Grey Army versus the commuters on the SMBI

Just judging by the numbers on the
ferries is a poor guide 

If we have a common myth on the islands, it is that the islands is becoming more of a commuter community than the retirees.
The reverse is true.
Below is a comparison using the Census figures of 2011 and those of a decade ago.  While the overall numbers have increased by nearly double  to 5,626 the number of older people either retired or close to setting up for retirement is increasing faster than the other groups. The proportion of workers 50 to 59 approaching retirement has fallen from 22.8% to 16.3%. parents and home builders in the 35 to 49 age group has fallen from 18.6% to 17.3%  and the young workforce in the 25 to 34 bracket have remained constant, those in the 60 to 84 group have dramatically increased.
Most telling of these groups is the jump in the retiree and empty nester group aged from 60 to 69 who have gone from being only 7.3% of the population to nearly a quarter at 23.1.
In theory such a large proportion of retirees should indicated a higher degree of voluntary work making up for the gaps in the social services available on the islands but it doesn't: the numbers are only slightly above those of Redland City as a whole and, ominously, the 18.4% participation is falling fast from the 21% we had  in 2006.
The question is will, granted these trends, inclusion of the SMBI in Translink  help or hinder the sustainability of the islands?

Southern Moreton Bay Islands	2011			2001			Change
Service age group (years)	Number	%	Redland City %	Number	%	Redland City %	2001 to 2011
Babies and pre-schoolers (0 to 4)	335	6	6.2	146	4.5	6.6	189
Primary schoolers (5 to 11)	387	6.9	9.5	239	7.3	11	148
Secondary schoolers (12 to 17)	346	6.2	8.9	181	5.6	9.8	165
Tertiary education & independence (18 to 24)	216	3.8	8.7	103	3.2	8.7	113
Young workforce (25 to 34)	386	6.9	10.6	225	6.9	11.9	161
Parents and homebuilders (35 to 49)	975	17.3	21.4	606	18.6	23.7	369
Older workers & pre-retirees (50 to 59)	919	16.3	14	742	22.8	12.7	177
Empty nesters and retirees (60 to 69)	1300	23.1	11	631	19.4	7.3	669
Seniors (70 to 84)	725	12.9	7.8	349	10.7	7	376
Frail aged (85 and over)	37	0.7	2	30	0.9	1.2	7

Dip of death

Too close for comfort: swimmers at Russell Wharf yesterday

Every summer when it heats up, kids are out of school and head for the water.
In the Bay Islands this is becoming a dice with death or serious injury.

1. Shark attack. Six years ago, a young woman was taken by Bull Sharks in the Rainbow Channel at Amity on North Stradbroke Island.  A public information campaign aimed at visitors was mounted by the Redland Council and permanent signs erected along the shoreline.
2. Getting infections. The latest Healthywaterways report gives the Southern Moreton Bay area a "D" rating drawing attention to the outsized sewerage plume originating from the Albert and Logan Rivers after the heavy rains early in the year.
3. Leaping from the roofs of structures.  Both the Council and ferry operators have looked at redesigning access to gantries and roofs to prevent access but the practice continues.



Leaping into the wake

4. Being run down by water traffic.  Fast ferries, big barges and private vessels are growing in number every year in the islands and converge on the few public pontoons used by the swimmers.  Fast ferries frequency is around one every half hour at most island pontoons. Fortunately most of the ferries are now waterjet driven so the danger of being hit by a propeller or rudder has been lessened. However, bobbing heads are difficult to see and not every swimmer can see or hear boats approaching. 

 Efforts have been made by locals and authorities to prevent the practice.  Island police have been called to the jetties when unsafe practices have been observed.  Locals have erected (and had torn down) signs warning of the shark danger. The ferry drivers are always alert for swimmers. One of the key reasons for the Council and State authorities and Education Department backing the building of the $1m Russell Island swimming pool was to give an alternative.
But the practice continues and is only a matter of time before a serious accident happens.
What is the answer?

Towards using a smart camera: day one

First shot with a smart camera: a graffiti wall in Capalaba, Queensland, Australia

I had waited for four months, I could wait no more: through some fluke of distribution, a large retail store in the area scored one of the first Samsung Galaxy Cameras to be made available in Australia.
After a few hours with it I was so pleased that paid my $599 for it.
Why was I so excited?  Look at the photo; it was a quick shot of a shadowed shop wall using one of the many easy to use presets. No cropping, no image manipulation. It is what I have been looking for in a camera: simple, fast unobtrusive and capable of capturing the kinds of images I want to illustrate my writing.

