Spring wildlife 1 (deer)

I also recently acquired a 600mm lens (the Nikon 600mm f/6.3 PF). I’ve always loved wildlife photography, so it’s great to have some glass that can use for it. It’s also quite light for its focal length, at only 1.5 kg! I went to the local deer park to try it out:

Spring wildlife 2 (birds)

With the trees waking – and insect numbers increasing, bird activity also rises in April:

Fresh spring leaves

For about a week or two, there is a real vibrancy to fresh tree leaves. Most people rave about autumn leaves, but I really love spring leaves – especially when backlit by the sun.

Local architecture

With longer and brighter evenings, I’ve also enjoyed getting out and taking photos of the local architecture.

Photo of the month

In the local park. I love the vibrancy of the fresh birch leaves, and the geometry of the brick walls.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

Absolutely excellent resource about ‘AI’: Modern-day Oracles or Bullshit machines? Can’t recommend this enough.

Couple of great posts by Cory: (1) & (2).

Great article about nitrogen, and how biology figured out how to get it from the air. Also an excellent journal article about nitrogen.

Right to repair is important

Video about AI slop. Great write-up by Brian about AI-backlash.

Factory farming 👀. Also related article about people’s perception of how we treat animals vs. the food system that we have in place. Research shows that dairy and meat companies greenwash – surprise surprise.

If you need some catharsis – one of my favourite RATM songs - lyrics are 🔥.

Fleeting spring ephemerals

When the light returns and the trees don’t yet have their leaves, the spring ephemerals arrive. Using energy stored in bulbs from the previous spring, they are the first to arrive and take advantage of the light that hits the ground.

Honey to the bee

By being the first to flower, spring ephemerals also offer bees the opportunity to start foraging – and in return, help spread pollen.

Photo of the month

A general rule in macro photography is to have your subject sharp and in focus. However, breaking photographic rules can sometimes lead to successful images. In this case, the bumblebee being out of focus add depth to the image and gives the sense that the bee has somewhere else to be. The softness also creates a dreamy feel, and the lack of sharp textures gives more focus to the vibrant colours.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

CEO Asks ChatGPT How to Void $250 Million Contract, Ignores His Lawyers, Loses Terribly in Court. Amazing.

Cool long form story about dung beetles!

Social media use linked to decreased happiness in young NZers and Aussies.

Is it time to use the F-word when we talk about the U.S.A?

Nothing beats a Kapiti Coast sunset (vol. II)

Kiwi summer

Kiwi critters

Adelaide

In contrast to the rain in NZ, it had been dry in Adelaide. We luckily dodged a 45+ °C heatwave, but still had some very warm days in South Australia.

Photo of the month

Not a traditional sunset, but I loved how the clouds diffused the light and created layers of soft colour. A 20 second exposure to smooth out the ocean foreground.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

Absolutely fantastic long-form journalism about “AI” startups. I thought the reference to the following short story was particularly interesting:

There’s a short story by Scott Alexander called “The Whispering Earring,” in which he describes a mystical piece of jewelry buried deep in “the treasure-vaults of Til Iosophrang.” The whispering earring is a little topaz gem that speaks to you. Its advice always begins with the words “Better for you if you . . . ,” and its advice is never wrong. The earring starts out by advising you on major life decisions, but before long it’s telling you exactly what to have for breakfast, exactly when to go to bed, and eventually, how to move each individual muscle in your body. “The wearer lives an abnormally successful life, usually ending out as a rich and much-beloved pillar of the community with a large and happy family,” writes Alexander. After you die, the priests preparing your body for burial usually find that your brain has almost entirely rotted away, except for the parts associated with reflexive action. The first time you dangle the earring near your ear, it whispers: “Better for you if you take me off.”

Some great news that Europe is making moves to support a pan-European payment system to wean itself off Visa and Mastercard. For context, Visa/Mastercard are a U.S.-based duopoly that exploit their market share to charge too much for too little (hence why their profit margins are north of 50%). It’s not just money that’s being siphoned out of Europe to the U.S. but also enormous quantities of European payment data (presumably to feed surveillance capitalism).

Based songwriting.

More based songwriting (from 1991).

Interesting video about infrasound.

AGI is just marketing.

Good piece by Brian Merchant on Big tech and authoritarianism.

A cold winter in Copenhagen

Turns out that it was the coldest January in Denmark for 16 years!¹ I’ve asked some locals, and they recall much cooler (and snowier) winters when they were growing up – a reminder that we’re living through global warming. You may recall that I remarked (and tested) that January of last year (2025) felt much warmer than 2024.

While we left for the Southern Hemisphere in January, I still had a couple of wonderful, snow-filled weeks to get out with the camera.

Snowglobes

I’ve been really enjoying the 6mm circular fisheye lens lately – here’s a winter special:

Singapore

We stopped in sunny Singapore for a few days on our way to NZ, principally to attend a family wedding. Having only transited through Singapore airport, I was curious to see what this island was like.

The humid, 30°C weather was much welcomed – and I’m pretty sure all the time in the sauna has made me appreciate humid climates more. While it is a small (~700 square km), yet populous (~6 million) island, there is more green than your average city. While this greenery doesn’t feel ‘natural’ per se, it has a positive effect on the urban environment.

The diversity of food was amazing – countless independent food markets and stalls, serving a variety (and fusion) of Chinese, Malaysian, and Indian foods. Public transit was also excellent, with an efficient underground metro servicing most of the island.

While purportedly a democracy, Singapore has been governed by a single party (the People’s Action Party) since gaining independence in 1965. Some consider this political situation to be “Soft Authoritarianism”². Roughly ~40% of residents are not Singaporean citizens³, with the majority performing lower-paid work, and the minority “foreign talent” enjoying high pay with generous tax incentives. I feltl that there were a small number of people in Singapore who have A LOT of money, and while the country boasts a high GDP, one gets the sense that this ‘wealth’ is not so evenly shared.

ArtScience museum, Singapore:

Photo of the month

Visually: Closed and fairly balanced composition, contrast between cold and warm, and a person providing a sense of scale.

Symbolically: I’d love to hear your interpretation.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

Truth?

