The Boomer Legacy

Tourism added value

Macro–economic growth models prove that tourism contributes towards complete growth and development of a country: one, by bringing numerous economic value & benefits; and, second, helping in build country’s brand value, image & identity (Market Width Blog, 2018)

Christmas Day tourists at the Sydney Opera House [Dec-2001 449KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

The “2001 Black Christmas Fires” had flared again in the Blue Mountains, turning the western sky dark red. Most people at the Opera House forecourt were staring at or photographing the smoke–obscured sun, except for this couple who were far more interested in each other

Nothing’s gonna change my world

Imagine no Holden Morrisey Caulfield

Strawberry Fields “Imagine” mosaic, Central Park NYC [Oct-2017 515KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

Some of the weekend circus attracted to Lennon’s memorial in Central Park. Peace had little chance when it came to jostling for the best selfie positions, while buskers in the background strummed variations of St John’s simplest tunes

Community standards

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

Dulwich Hill skate park [Sep-2015 88KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

The “sneakers thrown over power–lines” meme has been 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)

Subterranean homesick blues

You didn’t need a Snellen chart to see what was coming

Optometrist window display, Wilson Street Newtown [Jun-2023 287KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

The sun only shone onto the window–display during late afternoons in winter; The customer was only there for a minute; The poster, customer and eyeglasses all aligned as if by design

Malpractice with impunity

The very first document, among more than a hundred in this folder, is a signed declaration by our client that he mixed up his patients and accidentally performed 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 being dragged out for years with boilerplate requests for interrogatories, updated medical reports and dozens of discovery hearings? Well, it is our firm’s policy to thoroughly test the merits of all claims to discourage frivolous ones. The plaintiff was harmed, the surgeon admitted negligence, so it cannot be “frivolous” and, frankly, our deliberate 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 414KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

The synergy between law and healthcare. The accompanying blurb is a paraphrased version of a conversation between myself and a medical–litigation partner (in italics), in April 1992

Driven by unceasing mobility

Remember the physical–distancing rule and only travel when essential

Waiting for the Cronulla Ferry at Bundeena Wharf [Aug-2020 300KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

During the 2020 lockdowns there was frequent messaging about social isolation and avoiding “unnecessary” travel. This image was taken at the end of a 28km Royal Coast Track walk, and the commuters’ weariness mirrored the photographer’s fatigue

Precipitous descent

Decades of wandering through a hostile terrain, only to flounder in the sea

Ocean cliffs south of Little Marley, Royal National Park NSW [Aug-2020 458KB]

(Original image is located in the Landscape topic)

Remarks

A panorama from a hand–held multi–image sequence, which had to be taken by carefully rotating the camera around the lens entrance–pupil. With a calibrated camera–mount it is easy, but had to eyeball it here as the mount was left at home to keep the hiking weight down

Rebalance the value exchange

With rates at five–thousand–year lows (until 2022), cheap debt could not be blamed

Used–car yard at Parramatta Road Granville [Apr-2017 247KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Global interest rates were kept artificially low for decades to spur economic growth. Finding metaphors for the corresponding deterioration in lending standards + mountain of consumer–debt turned out to be surprisingly easy

Some vague semblance of community

Democracy continued to best serve the interests of those who were most invested

NSW election voting centre at Town Hall [Mar-2019 552KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

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

Forging a new deal

The transition from manufacturing to a financialised economy was completely seamless

Derelict Ford truck at The Grounds of Alexandria. Revisited in July 2023 and by then the Ford was mostly overgrown [Apr-2018 553KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

How do you depict the dismantling of industrial manufacture, with its associated high–quality jobs for working–class people, without being tediously didactic?

Shadow workforce

Chronic mass unemployment was eventually solved by changing survey methodology and definitions

Red flags at the Circular Quay promenade [Jul-1992 546KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Taken from the Cahill Expressway, looking down onto the paving at Circular Quay. The huge “knife” was actually the shadow of a banner flapping in the wind

Back in the CCCP

The centralised command economy disintegrated almost immediately

Street vendors at Tverskaya St in Moscow, on the day Russia ratified Belavezha Accords to formally withdraw from the USSR [Dec-1991 353KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Dozens of people were milling around the vendors. I had to wait 45 minutes, in the freezing cold, for the crowd to part just enough to reveal the sellers behind. Discovered later that most vendors like these had become unemployed in the post–soviet dislocation, and were attempting to hawk their wares to get some money to live on

Outwardness within

Solitude was regarded as being an anathema

Sightseeing at The Balconies, Royal National Park NSW [Aug-2019 572KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

The northern part of the Royal National Park tended to get overrun on weekends by day–trippers. Most came to pose for selfies, but occasionally you could also see people reflecting on what they saw

In the days of the citizen journalist

Broadcast–quality equipment was no longer required to craft good stories

Media–workers at the Sydney Opera House [Jul-2014 259KB]

(Original image is located in the Technology topic)

Remarks

Media–workers had to adapt to an environment for which they were grossly under–prepared. How were they going to survive in an increasingly interconnected world, where they not only had to be proficient in delivering content, but also mastering the increasingly complex tech which made it possible?

