richardslaughter.com.au

Two of the series of ten monographs from the Australian Foresight Institute’s (AFI) research program carried out during 2001 to 2005 have been placed in the Foresight Monographs section. One looks at the Transformative Cycle (or T-cycle for short), a tool or method for considering ‘breakdowns and renewals of meaning’. The other provides a summary of the whole program and attempts to draw together some of its conclusions. For the other monographs go to: http://www.swinburne.edu.au/business/research_reports.html

if you’re interested in how to implement strategic foresight there’s no better source than this book edited by Andy Hines and Peter Bishop and published by Social Technologies in 2006. It draws on the work and experience of foresight practitioners around the world and distills this knowledge into six practical steps: framing, scanning, forecasting, visioning, planning and acting. The preface can be found here, along with a link to more info about the book.

Having been to two other similarly-titled ‘Future Summits’ I was interested in how Kevin Rudd’s much-heralded event held in Canberra in April 2008 would operate and what responses it would evoke. In this piece I take a critical look at what was missing in this and similar cases.

I’ve placed a small sample of my bird pictures in the Best Birds Gallery at right. I will slowly add to this section over time.

I’ve just uploaded three new papers that can be found in the general futures section at right.

I’ve watched this mural unfolding along the eastern wall of Dimmy’s store in Richmond for several years. It’s the work of artist Hayden Dewar who returns to the site each summer to add the next section. The mural begins at the left hand end with the early history of Dimmy’s in the mid-19^th century. It then manages to incorporate a wide range of Australian icons, both human and otherwise. 

The mural seems to have achieved respect from other street artists and has largely escaped being ‘bombed’ (defaced) by taggers. An article in the Melbourne Age by Martin Flanagan (Monday June 7^th, 2004) provides some background on Dewar. But there is really no substitute for visiting the site and taking your own look at a unique and often witty reflection of Australian history and culture. I would not be surprised to see it designated one day as a national treasure.

The pictures above show sections of the mural and Dewar working in mid 2006. Some of my favourite sections are also shown below. (To be continued)

This section will provide an overview of my interests in, and explorations of, imaging. I’ll be adding to it periodically with a view to proving a sample of work, including some of my favourite images.

My earliest camera was a simple plastic one. I took the black and white films to be processed by a friend’s father. Later, at Chester College (1965-68) I joined the photographic society and learned to process the films myself. I took photos at college events, sold the pictures and used the income to buy my first single lens reflex (SLR). Later, in Bermuda I graduated to a pair of Pentax Spotmatic cameras and eventually a motor driven Hassleblad. With these I was able to accumulate a number of images of Bermuda wildlife, especially birds. This growing collection resulted in my first book, Birds in Bermuda (1975).

Back in the UK full time study and a young family prevented me from doing much more than taking the usual family pictures. The exception was provided by various antiquities accessible around Northern England and the Lake District – mainly carved crosses, early church decoration, stone circles and the like.

Like everyone else I took travel pictures wherever I went but, frankly, I’ve always found tourist images banal. Then, for my 60^th birthday, my eldest son, Rohan, presented me with one of my biggest surprises ever – a Nikon D50. Suddenly a door opened into a new world of digital imaging. Along with the requisite software and a Mackintosh computer I was not only able to return to my earlier preoccupation with wildlife, I was also able to digitise rare prints, negatives and slides and distribute copies to other family members. Furthermore, and like many others, I began to explore some of the features of Photoshop Elements and, among other things, to craft composite images from many different sources.

During 2008 and beyond I’ll be steadily adding new images here so if you’re interested in subjects that include wildlife, antiquities, street art and surrealism, you may want to bookmark the site and check back from time to time. 

Welcome to my Word Press powered Weblog. The site is currently under construction! In the near future I’ll be adding regular blog entries, photographs and a selection of some of my shorter papers, both published and unpublished.

Richard.