Josephine is just that one of a kind soul. Her infectious smile and radiating positivity transcends hundred folds not only with how she is but also with what she does- as she instructs her subjects for a pose in front of a picturesque background, takes that shot through her lens and the resulting photo is just breathtaking and full of happy vibes. She marches to the beat of her own drum taking all her heart into her ventures making sure she does it with passion. She is a talented wedding and lifestyle photographer, a housewife who promotes sustainability on her own small ways as she grows her own edible garden, upcycling and loves DIY crafts. But her most important role is being a mum to her daughter, Pixie and at the same time an educator to her as she pursues homeschooling which is a perfect fit for them. Don’t forget she’s also a fur mum!
I have known Jo as we are her clients, my husband and I. We are looking for a photographer for a family photo while we are living in the Central Coast. We loved her instantly as she didn’t rush things off as our first session came in to halt having a grumpy, whiny toddler who only cooperated for 5 minutes. She split our session in to two and the second one was breezier. I have discovered her knack for photography was self taught. She did not only have the eye for virtual structure as she was Computer Engineer by profession, but she has the eye for beauty in natural chaos I would say, as our photo sessions are literally a mess but turned to be so perfect in her lenses. She is so inspirational that many of her roles today are self taught: her photography, her being a homeschool educator, and a crash course of motherhood in a foreign world. Hard to describe her in one word but my first on the list for her is BRAVE. That made me want to know her better and introduce her to many more.
1. Tell me something about yourself
Hello. I’m Josephine and I was born in Cebu, Philippines. I am now based here in the Central Coast, NSW but have lived in Singapore for 7 years before we migrated to Australia in 2015. I finished a Computer Engineering degree back in Cebu while being a ‘working student’ at the same time. It was such a valuable experience for me that certainly paved the rest of my career. I started out in a junior programming role but later on switched to being a Technical Support agent when I joined Sykes, one of the pioneering Call Center companies back then. I managed to work my way up to a Team lead role after a few years but later left the country to venture in Singapore where I worked at a Telecom company for about 3.5 years. Around 2011, I decided to leave the corporate life to pursue photography and full-time motherhood.
2. How did you start your journey here in Australia?
My husband and I used to work and lived in Singapore for about 7 years. It was great living there too but as we raised our daughter , who was born in Singapore in 2012, we realized how fast paced mostly was in Singapore and we wished for a better yet simpler slower lifestyle. So we decided to apply for a PR visa to Australia and luckily got granted in Dec 2014 so we migrated soon after to Sydney in June 2015.
3. When and how did you tread early motherhood?
I got pregnant in Dec 2011, the same year I decided to leave corporate life. I consider myself truly lucky and grateful my husband supported my decision too back then. Instead of hiring help to take care of our child or sending her away to day-care, I was compelled to do it full-time myself. I may have sacrificed my own career but I found motherhood to be such a more rewarding journey for me, too.
4. How is motherhood going up to present?
Well, Motherhood , like everything else — is never perfect but mostly been good and manageable, I really wouldn’t want it any other way. My daughter is turning 10yo soon and we’re gratefully in our 5th year of full time homeschooling if counting from her Kindergarten age at 5yo.
5. What are your decision motivators for you to home school your daughter and your takeaways? How do you navigate it?
I was randomly reading a homeschooling blog based in Australia while still pregnant and went on to research more about it. I fell in love totally with the idea of being able to have the flexibility and giving your child more freedom to explore what they can naturally learn at their own pace. I wasn’t homeschooled at all and it’s not the usual norm too where I come from but I took the brave decision to give it a go with my daughter. It was pretty exciting but I had my own share of worries too when we started like “will she ever learn to read?” but I told myself to give it a try anyway for a year. If it didn’t work out, we can always send her to mainstream schooling.
Eventually, my daughter thrived and has been loving homeschooling because it didn’t mean we were stuck at home — not confined in a classroom, too so we were almost outdoors and flexible with our time — she goes out with me on day to day , so learning life skills at every chance, meeting people of all ages – in the groceries , libraries, museums, playgrounds , practically everywhere — and that’s helped build her social skills and confidence. And with our unhurried days, she learned to read at her own pace when she was around 5yo. I didn’t do any rigorous lessons on phonetics — I give credit to our daily bedtime reading since she was a baby, even when she won’t listen much that time, gets distracted and just ate pages of a book sometimes haha . And that felt like a big win for me because it meant she can be more independent in her learning journey and more self-directed. Our first 2 years of homeschooling was kind of our “testing the waters stage” and eventually we found our own rhythm, not really a routine because our days have always been flexible. So far today, I am proud to say my 9yo daughter has grown into a well-rounded person — she loves singing and doing artworks and enjoys ninja obstacle courses and recently being part of Nippers team too (where she learns ocean safety and life-saving skills). In between days, she’s learning to speak German. Hopefully she will learn and not forget our local Cebuano dialect too.
