The Boomer Legacy ◊ Culture

Culture

You could be whatever you wanted to be

It was the twilight of the Age of Aquarius.

Passionately held 1960s beliefs like Peace, Freedom, Equality, People Power, Expanded Consciousness, Eastern Religion and Free Love… all went out the window. To be replaced with what? Excuses?…

Sample #3003 — Thought showers (Aug 2017)

Topic Images

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There are currently 160 photographs in this section.

Underlying conditions

Health interests needed to be balanced with protecting the economy. It was done by altering a few epidemiological definitions, statistically rationalising deaths and shifting the emphasis to personal responsibility and resilience

The Masked Passenger, near Glenbrook [Jan-2020 160KB]

Yellow Lambos to the moon

It was an era of unending optimism. Vast fortunes were effortlessly made. Families prospered, inflation was beaten and credit was easy at near-zero rates (until 2022). Average mums & dads became CEOs, collected NFTs and bet on cryptocurrencies. Stock markets inexorably rose, while house values appreciated to what looked like a permanently high plateau…

Living statue performer at Circular Quay [Jul-2017 253KB]

Remarks

A simple, almost throw-away candid shot acquires sinister meaning when you notice the children were prodding a stuffed crocodile

A fortress of your art

Few noticed the post-modern irony of appropriating the design of the Naval Range-finding Tower MP-3 at Pleinmont

Solomon R Guggenheim museum, NYC [Oct-2017 202KB]

Freedom behind the wheel

To stream down packed motorways, clutching tickets to the road-trauma lottery

Tyre burn-outs in an abandoned housing development at Faulconbridge, in the Blue Mountains [Dec-2012 837KB]

Molecular resonance

Free markets guaranteed the enjoyment of identical products and services everywhere

Nike Savas installation at Macquarie Centre, Sydney [Dec-2017 610KB]

Luxury was a human right

Hollywood stars, ten-thousand dollar watches, begging for small-change. In perennially difficult economic times, brands made everyone feel special

Wristwatch dealership, Pitt Street Mall [Sep-2023 417KB]

The shadow of November 1989

The Atlantic-centred post-WW2 order unravelled as soon as the Wall came down

Council kerbside clean-up, Darling Point [Jan-2017 478KB]

Cameo soulmate

Down Rae Street the golden light fades; Her fingers gleam with unexpected rings; A wandering childhood longing for a more secure life; So elope fast and live well she said; And other practical things

Project Halo at Central Park in Sydney [Nov-2022 446KB]

The big day

The bent-knee proposal in a fast-food outlet; The princess-cut engagement ring; The effortlessly stylish top-knot bun extension; The fake-tan; The lip augmentation injection; The adorable ivory patent leather classic ballerina flats; The bridesmaids' hair extensions & wrist corsages & hand-printed yellow kaftans & daisy crowns & frangipani espadrilles; The trending blood-red gel nail-extensions; The stunning $20k bespoke wedding dress; The delicious hand-selected vegetables picked from the chateau gardens; The awesome Ottolenghi-style vegetarian feasts with steaming pork bao; The hand-cut white peonies; The polka-dotted ribbon for the mason jars; The bubble cyclone machines; The Disney love songs; The rhinestone encrusted complimentary selfie sticks; The juggling flower-girl triplets; The wow-factor troupe of wedding drummers; The pack of wedding paparazzi; The PolAir hovering above the reception; The flashing LED hula-hoops to get the guests dancing; The surprise flash-mob doing a really gorgeous TikTok dance; The last-minute bridesmaid replacements; The honour-guard of kids from previous marriages; The Labradoodle ring-bearer; The two dozen pure white doves for the 3m tall vegan gluten-free celebration cake… But best of all, what about the hot pink ride!…

Wedding-hire 14-seat H2 Stretch Hummer at Luna Park, Milsons Point [Oct-2014 196KB]

Spatial determinism

Where you cooked determined what you ate

16th floor kitchen at Harbourside Apartments versus HMAS Vampire galley [Nov-2021 300KB]

Heroes of Social Progress

Canonical ideals of liberalism, openness, diversity, safe routes to asylum, genuine compassion for society's most vulnerable, celebrating difference, counter-racism, positive discrimination, mandatory cultural awareness, watch-lists, lone-wolves, quarantine camps, failed states, undocumented migration, empty supermarket shelves, hospital ships, sovereign-citizens, resurgent right-wing authoritarianism

Confetti remnants of the 2012 Swans AFL team Victory Parade [Oct-2012 534KB]

Aloha Oe

Our way of life faded right before our eyes

Pasifika themed vintage car, High Street Penrith [Mar-2018 404KB]

Everything was done to preserve social harmony

Our unwavering commitment to specific kinds of inclusion was immeasurable

The waterfall entrance to the NGV, Melbourne [Apr-2019 767KB]

Remarks

Shots through the “water wall” at the National Gallery of Victoria are, unfortunately, a photographic cliché. Usually great care is taken to avoid these things, but this time the juxtaposition between the mother and outside family was too strong to ignore

Grey nomads

The Big Lap added years to our lives

Covered motorcycles on Billyard Ave, Elizabeth Bay [Dec-2015 288KB]

Congratulations Mrs Nassif… you like?

