Written by John Dellios – Bereaved father of Natalie (13), below

What you’ll need:

• A digital photo that you want to use as the Main Image for the Mosaic
• A collection of photos in digital form (300 or more if possible). Size and quality doesn’t really matter as they will be only tiny tiles making up the mosaic.
• Photo Editing Software – to do some editing of your chosen main Image i.e. to crop, adjust brightness/contrast/colour etc… A free easy to use tool is paint.net available from http://www.getpaint.net/
• Photo Mosaic Creation Software – a free easy to use program is Andrea Mosaic available from http://www.andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic/download/

Getting started:

Select a digital photo to use as your main image for the Mosaic.

The photo doesn’t have to be high resolution

If the subject is a person then you will get best results if the photo is cropped to just include the head and shoulders. This can be done using any Photo Editing software. You may also need to touch up the photo for brightness/contrast or colour etc…

On the Andrea Mosaic web site, check out the tutorials (especially the “your first photographic mosaic”) at: http://www.andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic/tutorial/ to get an idea of how the program is used. The program also comes with a full user manual in pdf form.

Using the program is literally as easy as 1, 2, 3

1. Select the main image or just drag and drop it onto the main program window
2. Select the folder where all the other images are that will be used as “tiles” to create the mosaic
3. Set the parameters you wish to use for the mosaic and then press the “create Mosaic” button

Some tips:

• Start with the default settings first which are for an A3 size image and see how you go.
• When creating an A3 size mosaic of a person you need to use 2000-4000 tiles get a pleasing mosaic effect. If you use a larger number then the photo “tiles” become so small you lose the detail in them. If you use too small a number then the person’s face especially the eyes and mouth may not look quite right.
• To improve how facial features appear in the Mosaic you can try:
  • Changing the tile pattern from landscape to portrait or one of the parquet or mixed layouts can sometimes help.
  • Setting the Colour Change to 50%
  • Ticking all the options in Tile Variants
  • Re-edit your main Photo i.e. try and re-crop the photo or adjust the brightness, contrast or colour etc…
• I found the following settings work best for me (please click on images to enlarge):
• 

• Also keep in mind the final file size of the Mosaic image. Some Photo Kiosks don’t like it if the final image is greater than 20 MB. You can adjust the Mosaic Resolution (and the Tile Size Settings) to any custom setting you like.
• Be prepared to experiment – the results will be worth it!

Due to the Coronavirus situation, we were not able to hold our normal Walk To Remember in April this year.

Instead, we have decided to hold a Virtual Walk to Remember over the Mother’s Day weekend of 8^th to 10^th May.

Over this weekend we invite you to go out for a walk in a local park, around the block, or wherever you are able, you may also like to carry a photo of your loved one, wear their favourite colour or carry something that was special to them. We also invite you to put on your W2R T-shirt (for those of you that have them).

**Please remember while you are out walking to make sure you social distancing yourself from other members of the public. 1.5 meters away from others**

You will be able to access the TCF Virtual Walk To Remember Event on our FB page, https://www.facebook.com/events/182751376098931/ on this page. You will also be able to invite family and friends to join you on your virtual walk.

Post on the page to let us know you are going to take part in the walk. After the walk, we invite you to post photos on the Event page to share your walk with everyone. We look forward to seeing everyone’s photos!

You can even add a fundraiser for TCFV too if you would like, it is easy to do!

Just click on the fifth icon, the coin with a heart, then type in The Compassionate Friends Vic and we will come up, click on it and you have added a fundraiser to your walk.

Family and friends can also be invited to donate in memory of your loved one.

We hope that you and maybe your family and friends are able to join us over the Mother’s Day weekend for our Virtual W2R.

We are still hopeful of holding our usual W2R later in the year but will have to wait until we receive official communication that it is safe to do so, watch this space!

The Board of Directors of The Compassionate Friends Victoria (TCFV) wish to advise our supporters and stakeholders that we have made a difficult decision to restructure the staffing of our organisation.

For some time, we have been considering our challenging financial position and following a comprehensive, independent report, we concluded that a staffing restructure was the best manner in which to address our declining situation. This restructure means that the position of Chief Executive Officer will be removed from our staffing arrangements. It is with regret that we announce that our current CEO, John Sedunary, will no longer have that role within TCFV.

The Board of Directors and ongoing Staff will work together to manage the strategic and organisational operation of the organisation.

TCFV recognises and appreciates the contribution John has made to organisation over these past four and a half years.

These are highly challenging times in our world and for organisations like TCFV. We need to shape our operations to meet the current challenges and look forward to moving though this current crisis.

We are focused on meeting our core mission which is to provide services to bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents and to educate the community on bereavement grief

We look forward to emerging into a new future in the months ahead.

Kind Regards,

Theresa Yeo
Secretary
The Compassionate Friends Victoria

M:  0403 842 068
www.tcfv.org.au

National Help Line: 1300 064 068

In lieu of the evolving situation with Covid-19, we have been notified by the Department of Health and Humans Services to avoid or minimise all group contact.

As a consequence, we will have a Support Group Closure until the end of May as TCFV wants to take certain precautions to protect our volunteers, staff and community members. If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us on 03 9888 4944 / 1300 064 068.

This may be a very concerning development for many of you – TCFV groups are often like a lifeline in people’s grief journey – but please be assured our 24/7 telephone support-line will be active during this time.

This is a difficult time for everybody and we ask that you keep yourself safe and well in the coming weeks.