6. Your profession as a photographer, how did you flourish and grow as one?
While I was still working in Singapore, I bought myself a 2nd hand dslr camera to practice on. I joined few online photography communities to learn more. It helped that I kept shooting almost on daily basis back then to explore my camera and eventually I forged my own path and found what style I love doing — taking portraits mostly , compared to landscapes. I started shooting free for friends who were getting married and started accepting clients later on. I submitted my own pre-wedding portraits to a UK wedding blog and got featured luckily. Unknowingly, a Filipina writer based in Hongkong found me through that blog and has spread the word to a Singapore Brides group that then sparked more inquiries on my photography. I’m always grateful to her (Blanche) for supporting my work since I started.
When I moved to Australia, my clients eventually found me through word of mouth too.
7. How do you juggle your busy roles?
Since I don’t do photography full time, I only accommodate weddings/portrait sessions mostly on a weekend that gives me much flexibility so I can homeschool my daughter full time on weekdays. Some months are busier but mostly manageable. Occasionally on weekdays I’ve been able to accommodate shoots too since my husband can work at home. The joys of not rushing to go anywhere has been a great benefit in homeschooling so our weekdays are spent at a good pace. When my daughter was still younger , I used to guide her mostly on her academic lessons and sit side by side. But as she grew and learned independently (maybe around 7yo), I can leave her on her own and occasionally sit with her. We do our lessons both indoors and outdoors. When she’s occupied with something (she usually is!), I’m able to do other things too – homechores and/or catch up on my photography edits/social media network.
8. What are your coping strategies if you feel like you’re experiencing burn out (if you have any experiences)?
We sure have our own share of good and bad days. On bad days like when nothing seems productive or yes, I’m feeling burned out too — It helps a lot that we can just take a “pause” when we need to because of our flexible schedule. If we can’t finish a certain project/lesson, we can decide to do it another day. Since moving to the Central Coast, our days have been filled with mostly going for spontaneous beach trips/walks and that’s been a big blessing living near to these places we love.
9. How do you envision yourself in each roles you do and as a whole in the near future?
I’ve been extremely grateful where I am now and how we are living the dream of a simpler lifestyle in our own little home on the Central Coast. I feel pretty content with that, just having a good backyard where we can do enough gardening and living on the Coast feels like we can have a holiday anytime in our own neighborhood. We got lucky when we bought an old home when we moved here but we’ve been slowly fixing and renovating what we can. I could potentially accommodate more weddings in the future but for now, it’s still good enough being able to still do photography only on some weekends and homeschooling full time. Grateful always too that my husband is able to support us with his full time job (doing railway engineering projects). He enjoys fishing on his free days and that’s been helping him destress too when work gets stressful sometimes. This kind of lifestyle has worked out for us so far, though it’s not always breezy – and never perfect — but our good days outweigh those bad days thankfully.
10. What are your takeaways as a full time mom, wife, educator, photographer?
If I were to ask my younger self, I wouldn’t have imagined choosing Full time Motherhood. I wanted to be a doctor as a child but our family couldn’t afford it back then. I realized along the way though what matters is you learn to adapt and find joy wherever life takes you. I have grown to love this path I’m on but if our circumstances could change in the future, I have no regrets leaving the corporate life to be able to spend more time with my own child and making more memories as a family. I find myself more in love with photography too than pursuing my previous career so that fills my own cup and keeps me going with everything else.
11. What would be your advise for moms who are busy as you but still find time for their passion?
I’m never an expert at motherhood, although I only have 1 child, I know how more challenging it is with more kids so I’m probably not busy as you think I am. But our common ground to these things is probably learning to choose our own battles and picking your right priorities that works for your own family too. I’m able to prioritize “more time” honestly than earning more financially — so living with less has also become a part of our lifestyle. For example, we prefer home cooked meals more than eating out in restaurants. We’ve grown some of our veggies too if we can. My husband is able to catch fresh fish for us during a good season and we freeze them up. I buy 2nd hand items (furniture or clothing) where possible and DIY projects that we can. We occasionally splurge on certain occasions.
Finding your own passion and pursuing one will come naturally if you never give up working towards it, too. One thing leads to another so what I did from the start and still doing now paved the rest of the way somehow.
If I was even half of Jo I guess the world would be in a much better place. She didn’t have to try hard to walk the talk, her heart speaks for itself. Inside of that kind face and a free spirit persona lies a strong, passionate woman. She isn’t afraid, as I have mentioned her grit took her to places and she isn’t stopping anytime soon.
Please visit her site for stories and for bookings!
The Housewife, MD 