There are many creditors and law enforcement agencies that are keen to speak to Mr Nassif. I would encourage him to make himself available to investigators in NSW so that we can find out exactly what he's done in this state and what his potential liabilities are (ABC News, 2023)

Yellow Lamborghini at Paddington [Apr-2017 236KB]

How did we ever get here?

An unending mausoleum of reinforced concrete, seen through windscreens smeared with doubt

Ventilation funnels atop the Kogarah Railway Station car-park [Apr-2011 41KB]

I could have drunk a river

A couple of schooners, a case of Smirnoff Ice Double Black vodka, a few more shots at the Dragon Lounge, and I was yours

Abandoned refreshments near Gas Lane, in Millers Point [Jan-2014 485KB]

The one with the best notes wins

Half-step bends to voice for the next chord

Guitar seller, Winter Magic festival at Katoomba [Jun-2019 330KB]

Deus lo vult

It became apparent that Organised Religion wasn't

Greek Orthodox church on Belgrave Street, Kogarah [Oct-2013 326KB]

Contraindications

All the bright lights could not conceal the gloom

Luna Park Friday night rides [Jan-2019 389KB]

The Law of Conservation of Sport

If bread ↓ then circus ↑

Footy supporters watch their team lose at Panthers Park [Jul-2003 412KB]

Fête Moderne

It took a long time to shrug off the Superwoman myth

W-H portrait session, Hurstville [Jun-1991 354KB]

Zero-day vulnerability

At the end of 2019 Novel Sars-CoV-2 began to spread across the globe. Millions died, economies contracted and civic life became a meandering series of lockdowns

Balaclava sculpture (since removed) at the Newtown Tram Depot [Jul-2019 877KB]

Without the Roaring Twenties

The green light at the end of Daisy's dock was still beyond reach

Bradleys Head lighthouse [Aug-2023 308KB]

Looking back

Let silent contemplation be your offering

Hall of Memory, Anzac Memorial Sydney [Apr-2023 354KB]

Living in a short here

It was taken for granted that we would live long productive lives

AGNSW volunteer guide, Sydney [Jul-2022 295KB]

Ever present eye

A watchful environment loaded with photographers to record your every moment

Anzac Day photographers, Park Street Sydney [Apr-2018 268KB]

Metaphysical conundrum

So why did the chicken cross the road?… Because it was neither a “road” or a “chicken”

Sydenham pedestrian crossing [May-2023 1089KB]

In the thrall of Schedule 8

A considerable number of people spent their lives up the Cross

Fitzroy Gardens in Kings Cross [May-2003 418KB]

Remarks

Taken when using a Leica rangefinder was the only relatively unobtrusive way to do candid photography. Have subsequently used cameras triple the size, sometimes even mounted on a tripod. So it's really just a question of confidence, timing and discretion, and not the brand of camera or whether the logo has been properly taped

Actuate your authentic self

The best we could hope for was to become a billionaire's pet

Town Hall arcade begging, Sydney [Jul-2015 342KB]

Once I built a railroad

Delayed due to an operational issue… Postponed due to a train requiring mechanical repairs… Blue Mountains rail services have been suspended until further notice due to a freight train derailment at Linden… No trains this weekend due to scheduled track-work… Cancelled due to a staff availability issue… Late due to mechanical problems earlier on… Running late and out of timetable order… Transport authorities have urged passengers allow plenty of extra travel time, listen to announcements and check information displays for service updates as stopping patterns may change at short notice… This service has been cancelled due to an electrical fault, passengers should disembark and transfer to the suburban service waiting at platform four… Passengers be advised that we are proceeding slowly due to some track failures, and if we make it through the next signal then we should be right to proceed… Rail services have been suspended until further notice due to a landslip near Leura… Cancelled due to a vehicle on the tracks at Faulconbridge… Delays as a result of a number of unexpected incidents including a tree falling onto the tracks between St Leonards and Wollstonecraft, and a fire to sleepers at North Strathfield… All services have been cancelled this week due to protected industrial action… There may be a short delay at Penrith while the rear carriage is checked for possible contamination… Delayed due to temporary speed restrictions caused by wet weather conditions… Running late due to vandalism at Blacktown earlier… No trains this weekend due to scheduled track-work… Trains have been suspended between Lawson and Penrith due to a tree on the tracks near Linden… Delayed by approximately 41 minutes due a person threatening self-harm at Lithgow… Postponed due to urgent power supply repairs… Cancelled due to lightning strike at Penrith… Running 27 minutes late due to a tree caught in the overhead wiring at Blaxland… Blue Mountains rail services have been suspended until further notice due to a landslip near Emu Plains… 35 minutes late due to passenger with a medical emergency… Other incidents including multiple self-harm attempts and trespassers on the tracks at Doonside and Bellambi… Delayed due to a police operation at Ashfield… No trains this weekend due to scheduled track-work… Major delays on all lines due to a fatality at Mortdale… Please consider postponing your journey or using alternative transport…

