Roseanne develops own photography business 

By Dave Nicholl 

 

An Invercargill woman  has turned her passion for photography into a business. 

Roseanne  Zyskowski, who has Down syndrome,  has put 101 photos of her  favourite  places throughout  Invercargill  into a calendar. 

Zyskowski, who has been a photographer for a year now,  has taken pictures of  the Reading Cinemas, Queens Park, Thompsons bush  as well as her own backyard. 

The most difficult part of the project was  getting  motivated on some days but with the help of family,  friends  and support  workers  she got it finished,  Zyskowski said. 

Her mother Clare  developed the idea after  attending  a  social enterprise  workshop held in  Invercargill  in November. 

The initiative was  run by the  Ākina  Foundation with the support of  the Community Trust of Southland, Venture Southland  and the  Southland Regional Development  Strategy group. 

The idea was to give Roseanne a way in which she could use her passion for photography to support herself. 

“When people hear the  word  ’syndrome’ the  story  they have in their head might be quite different to the way a lot of young people with Down syndrome are growing up and developing.” 

The vision  she developed at the workshop was to change the story around people  living  with down  syndrome and  give  them the  opportunity to stand on their own feet. 

Included on the back of the calendar was a quote “No disability, only people,” that was designed to encourage others that those living with disabilities  are just  normal people in the community. 

The hope was that by showing Roseanne how she could develop her passion for photography, she could turn it  in to  a microbusiness. 

“She can actually take her  photography and do something with it.” 

If the business did not succeed it would still be a valuable learning opportunity for  Roseanne, Clare said. 

Each  photo had a story or a person behind it,  Roseanne said. 

She is selling the calendars for $22 

 

Image by Kavinda Herath/Stuff 

Copyright: Southland Times