Footscray West Writers Fest 2026

Nadia was invited to speak at the ‘Poetry & Wine’ sessions at this year’s Footscray West Writers Fest, which is now in its second year of running.

Naturally, I brought my camera along and took a few photos while I was there :)

Graphic showing the Footscray West Writers Fest 2026 logo and a circular collage of black-and-white photos of the speakers at the ‘Poetry & Wine’ session.

Introduction

Thuy On kicking off the ‘Poetry & Wine’ session

Photo of poet Thuy On seated in an outdoor courtyard. She is speaking into a microphone that she is holding in her hand. Thuy is wearing a red-and-black dress with a bright-red flower fascinator in her hair.

Jaidyn Attard

Jaidyn Attart is a street poet and I actually posted a photo of one his poems back in 2024 :)

Jaidyn Attard reciting his poetry - 1

Photo of poet Jaidyn Attard standing in a wine-bar courtyard. He is reciting his poetry into a microphone that he is holding in his hand. Jaidyn is wearing a black t-shirt and brown overshirt. Jaidyn is also looking straight at the photographer taking this photo.

Nadia Niaz

Nadia Niaz getting ready to recite her poetry

Photo of poet Nadia Niaz standing at a table in a wine-bar courtyard. Nadia is sorting through some papers on the table as she prepares to read her poetry to the audience.

Nadia Niaz reciting her poetry - 1

Photo of poet Nadia Niaz standing in a wine-bar courtyard. Nadia is reciting her poetry into the microphone that is on a mic-stand in front of her. She is gesturing with her right hand while holding open her book, The Djinn Hunters, in her left hand. Nadia is wearing a black top and black jacket.

Thuy On

Thuy On reciting her poetry - 1

Photo of poet Thuy On standing in a wine-bar courtyard. Thuy is reciting her poetry into the microphone that is on a mic-stand in front of her. She is holding open one of her poetry books with her right hand. Thuy is wearing a red-and-black dress with a bright-red flower fascinator in her hair.

Random photo

Outdoor LED lighting at West Footscray Wines

Photo of an LED light globe affixed to a string of outdoor lights in a wine-bar courtyard. There are cobwebs on the light fixture and, in the background of the photo, you can see an out-of-focus mural painted on the courtyard wall.

Lili Ward

Lili Ward reciting her poetry - 1

Photo of poet Lili Ward seated in a wine-bar courtyard. Lili is reciting her poetry into the microphone that is on a mic-stand in front of her. She is reading from her poetry book, Easily Enlightened. Lili is wearing a black t-shirt that reads, "Readers and writers against the genocide".

Volunteer photographer

Footscray West Writers Fest 2026 volunteer taking a photo - 1

I like taking photos of photographers and videographers, the folks who are usually on the other side of the lens. I even have an album on Flickr with all such photos I’ve taken over the years :)

Photo of a young woman wearing grey jeans and an olive green event-branded t-shirt who is sitting on a walkway that connects at wine-bar courtyard to the main building. This photo is taken between rows of audience members seated at an outdoor poetry reading event. The woman is using a Canon DSLR camera to take a photo of the speaker who is currently reciting their poetry.

Magan Magan

Magan Magan reciting his poetry - 1

Photo of poet Magan Magan standing in a wine-bar courtyard, as seen above the heads of some audience members. Magan is reciting his poetry into the microphone that is on a mic-stand in front of him. Magain is wearing a black t-shirt and brown wool cap, and he is reading from the smartphone he is holding in his hands.

Linkin Park in Melbourne, 2026

After attending the 8 March Linkin Park concert with Nadia, I attended the 10 March concert by myself. A lot of the folks around me had done exactly the same: attended the first show with their partner and were now attending this second show on their own :)

Since I’d already seen most of this show once – there was a six-song difference between day one and day two – I took more photos and videos during this show than I normally would. Here are some of them.

tl;dr

I only recorded small bits of some of the songs that Linkin Park played because I wanted to spend the rest of the time in the moment. I’m much happier listening to these songs being played live in front of me than focusing on what I’m capturing my phone’s comparatively tiny screen. Anyway, I’ve compiled those clips into a single video.

LPU early entry

I’ve been a member of Linkin Park Underground (LPU), the Linkin Park fan club, since 2010, skipping only the 2022-23 year because that was when we bought a house and got a mortgage, and so I cancelled literally all my subscriptions. (Including my other long-term subscription to Feminist Frequency, which I’d had since 2012.)

One of the benefits of an LPU membership is that, if you have a General Admission (GA) ticket, you can apply for early entry to Linkin Park’s concerts. Only the first 100 LPU members with verified GA tickets who apply are selected and, because I was a little late in applying, I was #74 on the list.

Still, that meant I got to queue up with VIP ticket holders and other early-entry LPU members at 5pm on Tuesday. Doors opened for everyone else at 6:15pm, openers Polaris kicked things off at 7:30pm, and Linkin Park’s set started at 8:45pm.

Waiting in the early entry line at Rod Laver Arena

Photo of a pull-up banner outside of an arena that reads, “LPU early entry”.

We were escorted into the empty Rod Laver Arena floor at 5:30pm, a full 45 minutes before gates opened to the general public at 6:15pm – which was super cool.

Empty Rod Laver Area floor, before doors open to the general public

Photo of a large arena prepped for a concert that that is currently completely empty of attendees.

The Linkin Park team makes an effort to recognise its fan club members so, while we went about arranging ourselves along the barricade at the very front of the arena floor, our LPU avatars were being displayed on the big screen at the back of the stage.

Avatars of early-entry LPU members on display

Photo of a large screen at the back of a massive concert stage. Displayed on the screen is a logo, the text, “Welcome LPU”, and twenty stylised avatars of members of the Linkin Park fan club.

In case you’re wondering, mine is the blue one in the bottom-right corner of this photo :)

Early-entry LPU member avatars on display behind the stage

Photo of part of a large screen at the back of a concert stage. Displayed on the screen is a logo, the text, “Welcome LPU”, and ten stylised avatars of members of the Linkin Park fan club. In the bottom-right corner is a blue-skinned character with a beard and eyeglasses who is wearing a khaki-and-orange industrial-looking hoodie.

A new era for Linkin Park

One of the coolest things about the latest evolution of Linkin Park is how their audience has evolved right along with them. When I attended their show the last time they were in Australia, which was in December 2010, I think around 40% of concert attendees were women. In this new era of Linkin Park, easily 50% of attendees were women or non-binary. That was true on the arena floor as well.

