Picture Yourself is a free, open-access image library created by older adults as photographers and featuring older adults as models. The project responds to the limited and often stereotypical ways ageing is represented in visual media by supporting older people to produce their own images and perspectives. Through participatory photography and collaborative image-making, Picture Yourself highlights the diversity, agency, creativity, and everyday experiences of later life.

To build the library, the project team connected with older people across Australia through training workshops, photography clubs, and word-of-mouth networks, including retired and experienced photographers interested in contributing their skills as well as very keen new photographers creating work for the first time. Supported by Creative Australia funding aimed at building artistic capacity in communities, the project trained more than 80 people in how to create engaging, contemporary photographs. Many these participants went on to become regular contributors to the library, organising their own photographic sessions with friends, local clubs, and community groups. Together, they have helped create a growing collection of age-positive images that help highlight a diversity of authentic lived experiences.

The resulting collection provides age-positive, authentic images that can be freely downloaded and used under a Creative Commons licence across media, education, research, and community contexts. By building a national library of images created with and by older adults, Picture Yourself aims to challenge ageist visual narratives, expand representation, and make it easier for organisations, educators, researchers, and media producers to access imagery that reflects the richness and diversity of ageing in contemporary Australia.