Ohayo -san !

Welcome to another edition of the Sunday Surprise from a relatively sunny and gorgeous Melbourne!

With just over 2 weeks to go (hopefully) of Stage 4 and the Kickstarter project, we're just past the 60% mark. So if you're still considering it, now is the time to pledge for your own Sixty Degrees South 1000 piece jigsaw.

Also, this is a new newsletter and if you've enjoyed it or found any of it useful, please let your friends know so they can subscribe to it! And also, thank YOU for reading along too!

Anyway, on to this weeks surprises...

Watch

David Blaine: Ascension

https://youtu.be/QwzvNAAqH3g?t=6374

If you've watched the movie "Up" 'and ever wondered if you could just grab a bunch of balloons and float away, then here is your answer! David Blaine's latest stunt is literally that over the stunning landscape of the Arizona desert

The link above takes you to just before take off but the previous bits show you just how long it takes for something like this to come together. Watch and fulfill your childhood fantasies vicariously.

Read

The shampoo bottle saving babies from pneumonia

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40498395

We happen to live in a country with a very advanced and relatively fair healthcare system. Many treatments have levels of safety not seen in other places. Heck, in other places, treatments just can't be offered due to a lack of equipment, skills or knowledge!

So it's nice to see that the phrase "necessity is the mother of all invention" is still holding true. In the poorer healthcare systems, empty shampoo bottles are being used to save lives. I think living in first world countries, we forget that many things can and do have simple solutions and may not as much money or resources to get done "well enough".

See also

• How does bubble PEEP work?

Listen

David Foster Wallace - This is Water

https://youtu.be/8CrOL-ydFMI

Instead of music, I thought I'd share a talk that I keep coming back to every few months for literally YEARS. David Foster Wallace was an amazing American author and I suppose philosopher. This talk kicked off my fascination with US commencement speeches just because of how insightful and poignant the advice here was.

It seems almost sacrilegious to call it 'general life advice; but that's what it is but some of the best you'll hear. Even after 40+ listens I still get something new out of it. I'm not alone on that: famed doctor and researcher, Dr Peter Attia also seems to do the same. It's 22 mins (or 11 at double speed - he speaks clearly!) very well spent.

Gadget-ish

Nanobag 4.0

https://nanobag-40-ultralight-reusable.kckb.st/photosbyraffy

For such a high-tech name, it's a decidedly low tech product: it's a super tiny re-usable shopping bag! Now obviously shopping centers around Australia are swtiching/have switched to multi-use bags, but I genuinely tend to forget to bring them along with me or keep them in the car.

These ones are small enough to essentially be the size of a keyring so as long as you have your keys attached, it's there with you! For me, I've ordered 2 so that one can be in the car at all times and I'll just switch back and forth as I go shopping. I think their early bird offer is still open so it works out to about $15/bag.

SEE ALSO

There's been a few recent subscribers (Hello Tim!) who have asked about the previous chargers I mentioned, especially the GaN ones with PD support for fast charging. Here's a list of the ones mentioned.

• Passport II Pro - Good for travelling with many different overseas plug adapters built in and enough power to juice up a lot of your gear simultaneously overnight
• Hyperjucie 100w GaN - This is the one I use currently for work until the much smaller chargeASAP one arrives
• chargeASAP - This ones from a Melbourne/California based company that I have backed on Kickstarter. Tiny 100w charger and the one that's about the size of my current charger puts out 200w!!!

PxR photo tip

Avoiding harsh light by shooting in blue or golden hour or twilight

https://www.photopills.com/articles/understanding-golden-hour-blue-hour-and-twilights

You might have heard that photography becomes a game all about the quality of the light and how it makes the subject of your images look. In general terms, avoiding the harsh light you tend to get near the middle of the day is good for almost all kinds of photography if possible.

I use the app Photopills to see which way they sun/moon will be facing for a shoot but the app also helps with all other things light related and in this helpful article, they break down how these periods of light work and how to best capture the image that you're after.

The initial bit is simple enough and gives you enough of an understanding that you shouldn't need to read the rest of the nitty gritty in the article.

PxR & Kickstarter update

PxR Kickstarter campaign is past half way!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/photosbyraffy/sixty-degrees-south-antarctic-image-jigsaw-puzzle?ref=6nwuqk

With just over 2 weeks to go, we're at 61% of the total! It's now at a crucial phase that I'm well and truly out of my limited friends and need your help in order to spread the message and hopefully get this project off the ground.

Also, I have been getting in touch with local manufacturers so there is a possibility that we could be printing this puzzle in Victoria to help local businesses in a time of economic uncertainty. Not unsurprisingly, communication has been a problem locally with less people allowed into their businesses so talks have been slow. I'll give it my best shot however, to get it printed right here if I can!

On the PxR front, I'll be recording another "How I edit" tutorial which will be released to Patreon in the coming week. Also, I'll be posting the final Ramadan in the time of Covid-19 video up. Yes, it's been months and I keep procrastinating from making the last video. Because of random questions I've gotten lately, I have some article ideas for the PxR website blog. They're tangentially photography related at best, but hey, random is the word....

Quote I'm pondering

"“Be worthy of your advantages..."

―David McCullough Jr.

This is a short phrase from a commencement speech that I'm likely to feature in next weeks newsletter to keep with the commencement speech theme. I was going to put a David Foster Wallace quote from This is Water here, but I don't know why this one keeps coming into my mind lately.

The speech itself talks about how for a generation we've been brought up to "be special" but just like in the Incredibles, as the villian says "if everyone is special, then no one is!". While this may be the case, another thing is also true: we have incredible advantages/privileges bestowed on us that we take for granted and possibly squander.

Just think about the fact that if you're reading this, you probably have electricity, enough money for some sort of electronic device with internet, which means food, water and shelter are probably well and truly taken care off. Just that is what most humans if not most living things spend their entire lives trying to secure.

And you have it. Every. Single. Day. So...be worthy of your advantages... do something meaningful with it.

Truly random

This is a new section I wanted to try out, which is a mix between random updates and truly unrelated things that I found interesting. Would love feedback if you liked this.

Happy as Larry

Ever wonder where certain saying come from? No? Well, I tend to! And the one most recently annoying my grey matter has been "As happy as Larry". I thought I'd found a likely story, being that of the Australian boxer Larry Florey, but this ABC report suggests otherwise. Read on for more...

ABC: As Happy as Larry origins

Air fryer

I've recently been a convert into the world of Air Frying and I have to say I'm loving what this thing can do! That said the model I have is a pain to clean! My initial tiny kmart fryer, though annoying in that it could only do small batches and didn't cook nearly as well, was, however, far more convenient to clean up.

Do you have any experience in these appliances? Any that you care to recommend? Shoot me an email...

Thanks again for joining me on yet another week of randomness!

Hope you're staying safe and hopefully these lock downs are going to end soon!

- Raffy

PS - I want to know what part of the newsletter you like the most! Please take a literal 30 second survey?

Sunday Surprise uses affiliate/referral links in the newsletter. While this does not influence the product recommendations or verdict, if there are any that are likely to lead to Photos by Raffy receiving any sort of compensation from, they will be marked in orange. Non affiliate links will appear as blue.