In the sky with diamonds

The airwaves were jammed with hits from forty years ago

580 George office building entrance, Sydney [Jul-2024 158KB]

(Original image is located in the Technology topic)

Remarks

Radio stations settled into an endless pattern of recycling popular hits, either directly by replaying 80s dance favourites, or indirectly via sampled mash–ups pretending to be new songs

Stack trace

International trade agreements led to enormous economic benefits

The concrete base of the demolished Port Kembla copper stack [Sep-2014 371KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

The Copper Stack became an landmark after its construction in 1965. Following its closure in 2003, it stood derelict for a decade before being demolished in Feb 2014. This photo was taken a few months later by scaling a security fence, along with risking arrest by waiting around for the sun to peek out between clouds

Keep us from harm

Every potential hazard was fastidiously identified and neutralised

Drink bubbler at Erskineville Public School, Sydney [Aug-2019 314KB]

(Original image is located in the Youth topic)

Remarks

Having taught in high–schools since 2009, it was always fascinating to witness the extreme lengths to which some risk–averse adults would go. Eg. this primary–school drinking fountain, where the additional safety rail not only prevents many small children from reaching the water, but also greatly increases the hazard–area, negating the reason for having rails in the first place

Delivery apps were so convenient

HungryPanda, Foodora, Uber Eats, DoorDash, EASI, Menulog, Deliveroo, Hey You, GrubHub, goPuff, EatNow, Yelp… We imported an underclass of self–employed contractors to zip around and deliver perfect Laksa, authentic Pad Thai, pork–filled Mooncakes, Tiger Milk bubble–tea, gluten–free Dumplings and vegan Banh Mi

Food delivery rider at Broadway, Sydney [Apr-2020 178KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

In 2020 food delivery riders were suddenly everywhere. Most were foreign “students”, who would tear around at breakneck speeds along footpaths and through plazas. During peak–lockdown these riders proliferated to such an extent that there were more of them hurtling through CBD streets than there were pedestrians trying not to get hit (ABC News, 2020)

Cut–through messaging

Make your mark, repeat, move on

Vandalised rail–car at the Zigzag railway, subsequently destroyed by the 2019 summer bushfires, Clarence [Jul-2019 372KB]

(Original image is located in the Technology topic)

Remarks

Found this abandoned rail–car while walking along the decommissioned Zig Zag rail line at Clarence in the Blue Mountains. Despite being extensively vandalised, the carriage was scheduled for restoration. A few months later another bushfire swept through the area, and this time the carriage was completely destroyed

Follow your geodesic

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

Posing tourists at Sydney Cove [Aug-2014 257KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

Like most western economies, there was an enthusiastic shift to rely on tourism as a foreign–exchange earning and local–jobs boosting “export”

Late for the sky

The air was eaten, promise crammed

The final blast–furnace at BlueScope Steel, in Port Kembla [Sep-2014 123KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

“Scheduled Trackwork” meant replacement buses between Wollongong and Port Kembla. Unfortunately they were so infrequent that I had to catch a regular bus service instead. Instead of going directly, it languidly meandered down every side–street for what seamed like hours before finally, grudgingly, arriving at the destination. Which meant there was more than enough time for the sky to cloud over and completely ruin the light. Yet after such a tortuous journey, you may as well check out the location you took so incredibly long to reach. So I walked out and then, as if on cue, the clouds parted and steam began to billow from the blast furnace chimney…

Situation normal

Everything was fine, until it wasn’t

Lawsons Auctions car–park, Moore Street Annandale [Sep-2015 312KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

The cars that ate Sydney… Walk the suburbs for hours and sometimes you will be rewarded with the most surreal experience

Efficiency dividend playbook

Exceptional merit deserved exceptional rewards

Darling Point ferry wharf, Sydney [Jan-2017 250KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

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

Epistemic insouciance

Full speed ahead for transient high–rollers from the sky (ABC News, 2020)

Crown casino construction, Barangaroo [Jan-2020 193KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Taken during the erection of Packer’s Pecker. It is difficult to exaggerate the thrall in which gambling wagering was held by politicians, the advertising–revenue–hungry media and most of the adult population of New South Wales (ABC News, 2024)

Cargo Culte

We lounged about in ill–fitting uniforms, languidly pressing buttons on small screens… waiting for the day He would return, bearing magnificent gifts

Palm tree outside the abandoned St Mary & St Mina’s Coptic Orthodox Church at Sydenham. In May 2017 it was damaged by a suspicious fire and subsequently demolished [Sep-2012 347KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Had to hang around for ages to capture this image, mainly due to perfecting the aeroplane composition. Often a small turboprop would arrive, when what you really wanted was a thundering A380. Or else there were long periods when there weren’t any planes at all. Either way, it isn’t an issue with high frame–rate cameras, but with Hasselblad A12 film backs you only had a dozen shots to get it right