Trees. Are. Amazing. I’ve always had a soft spot for trees after studying plants in university, and this video does a great job of communicating the complexity and splendour of how trees work.

What does gig work, colonialism, and Large Language Models (LLMs) have in common? Excellent pieces (1) (2) about how workers from the Global South are exploited by US-led Big Tech for an essential part of LLM training (data labelling).

St. Lucia kayak parade

Each year on the 13th of December, kayaks adorned with Christmas lights come together to form a parade in the canals of Copenhagen. A great excuse to get out and take some long exposure night shots:

A frosty world

A thing I love about macro (close-up) photography is that it can make the ordinary look extraordinary. I’ve walked past frost many times in my life, but have never stopped to take a closer look. You also don’t have to travel far with macro photography to explore unseen worlds.

Winter woodland (no snow edition)

Sunny winter days are rare in Copenhagen, so I seized the opportunity to get out into Dyrehaven (a deer park) just north of the city. Taking these hours was meditative, and reminded me that woodlands can be beautiful without their leaves.

I wanted to get a few shots of an old (~600-800 years) oak tree (Ulvedalsegen - the oak of wolf valley). It stands alone in a valley, which has been the site of an open air theatre in the summer months since the early 1900s.

A sunset to cap the year

After some training at Caliteket (shoutout to the crew), we witnessed an absolutely amazing sunset outside the gym.

Photo of the month

I like this photo for a couple of reasons:

1) There’s a directionality to it - from bottom left to top right, which is guided by the diagonal composition of the tree.
2) Sun is scarce in December, and it looks like both the photographer and the tree are reaching towards it.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

River Dog, a short documentary about a man (and his dogs’) attempts to protect the Pahaoa river (Wairarapa, New Zealand).

Matthew Colville’s thoughts on The Shape of Water.

Short 80s documentary about Alan Moore (comic writer known for Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing). Was concerned about environmental issues (and education system / media) – themes that he explored in his work. Another based interview with him about V for Vendetta (theme: fascism).

I was going to write a movie review about Bugonia, but it looks like someone has already written one that covers how I interpreted the film – ‘elites are aliens’.

Cory’s thoughts on how to take power back from the U.S. hegemony.

Out and about in Autumn

As we moved into November, what few leaves that remained took on vibrant yellows. We had some beautiful sunny days, and our first dusting of snow as the temperature dropped. Dad also visited us for a week, before heading back to the southern hemisphere.

A sunny day in Dyrehave

I had an absolute blast spending 5-6 hours immersed in the woodland of Dyrehave. Twas a cold, yet sunny day – perfect for capturing the woodlands in the transition from Autumn to Winter. (See the April edition for Dyrehave in Spring).

Autumn’s last leaves

Later in the day, there were some absolutely FANTASTIC conditions for capturing the feeling of the end of Autumn. The sun being low on the horizon coupled with the vibrancy of late leaves resulted in some truly remarkable colours and contrast.

Photo of the month

The vibrancy of the backlit leaves caught my eye and I had to get closer for a shot. I like the balance between the sun star and this one tree that was holding on with its turning leaves, as well as the shadows from the other trees.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

Dishwasher tips from Technology Connections.

From wool to yarn – quite an amazing process!

Great write-up by Matt Stoller about the AI bubble. Another push to prevent state-led regulation of AI in the U.S.A. What this could mean for people.

AI-slop may account for more than half of the internet.

Need another reason to hate Meta? ~10% of their gross revenue comes from ads for fraudulent goods or scams – they know, and don’t care. Cory Doctorow explains why:

Internally, Meta has made plans to reduce the fraud on the platform, but the effort is being slow-walked because the company estimates that the most it will ultimately pay in fines worldwide ads up to $1 billion, while it currently books $7 billion/year in revenue from fraud.

Same news, but in video format.

Bernie Sanders (THE G.O.A.T. imo) explains why decisions are made that benefit wealthy people versus the broader public. (2003). [by controlling the media and dividing people].

Resilience over optimisation. A fantastic essay by Brian Klaas about the perils of over-optimisation, and how slack is important. Love the evolutionary biology sprinkled in.

Capitalism is dying (some would argue it’s already dead) – we’re moving towards something even more pernicious.

Join I.C.E. by Jesse Welles. Check him out on Bandcamp.

Change is in the air (literally)

With temperatures dropping to the low teens and the days shortening, we’re well and truly in the midst of Autumn:

Fisheye

I picked up a new lens – a 6mm(!) circular fisheye with a whopping 220 degrees field of view. It’s a lot of fun to use, and a real challenge to embrace the distortion when composing shots (and keeping your fingers out of the frame, which I didn’t manage to do on some of the shots 😆).

Hareskov (Autumn edition)

It’s a joy coming back to a location and seeing it transform as the seasons change. Here I took advantage of an unusually sunny day to visit Hareskov again (last time I visited in the peak of summer). Had a great day capturing the yellows of Autumn, and getting low to the ground to capture some of the smaller features in the forest.

ICM in the forest

While this acronym may sound like a recreational drug, and the resulting images may look a tad trippy, ICM stands for Intentional Camera Movement, and is a photographic technique whereby blur is introduced by moving the camera while the shutter open. I honestly had a LOT of fun taking these shots, and really like how some of them came out.

Photo of the month

text

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

Some amazing macro/micro photography.

Hank Green’s based diatribe about Sora2.

Tallinn, Estonia

Estonia has a long history of foreign invasion and interference, from Viking and Christians to Baltic Germans, Swedes, and Russians (the Danes even got involved – Tallinn was the capital of ‘Danish Estonia’ in the 13/14^th century). In the 20^th century alone, Estonia was occupied multiple times. Estonia declared its independence in 1918 after the fall of the Russian Empire, but this was not to last, with the Germans invading the same year during WW1. In the same year following German surrender in WW1, the Russians came back to occupy as the newly formed Soviets. WW2 saw a similar story, with Estonia ping-ponging between the Soviets and Nazi Germany, before ending up as part of the Soviet Union.

