Four Seasons with Cancer and a Camera with Julie Cowdy

Mark’s Personal Note: Every now and then, we host a talk that goes far beyond the technical aspects of photography and touches on something much deeper. When Julie approached me with this talk, I knew immediately that our community needed to hear it. This is a story about resilience, the healing power of creativity and finding the joy of seeing even during life’s most difficult chapters. Julie has very generously requested that her fee for this talk be donated entirely to charity.

About the Event:

We often put immense pressure on ourselves to capture the perfect shot. We want to capture the essence of a subject and let our imaginations fly free. But what happens when life throws a major obstacle in the path?

Following her husband’s remission, Julie was diagnosed with breast cancer. She wrote off the year, expecting to lose her creative mojo entirely. Instead, something wonderful happened. She let go of the heavy expectations, picked up the camera she had with her (mostly just her phone) and discovered that photography was the perfect partner for her recovery.

In this presentation, Julie will share her personal journey through the seasons. She will discuss the distraction tactics that kept her creative juices flowing throughout her treatment - from stepping out of her comfort zone with mixed media and stitching to creating photo books.

It is a look at how she moved away from battering the beauty out of an image with high expectations and instead found peace in simply wandering in nature, listening to birdsong, and photographing whatever caught her eye.

About Julie:

Julie Cowdy is a former Art & Design teacher who began teaching herself photography after early retirement. Her success as a photographer in her 60s and 70s has been nothing short of fantastic! She's presented to Camversation before and is one of our most widely loved speakers.

Despite the challenges of her husband's diagnosis in 2022 and her own in 2025, she has continued to create. Her work has been recognised with an Associateship of the Royal Photographic Society, medals from the Royal Horticultural Society and exhibitions at the prestigious Saatchi Gallery in London and the FIAP Colour Biennial in Paris.

Our talks will be recorded and made available for FOUR weeks after the event.