Taming animal spirits

There is something more systematic about the way people behave irrationally, especially during periods of economic stress (Greenspan, 2013)

Lunchtime in a George Street amusement arcade, demolished a few years later [Sep-2003 323KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Having worked in high–pressure corporate environments in the 1990s, it proved difficult to find suitable metaphors outside. But then sometimes you got lucky

Ghosts of the CBD

The C–Suite resorted to upbeat–slogans, pleading, mandates and calling in political favours to get WFH employees to return to their city offices

Commuters at the new Central station northern concourse [Jul-2023 280KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Candid photography became a much riskier proposition than it was last century. Luckily, people were so accustomed to mobile phones being used for photographs that on rare occasions when they spotted an actual camera, they assumed it must only be for mundane things like birds or grandkids or flowers

Lifelong entanglement

We would have followed you anywhere

Bethesda Terrace, Central Park NYC [Oct-2017 559KB]

(Original image is located in the Youth topic)

Remarks

Noticed a family having formal portraits taken among weekend crowds in Central Park. Most of the shots were rigidly posed, but captured this more relaxed moment while mother and son waited for the photographer to adjust his gear

Golden sunlit uplands

Import alien species to remind you of home, then watch helplessly as they overrun the countryside

Invasive plant species Common Gorse spreads along the Taieri Gorge, NZ [Dec-2017 689KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

This was taken while precariously hanging out the door of the Taieri Gorge tourist train. Had originally wanted shots of the train taking a curve, but looked around and saw the weed–covered gully and photographed it instead — next time it might be an idea to stay safely inside the carriage and just point the camera out the window. There may not be a “next time” however, as the line was closed due to COVID related financial pressures in 2020, and the reopened service only runs to Hindon, well short of this location

Whither Einstein?

It transpired that God did play dice with the universe

Living room table at the Einsteinhaus Museum, Bern CH [Feb-2024 326KB]

(Original image is located in the Technology topic)

Remarks

Where were the Boomer equivalents of Maxwell, Einstein, Bhor, Schrödinger, Fermi, Pauli, Heisenberg, Dirac or Feynman?…

Race Day chic

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

Rosehill Racecourse, Melbourne Cup hairdresser’s picnic [Nov-2005 308KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

Another Hasselblad film image, using my “portable” 3kg set–up of 501CM, Distagon 50 FLE, PME45 viewfinder, Metz strobe, cable release and monopod

Potemkin Prosperity

The central irony of the financial crisis was that while it was caused by too much confidence, too much borrowing & lending and too much spending — it could only be resolved with more confidence, more borrowing & lending, and more spending (Summers, 2011)

Green shoots at the Westpac plaza in Sydney [Jan-2014 529KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Although always fascinated by the glibness of the economic expression green shoots, it took a lot of searching to find a corporate environment which actually had them

What this little black rock can do

We have to make sure this economy works. We have to export dollars. We have to realise we have a moral responsibility to other people in other nations to keep their lights on (Joyce, 2017)

The Steelworks and Coal Loader at Port Kembla harbour [Sep-2014 77KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Port Kembla had some of the largest coal handling facilities in the world. Unfortunately these utilitarian locations provided few opportunities for interesting images. Sunsets helped, as did telephoto lenses, silhouettes and a photomontage

The carnival is over

The market faithfully rewarded those who took a long–term view

Luna Park Hair Raiser ride, in the rain [Jan-2019 171KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Night photography is difficult, especially in the rain. It was persistent enough for water to seep into my 1991 35mm LUX (11337) lens, necessitating an around–the–world expedition to have it disassembled, cleaned and recalibrated

Tallest tombstones in the world

Arithmétique Macabre: 9/11 = 2977 + 18 462

Church spire beneath a flight path, at Rockdale in Sydney [Dec-2013 111KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

The impact of the September 2001 Islamist attacks cannot be overstated. It seeped into our culture and haunted us for decades

The customer was king

Everything you could possibly ever want, at your fingertips

Supermarket checkout, Nepean Village Penrith [Apr-2003 385KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Candid photography inside supermarkets was not easy. You were constantly monitored by employees, who were worried about theft of their product display ideas or pricing strategies. So I developed a special candid rig which, although it had my camera visible at all times, appeared to be transporting it instead of being used to take photographs

It just works

Release now, patch later

Jensen Avenue at Dover Heights [Nov-2016 291KB]

(Original image is located in the Technology topic)

Remarks

As a web–developer in 2006–8, it was frustrating to deliver feature–bloated software while it was still untested and incomplete. Exquisitely coiffured management would make wildly optimistic promises, which then fell upon us coders to fulfil. The resulting apps would inevitably be DOA, although this was often apt, as many cowboy clients had a similarly dysfunctional attitude towards paying their invoices

Through an augmented sky

A superabundance of atmospheric particulates ensured a golden hour for everyone

Sunrise over Bourke Street, Melbourne [Apr-2019 71KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

