Behind My Lens
This is where my Blog is. It is where I muse about life in general and the things that grab my attention. For my Photographic collections just click here
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You can find even more photography on my SmugMug Account or Flickr Account
Form Follows Function
One of those most important things I learned when I did my web design and web administration qualifications back in the day was
"Form Follows Function"
It is an old design mantra that was around before the internet. In the early years of web design you basically had to hand code your website using HTML. So you needed to make sure the site was fuctonal before you looked at its form, what it was going to look like. Was your website easy to and logical to navigate around when you were looking for specific information? Now most websites are built on content management systems where people spend more time on making it look cool and it seems to me much less time on the sites functionality. It does not matter how wonderful your site looks if people get frustrated trying to navigate it to find information. It is why in the old days of web design you spent 80% of the time designing on paper and 20% actually on your computer building it. For example my site might not win an award for its beauty but it is easy to find what you are looking for.
VALE: Dr. Joan
Yesterday I attended the funeral of Dr Joan Curtis (Esser) I had know Dr Joan literally all my life. She delivered my brother Peter in 1967. Joan was an example of somebody who interwove her professional career as a Doctor into her fierce support for her local community and those who lived in it especially those who were doing it tough. She had a strong intellect and as was said during the funeral she did not suffer fools gladly. However behind her formidable personality beat an empathetic heart. When her youngest son Jonathen was diagnosed with autism she went on a life long journey to understand it and to create an environment for those with Autism and their parents to live their best lives with dignity and respect. She also handed back a well earned Australia Day honour because she was outraged and ashamed at how asylum seekers and refuges were being treated in detention centres. During the funeral a recently discovered letter that she wrote to herself as a seventeen year old was read out. It was beautifully written. I would be in no doubt that the seventeen year old Joan would have been so proud of the person she became and the many things she achieved during her long life. She never just talked about the importance of community she lived it her entire life. RIP Joan. A life truely well lived.
Words Matter
Political discourse should be a battle of ideas not a battle of who can be the most toxic or poisonous. It is frankly easy to post something toxic and threatening. You don't need much intelligence to do that it however requires more intelligence to debate ideas and choose civility over poisonous outrage and grievance. Free speech should be a right but if you don't use that right wisely you may wake up one day with that right taken away from you and frankly you will deserve the consequences of what you sow. Helen Haines was tragically the victim and the ultimate expression of the way we currently engage in political discourse. So before you jump online to post that viscous comment maybe take five minutes to think of Helen because words matter.
VALE: Mansfield Apex Club.
In few hours I will be heading to our local show grounds to celebrate the life of The Mansfield Apex Club. I was a member back in the 80s and early 90s. Apex was a young mans service club. In my time you could be a member until the age of forty. When I left school at 18 and started working at the old shire of Mansfield I was invited to join Apex. It was one of the best decisions I made. I learned through my time what it was like to work to make your community a better place as well as making friends. I have many memories but one that sands out is a number of local members traveling to Macedon after the horrific Ash Wednesday fires to help with the cleanup. I borrowed a pair of Dad’s steel-capped Forestry boots and got a first hand view of the utter devastation that fires can cause. I also learned how to speak in public due to Apex having public speaking and debating contests. My Friend Martin Hunt, David Parsons and I fell one step short of making the Zone debating final. Apex built playgrounds, netball shelters raised lots of money for local and national projects and moulded generations of young men to be community orientated through service. There is so much more I could say but it seams the era of service clubs has come to an end. this is terribly sad. VALE: Mansfield Apex Club.