With the decay of the Soviet Union in the late 80s, the independence movement for Estonia (and the other Baltic states: Lithuania and Latvia) was building. An amazing example of this is the Baltic Way, where an estimated 2 million Estonians, Lithuanians, and Latvians held hands to form a contiguous line nearly 700 km long along the Baltic states in peaceful protest. In 1991, independence for Estonia was finally restored. This is an amazing story (and I’m merely summarising here), and I have the utmost respect for the resilience of Estonians who have held onto their language and culture through these times.

Cognisant of their turbulent history, and sharing a border with Russia, Estonians remain vigilant, and rightfully so. Russia is employing disinformation to destabilise its neighbours (and many other countries beyond its borders).

If you’re ever in Tallinn and want to know more about this topic, I recommend a visit to the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom.

Lahemaa National Park

Estonia also has some amazing nature, with over half of its land covered in forest. To explore this, we took a cozy tour with a local guide. It was an amazing experience, and I can’t thank Astra enough for sharing her stories, experience, and knowledge of Estonian nature, culture, and history with us. A highlight for me was Viru Bog, with its sharp greens and interesting ecology. The only trees that can survive here are pines, and the severe lack of nitrogen and low pH in the environment is evident with their bright green needles (chlorosis).

The land of Moomins 👀

A brief ~2-hour ferry later, we arrived in Helsinki, Finland – or, if you prefer, home of the beloved Moomin characters and stories (author Tove Jansson was a Swedish-speaking Finn). We had a lot of rain on the trip, but thoroughly enjoyed Helsinki. The infrastructure (and saunas) were excellent, and the city felt very calm and quiet for being the capital of Finland (I noticed that car speed limits were very low, which could help explain this).

Nuuksio National Park (with a Finnish Friend)

A real highlight of the trip for me was getting out into nature at Nuuksio National Park, which is only ~45 minutes outside of Helsinki. We had a whole day in the forest with a local guide, Mikko, who picked us up from the city, and had all the equipment we needed (boots, waterproof clothing). Throughout the day Mikko shared his knowledge about the local nature and Finnish culture, and cooked lunch over a fire for us. If you’re ever in Helsinki, I can’t recommend Mikko enough. You can check out his website here: Finnish Friend.

Being early autumn, there were mushrooms everywhere! I recorded at least 20 different species. Some were also enjoyed cooked on the fire for lunch (funnel chanterelles), avoiding the aptly named Destroying Angels. Not being a mushroom enjoyer, Matilda preferred collecting the blueberries and lingonberries. We also got to taste fresh juniper berries, normally used to flavour gin!

A series of moments

As a supplement to the photos, I also put together a short video of the trip. The idea was to collect a series of moments from each day of the trip. Each clip is 5 seconds in duration, and no context is given, so just enjoy the series of shots.

Photo of the month

This one was captured in Viru Bog, Estonia. Life in the bog is harsh, and I wonder what this tree went through during its life..

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

A photo story that I made was featured on Photography Life. It’s about a trip to study Yellow-Footed Rock Wallabies in South Australia that I had the pleasure of being a part of back in 2021.

I really enjoyed this video by More Perfect Union, where Bernie Sanders took a trip to West Virginia to hear from people and their issues. Historically, the state has been a Democrat stronghold until the recent election, when it swung to the Orange Boy. It’s nice to see that when people take the time to listen to each other (rather than flinging feaces over social media), understanding can be reached.

Excellent deep dive into the electricity (and water) use of ‘AI’. It’s worrying, and important for people to be aware of the cost of these tools. If you want to read my thoughts on ‘AI’, you can find my statement on AI use here. See also Kurzgesagt’s great recent video on the topic! I think I’ll have to do a deeper dive into the ‘Dead Internet Theory’ soon…

Absolute BANGER of a video by Climate Town. This time on the Great Grass Conspiracy. Did you know that grass lawns are bad for many reasons, and that there’s a huge industry that benefits from it? Did you know that in some jurisdictions, it’s illegal to NOT have a grass lawn on your property? This really opened my eyes to the problem, and made me think more about societal norms.

More summer clouds

Couldn’t help myself capturing some more summer clouds:

Boserup Skov

Took a Sunday trip to Boserup Skov, a forest on the fjord, and a few kilometers northwest of Roskilde.

Another type of birding

Bird photography: commonly associated with khaki-attired photographers wielding expensive, bazooka-sized lens. These birds don’t move, and can be found mostly in urban habitats (from my research, they’ve also been spotted in other cities). An online search uncovered an article (in Danish) about about the aptly named ‘Birds Crew’ responsible. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on other pieces in the future!

In the backyard

You don’t have to travel to exotic locations to enjoy the process of photography – a joy of taking frequent walks in your neighbourhood is being present and finding new compositions:

Photo of the month

Taken in Boserup Skov. I was drawn to the mixture of forest types that created a strong contrast (both texture and light). The repeating lines of imposing dark trunks add interest to the scene.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

What can Magic the Gathering colour system say about humanity? A lot, apparently. Really neat article! Here’s a snippet:

A world without green, on the other hand, is a world unmoored from reality and disconnected from its own history. It’s a world full of bold schemes that fail to pan out, disasters that take generations to build momentum but are noticed too late. It’s a world where everything is out of place — where nothing truly even has a place — a constant parade of divorces and suicides and famines and extinctions, where things like global warming and eugenics and welfare programs with misaligned incentives happen all the time. It’s a world where the qualities that people derive from Zen Buddhism, or from the contemplation of a sunset, or from a hike in the mountains, or from the embrace of a grandmother, or from the sermon of an ancestor, are all entirely absent. It’s a place where you eat and eat and eat, but you never feel truly full.

Interesting article about how important geography is in shaping history.

There are projections that we will reach peak human population in this century, which is a good thing if we want to continue to share the planet with other organisms.

Big Tech obfuscating the energy and water cost of ‘AI’, and some journalism about how the demand of data centres affects people’s electricity bills.

Excellent video about the history of Google search, and why is sucks now.

Great video about work.

Fly My Pretties released a new album this year, check it out!