The 135mm TEM (11861) in action again. While on holidays in Melbourne, glanced out the balcony and noticed hot-air balloons being launched at dawn. A few 40mm shots looked okay, but the 135mm pointed into the sun did the trick

Ubiquitous harassment

We crossed the road near the Fairfax building and saw about twenty blokes loading trucks with bundled newspapers. As soon as they noticed her they started whistling and catcalling — almost hysterically. I was surprised but she wasn’t, and she added with quiet contempt: Building sites are worse…

Central Park brewery, Chippendale [Oct-2024 119KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

This happened in Dec 1984. One of the great social advances in the last forty years has been the near extinction of such overtly sexist behaviour — in public

Consumer karoshi

A culture had to be created in which self–sacrifice was indispensable

Market Street escalators at Centrepoint, Sydney [Jan-2016 278KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

A side–benefit of being treated for amblyopia as a child was learning to look critically at things. For example, these escalators bore an uncanny resemblance to a Japanese Samurai Kabuto

Forget your past

Architectural awards counted for little when it came to prime development sites

Darling Harbour Conference Centre demolition, Sydney [Apr-2014 216KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

It was ironic that these Darling Harbour buildings, which were lauded in the 1980s for their innovative design, should thirty years later become yet more fodder for the wrecking ball

What mean these stones?

We were at the beginning of a mass extinction, and all we could talk about was money and fairytales of eternal economic growth (Thundberg, 2019)

Iron slag at the Blast Furnace Park in Lithgow [Aug-2012 389KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

Another early Hasselblad image, but one which became the main inspiration for the project. Had always wanted to buy a V–System 6×6 camera, but could only afford to do so in 2004 when they started being dumped onto the second–hand market. Around that time my project was in its preliminary stages and somewhat purposeless. But a visit to Lithgow in 2012 yielded this image, and everything changed

Stakeholder

One could either use General Relativity field–equations to derive the Schwarzschild metric in n–dimensions, or else go shopping

Freezer aisle in the now defunct Franklins Supermarket, Katoomba [Dec-2003 400KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Again a custom Leica candid rig had to be used, with the added complication of a supermarket employee discreetly following me around to ensure I wasn’t taking photographs

Memories we created

We knew exactly how the future would remember us

Tree growing in the old Fosters brewery wall (since demolished), at Chippendale in Sydney [Apr-2014 525KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

Had already photographed the tree a few months earlier, but got lucky this time when a couple of pigeons inserted themselves into the shot. A year later the wall (and tree) was demolished when the Central Park development neared completion

Segregation now, tomorrow & forever

Only the most privileged could afford to live in their own city (SMH, 2024)

Distillery Drive cutting at Jacksons Landing, in Pyrmont [Jan-2013 343KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

I had to dodge at least a dozen cars to take this shot. The final one contained a private security guard, who told me there were complaints I was infringing people’s privacy. See that big triangular thing at the end of the street? I asked, Care to explain how privacy law applies to a cable–stayed concrete bridge?… At least he had the grace to smile before driving off

Temporary respite

Spend all morning crawling over room–sized boulders, before having a break and doing it all over again on the way back

Glenbrook Gorge, Lapstone [Aug-2021 611KB]

(Original image is located in the Landscape topic)

Remarks

A few days earlier noticed a family with small children wandering around in Glenbrook Gorge. Thought if they could take their toddlers in there, then it shouldn’t be too hard for me. Yeah right. Clambering over boulders for almost an hour and then slipping into the river with $Ks camera gear was not anyone’s idea of “easy”. N.B. the small beach in the image no longer exists, washed away by extensive flooding in 2022

Smokers soiree

We couldn’t imagine there would be a time when almost no one smoked in public

UNSW Revue director and producer A–H, at an after–show party at Darlinghurst [May-1985 206KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

We grew up surrounded by tobacco smokers in the 1960–70s. Yet one of the few positive achievements of my generation has been the 70% reduction in smoking since 1995 (AIHW, 2024). We ended up saving more lives in the 21st century than were lost in all the wars in the century before

Day–tripping

The greater our impact on nature, the more we wanted to see what little remained

Waterrun, Royal National Park NSW [Aug-2019 411KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

Many people would travel for hours to take photographs of themselves. In the background you can see one of the perilous cliffs mentioned earlier

Peak oil

Rapid obsolescence was just around the corner

Motorcycle parking at the top of Hill Street, North Sydney [Oct-2020 378KB]

(Original image is located in the Landscape topic)

Remarks

A disadvantage of panoramic cylindrical projection is that horizontal lines will always appear curved. You can partially compensate by using a Mercator projection, but often you just have to live with it. If the budget allows, you could print the image and mount it inside a concave backing, and then stand inside the arc to see the horizontals straight again, a truly mind–bending experience. (Here the master image is 15340×7670 pixels, which if printed at 150 dpi would yield a print 2.6×1.3 metres)

No map and a broken compass

Cheap goods and MTV proved more effective than détente and ICBMs

Bric–a–brac stall on Tverskaya St, Moscow, beneath a memorial plaque to the soviet artist Pyotr Vasilyev [Dec-1991 466KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Moscow December 1991, a few days before the end of the Soviet Union. The command-economy had collapsed, while early attempts at market capitalism stalled because there wasn’t enough investment capital or disposable income