There was also a difference between the Sunday and Tuesday shows. When Mike Shinoda asked for a show of hands on Sunday, about one-third of the crowd indicated they’d attended a Linkin Park concert before, while two-thirds were attending their first one that night. He didn’t repeat this question on Tuesday, but it felt like those numbers were reversed and we had a greater proportion of long-term, die-hard fans in attendance. (Tuesday being a school night also meant there was fewer children there.)

The vibe was different enough on Tuesday that there was a good amount of crowd surfing going on. Even Emily Armstrong crowd surfed for a bit :) I hadn’t noticed any crowd surfing on Sunday, thought that might have just been me not paying enough attention.

Concert etiquette, behaviour, and security practices have come a long way since 2010 because, when Linkin Park performed in Melbourne back then (which was also at Rod Laver Arena), there were clear signs telling us that, “Moshing and Crowd Surfing is NOT PERMITTED”!

Photo of an area with seats rising up to the back wall. A sign attached to the barrier at the front of the seating area reads, “Moshing and Crowd Surfing is NOT PERMITTED”.

Fast forward to 2026 and concert security were constantly making sure folks on the arena floor stayed hydrated at all times – regularly passing down water in paper cups, for example – and they were super efficient at helping crowd surfers get down safely once those folks had made it all the way to the front.

Before the event kicked off, tour management also came by and talked to us about what to expect during the show – like the mosh pit that’s formed during Two Faced – and what to do if we weren’t feeling well.

All told, it was an excellent experience on the arena floor. But then – much like the members of the band itself – Linkin Park’s fans are, on average, more considerate and, frankly, nicer people. At least in my experience.

Video show-and-tell

Speaking of how things have changed from 2010 to 2026, I made a video to show some of the differences between the two live performance.

Aside from the permanent line-up changes – with lead vocalist Emily Armstrong replacing the late Chester Bennington and drummer Colin Brittain replacing Rob Bourdon – their songs are now played in a different key to suit Emily’s vocal range and Alex Feder is their touring lead guitarist because Brad Delson prefers not to go on tour.

Just like the band’s concert technology, my filming technology has also received a massive upgrade. Back in 2010, I was recording video in 720p resolution on a 2000s-era Canon IXUS 120 digital camera. In 2026, I’m recording in 1080p using my Google Pixel 6 Pro smartphone.

The 2010 audio from my Canon camera was completely unusable, by the way. Its tiny microphone could not handle the concert volume and absolutely could not handle the bass! Fortunately, back in the day, LPU members who could show evidence they’d attended a particular concert were able to purchase an audio recording of that show. This was audio recorded straight off the mixing console. This approach obviated the need for any bootlegging recordings and also made the band a bit of additional revenue. I’d bought this recording for the show I attended in 2010, and so I was able to used this in my video instead of the crappy in-camera audio :)

One of the best shows I’ve attended

Here, finally, are some of my photos from Linkin Park’s performance.

Mike singing

Photo of musician Mike Shinoda on stage with a guitar slung across his back while he sings into the microphone that he is holding.

The massive video screens directly above us

Photo of two massive rectangular lighting rigs attached to the roof of an arena. Along the side of these lighting rigs are massive video screens that are showing members of the band that is performing on the stage below.

The joy of standing so close to the confetti canon

Photo of an arena showing a wall of pink and purple confetti that has just been blown out of confetti canons arranged in front of a massive stage.

Those canons really do launch that confetti across the whole arena!

Photo of an arena showing a wall of pink and purple confetti that has been blown out of confetti canons arranged in front of a massive stage. The confetti is floating above the thousands of people standing on the arena floor.

Emily and Mike encouraging fans to sing along

Photo of musicians Emily Armstrong and Mike Shinoda standing on platforms built on top of a stage at an arena concert. Emily is singing into the microphone she is holding while Mike is pointing his microphone at the crowd in front of him, encouraging them to sign along.

Joe taking photos of the crowd

Photo of musician Joe Hahn taking photos of the crowd while his fellow band members perform on stage at a arena concert.

Me in the background of Joe’s photo

I only took a couple of selfies at the show but neither turned out very well. Happily, you can see me (wearing the black face mask) in the top-left corner of this photo that Joe Hahn took and then posted on his Instagram account.

Photo of a woman screaming in delight while wearing a Linkin Park hat. The woman is standing at the barricade at the very front of an arena floor. Directly behind this woman is a bald man wearing glasses and a black face mask who is looking up at musician Mike Shinoda as he raps into his microphone.

The main focus of Joe’s photo is Irene, the LPU member who was gifted a Linkin Park hat signed by the entire band. I was right behind her when this happened and took a video of it, which I later sent to her and she posted on her Instagram :)

Mike rapping while standing on the barricade directly in front of us

Mike is the one who presents this gift to a fan every night, and here’s the photo I took of him rapping to start the next song. Yes, he is standing on top of the barricade that’s directly in front of us.

Photo of musician Mike Shinoda rapping while standing on top of the barricade at the front of an arena floor.

The whole band in one photo

Photo of musicians Mike Shinda, Emily Armstrong, Dave Farrell, Joe Hahn, Alex Feder, and Colin Brittain performing on stage at an arena.

Fantastic laser light show

Photo of a three-dimensional laser and large-screen light show around the stage at an arena concert.

Dave doing his thing

Photo of musician Dave Farrell playing his bass guitar on stage at an arena.

Emily doing her thing

Photo of musician Emily Armstrong singing as she looks down into members of the audience from an arena concert stage.

Bass, rhythm, lead guitar

Photo of musicians Dave Farrell, Mike Shinoda, and Alex Feder – bass, rhythm, and lead guitarists, respectively – performing at the front of an arena stage.

Emily connecting with at a fan

Photo of musician Emily Armstrong pointing at a fan as she walks towards her during an arena concert.

Lights turned all the way up after the end of the show

Photo of a massive arena stage with all its white lights turned on. The concert has ended and all the musicians have left the stage.

The crowd behind me, right after the show ended

Photo of thousands of people standing on an arena floor at the end of a concert, with several thousand more seated in chairs all around the arena. Rod Laver Arena can hold over fifteen thousand attendees during concerts.

Confetti’s gonna confetti

Photo looking down at an arena floor that has no people on it, but is full of pink and purple coloured confetti. The photographers shoes, legs, and shorts are visible in the bottom of the photo frame.