Macdonaldtown rail viaduct (since rebuilt) [Mar-1983 484KB]

Discrimination positive

Everyone agreed that a person's worth could only be determined by the number of their X-chromosomes

Extended phenotypes at Addison Road in Marrickville [Sep-2012 233KB]

New ways of seeing

We didn't need a Snellen chart to see what was coming

Optometrist window display, Wilson Street Newtown [Jun-2023 374KB]

Gone a million

The rich were always with us

Abandoned Rolls-Royce automobile at Hiles Street in Alexandria [Jun-2015 289KB]

Remarks

This Rolls Royce was “parked” in Alexandria for a long time. When Leica Australia held a launch event for their SL-2 camera in Nov 2019, it was done in a converted warehouse in the same street. After the presentation I went outside to see if the Rolls was still there four years after taking this photo — it was

Sumptuary laws

The entire fashion industry was trickle-down in its purest form

Step into Paradise Exhibition at Powerhouse Museum, Sydney [Jan-2020 410KB]

Tutelary architects of the soul

United by a shared vision of a progressive future, our beliefs were grounded in truth, science and fundamental human rights

An air-filled waver during the Sydney Swans AFL team celebrations, at Sydney Town Hall [Oct-2012 137KB]

Malpractice with impunity

The very first document, among more than a hundred in this folder, is a written admission by our client that he mixed up his patients and accidentally did a full hysterectomy on the 36-year-old plaintiff. Correction — our client is [redacted], not the surgeon, who is merely a policy holder of our client. Thanks. The surgeon admits, in writing, that he sterilised the plaintiff by doing an unauthorised procedure. This is undisputed — so why is this matter dragging for years with requests for interrogatories, updated medical reports and dozens of discovery hearings? Well, it is our firm's policy to comprehensively test all claims to discourage frivolous ones. The surgeon has admitted negligence, so it cannot be “frivolous” and, frankly, our stalling borders upon unconscionable. I'll say it again: it is our firm's policy to test all claims to discourage frivolous ones…

The ghosts of lawyering among the tombstones at Camperdown cemetery, Newtown [Jun-2015 407KB]

Remarks

It took a long time to find a scene which symbolised our stratified health system. The accompanying blurb is a paraphrased version of an April 1992 law-firm conversation between the myself and a medical-litigation partner (represented in italics)

The Great White Fleet

Every Wednesday afternoon we would close our practice early to go down to the harbour and potter about in yachts

Sydney harbour boats and ferries [Oct-2014 488KB]

Dialectical Virtuism

A vanguard of activists, academics and news-workers decided it was their moral duty to reform everyone else's morals

Rainbow house, Stanmore [Nov-2017 296KB]

Trouble in Luvvyland

Decades of careful instruction about hope and positive social progress failed to achieve the desired outcome

Apartment building at the top of View Street, Dunedin NZ [Nov-2017 552KB]

Lamp beside the golden door

Despite unease and criticism from parts of the community, decades of pluralist multiculturalism turned out to be surprisingly successful (Turnbull, 2017)

St Pauls Cathedral congregation after Good Friday service, Melbourne [Apr-2019 341KB]

Sumptuary Laws revisited

Raised heels for the elite, scuffed flats for everyone else

Shoe boutique window display, QVB Sydney [Apr-2023 468KB]

Logic had nothing to do with oppression

(Steinem, 1983)

Egalitarian architecture at Wunulla Road in Point Piper [Sep-2012 164KB]

Capitalist idyll

Forget about Marx or Lennon or Friedman-Phelps: The Colonel saw, the Colonel knew, the Colonel understood

Fast-food franchise hoarding at Parramatta Road, Five Dock [Sep-2016 161KB]

Race Day chic

Ladies in the public enclosure would enjoy themselves during the Cup aftermath

Rosehill Racecourse, Melbourne Cup hairdresser's picnic [Nov-2005 270KB]

Remarks

Another Hasselblad film image, using my usual 3kg set-up of 501CM, Distagon 50 FLE, PME45 viewfinder, Metz flash, cable release and monopod. Taking candid photos with such a rig could at times be challenging…

Allow plenty of additional travel time

Spatially mismatched cities where amenity, employment and education were intentionally centralised, forcing essential workers to commute for hours from the urban fringe

Trains on the T1 Western Line pass through Burwood Station [Apr-2015 212KB]

Release the bats

Canned music, caterwauling karaoke & wall-to-wall poker-machines

Nick Cave from The Birthday Party at Sydney University Refectory [Jan-1982 77KB]

Everything was fine

We married our passion for the authentic interpretation of regional Spanish cuisine with a desire to celebrate the high quality fresh produce supplied by a close network of artisanal farmers

Ash Street restaurant, Sydney CBD [Jan-2019 168KB]

Equality of opportunity

It was obvious that wealthy parents always paid more tax. So to maintain fairness in the marketplace of educational options, everyone agreed that governments must underwrite independent schools and parental free choice

GPS tennis courts in Stanmore [Sep-2012 198KB]