Ponzimonium

Jeffrey Keith Skilling (Enron Corp); Walter Forbes (Cendant Corp); Richard Fuld (Lehman Brothers); Bernard Lawrence Madoff (Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC); Satoshi Nakamoto (Bitcoin); Ruja Ignatova (OneCoin); Markus Braun (Wirecard); Sam Bankman–Fried (FTX); 권도형 (Terraform Labs); 赵长鹏 (Binance); Sergei Panteleevich Mavrodi (MMM Global); Elizabeth Anne Holmes (Theranos Inc.); Trevor Milton (Nikola Motor Company); Alan Bond (Bond Corporation Holdings Ltd); David Walsh (Bre-X Minerals Ltd.); 錢培琛 (M. Knoedler & Co.); 许家印 (Evergrande Group); Thomas Joseph Petters (Petters Group Worldwide); Trương Mỹ Lan (Sai Gon Joint Stock Commercial Bank); Marc Stuart Dreier (Dreier, LLP); Michael I. “Mickey” Monus (Phar Mor); Ramón Báez Figueroa (Banco Intercontinental); Scott W. Rothstein (Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler)

Wedding Cake Rock, RNP [Jul-2019 211KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Wedding Cake Rock was a social–media hotspot at the northern end of the Royal National Park. A fence had been erected to prevent people from plunging to their deaths (there had been a few), along with preserving the fragile rock–shelf. The irony was that many selfie lovers still clambered over the fence to get their snaps at the cliff’s edge (as shown in the photo). A few months later a taller, reinforced and impenetrable mesh barrier was finally installed

Teachable moments

At a time when issues of decolonisation and anti–racism were paramount, gallerists & curators taught us the moral imperative of correcting historical wrongs by celebrating reclamation, multiplicity and all things blak

Adrián Villar Rojas’ “The End of Imagination”, AGNSW [Dec-2022 80KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

This was almost the project’s final image, due to my heart attack in January 2023

A crown of ashes

Every Christmas we would gaze up at the pyrocumulus sky, exchange Bushfire Survival Plans and kiss anxiously beneath the epicormic shoots

Woodford bushfire aftermath, Blue Mountains [Dec-2019 705KB]

(Original image is located in the Landscape topic)

Remarks

Panoramic sequences became commonplace when phones and cameras started to include built–in “panorama mode” options. Yet high–resolution panos still require lens entrance–pupil aligned mounts and supports. I used to do this stuff professionally 1996—2006, so it’s fun to occasionally get the gear out to shoot some scenes, here the aftermath of yet another Blue Mountains bushfire

Laps around the sun

We left The Cure concert ages ago but her decrepit Ford Fiesta Mk1 wouldn’t start; Eventually some bloke gave us a jump–start, although he glanced so often at her lycra sleeveless turtleneck that she had to fold her arms (and stage whisper to me Next time remind me to wear a burqa); Finally we’re speeding through a late winter night, yet she insists on driving with all the windows down; We pull in to a 24hr service station to refuel and decant a bottle of oil into the smoking engine; Arrive at her student–share terrace to climb the narrow interior stairs; Our quiet voices in her 3×3¾m room; Milk–crate furniture, overladen clothes rack, Chelsea Girls poster, cassettes, cigarettes, overstuffed ashtray, oil column heater, photocopied course–materials, fluorescent markers and a hot water bottle on her unmade bed; An incongruous National Geographic magazine with an Underground Railroad cover; Shove aside a week of clothes to sit on a red & white Mexican rug; She lights another cigarette and blows more smoke at the cone of light from the ceiling; I clean her fingerprint smeared spectacles and she beams with delight; In the background a mechanical alarm–clock ticks; She finally confides why I was there: Because my current boyfriend prefers to spend his time swinging on a tyre rope… Curled up in each other’s arms; Fingers through her clean snaggly hair; Playful kisses on her nose; She tells me about her neglected childhood, which prompts gentle teasing about her diamond ear–studs; Her round face and large brown eyes; The faintest wisp of a moustache; Peel off her clothes and trace the seam–marks on her soft flesh; The axillary hair stubble and fine black hairs on her lower abdomen; The perfume in unexpected places; Her laugh; Her voice; Her curves; Her smell, and mouth, and teeth, and fingernails, and warmth; Her icy cold feet; Her light brown areolae; Her surprisingly small cot

Turning circle (since repainted) outside Central Station, Sydney [Mar-2019 763KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

Every image in this project has at least one subtext. Part of the challenge was finding them in the most unlikely places

Preserving social harmony

Our commitment to specific kinds of D.E.I. was unwavering

The waterfall entrance to the NGV, Melbourne [Apr-2019 525KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

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

Bubble watch

Rising property prices were carefully manipulated to create more economic winners than losers

