Monday 5 May 2014

Day 125: South Bank again...

Day 125: ...not that I want to shout about it.

Back to South Bank today, back there at 8.00am in fact. Felt like I had only been there 12 hours before...oh, wait...

Funny thing happened on the way to this 'teaching-free' semester, my other activities seem to just take up more (and more) time. Both of today's activities fall into that 'engagement/service' folder we as academics are expected to keep full, almost as full as our teaching and research. Brownie points, or something. 

The main part of the day was taken up with a G20 conference, raising issues of agenda, development, civil society, economics, resources and so on. Brisbane is hosting the G20 later in the year and so the conference was a precursor of what we might anticipate. Hosted by Griffith University, it was an interesting day. For a brief moment, I stepped out onto the balcony. It was a beautiful May day (again) and the venue overlooked the Queensland Conservatorium. There, I spied some public art that frankly, just made me want to sing. 

You can sing, or shout, about it


Later in the day, I had to dash across the river (retracing yesterday's photography steps) for a meeting at Parliament House. I chair the Queensland chapter of the Australasian Studies of Parliament Group and we meet regularly in Parliament House. See, even in my 'spare time', my hobbies include 'politics'. 

I couldn't help but feel a little bereft without my big camera as I retraced yesterday's path. I spotted this group of our much maligned ibis with a bubbling water feature and all I could think of was 'ah, if I could flick the switch to 'M', ISO 400, f. 5.6, 1/250, 75-300mm'...or similar. 

If only...


But alas, it was just the trusty iPhone. I imagined it to be a brief exercise in composition instead, not quite something to sing, much less shout about. 

[Camera : iPhone 4S, 1.11pm, 4.31pm]