About

I’ve learned that supporting community can be done through often subtle shifts. With the right leverage, it’s possible to build a community’s sense of purpose and optimism. Levers can be social, such as a markets or an active group of residents communicating and motivating one another, or physical such as plantings, artwork or sensible people-sensitive design.

At other times communities exist simply, in the quiet peace of a balanced social and private life, (though often there are people working hard to enable this). Whatever your preference, the truth is that communities can fall apart when there is a focus on hyperindividualism and the building of financial capital at the expense of the values that hold us to social, environmental or emotional health and responsibility.

With tertiary qualifications in Sustainable Development, Community Development and Management, previous studies in Psychology, and a current Masters in Regional and Economic Development, my interest is now squarely situated in developing Healthy, Regenerative Communities through:

• Place (living well, locally) – read Rob Hopkin’s The Transition Handbook

• Creativity (creating, mending, fixing or doing without) – read Annie Raser-Roland and Adam Grubb’s The Art of Frugal Hedonism

• Economies (and measuring what matters) – read Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics

• Communities and families (realising our individual wellbeing is tied up in collective wellbeing. Families are where we first build a sense of self, I am quietly passionate about their importance and both their robustness and vulnerability) – read Gordon Neufeld’s Hold On To Your Kids

• Business (providing solutions for good) – read Ryan Honeyman’s The B Corp Handbook

• Slowing Down (listening deeply, to each other and the world) – read Susan Cain’s Quiet

Our societal structures and expectations don’t always allow us the time to indulge in some of these slower measures (for example I don’t always have the time to fix everything I would like to). Working out how we can restore some of these values to our society occupies much of my spare thinking time!

For now, this site operates as a library of the resources I’ve found to support the building of a better, more connected, locally living, global world.

Note: in my ten years as a photographer I had the privilege of photographing people at their celebratory best and in their private homes. You will find a small portfolio of these here as I am, very occasionally, asked to photograph a wedding!