Make honey while the sun shines

What better way to start the July issue than with the quintessential summer colour, yellow:

Summer clouds

In contrast the the single, featureless cloud that seems to cover Copenhagen for most of winter, in summer we have some magnificent cumulonimbus clouds (skybrud – or cloudbursts). They make forecasting quite a challenge for the local meteorological institute, and result highly local and intense showers. I’ve also taken a number of timelapses which I’ll share at a later date.

Summer woodlands

Had a wonderful bike ride in Jægersborg Dyrehave – a short train ride from Copenhagen.

More summer forest in Hareskov

Another great forest accessible from Copenhagen’s suburban train is Hareskov. Had a lovely day exploring nature (whilst avoiding the many mosquitos!)

Summer is Sweden

We also took the train to Gothenburg for a long weekend, and also took a ferry ride to the island of Vrångö for a coastal hike.

Photo of the month

On my trip to Hareskov I came across this amazing lighting. When it’s sunny, the lighting in the forest can be a bit harsh, but in this case, it was bright and overcast, resulting in a softer feel.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

Excellent photo portfolio about the attention-seeking device that most of us own!

Big Tech doing the usual shit.

The sound of ants! George Vlad records amazing soundscapes (particularly of remote wilderness). It’s amazing what’s out there when you stop and listen. Check out his site. And here’s an interview where they discuss field recording, and why it’s important to be present and listen. I think I’ll one day get into field recording – it pairs nicely with photography too :)

Matilda went on a bit of a Crufts dog freestyle binge, and shared this impressive routine.

Some expert opinions on Colossus’ Moa “de-extinction” plans. As a biologist, I’m also highly critical of Colossus. I don’t think de-extinction is actually possible (at least not in the short/mid-term). I also think that it sets a bad precedence – why bother protecting our current biodiversity when we can just “create” it in the lab..

If you have a couple of hours, I can highly recommend this two-part documentary on the GameStop saga. A movement against Wall Street, or a cult? Absolutely fascinating. (part 1, part 2).

Short BBC documentary on the degrowth movement.

Great essay by Matt Stoller about our (or our economic system’s) fetish with growth.

The Death of the Student Essay. Excellent essay on “AI” use, and what it may mean for human cognition.

Organised Money podcast about Multi Level Marketing (a.k.a. pyramid schemes), interviewing Bridget Read, who recently wrote the book ‘Little Bosses Everywhere, How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America’. It’s quite shocking how entrenched pyramid schemes are in the U.S.

Based monologue (from 20 years ago) that’s grown even more relevant as time has gone by.

Life

Picked a dandelion bloom, took it home, and watched it change:

Amarminoen – a long hike

Matilda suggested hiking the Amarmino – a mixture of Amager (the island just East of Copenhagen, and Camino, the long pilgrimage hike in Spain. Little did she know that 27 kilometres is a decent slog, even if the terrain is flat! Overall it was a fantastic outing, the weather was great, and it was great to get out amongst nature. It was also a good limit test – the last 10 km was pretty brutal on the feet, so in the future, conditioning/training would be needed for these distances.

Practicalities: it’s an easy-to-access hike from Copenhagen. We took a bus from Copenhagen Central Station to Dragør (~30 minutes) to the start of the trail. The walks concludes at the DR Byen Metro station, which quickly takes you back to the city.

(Ultra) w i d e angle

I just picked up another Z-mount lens, the Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 S. This covers the ultra wide angle focal range – which is pretty fun to play around with! With tilting, it can enlarge foregrounds relative to mid/backgrounds (see the first, and the last three images for examples). What better way to test it out than some Copenhagen architecture:

Bike path photo pit stop

I’m lucky that part of my commute is along Den Grønne Sti (the green way), a pleasant cycle route through part of Copenhagen. On the way home one day, I decided to make a pit stop to take a few photos. I’ve no idea what the story behind these towers are:

It’s always good to take a moment and appreciate the things you have close to home.

Photo of the month

Taken on Bryggebroen, a bridge between Amager and Copenhagen, a pedestrian/bike-only bridge. To me, this photo illustrates ones of the best features of living in Copenhagen – the widespread support of cycling infrastructure, and the corresponding uptake in cycling by residents. I’m also very jealous that some kids grow up getting to ride on cargo bikes!

Out and about in Copenhagen

Having friends visit is always a great excuse to get out and about. It’s easy to take what you have for granted.

Animals and clouds

A short trip to Stockholm

We also went on a short trip to Stockholm. The last time we visited was in February of last year (very cold and dark), so it was great to see the city in the light of spring. It was also nice to catch up with some other friends from Adelaide who were doing a Europe trip. Other highlights for me included: Swedish cinnamon buns, Omnipollos (craft brewery), excellent second-hand shopping, and visiting Fotografiska (a contemporary photography museum).

New lens, and a spring garden

I also recently acquired another lens for my new camera, the Nikon Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S. It’s basically the Z-mount version of the Tokina 105mm Macro f/2.8 (one of my favourite lens from my old camera). The lens has a 1:1 magnification, meaning that it captures photos that are ‘life-size’ relative to the camera’s sensor (i.e. you can take photos of very small stuff). I love macro lenses, as they unlock a completely different world to photograph – one that we don’t often see.

Photo of the month

Taken on the same trip as the above section. I love the mood of this photo, the shadows and the contrast.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

Check out Cory Doctorow’s new podcast ’Who Broke the Internet’ on CBC. Cory is a fantastic communicator, and adeptly explains how the internet has enshittified. Why has Google search gotten worse, not better with time? Well, it turns out that the more searches a user has to the make, the more advertisements they get served. Funnily enough, Google founders Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page actually mentioned this in a early paper describing the Google PageRank algorithm:

.. we expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers.

Furthermore, advertising income often provides an incentive to provide poor quality search results.

Learn about quokkas!

I really enjoyed Estonia’s EuroVision entry. Though apparently, some Italians took offence to it!

Adobe was sued by the DOJ and FTC for hidden fees. Yet another reason why I moved away from using Adobe for my photography.

Excellent – albeit spooky – video about the history and modern issue that is PFAS by Veritasium. The best we can do is minimise our exposure, with water being one of the main entry points into the human body. I’ll definitely be testing the water of the next place I move into.

