INSPIRING: Photographer Trevor O’Donoghue from Killarney has set up a Facebook group which is uniting people all over the world.

By Michelle Crean

One local photographer, who wants to support and help cheer people up at such an uneasy time - has been overwhelmed that his new community group has reached over one thousand people worldwide.

Trevor O’Donoghue, who has Cystic Fibrosis, has been a photographer for 15 years and is keen to share well-being and mindfulness techniques with others.

Recently he started running some day long Mindography workshops locally, and as peoples’ interest really started to grow, he created a Facebook group called ‘Pictures of Life’, which has really taken off.

Group members are enjoying the daily themes from ‘Sky’, ‘Morning’, ‘Nature’ and ‘No Face Selfie’ amongst others. Trevor explained that it’s not a photography competition, but about being in a community at a time of need.

“It is amazing watching it all unfold,” Trevor told the Killarney Advertiser.
“There are pictures being shared from all over the world and people don’t need a big camera to take a meaningful image. It has been emotional and fun watching peoples’ pictures and interaction. People have really united together to support, encourage and cheer each other up at such an uneasy time.”

He added that both himself and his fiancée Ciara wanted to help others.

“It is now scientifically proven that the health of our mind and body are both linked. With everything going on at the moment, we believe it is just as important for us all to look after our mental well-being as much as our physical bodies. We decided to run a free online Mindography course a few weeks back. It isn’t possible for us to help out in the community because we are in isolation, so after a bit of thinking we also decided to create the Facebook group and challenge for people to introduce them to what we are aiming to do,” he said.

“We are so happy we decided to do it and have well over one thousand people partaking, between the Facebook page and our community and it is growing every day, a big difference from the 40 or 50 we had expected. The creativity we are seeing is inspiring.”

Readers can join in at www.focusonhappiness.ie or their Facebook group: ‘Pictures of Life’.