exactly what she was trying to achieve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d done plenty of self-portraits for business before, but I\u2019d never done one of myself in underwear,\u201d Grier says. \u201cI did a couple of shots wearing a big furry jacket and nothing underneath, and another taken on the bed with the sheets sort of over my legs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a beautiful experience for me, and you could see the excess skin from having my babies more than 18 years ago and I thought, \u2018I love these so much\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a photographer I often hear women saying, \u2018can you change this or remove that or get rid of those lines\u2019, but for me that is part of their story and the beauty of who they are. I think we should be celebrating those lines and scars and the journey that our bodies have taken us through.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aim of Flock 50 was to say, \u2018let\u2019s be proud of who we are, let\u2019s be proud of our bodies and what it means to be in our 50s\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Grier\u2019s portraits of the \u201cFlock 50\u201d participants took place in a variety of locations, including Port Willunga.<\/p>\n

Some of the women who signed up to be part of Flock 50 were friends, but many were strangers who had simply heard about the concept and wanted to take part. They came from all walks of life including a jewellery maker, bookkeeper, podiatrist, landscape designer and a beauty therapist.<\/p>\n

The Flock 50 project evolved into a coffee table book featuring all of Grier\u2019s images, Flock 50: More than 2,500 years of collaborative wisdom CELEBRATION \u2013 SELF-LOVE \u2013 EMPOWERMENT.<\/p>\n

The book was launched at a photographic exhibition, which also featured the \u201cFlockers\u201d or \u201cFlock Stars\u201d as these women now call themselves. The exhibition took place at Chapel Hill winery last year as part of the SALA Festival.<\/p>\n

The cost for each participant to be included in Flock 50 was $2000 and included the shoot itself with hair and make-up, plus digital copies of their photographs, a framed exhibition print and a copy of the book.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real investment is saying yes to yourself, your story and the woman you are,\u201d Grier says.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Before she even picked up her camera, Grier asked each woman to fill in a questionnaire to get to know them, then they workshopped ideas around locations, props and outfits to ensure each woman felt comfortable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then what organically unfolds in the moment is what\u2019s captured,\u201d Grier says.<\/p>\n

The photoshoots took place around South Australia, including in forests at Blackwood and Mount Crawford, by the sea at Willunga, at a studio in Port Adelaide and at a bed and breakfast in Crafers.<\/p>\n

Through her company Bohemian Ekko Creative, Grier says that she has always loved to work with women, focused on helping them \u201csee the beauty in themselves\u201d through her photography.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs mums especially, we tend to be behind the camera a lot more taking photos of our kids growing up, and I think through body changes and age, there\u2019s an insecurity,\u201d she says. \u201cA lot of women say, \u2018I don\u2019t like photos of myself \u2026 I don\u2019t like looking at myself. Sometimes it brings me to tears. I had a lot of tears last year through the empowerment of Flock 50, listening to women\u2019s stories and how they felt about themselves, and wanting to help them change that narrative.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would say, \u2018I\u2019d like to be a part of this, Grier, so I can learn to love myself\u2019. When they do decide to take part, I enjoy the process of being able to then just hold space for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can be beautiful on the outside for people to see, but beauty really does come from the inside, and being able to express that visually, I guess a lot of people haven\u2019t understood that until they experience something like this, where they don\u2019t see themselves as beautiful and then they step in front of the lens.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to have someone step in front of the camera feeling so nervous and anxious and say, \u2018I almost didn\u2019t come\u2019. Then to put them at ease, have them feel comfortable, and then at the end of the process see the photos and say, \u2018I\u2019ve never seen myself as beautiful before\u2019. It gives me goosebumps. It\u2019s so powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Grier is now working on a second book where she will expand the Flock 50 idea to include older women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a real momentum around the exhibition last year and so many women of all ages said, \u2018I want to be a part of this\u2019,\u201d Grier says. \u201cSo, I thought, \u2018why not include women in their 60s, 70s and 80s, and if they want to, women in their 90s? Why put an age cap on it?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those who will appear in the next book is Grier\u2019s mother, Julie Neilson-Kelly, who is 74 years of age.<\/p>\n

\u201cMum asked me, \u2018can I be in your Flock?\u2019 and I said, \u2018of course\u2019,\u201d Grier says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had been a really tough year for our family, and particularly Mum, who lost her husband Malcolm and her parents, my grandparents, all within 16 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always a bit nervous to photograph Mum in case the end result wasn\u2019t good enough, but the Flock was the perfect time. We\u2019ve already done the photos, we sourced an MGB car, because those cars are a part of her story with her late husband. Then we added in Mum\u2019s beloved dog Valentino. When Mum looked over the photos, she just said, \u2018I feel loved\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grier says she hopes the Flock 50 project inspires all women to embrace their bodies and feel proud and confident in their own skin.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t know what tomorrow will bring, and I say this to all my clients: capture now, this is now, this is where we\u2019re living.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is the day, because when you can see yourself through someone else\u2019s lens, you can see what we see and how amazing you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This article first appeared in the July 2025 issue of SALIFE magazine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When photographer Grier Neilson tuned into an industry webinar in 2023 to hear that women aged in their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-142029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}