Mingalaba !

That would be "Hello" in Burmese! Hope you're enjoying your weekend so far wherever you are. I went on my first road trip last week and the roads of Melbourne are definitely busier. And so is the pollen in the air which is making my hayfever go into over drive...

Before I go on, a small ask (as always!). If you have a friend who you think would enjoy the this email, maybe forward it on? It helps A LOT! You can even use your own referral link:

Week in the life

The biggest news for this week has been going on an overnight road trip to Cape Schanck when one of my surgical lists was cancelled at the last minute. My housemate and I decided to test out the his new iPhone and my test phone, the Google Pixel 5. It was a very quick trip since I only had Friday off so we went there pretty late on Thursday and came back at Friday lunch time.

The reason we went south was to avoid light pollution and try out the night mode on both phones. Oh boy, they did not disappoint!

The Pixel 5 did a 4 minute exposure in astro mode automatically and produced a very natural looking shot of the stars, capturing detail that I simply couldn't see!

My Samsung Note20 Ultra wasn't a slouch in this department either. The main difference was that it lacked a dedicated astro mode, so relied on the Pro mode and long exposure instead to capture the shot below. Keep in mind that the Samsung is giving an unprocessed RAW file that I could probably tweak to make it look like the Pixel image too. It just requires extra work.

Now, before nitpicking the images, can we all just stop and appreciate that the small device that fits in your pocket is currently rivaling or besting the shots I used to get out of my first SLR?! The Pixel is certainly impressive as a phone that costs half as much as the Samsung. Consider me impressed!

Now onto a weekend full of work (and hence the late sending of today's newsletter)

PxR & Kickstarter update

PxR Store

https://www.photosbyraffy.com/shop

So it's been a few weeks since I sent the high res photos for printing for the puzzle. I still haven't heard back so I sent a reminder email a few days ago. Nothing back as of yet. Good news is that I haven't sent any money to the company, so not a lot lost!

On the other front, photosbyraffy.com is back up and running! The server migration was completed and thanks to the developer, things are running a bit faster than before!

Gadgets & tech

Google Pixel 5

https://amzn.to/339WcUq

Not a surprise to see the Pixel 5 as this weeks gadget, is it? The photos in low light are simply amazing for something that just easy to point and shoot. In terms of other scenarios, I haven't personally tested it enough but from what I've seen, it's excellent.

The only point where it misses a few things is in terms of manual controls and being able to tweak some minor settings that the Note20 lets you do and in video.

Overall, though, I'm surprised by how much I liked using this phone and will be taking some more shots and sharing on Instagram over the next few weeks.

SEE ALSO

Some people keep asking about previous recommendations etc so I'm going to link a few that have come up in conversation in the last week below:

• Bolt heated coffee mug- Like the Ember mug, but without needing an app and also dishwasher safe!
• Floately floating planter - This is still awesome! Very much still enjoying my plants spin around weightlessly.
• Zens Wireless charging pad - My current wireless charging pad of choice. Works with iPhones and most Android devices and it's GREAT to not have to line up the charging coils!

Watch

Do schools kill creativity

https://youtu.be/iG9CE55wbtY

This is quite an entertaining TED talk that blends jokes and facts into quite a speech about the various ways that education overall, can decrease creativity.

As someone who is quite pro-education, it made me reflect on what the price of going through the system was in the end. I'm glad I still regularly exercise my creativity but it always takes extra effort to start any creative project...

Listen

Around the Bend - Asteroid Galaxy Tour

https://open.spotify.com/track/4tdGyzQ3WqygwxOEpbQ8eo?si=n-15aHOXR3KXRd4hXJAMNA

This is a song from one of my old playlists straight out of medical school! I had totally forgotten about it until yesterday when I heard it in theatre on someone else's playlist and had to reacquaint myself.

It's uplifting indie rock at its best!

Quote I'm pondering

“Everything is changing. People are taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.”

– Will Rogers

Saw this in passing on the internet and have to say it sums up the current day and age well, don't you think?!

Truly random

How are you finding the random section? Would love feedback if you liked this.

• Bob's your uncle!- Who knew that an act of nepotism is what inspired this saying?!

Thanks again for joining me on yet another week of randomness. What was your favourite bit? Email me and let me know!

Stay safe and stay random!

- Raffy

PS - I want to plan a road trip out of Melbourne. Where would you go? Let me know!

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.