So that’s that.

I’ve been in GA crowds several time over the years, but this was probably the most fun that I’ve had in one. It helped that all of us early-entry people were avid, even nerdy, Linkin Park fans and we quickly made friends with the folks around us. When you’re jumping up and down, squeezed between your neighbours, with the bass pounding and confetti flying, it’s good to know the names of the folks around you and that you’ll all look out for each other over the course of the night :)

Summer 2026 events round-up

Like I’ve mentioned before, I don’t take many photos and videos at events like concerts, talks, and comedy shows because I prefer being present in the moment.

That said, I do like to take at least a couple of photos for posterity. So here are some of the event photos and videos I’ve taken over the last few months.

I’m going to skip over one event I attended because this was a rare exception to my take-very-few-photos rule. I’ll cover that in the next post.

Garbage

12 Dec 2025. Garbage is one of my all-time favourite bands. I had to travel for work when these folks toured Australia in 2016, but this time I made sure I was there. Nadia and I attended the concert (and went out for dinner before that) with a whole bunch of friends and we had a fantastic time.

Garbage performing at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne

Photo of alternative rock band Garbage performing on stage.

Elderbrook

14 Jan 2026. Elderbrook is one of my favourite electronic musicians/DJ. He toured Australia as part of the summer music festival circuit and we got to watch him at the Australian Open concert series. (Yes, the AusOpen tennis tournament is about a lot more than just world class tennis.)

Elderbrook playing the drums during his set

Photo of electronic musician and DJ Elderbrook performing at a medium-sized outdoor festival-like stage. Elderbrook is drumming on some electronic drum pads set up on the stage next to his DJ rig. The super wide, wrap-around video screens behind him are displaying a fiery orange pattern.

Here’s a super short video from this concert too.

Gianmarco Soresi

24 Jan 2026. Gianmarco Soresi’s stand-up material ranges from very personal to very political. Your face won’t hurt at the end of his show because you laughed too much – his shows aren’t like that – but your brain will be full of zingy thoughts and unhinged imagery that you were absolutely not expecting.

The Capitol is such a gorgeous theatre

Photo of the a large theatre with a layered, three-dimensional, rectangular roof with hidden white, blue, and purple lighting.

Wet Leg

10 Feb 2026. I’m not hugely into post-punk revival, but I do love Wet Leg. We didn’t have the best spot from which to watch this show, but it was a fun concert nonetheless.

Wet Leg at Northcote Town Hall

Photo of indie rock band Wet Leg performing on stage.

Nerd Nite #67

11 Feb 2026. Since this is probably the first time you’re hearing about this: Nerd Nite is “evidence-based entertainment” – a series of informal talks given at a pub by nerds, for nerds. Started in Boston, USA in 2003, the concept spread all over the world, though I believe Melbourne Nerd Nite is the last chapter still running in Australia.

I’ve watched a lot of these talks online, but this was the first time I attended in person. It is so energising being around that many nerds! Nadia and I will try to attend all these talks going forward.

Nerd Nite at the Howler in Brunswick

Photo of a stage with a cinema-sized projector screen at the back. The screen shows a graphic of a stylised Melbourne tram with ‘Nerd Nite 2026’ written in graffiti on it.

Linkin Park

8, 10 Mar 2026. Linkin Park is one of my all-time favourite bands and the group were performing two shows in Melbourne. Nadia and I attended the first of those concerts together.

Selfie from Linkin Park’s From Zero world tour

Selfie of a man and woman wearing glasses and black face masks sitting in the crowd at a concert.

I’m a Linkin Park Underground (ie fan club) member, so I get access to ticket sales really early. That meant we got excellent seats: right in the centre and just four rows back from the mixing desk :)

Seated right behind the mixing desk at Rod Laver Arena for Linkin Park

Wide-angle photo of a large sports arena with a currently empty stage. Thousands of attendees, especially the ones on the floor of the arena, have their smartphones out and are filming what is about to happen on the stage. In the foreground of the photo are production techs standing in front of dozens of screens and control boards that make up a modern concert sound and lighting control set-up.

I attended Linkin Park’s second show by myself (this time in General Admission) and I’ll show you the photos and videos I took there in my next post.

Laura Ramoso

13 Mar 2026. Unlike Gianmarco Soresi, you do come out of Laura Ramoso’s stand-up shows with your face hurting from laughing so much. Laura did a fantastic job at transposing and translating her online skits and characters to the stage.

Waiting for Laura Ramoso at The Palais Theatre in St Kilda

Photo of an empty stage with text projected on the curtain at the back of the stage. This text reads, “Laura Ramoso” and “Calm Down Tour”.

This has been a really fun summer, and though we have fewer events planned for the rest of the calendar year, I’m looking forward to all of those as well.

2026 NBN update: the final upgrade

tl;dr

We upgraded our NBN connection from FTTC to FTTP, and because the switch to FTTP allowed us to upgrade to the Home Ultrafast speed tier, now our download speeds are ten times faster and our upload speeds are four times faster that before.

Screenshot of an internet speed test from OpenSpeedTest that shows a download speed of 958.61Mbps, jitter of 0.00ms, ping of 3.0ms, and upload speed of 73.41Mbps.

The start of our NBN story

We got connected to Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) in December 2015.

Then, because we were renting, we moved house a few times. That meant both our connection speed and connection type changed every few years (which I documented along the way using the ‘NBN’ tag on this blog, in case you’re interested).

Screenshot from the NBN website showing the various types of fixed line connections available on the NBN: Fibre to the Premises; Fibre to the Building; Fibre to the Curb; Fibre to the Node; and Hybrid Fibre Coaxial. (Source)

All that stopped in 2022 when we bought a house in the northern suburbs of Melbourne that had a Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) NBN connection. That’s the connection type in which the fibre optic cable carrying the internet signal terminates at a distribution box on your street (ie the “curb”) and a standard copper cable goes from there to your house.

The speeds on this connection type were decent, but not great: 95Mbps down and 19Mbps up.

The upload speed, in particular, was irritating because it was half of what we’d had with a Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) connection in our previous places. Now it took me a lot longer to back-up my media to the cloud, for example, and I had to make sure I wasn’t doing any uploading when Nadia or I were on a video conference call for work (especially if Nadia was teaching a class). First world problems, I know, but irritating ones nonetheless.

A new hope

You can upgrade! No, you can’t.

