- IWD 2026: Reflections from Canon's The Circle mentors
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For International Women’s Day 2026, the global theme “Balance the Scales” calls for urgent, collective action to ensure fair, inclusive and accessible justice, safety and opportunity for all women and girls. Within the visual creative industry, this message resonates deeply. A more balanced ecosystem is slowly taking shape, hopefully one built on collaboration, mentorship and shared knowledge that helps create lasting change.
At the heart of this shift is the creation of environments where women can access opportunities, build sustainable careers and support one another. For Canon’s creator community, The Circle, mentorship is one of the most powerful tools shaping that future. Through guidance, transparency and community, established photographers and videographers help emerging creatives navigate an industry that still feels unbalanced.
Fashion photographers Macami and Steph Pedersen, alongside music photographer Darcy Goss, are three such mentors with each offering a distinct perspective and a shared belief that meaningful progress happens when creatives intentionally make space for others to grow.
The visual creative industry is currently experiencing a period of evolution and growth. While structural imbalances persist in some areas, many content creators are seeing real progress driven by community-led initiatives, mentorship and stronger creative networks.
Sydney-based Brazilian fashion photographer Macami, known for her surreal, painterly imagery, notes that certain technical roles remain male-dominated. She also sees a recurring challenge among emerging women photographers who undervalue their work or hesitate to charge industry-standard rates. This lack of confidence is common in freelance creative fields, where pricing conversations can be challenging. Yet she’s also witnessed a heartening shift in the last few years.
Creative communities and industry events are creating spaces for creators who are women to connect with collaborators, assistants and mentors, often creating longstanding professional relationships.
Music photographer Darcy, based in Brisbane, has seen similar momentum. Over the past year, she has worked on several all-women crews and within creative teams entirely led by women, scenarios that once were once almost unheard of in the music photography scene. For her, these moments signal a broader cultural shift toward collaboration, knowledge-sharing and collective support that challenges traditional gatekeeping.
Sydney fashion photographer Steph echoes this sentiment. As more women step into roles as photographers, artists and creative leads, rather than remaining in supporting positions, the industry feels less singularly minded. Being part of a growing community of women creatives, she says, is both inspiring and motivating for the next generation.
“The industry is going through a time of change. Women are increasingly being recognised and considered for key roles. Not just as assistants, but more women are stepping into roles as artists and photographers.” - Steph
Behind many successful creative careers is someone who offered guidance, encouragement or perspective at the right moment.
For Macami, mentorship has played a consistent role throughout her career. One particularly influential figure has been Sydney-based creative director Bruna Volpe, who has mentored her over the past two years. Through this relationship, Macami gained insight into both the artistic and business aspects of the creative industry from how to position herself professionally, to understanding how to navigate opportunities with confidence.
Darcy’s early experience of mentorship looked slightly different. Rather than a single guiding figure, she found strength in collective conversations with other women and gender-nonconforming creatives. Sharing experiences revealed something powerful, many of the challenges she faced were not individual failings, but structural barriers rooted in bias. Understanding that these experiences were shared helped shift the narrative from self-doubt to awareness, reinforcing the importance of community support when navigating a competitive industry.
For Steph, inspiration came through photographer Kit Callaghan, a role model in the fashion photography space who has profoundly influenced her creative journey. Callaghan’s mentorship and encouragement helped nurture Steph’s growth as an artist while demonstrating the kind of leadership and generosity that continues to shape her own approach to mentorship today.
While progress is visible, many barriers remain subtle. One of the most significant is the lack of transparency around pricing and business practices.
Macami recalls that learning to price confidently took time. Conversations about rates, licensing and contracts are rarely shared openly in the community, leaving emerging photographers unsure of how to value their work. These days, she encourages mentees to approach pricing with intention and to avoid unpaid work that doesn’t genuinely support their growth. She acknowledges that creative collaborations can be valuable, but understanding which opportunities truly contribute to a career is a critical skill.
For Steph, trusting her creative instincts has been central to her growth. Her confidence strengthened when she surrounded herself with a supportive community and began recognising the value of her own experience.
“Just knowing that you're not alone in your experiences.....that kind of collective support is what really mattered and helped me starting out.” - Darcy
For these Canon mentors, inclusion starts with the culture they build on set.
In Macami’s experience, she has noticed that more balanced teams bring different perspectives and stronger collaboration. Where possible, she intentionally seeks assistants who are starting out and often pairs them with experienced crew members to give them the opportunity to gain as much onset learning as possible. This not only helps women develop technical skills but also increases representation in roles that have historically lacked diversity.
In the fast-paced world of fashion photography, Steph focuses on cultivating a respectful, comfortable atmosphere. She believes that when people feel safe and valued, the resulting imagery offers a more unique and authentic point of view.
Through The Circle, mentorship offers emerging creators both artistic guidance and practical industry insight.
For Macami, her best piece of advice to her mentees is that there is no fixed timeline for creative success. Every career unfolds differently, and experimentation is essential to discovering one’s artistic identity. On the other hand, Darcy chooses to focus on creating spaces where women feel confident to ask business and industry scenario questions to help aspiring photographers understand their value, rights, and professional worth. She encourages all her mentees to speak up, take the opportunities they’ve earnt and have trust in themselves and their abilities. In Steph’s experience, she has seen results in building community through in-person events where photographers can connect, test gear and exchange ideas. As a career, photography can often feel solitary, she notes, and these gatherings help foster collaboration and boost confidence in your artistic style.
“Keep experimenting and try to find your artistic voice. I really believe that understanding who you are as an artist will make you different from the people around you, and then people will perceive you for who you are, and then for your artistry and then for what you want to say.” - Macami
Through mentorship, collaboration and intentional support, creators like Macami, Steph and Darcy are helping reshape the visual creative industry into a more inclusive, equitable space. Balancing the scales is not only about representation, it’s about building structures that allow the next generation to thrive.
And often, the most powerful change begins with something simple: passing the lens to someone new.
Macami is a Brazilian fashion photographer based in Sydney. Her work blends surrealism, colour and emotion to create dreamlike, painterly images at the intersection of art and commerce.
Darcy is a Brisbane-based music photographer and founder of Alterwave, a music media agency and publication dedicated to supporting and elevating music photographers.
Steph is a Sydney-based fashion photographer whose distinctly feminine perspective brings depth and emotion to her visual storytelling.
All three mentor within The Circle, Canon Australia’s creator community for visual artists.
All three are mentors for The Circle. For more information on Canon’s creator community check out The Circle.