Free at last

Your mega-mortgage turned out to be a perfect forced-savings vehicle

Victoria Street terrace, Kings Cross [Jul-2018 347KB]

Driving home for Christmas

Childhood summer holidays firmly strapped into car's back-seat

Christmas display, Centrepoint Sydney [Dec-2019 245KB]

Together alone

We loved each other like it was the end of the world

Cockle Bay promenade, Darling Harbour [Dec-2003 371KB]

Watch and act

Undocumented migration was a fundamental human right which could not be overruled by popularity contests

The Edge at Eureka Skydeck, Melbourne [Apr-2019 253KB]

The Wall is the Wall

(Trump, 2018)

Busking opposite Sydney Town Hall [Jan-2018 338KB]

This renovated life

A little slice of heaven, a place where we could become our best selves by focusing on the smaller, more controllable world of home

Darling Point renovations, Sydney [Jan-2017 376KB]

Poly-dimensional facets

GDP versus infrastructure versus ecology versus quality-of-life versus unconstrained population growth

Darling Harbour under the express-way, Sydney [Apr-2017 202KB]

Null pointers

Always remember who you were and what you fought for

Castlereagh Hotel Remembrance Shrine, Sydney [Jan-2019 145KB]

Points of light

Remember, remember the eleventh of November

Shrine of Remembrance, 11AM beam of light [Apr-2019 379KB]

Scenes from the new world

Willkommenskultur guaranteed a kaleidoscope of culinary delights

Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne [Apr-2019 106KB]

Back to the beach

All thoughts eventually led to the sea

Surf carnival surf-skis, Manly beach [Jan-2021 400KB]

The tallest tombstones in the world

Arithmétique Macabre: 9 / 11 = 2977 + 60 000

Church spire beneath a flight path, at Rockdale in Sydney [Dec-2013 149KB]

Remarks

The impact of the September 2001 Islamist attacks cannot be overstated. It has seeped into our culture in numerous ways, not least the ongoing apprehension that yet another crisis could come along at any time to smash things up again

Electric tribalism

Wandering around with no idea what was about to happen

Preparations for the 2019 Australia Day celebrations, Campbells Cove Sydney [Jan-2019 248KB]

Boxing day specials

Our cities were gradually fortified, one concrete block at a time

Anti vehicle-ramming barriers at George Street, Sydney [Dec-2017 170KB]

Without bias or agenda

Journalism is the pursuit of verifiable truth — it's an existential fight against conspiracy theories, fake news, voluble opinions, false balance, online bandwagons & talking points; against activists who claim to be in the truth business, but are actually in the point-of-view business (The Guardian, 2018)

State of Origin victory celebration for the NSW Blues at the Northern Broad-walk, Sydney Opera House [Jul-2014 271KB]

Expansionary austerity

Signs of recovery were hard for non-experts to discern

Bird cages outside the China Lane restaurant, at Angel Place in Sydney [Oct-2013 276KB]

Break with the past

Artefacts of violence for a new millennium

The remains of the the North Tower transmission mast at the 911 Memorial Museum [Oct-2017 443KB]

Every city another Venice

From aquarium to fish-soup in one generation

Tourists at the McMahon Point ferry wharf, Sydney [Jan-2019 263KB]

Laps around the sun

1 AM 1984; Climb the narrow stairs of her run-down shared terrace; Quiet voices in her 3×2.5 room; Milk-crate furniture and clothing-racks; Why am I here? Because my current boyfriend likes to spend most of his time swinging on a truck-tyre; Our discarded clothes on the worn Persian mat; Above us a swirling cone of cigarette smoke beneath the ceiling light; Her retro-futurist alarm-clock ticks on a nightstand; The slow graceful movements of her hands; Her voice, her curves, her smell, her mouth, her warmth; Her impossibly small single bed; By morning we were gone

Turning circle (since repainted) outside Central Station, Sydney [Mar-2019 918KB]

There was always someone for everyone

Eugenics through involuntary abstinence

Bollards at the Sydney Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay [Oct-2013 576KB]

Crucify your mind

I really thought that love would save us all (Lennon, 1980)

The exterior of the Greek Orthodox church of Saint Peter & Paul (since repainted), at Petersham [Sep-2012 463KB]

Remarks

As mentioned elsewhere, one of the most enjoyable aspects of this project was randomly finding unusual scenes in unexpected places. You could walk for hours and suddenly there it would be, almost as if had been waiting for you

A vista full of rainbows

Everyone had a moral duty to embrace love, freedom and revolutionary justice

Same-sex Marriage Law Postal Survey posters outside the Imperial Hotel at Erskineville [Sep-2017 429KB]

Redaction everywhere

It became necessary to destroy Justice in order to save the Legal System

Pursuant to s.8(e) of the NSW Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010, along with the strict confidentiality provisions under s.462 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW), the purpose(s), if any, of including this scene in this project cannot be disclosed for legal reasons. [Sep-2014 93KB]

Survival of the richest

Our remaining days were spent counting our passive income, in the comfort and safety of our own bunkers

Australia's richest street, Wolseley Road Point Piper [Sep-2012 321KB]