Happily, in January 2025, NBN Co announced its ‘full fibre upgrade’ program. This would let 622,000 properties across Australia upgrade their existing, slower connection types to the fastest-possible Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) connection.

I immediately tried to sign up to this upgrade but found that we weren’t eligible yet. We live in a property with only three units and, at the time, NBN Co was prioritising upgrades for properties with four or more units.

*sigh*

You can upgrade now! Wait, no, you still can’t.

Not too long after, in October 2025, all types of properties became eligible for the upgrade so I immediately signed us up.

Screenshot of an email with the heading, “We’ve received your request” and the text, “Hi Ameel Zia Khan, We appreciate your interest in the nbn Full Fibre Upgrade for Complex Multi-Dwelling Properties at” followed by an address that has been blacked out. An italicised sentence just below this paragraph reads, “Please note that this application applies to all units/premises within the building or complex, not individual units or lots.”

I didn’t hear anything till November 2025, when someone from the Fibre Upgrades team at NBN Co reached out to say our application was still under review.

Then, in January 2026, they reached out to say we could now formally proceed with the upgrade. We just needed to fill out a form and each unit on the property needed to pay $275 to cover the remainder of the government-subsidised installation cost.

Unfortunately, in the intervening months, things had changed at our end: one of the units on our property had been sold and, when I reached out to the new owners to say, “hey, we’re now all set to do the NBN upgrade” these folks said they didn’t want to do the upgrade.

Animated GIF showing a woman standing up and shouting, “Noooo!”

So that was that. End of story. No upgrade for me.

(Obviously that’s not how the story ended.)

The twist ending

Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, at the end of February 2026, I got one final email from NBN Co that read:

Hi Ameel,

We’re writing to share an important update regarding the nbn® fibre upgrade at [YOUR ADDRESS].

Your premises/complex was previously progressing through the nbn Full Fibre Upgrade for Complex Multi‑Dwelling Properties program. Following a recent assessment, it has now been reclassified and is eligible to individually order an nbn® Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) service via a High-Speed Tier plan.

What this means

Instead of continuing through the Complex MDU upgrade pathway, individual premises within the complex/block can now request an order directly with their preferred retail service provider (RSP), provided they select an eligible high‑speed plan.

This meant our upgrade to FTTP was no longer an all-or-nothing deal for the whole property. Individual owners of each unit could now apply separately through their internet service providers (ISPs) to upgrade just their own NBN connections!

Woohoo!

Happily every after

From then on, things proceeded at pace.

Our ISP is iiNet – who we’ve been with since 2009! – so shortly after I received this email, I went to their ‘Fibre upgrade’ page and signed up for a free upgrade.

The very next day I got a message to say our upgrade-installation was booked for exactly one week later.

One week later, which was yesterday, the installer turned up and, within two hours, had:

  • laid the new fibre optic cable from the street to our unit,

  • installed two new connection boxes (outside box shown below), and

  • activated our new NBN FTTP connection.

Photo showing an large while box stamped NBN Co installed on a brick wall.

All I needed to do was log into our modem and uncheck the VLAN tagging checkbox that was needed for the old FTTC connection but was stopping our new FTTP connection from working.

And just like that, we were done.

Serious speed upgrade

So what speeds are we getting now?

Well, not only did we upgrade our connection type to FTTP, we also upgraded to the ‘Home Ultrafast’ speed tier that gives you download speeds of up to 1,000Mbps (ie one gigabit per second) and upload speeds of up to 100Mbps :)

And because we’d upgraded to the latest Synology router in 2024 – the WRX560, with its 2.5Gbps WAN port – I knew all our hardware (and the Ethernet cables in our walls) could handle the speed upgrade just fine.

Here, then, are our current download and upload speeds.

Graphic with two bar charts showing, respectively, download and upload speeds in megabits per second from 2009 to 2026. The bars are divided into groups by connection type. 2009 ADSL speeds are 6.9Mbps down, 0.9Mbps up. 2015 FTTB speeds are 46.7 down, 22.6 up. 2016 and 2018 FTTP speeds are 75.7 and 105.2 down, 36.5 and 37.2 up. 2020 and 2022 FTTC speeds are 91.9 and 94.7 down, 18.2 and 18.9 up. Finally, a differently coloured bar for 2026 Ultrafast FTTP shows speeds of 937.3 down, 89.0 up.

We’re currently getting speeds of 937Mbps up and 89Mbps down – which is a whopping ten times faster for downloads and four times faster for uploads!

What now?

So that’s it. The end of the road. Our final NBN upgrade is complete.

Yes, NBN Co has announced an Ultrafast II speed tier that gives you 2GBps download speeds, but that is absolutely not something we need at home so our upgrading days are very much over.

Now we just get to enjoy blazingly fast download and upload speeds, and the next time I need to upload a few terabytes of data to the cloud, I won’t have to leave my desktop switched on continuously for a few days in a row!

As someone whose work and personal life is inextricably intertwined with the internet, I am a very happy person right now :)

Melbourne Pride March 2026, part 3

Finally, here my photos of some of the dogs at Melbourne’s Midsumma Pride March 2026 :)

Tiny puppy

Photo of a tiny, tan-and-white puppy straining on a leash in a grassy field. The puppy is only slightly taller than the ankle of the person it is standing next to. A small Progress Pride flag has been attached to its leash.

Dog playing fetch

Photo of a medium-sized, brown-and-white dog wearing a baseball cap. The dog is walking across a grassy field as it carries a stick back to its owner.

Fluffy white dog

Photo of a small, fluffy, white dog with lots of pride paraphernalia attached to it. The dog is being walked on a lead across a grassy field.

Fluffy white assistance dog

Photo of a small, fluffy, white dog wearing an assistance-dog harness and a poofy, colourful skirt. A rainbow pride flag has been attached to the dog's harness. The dog is being walked on a blue leash that has an “assistance dog” label on it. The dog and its owner are walking across a grassy field.

Pride noodle

Photo of a greyhound dog wearing a rainbow-coloured sweater is being walked on a yellow leash across a grassy field before Melbourne Pride March 2026.

Fluffy backpack dog

Photo of a fluffy, white, medium-sized dog in a backpack. The backpack is being work by a man in a bright orange t-shirt with the Commission for Children and Young People logo on it. The man has a Progress Pride flag sticker on his cheek.