Spectators on the steps of the former CBC Bank, Martin Place [Apr-2006 243KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Taken during the 2006 Anzac Day march, at the moment when everyone looked up to watch planes fly over. What made the shot difficult was getting the timing right when using a film-based Hasselblad, mounted on a monopod and triggered by a mechanical cable release

Look back in covfefe

Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something that’s more productive (Trump, 1987)

Trump impersonator on Broadway, NYC [Oct-2017 307KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

The election of the 45th US President in 2016 unleashed a torrent of invective from activists, scholars, pundits and media–workers. It was almost as if all the carping & op–eds & impeachment attempts & special counsels & house select committees & pussyhats & baby blimps & politically–timed indictments & Hollywood admonishments & joyful smiling Kamalas could somehow reverse history. And then in 2024 he was re–elected in a landslide to become the 47th US President

In the thrall of Schedule 8

A considerable number of people spent their lives up the Cross

Fitzroy Gardens in Kings Cross [May-2003 438KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

Taken using a Leica rangefinder, when it was still presumed to be the only way to do unobtrusive candid photography. Yet in subsequent years have used cameras triple the size, sometimes even mounted on a tripod. So it’s merely a question of confidence, timing and discretion, and not the brand of camera or whether the logo has been covered with black tape

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 478KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

The Sydney CBD was overrun with vagrants who would strategically position themselves at major thoroughfares to maximise their earning potential. Noticed this bivouac at a busy outdoor mall and came back a couple of days later to photograph it. Was amazed that neither the police nor council rangers had asked them to move on

Think small

The legacy of an ailing premier; A charismatic and perfectionist architect; Engineers hamstrung by 1960s tech; A meddling public broadcaster; Timorous Bureaucrats; Spiteful rustic politicians… The Sydney Opera House looked magnificent from afar, but up close it was riddled with defects caused by years of bickering, indecision and compromise

Front yard fountain at Church Street, Croydon [Sep-2016 447KB]

(Original image is located in the Technology topic)

Remarks

Despite being fêted by progressives, Jørn Utzon was forced out of the country in 1966 due to issues related to the design and completion of Stages I & II (the podium and shells). It then required an additional seven years by the Minister for Public Works and his hand–picked artisans to complete Stage III (the performance halls and windows), resulting in a 300% cost blow–out and some of the worst acoustics and sightlines in the world. These were only rectified in 2022 by the 50th anniversary renovations

Magic sponge

During mass at our spiritual home in St. Bernardino, the archreferee would hold aloft the Sacred Sphere and bestow upon us a homily of his most holy blessing: Kind friends, VVIPs, Ultras and Hottest–WAGs, we are gathered here on St. Totteringham’s Day to drink beers and throw flares, onto this, our most honoured turf. To soar heavenward upon Mexican Waves while singing “Sweet Caroline”. To give 110% when sports–washing the unsaved. To throw sardines into the sea from the back of a 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 win forever big, and losers must fall hard. So please take a knee, wrap your Keffiyeh tight 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 244KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

St. Bernardino

Patron saint of behavioural modification social conditioning advertising, communications & compulsive gambling wagering

Sacred Sphere

A hollow spherical object made of suitable material, with an external circumference between 680—700mm, 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

Ultras

Highly accomplished association football fans noted for their black hoodies, superior impulse–control, face tattoos and civilised behaviour during pitch invasions

Hottest–WAGs

The most attractive and highly accomplished Wives & Girlfriends of players

St Totteringham’s Day

The day celebrated by Arsenal fans when Tottenham can no longer outrank them in the League table

Mexican Waves

A mechanical transverse wave comprised of vertically oscillating sports–fans

Sweet Caroline

The singalong talisman of the hive mind, penned by one of music’s greatest gifts to humanity

110%

Aside from theoretical aspects of Quantum Mechanics, spectator sport is the only known exemption to the 1st Law of Thermodynamics

Sports–washing

The role of talented, hard–working and well–sourced writers when reporting physical recreation events

Throw sardines […] trawler

King Eric’s 1995 epigram

Hand of God […]

The 1986 FIFA World Cup miraculous goal

Take a knee

A highly efficient way to signal virtue

Keffiyeh

The most sacred of moral emblems

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: “compulsive gambling game of chance”

Memories of what’s to come

The last thing we wanted to do was extirpate all the large vertebrates (WWF, 2018)

Deceased sulfur-crested cockatoo, Warrimoo [Dec-2017 180KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

The cockatoo — which had died overnight — was lying on a neighbour’s front lawn, with ants starting to explore its carcass. Used the 100mm APO (11352) to get in close and bring out the details, and yes the Salvador Dali [1] & [2] and Citizen Kane references were deliberate

Channelling Sierra Leone

Dodge the PolAir through Chippendale, run the lights on Enmore road, swerve left at the servo and pull–up across the road from the burned–out BMW

Enmore smash repairs [May-2023 377KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

Purchased a Sony SEL-1655G lens in Dec 2019 to use for school functions. Was reluctant to use it for personal work due to its substantial barrel distortion at wider angles. It took until May 2023 to figure out how to fully correct it, mainly due to Capture One Pro’s inadequate support for non–native DNGs