A few personal blow-outs

Success, power, glamour, excuses, misstatements, lies

Corner of Pine and Cleveland, near Central [Jul-2017 295KB]

The well-stamped passport

Take another selfie and move on, criss-cross the planet to only find yourself

Tourists scrum at Sydney Cove [Aug-2014 165KB]

Remarks

Like most western economies, there was an enthusiastic shift in the 1980s toward relying on tourism as a foreign-exchange earning and local-jobs boosting “export”. Then came the pandemic…

Strategic Hamlet

I could be bound in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space (Shakespeare, 1603)

Wharf Terrace disabled-access elevator at Lincoln Crescent in Woolloomooloo [Jan-2012 167KB]

Murder on the dance-floor

The Enlightenment turned out to be little more than flashing lights in a discotheque

Queen Victoria Building “disco” Christmas lights, Sydney [Oct-2020 233KB]

Redefining perfection

You press the button, we do the rest (Eastman, 1888)

Laurie Daley and fans at SOH [Jul-2014 288KB]

By this sign thou shall conquer

Your dead loved one is communicating with us, so please go to the bank and send money to the Church so your loved one can ascend to heaven in the spirit world

South Head General Cemetery, Vaucluse [Nov-2016 146KB]

Fine-Dining Industrial Complex

The only way to achieve a true sense of being was by being seen in a hatted restaurant eating a pile of fat prawns with your toes exposed

Restaurant exhaust stacks, Sydney Overseas Passenger Terminal [Jan-2019 145KB]

Defence renaissance

After decades of cutbacks and savings, governments renewed spending on armaments and personnel

Anzac Day Air Force personnel, Hyde Park Sydney [Apr-2023 300KB]

Remarks

After a long break following my heart-attack in Jan 2023, it was good to be back doing candid shots of people up close. For a change used the SEL1655G, an outstanding lens despite its excessive barrel distortion at wider angles

Manufacturing Eros

Productivity was enhanced by using mass-produced images of completely unavailable women

Workbench at the Pottery Estate, Lithgow [Jun-2019 499KB]

Full Meta jacket

The epistemological reflection upon the Manichaean nature of Post-Analytical Nihilistic Communitarianism was spoiled by unhelpfully self-referential endnotes — despite the liberal use of significant, robust and holistic evidence

Infinite regression at Croydon [Sep-2016 98KB]

It's just a jump to the left

Everyone was convinced that liberal democracy would sweep the world

Pedestrian passageway at Potts Point [Dec-2015 746KB]

Choosing to opt away from patriarchy

When this is all over, gender studies professors are going to have a hell of time explaining what happened (Valenti, 2017)

Supplement Warehouse on Sunnyholt Road, Blacktown [Aug-2015 223KB]

Carnival ride

As we grew older, we craved the splendour and luxurious pampering that only floating Xanadus could provide

Majestic Princess cruise-ship, Circular Quay [Jan-2020 239KB]

Lotus, Porsha & Mersaydees

Part of Bogan Pride was to give your children homophonous names of brands you hoped one day they would steal

Excavation of an ex-service station at Bullaburra in the Blue Mountains [Feb-2011 458KB]

Unleash your inner daemon

Pets lifted our spirits and reminded us of who we really were

On the Parramatta ferry to Abbotsford [Mar-2015 288KB]

Fungible ideology

It didn't require a lot of effort to pivot from “SJW” to “WSJ”

Fearless Girl statue, NYC [Oct-2017 383KB]

Together at last

A journey of six thousand, seven hundred and twenty-five days began with a single step

Newly-weds at Grand Central Station, NYC [Oct-2017 250KB]

Brett's armchair

The same music in completely different hands

Room 82 on the sixteenth floor, Harbourside Apartments [Jan-2019 419KB]

Remarks

Lavender Bay (visible through the windows) was one of Brett Whiteley's favourite subjects. The book on the table is Whiteley on Trial (2017), about the forgery of a handful of Whiteley's paintings and how the Victorian legal system couldn' to find anything wrong with it

A story of the margins

Park your car in the gutted remains of where people once earned a living

Ex-Arnotts biscuit factory car park at North Strathfield [Jun-2017 419KB]

Direct instruction

Expert guidance and interpretive panels ensured Art was properly enjoyed

AGNSW tour guide, Sydney [Mar-2019 142KB]

A fit country for heroes to live in

With a place for everyone and everyone in their place

Unhoused on Pitt Street Mall, Sydney [May-2016 450KB]

Remarks

The Sydney CBD was overrun with panhandlers who mostly positioned themselves in doorways and major thoroughfares to maximise their earning potential. I noticed this particular juxtaposition at a busy outdoor mall and came back a couple of days later to photograph it. Was amazed that neither council rangers nor police had asked them to move on

Forerunning the Great Stagnation

Prior to the 1990s every decade had its own distinctive sense of style

The Krystyna Campbell-Pretty Fashion Gift, NGV Melbourne [Apr-2019 163KB]

The sun shone on the Supreme Leader

The inspection of State Food Processing Plant #2193 inspired genuine patriots to dance and brandish flowers