Fluffy white dog in a backpack

Photo of a fluffy, white, medium-sized dog in a backpack. The backpack is worn by a man in a bright orange t-shirt. Next to the man is a woman wearing a rainbow-heart-themed tie-dye t-shirt, with rainbow paint on her cheek and a rainbow hair tie.

Enjoying the event from a distance

Photo of a woman and her large, white dog sitting calmly in a children's play area close to the start of Melbourne Pride March 2026. The dog is looking off-camera at the crowd of people preparing to march.

Melbourne Pride March 2026, part 2

Here are my photos of some of the marchers at Melbourne’s Midsummer Pride March 2026.

The kids are alright

Photo of dozens of teenagers holding pride signs getting ready to march at Melbourne Pride 2026. Signs include, “Bi, shy & ready to cry”, “Non-binary & proud”, and “Lesbians are lovely”.

This is pride at work

Photo of a placard being held by employees from Seek as they march at Melbourne Pride 2026. The placard reads, in bright-pink, all-caps lettering, “this is pride at work”.

RACV Pilot Service car

Photo of a bright yellow 1967 Morris Mini Deluxe car with “RACV Pilot Service” painted on it. The car is being driven along the Melbourne Pride March route by a woman in a bright pink t-shirt and a rainbow-coloured feather boa around her neck. A woman in the passenger seat, who is wearing a bright blue t-shirt, is smiling a she looks straight at the photographer taking this photo.

All-sparkly

Photo of two women in red and purple sparkly, strappy dresses and rainbow-coloured headpieces marching at Melbourne Pride March 2026.

Rainbow earrings

Photo of a woman smiling while marching at Melbourne Pride March 2026. The woman is wearing a blue RACV t-shirt and rainbow earrings.

Melbourne Pride March 2026, part 1

I didn’t spend as much at time as I wanted at this year’s Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne, but I did get a few good photos.

There are my general photos and photos of some of the kids there. Coming up after this are my photos of marchers and dogs :)

From Paris to Melbourne

Zoomed-in photo of a man wearing rainbow coloured sneakers and rainbow coloured socks with an outline of the Eiffel Tower on them. The man is standing in a grassy field alongside other people and a black-and-white dog.

Kinetic’s Pride Bus

Photo of a man wearing a rainbow jacket attaching a rainbow flag to a city bus that's been painted in rainbow colours. A heart shaped sign attached to the front windscreen reads, “You are loved”.

Riding along

Photo of a young girl in pink-and-blue clothes, with long, light-pink coloured hair extensions in two braids, riding on the shoulders of a person walking through the crown at Melbourne Pride 2026. Slightly out of focus, and in the background on the photo, is a large Progress Pride flag.

Having an important conversation

Photo of two toddlers sitting near a crowd of people who are preparing to march at Melbourne Pride 2026. One of the girls is pointing her finger at something while explaining something to the other girl. A slightly older boy who is walking nearby is looking at this exchange with a smile on his face.

Unicorn toddler

Photo of a small child sitting in a stroller while wearing a rainbow-coloured unicorn-horn headband.

Stepping up to take a photo

Photo of a young man in a purple t-shirt standing on something so he can raise himself well above the spectators and supporters lining the Melbourne Pride March route. The man has a phone in his hand is taking a photo or video of the group that is marching by.

Cleaning up after the crowds

Photo of a man in the section of a large, grassy, sports field that is now empty of people. The man is wearing a high-visibility vest and blue, plastic gloves. He is picking up fallen bits of pride-march costumes and is packing them into a very large garbage back. In the far background are marchers who have not yet started marching at Melbourne Pride March 2026.

It is cool to see how much I’ve improved as a photographer since 2023 (part 1, part 2), which is when I last took my mirrorless camera (Fujifilm X-S10) to Pride to take photos.

Because I got almost everything right in-camera, this year’s photos are brighter and cleaner, and I’ve had to do far less cropping and post-processing on them.

Also, because I now know how to use my camera’s burst modes properly, this year I missed far fewer “moments” and expressions that I wanted to capture.

The difference in skill is even more stark when you look back at the photos I took in 2020 (with my Google Pixel 3XL phone) or, heck, my photos from as far back as 2010 (with my Canon IXUS 80 IS). Though to see those 2010 photos you’ll have to scroll to the bottom of my ‘Melbourne Pride March’ album of Flickr.

So yay for experience and, of course, better cameras and lenses!

West Gate Tunnel Discovery Day

Last weekend Nadia and I were among the fifty thousand people who ran, walk, or wheeled their way around the newly-built West Gate Tunnel in Melbourne during its Discovery Day.

Here are my photos from that event. Well, except for that random Southern Cross station one at the start :)

Quiet afternoon at Southern Cross Railway Station in Melbourne

Photo looking down from the first-floor concourse of a major urban railway station. The station has a massive, wave-shaped roof and you can see all the way to the elevated concourse on the other end of the many platforms.

Entry portal of the newly-built West Gate Tunnel in Melbourne

Photo of a massive, curved structure above the entrance to a road tunnel. The design of this entry portal is inspired by the nets used to catch eels – historically an important Aboriginal food source. Hundreds of visitors are walking in and out of this entryway during what a banner says is West Gate Tunnel Discovery Day.

Eel-net inspired design of the West Gate Tunnel entry portal - 1

Black-and-white photo of the eel-net inspired design of a road tunnel entryway portal. Thick curved beams create successively shallower arches across the entrance. Thinner beams crisscross these large beams at an angle, creating the effect of a traditional eel net.

Eel-net inspired design of the West Gate Tunnel entry portal - 2

Black-and-white photo of the eel-net inspired design of a road tunnel entryway portal. Thick curved beams create successively shallower arches across the entrance. Thinner beams crisscross these large beams at an angle, creating the effect of a traditional eel net.

Eel-net inspired design of the West Gate Tunnel entry portal - 3

Photo of the eel-net inspired design of a road tunnel entryway portal. Thick curved beams create successively shallower arches across the entrance. Thinner beams crisscross these large beams at an angle, creating the effect of a traditional eel net. All the beams are made of metal but are painted a streaky brown colour to resemble natural materials like wood and twine.

Nadia pointing out the transition from deluge zone 2 to 3

Photo of the inside of large road tunnel. White panel segments along the wall have text painted on them tells us that we’re moving from deluge zone two to deluge zone three. A woman in jeans and t-shirt with a comically excited expression on her face is pointing to the transition point between the two zones.

Thousands of people walking through the newly-built West Gate Tunnel

Extremely wide-cropped, wide-angle photo of thousand of visitors walking into a massive road tunnel while, on the left, an equally large number of people are walking out.

