Sydney, A President and Miss Australia… | Melbourne Photographer

On Sunday I flew to Sydney with the guys from Change The World. This fantastic project will enable six teams made up of ordinary Australians to go out into the community and spend six months changing the world, and maybe even themselves, for the better. If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, click onto the Change The World website and register your interest.

While we were in Sydney, we had the opportunity to spend some time with José Ramos-Horta, the President of East Timor, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and a driving force behind East Timorese independence for more than 30 years.

As soon as President Ramos-Horta speaks you begin to get a sense of the passion he has; not only for East Timor, but for making the entire world a better place. He had some really interesting things to say in regards to how individuals can make a difference, and seemed to have a strong respect for people who volunteered their time and resources to try to make a positive difference in the lives of others. It was a truly humbling experience to hear this from a man who has spent most of his life doing just that – fighting for the rights and freedoms of others.

I have photographed numerous politicians and leaders in the past, but President Ramos-Horta was completely different to any of them. For a man with such a distinguished political career he was humble and gracious, and made a point to acknowledge and thank everyone in the room for their presence and participation.

While in Sydney we also spent some time working with Caroline Perberton, a former Miss Australia who has agreed to be one of the spokespeople for the Change The World Project. Caroline is also passionate about making a positive difference in this world, and demonstrates this through her involvement as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. While her work with UNICEF has taken her from Kenya to Uganda, she is particularly passionate about the Baguia Orphanage in East Timor.

We also spent a great afternoon interviewing Sydneysiders about what they would do to change the world.

What would you do? Please leave a comment…