Fast-food franchise at Old Canterbury Road, Hurlstone Park [Oct-2015 273KB]

Res judicata

It wasn't every day that you saw a church vandalised

St Stephens Anglican Church, Penrith [Jun-2022 483KB]

Punching down

In a changing world and with the best intentions, it was not enough to use progressive argument to challenge expressions of racism, homophobia, sexism and misogyny. You had to prevent people from thinking racist, homophobic, sexist and misogynistic thoughts in the first place

Bruce Lee statue prior to unveiling at the Kogarah Town Centre [Mar-2011 189KB]

Significant Form

From the poop-deck of a Dreadnought to the lighthouse on the banks of the River Ouse, bunga–bunga–bunga–bunga until the light grows pale

Cape Bowling Green Lighthouse, ANMM Darling Harbour Sydney [Nov-2021 344KB]

Suburban psychodrama

Our belief in a better tomorrow was clearly expressed through our architecture

Front yard gate, Great Western Highway [May-2019 244KB]

Dolchstoßlegende

Historical data was of little use to a society which always looked forward

Photography at Observatory Hill, Sydney [Jan-2020 908KB]

Staying on message

Sectarian quarrelling went on for so long that it etched itself into the background

Christian proselytising at Belmore Park (since removed), near Central station [Apr-2016 708KB]

Community standards

Our suburbs were strewn with eye-popping enticements from agile entrepreneurs

Dulwich Hill skate park [Sep-2015 113KB]

Remarks

The “sneakers thrown over power-lines” meme was comprehensively addressed by TikTok™ contributors: Some people do it just to be annoying. Some people do it as a memorial to a dead friend. Some people do it to advertise a drug dealer territory. Some people do it because they've seen it done and just think it's funny (Daily Mail UK, 2020)

Some semblance of community

Democracy continued to best serve those who were most invested

NSW election voting centre at Town Hall [Mar-2019 543KB]

Remarks

One of the great themes of the last forty years has been the gradual unravelling of western democracy. One could say it started with Watergate in June 1972, but you could also argue it began much earlier with the assassination of JFK in November 1963

True deliverance make

Be sure your sins will find you out

Clothesline posts at Millers Point [Aug-2016 383KB]

Retrofitting diversity

From “Apartheid” to “Black Lives Matter” in only one generation

Bent Street, Lithgow. [Apr-2012 365KB]

Black hat/ white hat

Make a choice to suit your personality

Urban vehicle choices, Newtown [Sep-2023 441KB]

Waiting for the V-shaped recovery

It took almost a century to progress from sound fundamentals and prosperity around the corner to bouncing back and primed for lift-off next year

Broadway bus-stop beggar, Central [Jan-2020 74KB]

Electric evanescence

People would happily sing while hurling five-kilogram spheres

Strike Bowling, King Street Wharf Darling Harbour [Jan-2019 111KB]

Prophetic methodology

Remember, do not stop shooting even if u see women or kids — no mercy is Rule One (Haroon, 2016)

Lindt Café siege flower memorial at Martin Place, Sydney [Dec-2014 529KB]

Keeping the Sixties alive

The memory of a beloved wife, the promise to a dead brother, the customers who only came to stare

Olympia milk-bar & hair salon at Parramatta Road, Annandale. Closed by council order in April 2019 [Jul-2016 424KB]

Mission statement

We auctioned the Glory of the coming of the Lord

What was once an Anglican church, but became an open-plan dwelling, at Warrimoo in the Blue Mountains [Jul-2011 93KB]

摆烂

By using Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the CCP reshaped the Motherland into a wise, benevolent and evergrande superpower

St Collins Lane upstairs food court, Melbourne [Apr-2019 416KB]

Thought showers

To proactively incentivise our key stakeholders, we touched base, actioned our settings, held 360-degree reviews, got all our ducks in a row and strategically uplevelled our synergies to monetise eyeballs and facilitate a win-win paradigm

The repurposed cauldron from the best Olympic Games ever [Aug-2017 659KB]

Nowhere was safe from Footy

11 touches, 5 tackles, 3 clearances and 1 goal. Controlling, Non-controlling, Boundary & Goal umpires. Yes! Go! Kick! Woohoo! Run! Stop! Mark! No! What?! Miss! Booo! Exit Gate 3 ten minutes before the final siren. Shoving and yelling at Jolimont-MCG station

Melbourne vs St Kilda AFL game, MCG Melbourne [Apr-2019 399KB]

Cordon sanitaire

We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again. (EIIR, 2020)

Bollards at Warrimoo [Oct-2019 436KB]

“No” was unthinkable

In socially progressive suburbs, visible support for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice was surprisingly low-key

2023 Referendum placard, in Darlington [Sep-2023 396KB]

F2F heroes

Who was the faker and who was the fake?