Nadia inside the West Gate Tunnel on Discovery Day

Photo of a woman wearing jeans and a t-shirt posing near the wall of a massive road tunnel. She is surrounded by hundreds of other visitors and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel in the far background of the photo. The woman is wearing jeans and t-shirt, with pink coloured text printed on the t-shirt that reads, “Less stress, more boogie”.

People checking out the newly-built West Gate Tunnel on Discovery Day - 1

Wide-cropped, wide-angle photo of thousand of visitors walking out a massive road tunnel while, on the left, an equally large number of people are walking in.

People checking out the newly-built West Gate Tunnel on Discovery Day - 2

Extremely wide-cropped, wide-angle, black-and-white photo of thousand of visitors walking out a massive road tunnel while, on the left, an equally large number of people are walking in.

Attend all the events!

After a few, quiet, post-pandemic years during which Nadia and I didn’t attend many events, the start of 2025 has been quite busy for us!

I’ve already shared photos from the Australian Open tennis tournament we attended in January and the Avalon Airshow I attended in March. So for completeness’ sake, here a photos from the other events we went to.

These photos aren’t great, but that’s on purpose. When I attend concerts, plays, and comedy shows, I don’t make an effort to take good photos and I deliberately try to take as few photos as possible. I realised several years ago that focusing on photography and videography at events like these takes away from the overall experience of being there and makes the events less fun to attend. So now I just go there to have a good time :)

Bryan Adams

This was a huge, fun, straight-up rock concert that was gorgeously produced and a joy to attend with thousands of people who were happy to sing out loud with you.

Rocking out with the band

Photo of a four-piece rock band performing on a large stage with a massive video projection behind them.

Inflatable convertible steered by drones – because why not?

Photo of a rock band performing in a stadium. Above the general admissions crowd (the people standing in front of the stage) is a large, inflated, white convertible car with the words, “Bryan Adams” written in black market along one side. This inflatable is being steered by drones attached to each corner.

Getting closer to the folks at the back

Adams ended the concert by walking to a mini-stage set up at the very back of the stadium and performing a couple of acoustic songs from there.

Photo of musician Bryan Adams standing on a small stage that’s been assembled at the very back of a stadium. Adams is playing an acoustic guitar and is singing into a microphone on a stand. Many of the attendees are taking photos and videos as her performs.

Hania Rani

Both the opening act (Xani Kolac) and Hania Rani were fantastic. Being enveloped in layers of sound and light is a magical way to spend your evening :)

Hania Rani doing her thing

Photo of a woman on stage surrounded by an upright piano, a grand piano, and two large electronic keyboards. Several small spotlights are arranged in a curve around this set-up. A dynamic visualisation is being projected on massive strips of curtains hung at the back of the stage.

Anna Akana

I’ve been following Akana and her YouTube, stand-up, film making, and music career for a very long time, so it was great to finally see her in real life.

Stage is set for Anna Akana’s stand-up routine

Photo of a mostly empty stage with just a microphone stand with wireless mic and stool with canned drink on it. Projected on the screen at the back of the stage, in all capital letters, is the name, “Anna Akana”.

Goo Goo Dolls

I haven’t kept up with the Goo Goo Dolls over the last few years, but they were a massive part of my university years. Unlike the high-production Bryan Adams concert, this was a stripped-down, classic rock show. It wasn’t any less fun, of course, and how can you not be moved by thousands of people around you singing Iris along with the band?!

The Goo Good Dolls doing their thing

Photo of a five-piece rock band performing on stage.

Roxette

This was possibly the least impressive of the concerts we attended, though it was still fun. Roxette isn’t the same without Marie Fredriksson, but Lena Philipsson did an admirable job. And again, it’s difficult not to be feel something when you have thousands of people around you singing their hearts out with the band!

Roxette doing their thing

Photo of an eight-piece pop/rock band performing on stage.

Dua Lipa

On the opposite end of the spectrum from the stripped-back Goo Goo Dolls concert was this Dua Lipa performance spectacular. In spite of the massive production that it was, Lipa has a way of connecting with her audience that made the event feel much smaller and more intimate than it was – while still being hugely impressive to watch!

Dua Lipa, her band, and her dancers doing their thing

Photo of a singer and several dancers performing on a large, multi-level stage in a stadium. There is a catwalk in front of the stage that leads to a circular performance area in the middle of the venue. Massive screens above the stage show a close-up of the dancers and the singer.

Dua Lipa and her band performing in the middle of the crowd

Photo of a singer and her band in a circular performance area in the middle of a stadium. This performance area is connected via a catwalk to the main, multi-level stage.

Dua Lipa rising to the occasion

Photo of a singer on a circular platform that’s been elevated above a circular performance area in the middle of a stadium.

Avalon Airshow 2025, part 5: dogs

One of the most fun parts of Avalon Airshow are the dogs you get to see there. Both the air force and border security folks run demos, and the Royal Australian Air Force also has a place where you can go and pat their puppies :)

Military dogs demonstration

Cylon is ready for his military-dog demonstration

Photo of a malanois (large, mostly-brown dog) wearing a military harness and holding a stuffed dog toy in its mouth. A name patch reading Cyclon (in all capital letters) is attached to the harness. The dog is on a leash that's being held by its air force handler named Rea wearing battle fatigues. The two are standing in a large field with several carnival rides in the background.

Border security dogs demonstration

A sniffer dog and her trainer at Avalon Airshow 2025

Photo of a brown labrador retriever (a large breed of dog) looking around at the audience at an airshow. The dog is wearing a black harness and the trainer is wearing a blue border security uniform. The two are on a grassy field that's been covered by a large tent. Metal railings and netting have been placed between the field and the audience who are standing around the show area.

Military puppies

Malanois puppy with his air force handler

Photo of a malanois puppy sitting on a low bench in a fenced-off exhibition area at an airshow. The puppy is looking up the air force handler who is standing next to the bench. There are people standing and walking all around the fenced-off area so they can get a look at the puppies.

Avalon Airshow 2025, part 4: hearing protection

Aircraft are loud, so hearing protection is highly recommended at airshows – especially if you’re standing right next to the runway while watching the flying display.

Hearing protection is especially important for young children, with constant announcements about that being made in the hour leading up to the start of flying.

I thought it’d be a fun mini-project to document all the kids (and a few adults) who were out and about wearing some sort of hearing protection or the other.

