In 2006 - and despite only have taken a few snaps in her life - the then 27-year-old was given a camera by her husband.

Since then, photography has become Macak’s addiction.

"Until then - I’d never really done cameras before," Macak said.

It helped her battle depression, to reconnect with people and see the world in a different light.

"I’ve suffered from severe depression and taking photos has helped me to connect."

After starting out learning and experimenting with a digital camera, Macak became intrigued by old-fashioned ways of photography.

With older style cameras, she uses the collodion process, exposing photographs directly to tin or glass which is then immediately developed into a photograph on tin or glass.

Macak, along with Kara Rasmanis, are the only local artists who have been invited to participate in the core program of the 2013 Ballarat International Foto Biennale, a month-long photo festival that sees Ballarat exhibiting work from some of the best photographers in the world.

Her skills, mostly self taught with trial and error, and through developing mentors, have developed rapidly. "I’m still catching up."

Macak said although she had not done much photography, she had always loved photos. "Some of my most beautiful possessions I have are old photos of my grandmother.

"When I started I didn’t know what aperture, shutter speed or anything was."

Although her cameras may be elaborate now, she uses a tripod she bought from the Mill Markets and a lolly jar cap and pasta jar top as her lens caps.

Macak’s exhibition, Through the Looking Glass, uses all collodion technique, a process she only started using in 2011.

"When I was doing digital I would try and add scratches and make it not so perfect. Now using the collodion, I aim for perfection," she said.

Macak has participated in group exhibitions, including an international show, but nothing to the magnitude of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale. "I’m shy - I don’t like showing off my work."

Macak was born in Czechoslavakia in 1979 and migrated to Australia in 2002 with her Czech husband, who had previously moved to Australia.

She lives on a 13-hectare property at Clarendon, just outside Buninyong, with her husband and their three boys. On the property is her studio and dark room.

Her work mostly consists of children, with her own children being the subjects in many of her pictures.

Visualising the finished product isn’t always easy for Macak. "It always turns out different if I try and plan," she said. "I feel the moment - it’s not eyes that I look through."

And she doesn’t take many landscape photos.

"I can’t get emotion from a tree ... I’m inspired by people, not by things," she said.

"I love photographing children, because they aren’t spoiled by today’s world. And everyone was a child once, so everyone can relate in some way."

Macak says she hasn’t necessarily found a style to describe her body of work.

"I’ve always wanted my work to be like other people’s, but it never turns out that way. It’s different," she said.

"My work comes from above."

One of her favourite photos that will be one of her 40-picture exhibit, is of her son sitting in a bucket.

"It was a hot summer’s day and the other boys were in the pool, but he couldn’t swim because he had an ear infection. So I got a bucket for him and I thought ‘come on, let’s do it for a picture’. It was a beautiful moment."

Now she has been photographing her children for years, they aren’t always as obliging as they used to be.

"It’s the only time they know sit still - when they’re posing for a picture. They ask what I’ll pay them or how much computer time they’ll get if they pose."

A recent trip to Cambodia changed her approach to the world and photography. "Photography has helped me, so now I want to use it to help others," she said.

Through exhibitions and sale of her works, she hopes to raise funds to help the disadvantaged in Cambodia.

Kara Rasmanis has been photographing for 20 years, but only recently felt she had made it as an artist.

The BIFB has an advertisement promoting the festival at the Fragment Gallery in Federation Square, where examples of work from the core program are displayed.

"It brought a tear to my eye... one of my works was there," she said. "That was the moment for me - oh wow.

"The hugeness of having a piece of my work at Federation Square, the home of Melbourne’s art, is absolutely phenomenal. I was incredibly proud. I feel justified in following my passion."

Rasmanis grew up in Ballarat, but now lives in Melbourne with her family.

She has held two exhibitions in the fringe part of the BIFB, but not in the core program.

"I’ve been exhibited in Canberra, around Victoria and Melbourne and I’ve always been proud of my work, but this is the biggest - to be part of the biggest photography festival in Australia," she said. "Now I can call myself an artist. This isn’t just the little thing I do on the side anymore, I’m part of Australian art."

There are two parts to Rasmanis’ exhibition, Collector of Memories. Her main process uses photopolymer gravure, which turns a photo into an etching. The second part to her exhibition includes a photo printed on a fabric, which her mum embroided, and a picture printed on stone that represents her father.

"Everything represents a part of my family," she said. These are the most personal works I’ve ever produced. I hope the images evoke memories of family and friends."

Rasmanis’ photopolymer gravure process involves taking a digital photographs and creating them into a montage before making an etching plate based on the montage and lastly making the physical etching.

"It’s a modern and technical way of doing an old process," she said. "It’s using the same tools as the printing industry uses to create a cereal box - it’s completely non toxic."

Rasmanis was given her grandfather’s camera 20 years ago began photography while studying year 12. "During year 12 everyone knew me as the girl with the camera." She completed a photography course at RMIT before a multimedia masters degree at Monash.

"I don’t think it’ll sink in until I’ve displayed it on the walls," she said. "As they’re small works, it’s like a jigsaw puzzle trying to fit them altogether and how it will be viewed the best. I’m excited about seeing it finished on the wall."

She now works for Monash University, using multimedia and cartography producing maps and diagrams for the geography department.

She also is a mother of a two-year-old and four-year-old and fits in her artistic photographic and print making around her work and family duties.

"I always get positive feedback ... people see my work as different and are fascinated by the process," she said. "My work looks like it could be from another era.

"It’s very textual and looks like its time worn - crumpled and scratched with a weathered feel."

Rasmanis’ style and technique has developed over years, after always writing in her visual diary jotting down ideas and inspiration.

"Now I’ve got to a stage where I’ve found my visual style," she said. "It was a long journey to find where my vision finally lay. Now I feel strongly this is where I should be and what I should be doing."

Although Rasmanis is confident in her work, this exhibition is her greatest milestone.

"When I got a call from (BIFB director Jeff Moorfoot), I was so amazed and honoured at the same time," she said. "I think it’s more personal for me because I’m a Ballarat girl. I’m incredibly honoured to be a part of it - because I’m from Ballarat I have a historic connection with the area."

Rasmanis said she liked not having a perfectly clean image, and the hands-on process she used to achieve her finished work.

"Etching is the next step for me - it’s putting myself in there and making it more personal."

She hopes further opportunities will come from the BIFB, whether it be collaborations with other artists or fulfilling her dream to show her work internationally.

"I’m not trying to say anything profound to people through my work - but they are profound to me in their meaning," she said.

"Hopefully people can relate in some way, and find something beautiful."