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 158KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

A couple of years after this photo was taken, 22 of the ship’s passengers were killed during a shore excursion due to the 2019 White Island volcanic eruption

Gone a million

The rich were always with us

Abandoned Rolls–Royce at Hiles Street in Alexandria [Jun-2015 320KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

The Rolls Royce was parked in Alexandria for a long time. In Nov 2019, four years after the photo was taken, Leica Australia held a launch event for their SL–2 camera in a converted warehouse in the same street. After the presentation I went outside to see if the Rolls was still there — it was

Lambos to the moon

It was an era of unending optimism when vast fortunes were made without effort. When cashed–up families prospered, inflation was beaten (until 2022) and credit was easy at near–zero rates (until 2022). When average mums & dads became CEOs, collected NFTs (until 2023), leased out short–term rentals and bet hard on cryptocurrencies. When stock markets kept rising to record heights, and house values ballooned to what looked like a permanently high plateau…

Living statue performer at Circular Quay [Jul-2017 348KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

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

On track for Soylent Green

2019–20 → months of raging bushfires
2020–21 → pandemic lockdowns
2020–23 → torrential rain & flooding from three consecutive La Niñas
2023–24 → stagflation, interest rate hikes and global heatwaves from a super El Niño

SOH Tour group during the 2019–20 summer bushfires [Jan-2020 321KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

It was amazing how similar the light was that day to the strangled sunshine in the 1973 sci–fi movie. If that wasn’t enough, what was an offhand remark about Sydney in Jan 2020, turned out to be an precursor of what happened in Greece and NYC three years later

Two–speed world

We had a choice in the 1980’s as to which direction we wanted to go

The remains of Lawrence Hargrave Drive beside the Sea Cliff bridge, near Coalcliff [Dec-2016 616KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

Those who drove over the Sea Cliff Bridge rarely noticed the abandoned Lawrence Hargrave Drive below. Prior to the bridge being built, the drive was decommissioned in Aug 2003 due to numerous rockfalls from the escarpment on its western edge. Yet it still remained open to intrepid walkers, and the cabin–sized boulder which finally closed it still sits in the middle of the road

Braving the abyss

Despite challenging market conditions, and a negative return for your superannuation this year, we continue to deliver strong long–term returns. […] Significant market falls can be worrying, but staying invested remains vitally important. […] When we invest your super, our approach is focussed on the long term, to help maximise your retirement savings. But it also manages short–term risks in times like these. I want to reassure you, our members, that we remain committed to investing to help you achieve your best retirement outcomes. Bulk email from the CEO of Aware Super, 2022-07-08

Waterrun cliff-side, RNP [Aug-2020 578KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Waterrun is a dramatic rock–shelf in the Royal National Park. The narrow river valley is surrounded by 50m cliffs, the tops of which provide an overhead view. Unfortunately you have to climb out to the very edge of these things to get the best shots. Have done it twice, there won’t be a third time…

North to Avoska

Before mobile phones, perhaps–bags accompanied us everywhere

Totes diptych at Hornsby and Town Hall, Sydney [Apr-2005 247KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, people always carried shopping bags in case goods become available. In the west there were rarely any shortages, but similar bags were carried nevertheless

Defenestrate your livelihood

We mortgaged the future and bet it all on there not being one

Waverton Coal Loader wharf [Feb-2022 587KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Although ruin–porn is a photography cliché, there are times when you cannot ignore it. To get the overhead shot, I had to climb a barbed–wire topped security fence. The apparent pincushion distortion by the 19mm ELMARIT (11329) is misleading, as the degraded planks and trusses were significantly bent

How green was my valley

The greatest accomplishment of my generation was the systematic destruction everyone’s childhood

Winter valley below Mürren CH [Feb-2024 525KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

Taken at an altitude of 1630m on 16 Feb 2024. It was the middle of a Swiss alpine winter, yet in the Lauterbrunnen valley the daily maximums had been averaging 10°C for a month. It should have typically been −6°C, with everything covered in deep snow

Monsters from the Id

The term “Boomer Legacy” often refers to the lasting impact of the Baby Boomer generation, those born between 1949 and 1964, on various aspects of society. This generation experienced significant cultural shifts and economic growth, which have influenced areas such as culture, commerce, and technology. The legacy includes both positive contributions, like technological advancements and cultural enrichment, as well as challenges, particularly in environmental and economic sustainability. Understanding this legacy is crucial as it shapes the world future generations will inherit.
 
