Throwing them out or welcoming something new? – The Australian Federal Election, May 2022
When countries go to vote for new national leadership, traditionally voters tend to vote governments out, seldom actively embracing a bold new direction. In recent decades around the world there have been noted exceptions. While John F Kennedy threw out “Tricky Dicky” Nixon in 1960, it was as much a call to the promise of […]
Sydney Locked Down – A City at night without its people
When you start a project with good intentions and then life happens, it’s best to keep people who have expressed prior interest in the loop. Elsewhere on this blog site you’ll find two accounts, from April and May, which describe two different experiences of night life, one a piece on country town impacts of COVID-19, […]
Remembering John Loengard – Photographer, Editor, Author
News reached me today (27th May 2020), from California-based Australian Image curator, Graham Howe, of the passing on May 24th, of the remarkable John Loengard. Born in 1934 he was part of the golden age of photographers who created and crafted images for Life magazine. He was a superb mentor, teacher, editor, writer, photographer. He […]
Sydney, Australia under COVID-19
No matter your country, we are all now in the global village of Coronavirus sudden change. We have all been affected in every dimension of life by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Different countries have tried different paths. Australia and New Zealand have been, so far, amongst the most successful in limiting the virus’s spread, but […]
A day and night in the life of a country town under Covid-19
It’s a Saturday night in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, some 100km south of Sydney. It’s been a mild Autumn Day, perfect for a quick daytrip to the clear air some 700 metres above sea level. It’s the kind of day that normally provides a chance to spend an idle morning, slowly reading […]
CANWin Community Forum declares Climate Emergency
On the last Sunday in November this year I attended a local Southern Highlands, NSW, Australia, Community gathering, hosted by Climate Action Now – Wingecarribee (CANWin). (Wingecarribee is the council that takes in the Highlands towns of Mittagong, Bowral, Moss vale, Bundanoon and Berrima, amongst others.) CANWin had hired the local Memorial Hall in Bowral, […]
46 Anglican Cathedrals in England & Wales
The Story Begins I think it may have been looking up at the ceiling in St. Peters in Rome in 2012. Unique. Replete with history. A remarkable artistic collaboration. Scale and History, all in one place. Remarkable! Or perhaps it was my many years as a young choirboy, fifty decades earlier. Staring at the ceilings […]
The Natural State of Balance – Why Polarisation is destroying Our World!
Australia, amongst nations, enjoys a remarkable number of inherent natural advantages. Resources in iron ore, agricultural land, energy and sunshine. A multi-ethnic society that largely co-habits and is evolving into a new integration of peoples. Paradise? No! Overall Australia has many ingredients for continued success. It has as its rock one of the oldest cultures […]
Why Trump’s Exit from the Paris Accord may actually accelerate Renewables Globally!
History shows us that it’s often seemingly unrelated or minor incidents that lead to the greatest turn of events or changes in our society. Think assassination of the Great Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the succeeding Great War in 1914. Or a Tsuname in West Aceh privince in Indonesia which left tens of thousands of dead […]
Opertus reveals shadows and patterns in the real and imagined world
(This is the text of an address I gave on May 14th, 2016 at the Opening of Opertus, – an exhibition by members of Nebuli Arts, at Gallery Lane Cove, Sydney, Australia.) See below for opening details of this Head On Photo Festival Associated Exhibition. Some 192 years ago, a French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce […]