Gav's Blog

Interests

Photography
I am a keen amateur photographer. I got this from both of my parents, but it wasn’t something I started getting into more recently. I tried film SLR photography when I was at university, but the slow feedback loop (take photo, finish film, get developed, learn what went wrong, improve technique) presented a great barrier to entry for me. I got my first digital camera in 1999 when I was in Japan, and my first digital SLR at the end of 2003. This has set me down a path where I am enjoying the challenge of photography at an ever increasing rate. I’m particularly keen on nature photography, travel photography and astrophotography, but I would also like to do more in urban photography and portriats. I post some of my photos on Flickr, and also sell a handful as microstock on iStockPhoto.

Work

By day I’m an emergency management consultant and help run a small consulting business. I started of as a Civil Defence volunteer in 1997, and over time grew quite an interest in the information management issues associated with emergencies and disasters. In 2001 I undertook a Graduate Diploma in Emergency Management from Massey University, did an internship with the DC Emergency Management Agency in 2002, and came back to New Zealand to set up Kestrel Group, a risk, continuity and emergency management consultancy from 2003 to 2012. I have now gone back to school —>

Education

When I first went to university, I had no idea what I wanted to do, and ended up stumbling my way through a BCom in Information Systems, and nearly completed a BSc when I left in 1996 to set up a web development business. I went back to university in 2001 to complete my BSc in Management Science, and also completed the Graduate Diploma in Emergency Management (with Distinction). In 2003 and 2004 I compeleted a Post Graduate Diploma in the Arts in Geographical Information Systems part time.

And since leaving Kestrel Group in March 2012, I have now returned to Massey University and I am doing a Masters in Emergency Management with a thesis on Information management for post-disaster rapid building damage assessment.