Did you know that only 23 people are needed for there to be a 50% chance of them sharing a birthday? The Birthday Paradox seems pretty counter-intuitive, but it makes more sense when you consider that the comparisons are made between each pair of people, so there are with 23 people:

23 * 22 / 2 = 253 comparisons

It’s is also relevant in the context of cybersecurity!

Someone made a free QR code generator that’s free from tracking and bullshit.

A bonus, based take on wealth inequality by Cory.

Spring woodlands

Early in April I visited Dyrehave, a deer park north of Copenhagen that used to be the hunting ground for Danish royalty (not that they would dirty their hands with the actual hunting..). It was a fantastic April day — blue skies and sun — and spring’s leaves were yet to grace much of the park. Bird life was also in full swing, and their calls were a welcome contrast to the silence of winter.

Jutland trip

Gary and Liz also visited us in April, and we went for a trip to Jutland (western Denmark). A highlight was Den Gamle By (the old town) in Aarhus – an open-air town museum documenting Denmark from the 1600-2014 (yes, the early 2000’s are history now!). We also visited the Utzon centre in Aarlborg, named after Jørn Utzon, an architect known for his work on the Sydney Opera House. I’ve never really given the Opera House much thought (even as an Australian), but learning more about the story of its creation (and the intricacies of the design) has made me realise what a remarkable building it is.

I also finally got to tick the tallest* mountain (hill) in Denmark off my list. Himmelbjerget (The Sky Mountain) towers at 147 m above sea level. *Møllehøj is actually higher at 170 m, but Himmelbjerget has a more impressive height difference compared to the surrounding land.

Spring vibes

As April progressed, the leaves grew, and there’s nothing quite like the vibrancy of spring leaves.

Three old oaks

At the end of April, I also made it out for a bike trip to Nordskov, a forested area northwest of Copenhagen on the fjords. Nordskov is home to three very special oaks: Snoegen (the twisted oak), Storkegen (the stork oak), and Kongeegen (the king oak). The former two are dead, but were thought to have lived for 600-800 years. The latter is still alive, and is thought to be between 1500-2000 years old (perhaps one of the oldest living in Europe)! They have also inspired many Danish artists throughout the ages with their distinct forms.

For these old three, I’ve desaturated their bark to add contrast and give them a more ancient feeling.

Bricks of Carlsberg

I also spent the better part of an April afternoon photographing the bricks of Carlsberg byen (the suburb that we live in). Why do this? Well, Carlsberg byen is a planned neighbourhood, and I think that the architects and designers have done a great job sticking to a consistent theme (bricks; mursten) that represents the history of the area (former Carlsberg breweries). Prior to moving here, I never appreciated the diversity of colours, textures, and patterns one could get with brickwork.

Getting consistent shots was a challenge (and not looking like a creep when the bricks were next to someone’s windows!). I ended up with ~100 photos, and I missed a couple of buildings that aren’t yet accessible due to construction. Enjoy.

Misc

These two didn’t fit in any of the other articles, but I wanted to share them with you:

Desaturate

I wanted to showcase some of the vigorous spring growth by making a series on some local ground flowers that popped up this month. To keep things simple, I opted to play around with selectively desaturating (using hue masks in Photolab). I really like the effect as it simplifies the images, and also perhaps helps emphasise the return of life into the grey that has been Copenhagen winter.

New camera!

Here’s the cinematic trailer (use audio for best experience):

I’ve had my trusty Nikon D7200 DSLR for nearly 10 years (purchased late 2016)! Cameras have improved since then, and I felt that it was time to make a switch to a Nikon Z6iii. It’s quite a big thing to consider, particularly if your new camera body will not be compatible with your old lenses (as in my case). Here’s a list of some of the reasons why I made the switch, and my initial thoughts after using the camera for less than a month.

The first big difference between the cameras is that my old D7200 is a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex), whereas the Z6iii is a mirrorless camera. DSLRs use a mirror to reflect light into the viewfinder (eye hole thing) so you can see what you’re shooting, whereas mirrorless (as the name suggests) lack said mirror, and instead use a digital viewfinder. An advantage for mirrorless is that they tend to be lighter (fewer moving parts), quieter, and can take photos at a more rapid rate. The downside is that battery life in general is lower.

Another major difference is that the D7200 is a cropped sensor (Nikon calls this dx), whereas the Z6iii is a ‘full-frame’ sensor (35mm film equivalent). Advantages of full-frame sensors include better low-light performance and higher dynamic range.

Some of the features/improvements of the new camera that enticed me to make the switch:

• INSANE autofocus: It’s honestly on a completely different level, particularly for people and wildlife. It’s amazing what nearly 10 years of improvement can do here. This can mean everything in a wildlife situation, where sometimes you only have a second (or a fraction of a second) to take the shot.

• Improved rear display: The rear display on the Z6iii can be pivoted and even flipped around. While this may seem like a pretty minor thing, this is a huge quality of life improvement, as sometimes in the field you’re low to the ground (making it nearly impossible to use the viewfinder or rear display). It’s also far more ergonomic (less bending my neck at odd angles to see the screen).

• Video recording: 6K RAW video (up to 120 frames per second). I’m keen to get more into video, and this will let me do so. The D7200’s video features were very dated (1080p max, 30 FPS).

• In-body image stabilization: This will help keep videos stable, and photos sharper.

• Pixel shift: A mode that takes a photo and then shifts the sensor a pixel at a time. Combining multiple photos shot this way can increase the effective resolution (from 24 megapixels to 96), and improve colour representation in certain situations. A key caveat here is that what you’re photographing has to be completely still, so only really viable for some landscapes and macro situations. You can read more about it here.

• Focus shifting: A mode that lets you choose multiple focus points in the frame, and then take a sequence of photos at those different focus points. You can then merge these images together to create a final image with more of the frame in focus. This can be nice if you have a foreground that you want in focus in addition to the background of the photo, and other creative things that I’ll show in the future. While this is technically possible to do with my old camera, focus shifting will be much easier to do with the Z6iii.