(AI text generated in May 2024 by Microsoft Edge Copilot, in response to the prompt Boomer Legacy)

Thai Pothong restaurant sculpture, Newtown [Jun-2024 357KB]

(Original image is located in the Technology topic)

Remarks

My generation will become the most reviled in history. We will even be blamed for things we didn’t actually do (Marcus, 2024)

Accidental monuments

Civil Engineering 101: slap something together as cheap as you can and then completely rebuild it later for 5× the cost — to solve problems you should have addressed the first time

Zigzag Railway upper viaduct, Clarence [Jul-2019 561KB]

(Original image is located in the Technology topic)

Remarks

Landscapes are hard. You not only have to be in the right place, at the right time with the right gear, but you also have to work with the prevailing light and come up with an something more substantial than “eye–candy”

Known unknowns

When the smoke finally cleared, it was almost as if there wasn’t any anthropogenic climate change

Hornby Lighthouse gun emplacement, South Head Sydney [Dec-2014 216KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

South Head turned out to symbolise the end of the line in more ways than expected

Meaningful social interactions

Facebook™, Twitter “X”, LinkedIn™, Instagram™, WhatsApp™, TikTok™, WeChat™, Snapchat™, reddit™, 4/8Chan… Elaborate frameworks were created to ensure you could never possibly be alone

Stargazer lawn at Barangaroo Reserve, Sydney [Aug-2016 497KB]

(Original image is located in the Technology topic)

Remarks

Another scene discovered by accident. Had revisited Millers Point to reshoot the clothesline crucifix image. Then went for a walk and ended up at the “Stargazer Lawn” to find this installation, with people walking around and through the wooden crossbeams

Fête Moderne

There was a tremendous disconnect between the amount of sex in our culture and the amount that people actually got

W–H portfolio session, Hurstville [Jun-1991 367KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

The lusciously clean hair; The fingers, manicured nails & parted lips; The feminine curves and décolletage… it’s all very alluring until you notice the spiked belt

PETM reloaded

Nine–month summers, super El Niños, category–six hurricanes, continental bushfires, methane fumaroles, acidified oceans, cubic–kilometres of eutrophication and rivers awash with millions of dead fish. Years of drought followed by months of flooding rain. Millennium events every five years. Every month since May 2023 among the hottest on record. The sixth mass extinction… Aim low for +1.5°C and congratulate ourselves for only overshooting by 80%

Truck exhaust pipes at Woolloomooloo, in Sydney’s east [Oct-2012 137KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

We lived in a world filled with 2–3 tonne petrol–guzzling behemoths and their dickhead drivers

Life under the occupation

The Fragmented became harmonised when staff were made to compile their own dossiers

Revolving doors at the ANZ bank building, in Castlereagh Street [Aug-2014 182KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

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

Brett’s armchair

The same music in completely different hands

Room 82 on the sixteenth floor, Harbourside Apartments [Jan-2019 295KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

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’t find anything wrong with it

Bo–ho chic

Normcore/ Preppy/ Indie/ Grunge/ Bucolic Jazz Scocialism… we celebrated quirky dressers who spent a little more time than most on carefully curating their own look and personal brand

Nightcluber on the Cronulla–Bundeena ferry, in Sydney’s south [Jan-2005 196KB]

(Original image is located in the Youth topic)

Remarks

Another Hasselblad candid shot. Working discreetly with a shoebox sized camera at the bow of a pitching ferry was not easy. But that was nothing compared to the hours required to balance the colours and retouch the scratches and 100+ dust–spots on the scanned nineteen-year-old C41 negative

Eloi wonderland

We gathered by the harbourside to sip infused agave nectar and nibble on sweet fuyu persimmons, and gaze in astonishment at the vast contraptions built by our god–like antecedents

Sydney Harbour sunrise kayaks [Jan-2019 245KB]

(Original image is located in the Technology topic)

Remarks

The 135mm TEM (11861) can be an amazing lens under the right conditions. Particularly when shooting into a low sun, it makes everything go an intense orange while still resisting flare and retaining sharpness. Unfortunately it is also 100g heavier than the current 135mm APO (11889), but it does have a greater focus ring throw–angle to make adjustments easier, and is (ahem) thousands of dollars cheaper

The one sure bet

My generation decided there was more money to be made by asset value speculation than productive investment

Financial reporter at the Sydney ASX [Oct-2018 192KB]

(Original image is located in the Commerce topic)

Remarks

Had originally planned to get shots of the predicted stock–market collapse that day — presumably the same reason the financial reporter was there. Unsurprisingly the crash didn’t happen, and after a brief dip, the market surged to new heights, again

Here we were

Passing paths that climb halfway into the void (Yes, 1972)

Royal Coastal Track, near Wattamolla [Aug-2020 732KB]

(Original image is located in the Environment topic)

Remarks

Roger Dean everywhere, although without the pretty tarns and waterfalls

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 404KB]

(Original image is located in the Culture topic)

Remarks

As mentioned earlier, one of the enjoyable aspects of this project was finding unusual scenes in unexpected places. You would walk for hours and then suddenly there it was, almost as if was waiting to be found

Staging server

What was once esoteric technology confined to a research lab, was now routinely used for amusement

Stage technician, Campbells Cove Sydney [Jan-2019 234KB]

(Original image is located in the Technology topic)

Remarks

For years had wanted to capture an scene which not only reflected the amazing capabilities of modern technology, but also hinted at some of its dilemmas