Hearing protection

Young girl wearing hearing protection

Photo of a young girl in a pale blue jacket wearing large, white hearing protection earmuffs at an airshow.

Avalon Airshow 2025, part 3: people

It’s not just fun to take photos of the aircraft that are flying around, it’s also fun to photograph the people who are attending the show with you. This and the next post are all about that.

People

Taking photos at Avalon Airshow 2025

Photo of a young man in the crowd at an airshow taking photos with a professional camera with a long lens. The man is wearing and Air Force t-shirt.

Avalon Airshow 2025, part 2: flying display

I love the flying display at airshows, and this year I came prepared with a folding chair and a long lens for my camera :)

The flying display at Avalon kicks off with a “wall of fire” along the runway, which is pretty fucking impressive. That’s followed by an aerobatic display and then a military display.

However, there was a crash at this year’s aerobatic display on Friday. The pilot survived, but they cancelled the aerobatic display for Saturday, which is the day I was there.

Also, this airshow takes place at Avalon Airport, which is open for regular commercial flights the whole time. Because of that, I got photos of a scheduled Jetstar flight landing in amongst all this. (Jetstar was the airline I used to work for.)

I’ve grouped my photos into galleries for easier viewing, since there are quite a lot of them! One photo I’ve selected as the feature photo for each section.

On the ground

Wall of fire display marks the start of the flying display at Avalon Airshow 2025

Photo of a massive wall of fire along the length of a runway at an airshow. Hundreds of people are standing in the foreground, several with their phones out as they record the display.

Fighter aircraft

F-35A Lightning II close-up

Zoomed-in photo of an F-35A military fighter aircraft in the air at an airshow.

Maritime aircraft and fuel tanker

MH-60R Seahawk "Romeo" and P-8A Poseidon

It’s only at an airshow that civilians like us get to see two aircraft flying this close to each other :)

Photo fo a MH-60R Seahawk "Romeo" multi-mission maritime helicopter hovering above the runway at an airshow. Above this a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft flies low across the runway. In the foreground of the photo there are hundreds of airshow attendees watching, photographing, and filming these aircraft.

Transport aircraft

C-17A Globemaster III on the runway

Photo of the front of a C-17A Globemaster III military transport aircraft on the runway at an airshow. In the foreground of the photo there are hundreds of airshow attendees watching, photographing, and filming this aircraft.

Commercial operations

Jetstar Airbus A320 about to touch down

Photo of an Airbus A320 passenger jet in Jetstar livery about to land on the runway during an airshow.

Avalon Airshow 2025, part 1: static display

I love aviation and have always wanted to be a pilot.

My family wasn’t well-off enough for me to even remotely consider becoming a private or commercial pilot so, up until my teenage years, my plan (very seriously) was to join the air force – like my favourite uncle who retired as Air Vice Marshal from the Pakistan Air Force.

As I got older, my love of computers trumped my love of flying, so I never ended up becoming a pilot. Though I did work for an airline for several years, which was absolutely fantastic.

Airshows FTW!

Lots of industries have expos and events, but I think aviation has the coolest showcase in the form of airshows.

Growing up, my father took me to as many Pakistan Air Force Day events as he could. We’d get up-close to military aircraft, chat with air force officers, watch the flying displays, and buy lots of merch.

He’d even let me skip school that day because Air Force Day isn’t a public holiday in Pakistan and he knew how much I loved aviation. (It was his older brother that was in the Air Force, btw.)

I found out about the biennial Avalon Airshow a year after moving to Melbourne, but it wasn’t until 2013 that I could afford to attend. Since then I’ve gone every time the airshow has been held.

Screenshot from Flickr showing four albums containing photos from Avalon Airshows held in 2017, 2019, 2023, and 2025.

Naturally, I take lots of photos while I’m there. This year’s photos are split across five posts because, yes, I took that many photos :)

Static display

In earlier years I focused more on the air show’s booths and static displays of general, commercial, and military aircraft. This year I focused on the flying display and the people watching the flying display – but more on that later.

This is my favourite photo from the static display set. The rest I’ve put in the gallery below.

Touching the engine of the C-17A Globemaster III at Avalon Airshow 2025

Photo of one of the massive wing-mounted engines of a C-17A Globemaster III military transport aircraft that's parked at an airshow. An attendee is reaching up to touch the bottom of this engine.

All my static display photos

Around the northern suburbs of Melbourne

I haven’t gone on a proper photo walk for a while, so here’s a bunch of photos I’ve taken over the last several weeks.

Tiny ‘road ahead’ sign for cyclists only

Photo showing a small traffic sign with a reflective, bright-yellow background and contrasting black text. The text reads, in all capital letters, “road ahead”. This sign is mounted on top of a metal pole that’s been installed next to a bicycle path. The bicycle path runs parallel to a two-way residential road. The sign is small and placed well away from the road so that motor vehicle drivers don't confuse it for a sign they need to pay attention to.

‘Slow down’ road surface sign on a bicycle path

Photo looking straight down at large, white text painted on the khaki-grey concrete of a bicycle path. The sign reads, in all capital letters, “slow down”. The photographer’s black sneakers are visible in the bottom edge of the frame.

Good spot to feed the birds

Photo of a bird eating some bird seed on a wide, painted, brick pillar that’s part of the front fence of a house.

Checking out the rest of the Sydney Road Street Party while waiting for its owners

Photo of a small, fluffy, brown dog sitting on the road while it waits for its owners who are at a market stall. The dog is looking over its shoulder at the rest of the people wandering around this market section of the street party.

A brick is still the best way to keep your gate closed

Photo of the bottom edge of a rusted, but still functional, gate at the bottom of a residential driveway. The gate is made of widely spaced iron bars that are covered with a layer of rust, their paint having peeled off likely years ago. One side of this swinging gate is kept shut with a large bolt that goes into a hole drilled into the driveway concrete. The other side is kept shut by a broken brick that has its two halves stacked on top of each other.

Bee and wasp warning at the cemetery

Photo of a portable, outdoor sign that’s been placed in front of a large tree. This sign and tree are in a cemetery, and many rows of gravestones are visible behind the tree. The bright yellow sign has black text that reads, in all capital letters, “warning, bees and wasps active in this area”. A large icon of a bee has also been drawn on the sign.

Australian white ibis taking flight over a duck pond

Photo of a medium-sized duck pond within a large parkland area. A large, while bird – an Australian white ibis – has just taken flight and is already halfway across the width of the pond.