Lens-wise, I have the Nikon Z 24-120mm S f4 (super sharp!) and a Nikon 40mm f2 (great, as it’s light at only 175g!). These should keep me going for a while as they cover the range of what I typically photograph.

Ultimately, it’s not the gear that takes the photo, it’s the person behind the camera. With that said, the new Z6iii is going to open up some new creative opportunities and make my life behind the camera easier and more enjoyable.

Anyway, here are some of the first images taken with the new camera, enjoy:

Coffee

I’ve had my manual, lever espresso maker (The Robot) for years now (perhaps since 2018?), and it’s still going strong. It’s lighter and smaller than any traditional espresso maker, and requires virtually no maintenance (a bit of grease from time to time, and a perhaps a new silicone seal). You can also adjust the flow profile dynamically (by adjusting how hard you’re depressing the levers), which can be advantageous. Anyway, here’s the video (again, use sound for the best experience):

From making this video I’ve come to appreciate how much time and effort goes into the process of shooting, cutting, and editing a video! I took the shots over 3 separate days with my DJI Osmo pocket 3 (fixed 20mm focal length, so a bit of a pain to get certain angles). It’s not perfect by any means, but I learned a lot from the process, and look forward to creating some more in the future.

Photo of the month

Sometimes being in the right place at the right time pays off. This was outside the apartment in the late afternoon. A pretty ordinary place most of the time, but with this lighting it was striking. I love the shadows, contrast, and patterns.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

Great video about how social media algorithms are probably not good for us. One of my favourite quotes is very pertinent here:

“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.”

― Frank Herbert, Dune

Very nice take on why AI in research is overhyped.

Excellent explanation about what toxicity means in regard to snake bites, and why it’s not that important.

So it turns out that Meta pirated millions of books and scientific articles to train their large language model. If you’ve authored a book or article, the Atlantic created a tool that lets you see whether your work has been stolen by Meta. I’m sure that other Big Tech bozos have been doing this, but it’s sad to know that whether you’re held accountable for your actions largely depends on how big a company you are (and how much money you have to pay for lawyers).

Firefox has updated its terms of service. Community members noticed (commit history here if you’re interested), which led to some outrage over privacy concerns. Basically, certain lines such as these were removed:

Question: “Does Firefox sell your personal data?”
Answer: “Nope. Never have, never will. And we protect you from many of the advertisers who do. Firefox products are designed to protect your privacy. That’s a promise.”

Mozilla’s response to the outcry was:

The reason we’ve stepped away from making blanket claims that “We never sell your data” is because, in some places, the LEGAL definition of “sale of data” is broad and evolving.

I can see where they are coming from, but if they were smart they would have been upfront about it before people discovered the changes. Some additional context that’s worth considering in this case is the fact that Mozilla has long relied on Google for its income. In 2023, ~85% (555 million) of Mozilla’s income was from Google as payment to put their search engine as the default in Firefox. As there is a antitrust court case against Google currently going on that’s likely to rule against Google for this practice, Mozilla will have to find a new income stream from somewhere. As a longtime Firefox user, I’m currently on the fence, and will wait to see what eventuates.

Excellent audio report(20 minutes) about the current school lunches fiasco happening in NZ.

Can you buy a house (in Australia) on an average income? The short answer is no. I’ve got to thank the Liberals and John Howard for absolutely ruining the Aus housing market by introducing 50% capital gains tax discounts in the late 90s, which, when coupled with negative gearing, have led to huge increases in property prices. The sad reality is that we’re not likely to get rid of these bad policies any time soon (Labor got smashed in 2016/19 for attempting to address them), and the current Labor government will not likely touch it with a pole in the upcoming election in May. Enough people (i.e. anyone who owns a property or anticipates that they will inherit one in the future) benefit from the outcomes of these bad policies – higher house prices – that the political inertia seems too big to shift.

Saw a great film at the CPH:DOX festival - The Castle. Really interesting technique, and profound.

Results from a Te Papa (Wellington Museum) natural history curator’s bird census as he walked the length of NZ. Amazing dedication to collecting this data over a >3,200 km hike!

The last touch of winter for the year?

We had a beautiful cold, snowy, and sunny week early in Feb, which made for some great conditions for getting outside with the camera. The flowers must have also been a bit confused, as after slowly creeping up, they were bucketed with snow:

Malmö

One weekend, we popped over the Øresund strait via train to Malmö (Sweden) to get a different scandinavian experience. A brunch catch up with a friend in a cosy cafe, Til’s mandatory visit to Lush (there is no Lush in Denmark), a visit to the Form/Design centre, and dinner at a really nice restaurant - [Rau](https://www.raumalmo.se/). Sometimes it’s hard to force yourself out of your warm apartment in the winter, but it’s usually always worth it.

Misty night -> cool light

I’ve been meaning to get out and do some night photography, but winter’s touch has deterred me from leaving my apartment in the evenings. One night, when getting back home, I noticed the heavy mist in the neighbourhood. The conditions were too good to not go out, and I ended up spending 90 minutes out with the camera (without gloves..).

Photography is all about light, of which there is not much of in the night. This means that you’ll typically have to rely on a tripod to compensate for the longer exposures that you’re taking. What I like about night photography is the deep contrast that you get from it. Add mist to that, and you get some really moody vibes. Anyway, these were my favourite from the night, and I hope you enjoy.

Photo of the month

My favourite image of the month ended up being more of an abstract one. This was taken from my balcony with a 100 mm lens when it was snowing heavily. In terms of processing, I’ve made it a black and white for simplicity, and cropped it (also for simplicity and composition). The snow gives it a surreal feel, almost like its a drawing or painting (and adds almost a film grain-like texture).

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

Great article by NZGeo about recycling. A delusion? A distraction from more pressing issues? An important thing for our society? I particularly like the figure showing data from 1,000 survey participants on the top 3 actions they could personally make to help mitigate the climate crisis vs. the actual importance of those actions. Recycling was the 2nd most picked action that participants chose, when in reality, it ranked 59th on importance. This isn’t to say that recycling isn’t important (I’ll still be doing it), but that it pales in comparison to other actions you can make in your life.