Madame Tussauds Sydney, Darling Harbour [Jan-2019 86KB]

In the time of contagion

Green physical distancing dots will continue to guide customers on the best places to sit and stand on all modes

COVID-19 safe seating on the Double Bay ferry, Sydney [Jul-2020 485KB]

Go hard or go home

The more we studied history, the more we realised the feeling of decline was nothing new

Harbour Sands at Darling Harbour [Jan-2017 753KB]

We two formed a multitude

The first time we saw each other has not been forgotten

Abandoned shopping trolleys at Shoreline Drive in Rhodes [Dec-2015 452KB]

The natural order

Developers → Banks → Speculators → Mortgagors → Tennants → Unhoused

Fairy Bower café dog bowls, Manly [Jan-2021 728KB]

The post-industrial well-being complex

A lifetime of small authentic moments, where we honoured our feelings, aligned our vibrational energy, feasted from the whole pantry, applied essential oils, embraced our expansion, and mindfully followed our bliss down the path to soulistic wellness

Sydney Olympic Park RSPCA stalls [May-2018 281KB]

Post 911

The Twin Towers loomed over everything we did

HMAS Vampire pendant number & anchor, Australian National Maritime Museum [May-2023 292KB]

Put the person before the disability

Inclusiveness meant telling everyone how much you cared

Beneath the Western Distributor on Harris Street in Ultimo [Jan-2013 244KB]

Nothing's gonna change my world

Imagine no Holden Morrisey Caulfield

Strawberry Fields, Central Park NYC [Oct-2017 445KB]

Remarks

Some of the weekend circus attracted to Lennon's memorial in Central Park. Peace had little chance when it came to epic jostling for the best selfie positions, while in the background numerous versions of St John's simplest tunes were played by buskers hoping to score some coin

Character arc

A lot of work was done to broaden the variety of gender roles

Sydney candid triptych [Oct-2014 247KB]

Beneath the iron ceiling

Social mobility was ~~bunk~~ guaranteed

Lord Sheffield Circuit at Penrith [Apr-2017 55KB]

Magic sponge

During mass at our spiritual home in St. Bernardino, the archreferee would hold aloft the Sacred Sphere and bestow upon us His most holy blessing: Kind friends, VVIPs, WAGs and Ultras, we are gathered here on St. Totteringham's Day to drink beers and throw flares. To give 110% when sports-washing the unsaved. To throw sardines into the sea from the back of the trawler. To find the back of the net, a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God. For winners forever win big, and losers must fall hard. So please take a knee and raise your Vuvuzelas for the national benediction: Our Footy, who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy game. Thy Kingdom score, thy bets be more, on phones as it is in Qatar. In nomine Blatter, et FIFA, et Spiritus Alea… You may now invade the pitch

Sports promotion at Olympic Park [Aug-2017 188KB]

Remarks

St. Bernardino: Patron saint of ~~behaviour modification~~ advertising, communications & ~~compulsive gambling~~ wagering
Sacred Sphere: A hollow spherical object made of suitable material, with an external circumference between 680—700mm and mass of 0.41—0.45kg, and inflated to an interior pressure of 60.795—101.325 kPa at sea level
VVIPs: Very — very — important people
WAGs: Highly accomplished Wives & Girlfriends of players
Ultras: Highly accomplished association football fans noted for their black hoodies, self-restraint and civilised behaviour during pitch invasions
St Totteringham's Day: The day celebrated by Arsenal fans when Tottenham can no longer outrank them in the League table
110%: Spectator sport is the only known exemption to the 1st Law of Thermodynamics
Sports-washing: The role of media-workers when reporting physical recreation events
Throw sardines […] trawler: King Eric's 1995 epigram
Hand of God […]: The 1986 FIFA World Cup miraculous goal
Vuvuzelas: The national wind instrument of South Africa
Qatar: A Gulf petro-state which has denied any wrongdoing, ever
Blatter: Highly accomplished 8th President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015
FIFA: Federation Internationale de Football Association
Alea: Latin: “game of chance”

All those moments

If only we had off-world colonies to go to for a chance to begin again

Times Square, NYC [Oct-2017 433KB]

Our plates in heaven

Meet the new religion, same as the old religion

Chefs' Warehouse in the “old Tongan Church”, Regent Street Redfern [Jul-2023 420KB]

One-way journey

On a sailing ship to nowhere, leaving any place (Yes, 1971)

Ovation of the Seas cruise-ship at the Sydney Overseas Passenger Terminal [Dec-2017 108KB]

Remarks

Two years after this photo was taken, 22 passengers from this ship died during a shore excursion due to the White Island volcanic eruption in New Zealand

Grand theft generations

With all the cheap debt we created, Boomers could comfortably retire to gated apartments in the sky

Jacksons Landing at Pyrmont in Sydney [Jan-2013 113KB]

Forever wars

For decades we believed it was peace for our time

“To Poseidon” sculpture by Xia Hang, at the Australian National Maritime Museum [Apr-2019 426KB]

Cultural attrition

Civility could not last forever in a vacuum

Wall graffito in a Pitt Street Lane near Town Hall (subsequently demolished) [Oct-2012 405KB]

Operational Matters

VIP Lounges, lotteries, pokies, meat-trays and linked EFTPOS accounts

Behind the Scenic Hotel Southern Cross, Dunedin NZ [Nov-2017 173KB]