A space for quiet contemplation

Photo of a wooden bench that’s been installed on the banks of a medium-sized duck pond within a large parkland area.

Nadia and I both have a pair of well-worn black sneakers

Photo looking straight down at the black sneakers of two people who are standing facing each other.

Black sneakers FTW!

Photo looking straight down at the black sneakers of two people who are standing facing each other.

Australian Open 2025

Less than an hour into day one at the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament and a big thunderstorm rolled across Melbourne.

And the intermittent heavy rain stuck around till late in the afternoon.

Screenshot of a weather app showing a severe thunderstorm warning with heavy rainfall expected for most of Melbourne city and surrounds.

Fortunately, Nadia and I got there just as the gates opened, so we managed to watch at least a little bit of tennis on the outside courts before the rain came.

Importantly, we managed to take our annual Australia Open selfie :)

Here are my photos (and selfies!) from the day.

Court-side camera operator

Photo looking down from the stands at a video camera operator sitting on the side of a blue-coloured, hard-surface tennis court. The operator is wearing a cap and a bulky pair of headphones, and there is a small, blue umbrella over his head. The camera has a waterproof cover on it.

Umpire and ball kids

Photo looking down at the net of a blue-coloured, hard-surface tennis court. Two ball kids are standing on either end of the net, and a tennis umpire is sitting on a raised chair at the far end of the net.

Tatjana Maria’s ball toss

Photo of tennis player Tatjana Maria who has just tossed a tennis ball into the air as part of her serve.

Watching the first round match

This photo was entirely accidental! I was trying to get a photo of the player framed between the out-of-focus heads of the people sitting in front of me (which I managed to do in the next photo). But when taking this photo, I’d mistakenly left my camera on its ‘zone focus’ setting and it picked the wrong subject to focus on. Oh well. Even though this photo was an accident, it was a happy one because I quite like how the photo turned out :)

Photo of the back and side of a woman and her young daughter watching a women’s singles tennis match.

Tatjana Maria’s service

Photo of tennis player Tatjana Maria at full stretch as she serves the ball on a blue-coloured, hard-surface tennis court.

Ball kid retrieving the ball

Photo looking down from the stands at a blue-coloured, hard-surface tennis court. One of the ball kids is running up to retrieve a ball from the middle of the left-side court.

Orange shoe and dropped corn snacks

Photo looking down between the spectator chairs at a tennis arena. The subject of the photo is the foot of a person wearing grey-and-white New Balance sneakers with bright orange highlights. Next to this shoe are two orange corn kernels that have been dropped on the concrete.

Airplane disappearing into the clouds above Melbourne

Photo of a small jet engine aircraft flying above some tall buildings on an overcast day. The aircraft is climbing and is about to disappear into the cloud cover.

Thunderstorm less than an hour into the first day’s play

Photo of the outside of a tennis arena with large photo banners set along its side showing past championship winners. The outside area is almost completely empty of spectators because it is raining heavily. Despite the heavy rain, ushers wearing black pants and yellow shirts are standing under red umbrellas that have been affixed next to each area entrance. A supervisor wearing a black skirt and blue polo shirt is walking between two of these umbrellas with a blue folder over her head to minimise the amount of rain she gets on her eyeglasses.

2025 edition of our annual Australian Open selfie 1/3

Selfie of a man and woman smiling at the camera while they sit on blue coloured seats at a tennis court. Both are wearing straw hats and sunglasses. The woman is wearing a white, sleeveless top and the man is wearing a printed black t-shirt.

2025 edition of our annual Australian Open selfie 2/3

Selfie of a man and woman smiling at the camera while standing outside the entrance to Margaret Court Arena, a tennis arena in Melbourne, Australia. Both are wearing straw hats and glasses. The the man is wearing a printed black t-shirt and the woman is wearing a white, sleeveless top.

2025 edition of our annual Australian Open selfie 3/3

Selfie of a man and woman smiling at the camera while standing outside the steps that lead to the entrance of Rod Laver Arena, a large tennis arena in Melbourne, Australia. Both are wearing straw hats, glasses, and black face masks. The the man is wearing a printed black t-shirt and the woman is wearing a white, sleeveless top.

Belinda Carlisle – finally!

In August 2021 Nadia and I bought tickets to go see Belinda Carlisle in concert in February 2022.

Screenshot of a ticket purchase confirmation email that reads, “Ameel, You’re In!”. The ticket is for a Belinda Carlisle concert at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda for 8pm on Friday, 11 February 2022.

Unfortunately, the concert got rescheduled thrice: twice because of pandemic lockdowns and once because Belinda was having knee-replacement surgery.

But three years later it all finally worked out :)

Photo of a man and woman standing in front of a massive poster for Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Decades’ tour at the Palais Theatre.

And the concert was great!

Photo of an indoor concert stage on which Belinda Carlisle and her band are performing.

I thought I’d come out of this with one of her mega hits stuck in my head, but instead it was In Too Deep and Big Scary Animal – both of which I love. So yay!

Village drive-in FTW!

I wanted to watch Twisters at the drive-in cinema, but it had just stopped playing there. Oh well. Our alternative film was Deadpool & Wolverine and that was a really fun watch too :)

Photo of a large outdoor projection screen at a drive-in cinema. The screen shows the Village Cinemas logo. There are few cars parked between the photographer and the screen.

[Photo walk] University of Melbourne #2

I’m on leave this week so I picked Nadia up from her office at the University of Melbourne. While I was there, I took a couple of photos.

End of the day at Dr Dax Kitchen

Photo taken from the outside of a nearly-empty cafe. A barista is making coffee behind the counter and there are two people sitting at the only occupied table.

Nadia on Royal Parade

Photo of a smiling woman walking towards the photographer. The woman is wearing loose pants with pink and yellow butterfly designs on it, a red top, and a gold necklace with a sunflower pendant.

Positive potato

Photo of several items on a shelf in a large wooden bookcase. The items are an intersectional pride flag set in transparent resin, a large blue-and-yellow mug, a crochet potato, a Newton’s cradle, and several books. The crochet potato has an eyes and a mouth, and it is holding up a sign that reads: “Positive potato. I might be a tiny potato, but I believe in you. Go do your thing!”

Back of the Howard Florey Institute building

Photo of the back of a large university building with floor-to-ceiling windows through which you can see a series of walkways, balconies, and office doors.