This week, please welcome guest blogger Kirsty Larmour who writes about how to contribute to charity organizations through photography. For more ways to make a difference through photography, please visit this article for volunteer organizations.

I was thrilled to be involved with a charity project recently which really made me feel I’d given back to a charity I’d personally benefitted hugely from. I strongly believe in every mothers’ right to make choices on how she raises her own children and to have access to information to support her. La Leche league International helped me greatly after the birth of both my children (one in China, and one in Abu Dhabi, both times I was away from my family and support network) so when they asked me to get involved in a project to raise awareness of breastfeeding here in Abu Dhabi I said yes immediately.

When expats come to live in the Middle East they’re often not sure what to expect. How does Abu Dhabi, this relatively conservative Muslim city live hand in hand with the many cultures and people within its confines? One pressing question for Mums and Mums-to-be is how easy and acceptable breastfeeding is here. And one of the easiest ways to show just how OK it is, is through pictures – and that’s how we photographers have a the huge honour of making a difference in our communities.

We launched a campaign to find willing models – ladies who would be prepared to breastfeed discreetly in public, out and about around Abu Dhabi – and the models and their beautiful babies of all ages came, and we photographed them – in parks, in coffee shops, in malls, in hotels, inside, outside – all over the city of Abu Dhabi. I loved the photographic challenge of putting the ladies in great light that would show what they were doing, but without exposing them in any way.

The fruit of all this hard work is the “La Leche League of Abu Dhabi Breastfeeding Awareness Calendar,” which not only will help to raise funds, but we now hope will adorn those coffee shop and hotel walls, and be seen in doctor’s waiting rooms, hospitals, schools, nurseries, gyms and cafes – to show that these places are breastfeeding friendly, and to show that as long as you are respectful of the conservative nature of the city, you can, should, and are welcome to breastfeed all over Abu Dhabi.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter the cause – as photographers we have the opportunity to help out, to give back and to make a difference through our work.

Kirsty is a lifestyle photographer based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – you can see more of her work here Kirsty Larmour Photography | Kirsty Larmour Blog | Kirsty Larmour Facebook