Some argue that plastic recycling, however, is a complete fraud. There’s strong evidence that Big Oil and the plastic industry has been deceiving the public for decades about how recyclable plastic is. Ever notice how similar the resin identification codes on plastic products looks remarkably like a recycling symbol? The short of it is, it’s either a) not possible or b) not viable to recycle plastics. As far as I know, only one or two difference resin types can actually be recycled, and these can only be recycled less than a handful of times (this also creates microplastics, which may also not be good). The full report is here if you’re interested.

Some more great journalism by NZGeo about deep sea mining in the Cook Islands.

Cool article by ABC Australia about the Outback Way, thousands of kilometres of dirt road in the centre of Aus.

We don’t often stop to consider the street design of our cities, and I was amazed at the process and advantages of using ‘klinkers’ (bricks) over regular asphalt or concrete. There are also some really neat features of Dutch street design that you’ll learn about by watching.

Another great vid by Climate Town.

On the inevitability of the rich getting richer in our current society. Article by Cory Doctorow.

Snow and sun

After surviving the barrage of illegal fireworks in Copenhagen on NYE, we had a nice dusting of snow (and some rare winter sunshine!), so off it was with the camera to take some snaps of the local neighbourhood. Most of my favourites from this outing were in portrait orientation, which is quite unusual for me.

And here are my landscape orientation picks:

Snowy forest

With the snow, we also hopped on a train north to Gribskov (featured in November 2024 round-up) to take advantage of the winter vibes.

Moody mist

I’ve never seen mist and snow together, and love the moody feeling it gives the landscape:

A train trip

We also had a short trip to Italy (Florence) in early January to catch up with some family, and caught the night train back from Zurich to Hamburg!

Photo of the month

First portrait FOTM! Can you guess what’s going on here?

By flipping the image, I think it creates an illusion (at least at first glance) that it’s the night due to the water being darker than the sky. You then see the frozen reeds and realise that the image is actually flipped. The water is not exactly mirror-like, due to some ducks swimming around :-)

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

A nice vid from the Veritasium channel about the history and uses of super glue. As well as tips for what to do if you get some on your skin.

Other big news is the release of a large language model from a Chinese company, DeepSeek. Apparently, its release led to some pretty large losses in the U.S. market (potentially ~1 trillion), though you wont see me shedding any tears about this. Here’s a vid about what it is, and why its caused such an upstir. And here’s one discussing its impact on geopolitics/markets.

Not released in Jan, but here’s the latest release by Thievery Corporation (one of my fav. music groups). It’s such a great varied mix of musical genres and often political prose.

And perhaps my favourite pick of the month: a 10-part series by Elina Osborne documenting her time on the Te Araroa trail (the ~3,000 km trail from the top to the bottom of New Zealand). Wow, I’m blown away by Elina’s story telling and cinematography. Its left me inspired to 1) do the Te Araroa trail one day, and 2) work on developing some videography skills.

From the archives

It’s been a pretty cozy December here, and I’ve not been out much with the camera. Instead, I thought I’d share a few photos from my catalogue. I’ve had my trusty D7200 since September 2016, and have learned a lot about photography since then, both about using the camera itself (harvesting light, depth, composition) and developing the RAW file outputs. Eight years is a long time, and who we are when we take a photo (or even develop it) influences the final product. Photos are literal snapshots in time, both of the scene we capture, and of ourselves. Are these photos perfect? Definitely not. Would I have taken the exact compositions as I did then, today? Possibly not. Regardless, in the moment it felt right to me to click the shutter, and here are the results (with my present day take on developing the photos).

Additionally, I recently moved away from Adobe (because they’re scumbags), and am now using DxO Photolab for my RAW file processing. A big benefit here is that one can actually buy a lifetime license (like the good old days), rather than paying monthly subscriptions to Adobe (who then funnel that money through tax-friendly havens to shareholders). As a result, my older photos are now blank canvases for me to develop again (with a new perspective).

Photo of the month

I didn’t have much to draw on for the PotM, but I liked the simplicity of this one taken at the Danish Architecture Centre. Perhaps it represents the cyclical nature of life – another year around the calendar (and sun).

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

You’ve probably heard about the assassination of the UnitedHealtcare CEO in the USA. You know that corruption runs deep in an industry when the death of said CEO was met with widespread support by people online. Clearly, healthcare in the USA is failing its citizens, but why? Fantastic article by Matt Stoller, who delves into both historical and contemporary context to help explain why this assassination happened, and the public’s response to it. If you want to read more, Matt also put out another article dealing with why healthcare is in such an abyssal state in the USA. It’s quite a complex and convoluted system (by design), but the main answer is monopolization/consolidation. 7 of the top 20 US companies by revenue are healthcare providers, with UnitedHeathcare coming in at 4th(!!), just behind Walmart, Amazon, and Apple. Should we be monetising an industry so important to our societies? IMO, absolutely not.

And here’s another great article by Cory Doctorow about healthcare in the USA.

UHC leads the nation in claims denials, with a denial rate of 32% (!!). If you want to understand how the US can spend 20% of its GDP and get the worst health outcomes in the world, just connect the dots between those two facts: the largest health insurer in human history charges the government a 183,300% markup on covid tests and also denies a third of its claims.

Yep, that % is not a typo, they charged the government $11,000 for each $8 covid test.

Falling leaves

As with Spring, Autumn’s influence on the landscape is far more evident up north compared to my time living in Australia/NZ. As the trees prepare for the long winter to come, we’re witness to some vibrant colours and textures.

A closer look at fall

Moving from the scale of trees to a closer look at Autumn’s influence on the landscape. From fungi spreading spores to squirrels making their last minute preparations.

From falling leaves to falling snow

We also had a weekend with a dusting of snow. I took this opportunity to head north to Gribskov forest, and was extremely glad that I did so. It was magical being in such a magical environment. Cycling through snow was a first, and a bit sketchy at times, but I’m grateful for my past mountain biking experience!

The lake

Neslted within Gribskov is Gribsø, a lake. The conditions were great for photography (still, partly cloudly), and it was a stunning walk around the lake, with plently of stops with the camera.