Ashi Pentax: lightweight 35mm c. 1960

Some history

I was forced to take up photography. It was because my newspaper was cheap: it didn't want to pay for a pro photographer to do the photos to illustrate my stories.  Instead the General Manager bought one of them new-fangled 35mm SLRs for staff use. I had to return the Ashi Pentax to the newspaper's safe every night along with the spare role of film I was issued. The pro store up the road still got to develop my shots.
Later, in the Australian Army's Public Relations branch, I was relieved of the duty of taking photos and as I scribbled my notes observed how the real professionals wielded SLRs loaded with the exciting new 400 ASA monochrome film to bring us all the Vietnam conflict in searing images. These war photographers were far more eloquent than anything I could write.

Minolta: tough but heavy and too obvious.

Convinced, I bought my own SLR: a  Minolta SR-2. Rugged  but decidedly heavy, hard to hide and took far too much time to bring to bear when you are trying to capture those special moments that tell a story.
 I kept trying over the years with a succession of SLRs that evolved into DSLRs. Not with great success.
Then I was shocked by American pro photographer Chase Jarvis in his photo essay,  The Best Camera that you have is the one that's with you . The camera was getting in the way of my story. He took brilliant shots with nothing more than an early iPhone, getting around the limitations of the square format, poor definition and dynamic range with sensitivity for the tool at hand and creativity.

A startling Cartier-Bresson image
taken with his famous  LEICA

Then I looked again at the life works of Cartier Bresson. Cartier Bresson is still the master of street photography--and he did just so much of his great work on a small, unobtrusive LEICA he carried in his pocket. The trick is to be invisible to your subjects so they don't play for the camera.  For sports photography, that is easy but to capture the quick of life, it is much harder.

Big battery blister on my S2 gives sufficient
life for a day's shooting, navigation and
emailing

Consequently, at the beginning of this year, I made the decision not replace my worn out Pentax DSLR with its beautiful Tamron 18-200mm zoom lens to travel with a smartphone. The best available at the time was the Samsung Galaxy S2.
It was the right move, I took nearly 3000 photos in four months and, every night was able to review what I had to match with my writing. Many of the photos were note taking rather than story telling, there to remind me of the text on signs, people and places visited. Thus my writing improved along with my photography.
But as my expertise grew, so did my frustration with the limitations of using a single device for everything. For example, you can't record a public speech and take photos at the same time. The killer was that, like most multi-use tools, the performance of some functions can be mediocre.  On the S2's camera, I began to notice a subtle pink spot at the centre of each snap. At first, I just worked around the difficulties with post-production fixes on my home computer but finally I cracked.

The Smart Camera

Sadly, while coming with a thoughtful camera app
that works on startup, the camera has annoying
number of junk apps baked in.

Cue the Galaxy Smart Camera with its 16MP, Optical 21x, 23mm Wide Zoom lens.
Samsung took a moderately good compact camera (Samsung WB850F) ripped off the complicated array of buttons and dials and layered onto the back the touch screen and guts of arguably one of the best smart phones available the Galaxy S3.  If you want to read a proper description  of this remarkable package see Digital Photography Review
The only bit Samsung left out from the S3 was the ability to do voice phonecalls--not a high priority when you already have a smartphone on you. My experience of trying to use a smartphone is one of horrific battery drain--and with only a tiny 1,650mAh battery you just don't need that pain. The trick is, as I quickly found out, to limit it to its proper function--a good camera with excellent communication and reasonable editing.
Then there is the weight and size.  The specs say 300gm which is over twice that of the S3.  And you will need to carry a spare battery. Still that is much less than even the lightest of the DSLRs currently on offer and it is compact enough to be worn on a belt.
In a rather ironic twists,  the ergonomics are great for me because I am a left hander. The camera grip, zoom and photo button are on the right and easy to use but my dominant hand is free to use the screen better than the majority of people.  Very much the same as a table setting: never did really understand why the fork, the most used implement is on the left but it suits me perfectly.
But it is in the comms that this phone shines.  More on that later as I work towards what is the best configuration for my purposes.