The Goombas are dancing again

The delicious joy of randomly flailing about your limbs, more or less in time to the beat

Egan Street terrace, Newtown [Nov-2022 571KB]

The new world order

The social contract had to be positively reformed to quadruple the number of billionaires

Torn up posters on Parramatta Road, Strathfield [Jul-2014 484KB]

Growing pains

People were strongly encouraged to use public transport to reduce traffic congestion

Commuters on the St Kilda tram, Melbourne [Apr-2019 245KB]

Winning at the starting line

Party members and strategic partners cheered. Media-workers asked each other how they felt. Gold, gold, gold for brands in an unprecedented premium integration ecosystem. Our tattooed heroes puffed and flexed and skipped and hopped and twisted and splashed. We paid

The endlessly gushing fountain at Olympic Park, Sydney [Jan-2011 351KB]

Eat fresh

Marketeers tapped into a growing personalisation potential and famous craves

Upstairs food-court, Centrepoint Sydney [Dec-2019 66KB]

Cultural aftershocks

The impact of the 911 terrorist attacks reverberated for decades

911 Memorial park and museum, NYC [Oct-2017 232KB]

Winning the argument

Citizens learned that protest-theatre was the only acceptable way to achieve positive social change

Palestinian demonstrators on George Street, Sydney CBD [Aug-2014 206KB]

Mr Robot says “Hi”

The lights dimmed throughout a divided America

US Armed Forces recruiting station, Times Square NYC [Oct-2017 241KB]

Private splendour

The poorest people with the most expensive phones; the best cars on the worst roads; the brightest children in the most dilapidated schools

Luxury cars gleam in the parking space behind a Kogarah real-estate agency [Apr-2011 109KB]

The efficiency dividend playbook

A land full of equal opportunity, where respect for property, hard work, fair-play and fiscal prudence guaranteed a prosperous life

Darling Point ferry wharf, Sydney [Jan-2017 283KB]

Remarks

A pleasant summer afternoon transformed into an object lesson in social stratification, at the ferry wharf to one of Sydney's wealthiest suburbs

Vibrant isolation

The doorbell legit scares me now. I jump every time. It just seems so aggressive when you could just SMS (WSJ, 2017)

Young Street terrace doorway (since repainted) at Annandale [Sep-2015 647KB]

Days of small things

Between delicious mouthfuls, we would chat for hours about fusion & aroma & degustation & star chefs & signature-dishes & heirloom-recipes & flavourful & authentic and all the countless things we loved or didn't love to ingest

Acland Cake Shop window display, St Kilda Melbourne [Apr-2019 606KB]

Racquet Kultur

Watch, cheer, drink, boo, belch, repeat

Display Court #3 outside the Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne Tennis Centre [Apr-2019 396KB]

Empire of the self

Bring distant points of interest within close range by the use of this machine

Empire State Building observation deck, NYC [Oct-2017 462KB]

Bench blanket bingo

Cover, cloak, cape, napkin, camouflage, shroud

Coalcliff station platform, South Coast NSW [Apr-2012 398KB]

Foamy frappuccino in a sea of amber

Our restaurant and coffee habits were never those of an anxious nation

Empty beer kegs outside the Abercrombie Hotel at Broadway [Oct-2012 212KB]

In a cage of gold

Most binding financial agreements were happy ever after

Australia's richest street, Wolseley Road Point Piper [Sep-2012 235KB]

The militaristic subtext

The common purpose of every action was “security”

The crypt beneath the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne [Apr-2019 164KB]

Latter-day Bloomsbury

We've ended up with an inner-city hive of woke workers, hiring woke friends to do their woke work in their quest to “wokify” the world (Senator J.McGrath, 2021)

Freethought Book Exchange (since demolished) at Regent Street Chippendale [Apr-2014 308KB]

Contumacious determination

Faithful servants of the court had a duty to finesse reality until outcomes matched expectations

Addison Road community centre, Marrickville [Sep-2012 177KB]

Woke up this morning

With their exclusive focus on representation and identity, gallerists & curators agreed that contemporary art could only appreciated in complete blackness

Adrián Villar Rojas' “The End of Imagination”, AGNSW [Dec-2022 107KB]

Remarks

We were given plenty of opportunity to celebrate the Reductio ad absurdum of Art Practitioners. Aside: this was almost the final image in the project due to my heart attack a couple weeks later in January 2023

Клином the revolution

Despite a century of recreational activism, the Whites were not beaten by the Red Wedge

Mega mall at Auburn [May-2017 80KB]

Life under the occupation

The Fragmented was turned into the Harmonised by encouraging our staff to compile their own dossiers

Revolving doors at the ANZ bank building, in Castlereagh Street [Aug-2014 143KB]

Remarks

When capturing this image it was assumed it would most likely end up as a discard. When back home however, an hour spent in image editing programs changed things considerably

Enjoying the benefits of adequacy

Budget surpluses, rising house prices, vigorous job growth, decades of near-zero interest rates (until 2022)

Lewisham apartment redevelopment [Jul-2018 367KB]