Photo of the month

A naked tree’s reflection in the lake, with its leaves discarded on the lake bed. I love the subtle transition between lake bed, lake, and the sky’s reflection.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

If all the blood vessels in the human body were put together, could they span >100,000 km? Great video about how “facts”, by virtue of merely being repeated, come to be known as truth. To me it speaks to the value of questioning assumptions and searching for sources.

An excellent video about how we process knowledge in light of our political views.

Google is a monopoly, and there are some proposals to fix it. Given the power and reach of the tech giant this will be a tough job.

Why self-driving cars are probably not a good idea for future urban planning. Long video, but well-researched and worth the watch.

A positive story about how Utrecht went from car-dominated to perhaps the best cycling city in the world. To me it’s clear how living in a cycle-friendly city has massive benefits for people’s health and well being. Though I’m reminded of this quote by one 15th century Italian philosopher/cynic:

“It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out … than to initiate a new order of things; for the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order; this lukewarmness arising partly from the incredulity of mankind who does not truly believe in anything new until they actually have experience of it.”

—Niccolò Machiavelli

Adelaide, Australia

After >30 hours of travel we started out in Adelaide, as a family member had a very special birthday. We welcomed the familiar sounds (birds), scents (eucalyptus) and sights, and it was great getting to see family and friends after such a long time.

Chiwho what now?

In town there were also some sculptures by American artist Dale Chihuly being exhibited at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, free during the day time, and lit up in the evening. It was early spring in Adelaide, so a lovely time for a visit to the Botanic Gardens with some friends.

Pretty amazing sculptures, and it’s great to see something to encourage more people to get outside. It also makes me wonder how they managed to ship them all to Australia …

Amazing Aussie animals

I was also reunited with my wildlife lens (Tamron 150-600 mm — it’s pretty much a bazooka size-wise), and had a lot of fun observing and photographing some beautiful Aussie wildlife.

There’s many more pictures that I’ve had to omit for space (he says after showing 16 … ), but the experience has inspired me to create a separate webpage with a database listing all the wildlife I have photos for …

Then across the ditch we went to New Zealand, in time to celebrate my mother’s birthday. During our time in NZ my grandmother, Helen, passed away. It was quick, and I’m proud of her resolve for leaving on her own terms. She lived a great life and will be missed. While sad, I’m glad we were there to say our goodbyes and to support my mother. Go well, Helen.

Taranaki, the mighty maunga (mountain)

While in NZ, we took a weekend trip up to Taranaki (~4 hours’ drive north from the Kapiti Coast). I borrowed mum’s E-Fiat 500 — my first time driving an e-vehicle. It was a lot of fun, and regenerative braking is amazing (converting braking momentum into electricity — and saving your brake pads at the same time). The range is about 250 km, which means stopping at least once along the way. While some may feel inconvenienced by this, I think it’s a great opportunity to visit somewhere that you’d otherwise not bother stopping. The car takes about 20-30 minutes to charge, so ample time for a nice walk and sampling of local cheese scones!

We went to visit and stay with my sister Lydia and her family. It was great getting to see the nieces and nephew and to catch up with Lydia and Mu. While there, Lydia took us for a gorgeous hike up Patuha (684 meters) in the Kaitake range (just north of Mount Taranaki). After sorely missing elevation living in Denmark for the past 18 months, it was great to be hiking upwards again.

Mount Taranaki is a dormant volcano, and the second-highest peak in the North Island at 2,518 meters. As you can see from the satellite image, most of the native forest only remains cloaking the mountains and the Kaitake ranges to the north. This is due to national park boundaries, as the region is highly productive for agriculture (mostly dairy) due to the high rainfall and rich volcanic soils. The mountain is a spectacle to behold, and really stands out on the landscape.

Kapiti sunsets

Growing up on the Kapiti Coast, I definitely took the interplay between beach, ocean, and sun for granted. On this trip I went out of my way each evening to try and capture some of the different textures, colours, and luminosity granted by sunset. It was also nice to practice more long exposures with the ND filter and tripod. I hope you enjoy:

And here are some short supplementary videos if you’re interested:

Photo of the month

Paekakariki at sunset. I love the contrast in textures: the smooth curves of the sand, the sharper wave front coming, and the soft silhouette of grass and rock in the foreground. I also like the warm reflections on the sand in contrast to the blue waves. Sometimes its nice to keep an eye out for things other than the horizon when shooting at sunrise/sunset.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

Paper where researchers tested household plastic items from across the U.S. for the presence of toxic flame retardants. Such retardants are typically impregnated into plastics used for electronics, but when such plastics are recycled into other products they can be a source of exposure to humans (e.g. food contact items, toys). I’ve personally phased out any plastic cookware that touches food, and it’s good (is it really?) to see some evidence to back my choice.

And a nice cynical quote that I think encapsulates our current situation re: big tech and “A.I.”:

Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.

-Frank Herbert (author of Dune)

For context, in the books such technology has been banned, which is why there are “mentats” — people who train to be replacements for computers.

Around Carlsberg

Here are some September shots from the rooftop of our apartment.

Bike ride from Roskilde to Frederikssund

One warm weekend in September we decided to cycle from Roskilde to Frederikssund, a nice ride that takes you along the Roskilde fjord. Definitely shorter than our recent bike packing trip. This was followed up with an ocean swim at a great public bathing facility.

A hike for a summer work event

For work this summer we had a social outing to Godis Grønt, a regenerative farm that provides produce to the local town, and also offers events for teams/groups. It’s a great way for city slickers to get out into the country and realise that vegetables actually grow in the ground. We were all split up into smaller groups, each tasked with a certain dish to design and cook for the group dinner. It was a lot of fun, and the veges and herbs grown there were amazing (especially the cherry tomatoes!). To get to Godis Grønt, we took a pleasant ~12 km walk through some Danish countryside (including a nice forest).

New gadgets :eyes:

Wanting to delve more into landscape photography, I invested in a good tripod. I also picked up a stabilised video recorder, so you can expect some future video content! There’s a lot I still need to learn about videography, but it’s exciting to learn a new skill.

Here are a couple of timelapses (~10-20 minutes footage compressed into 13 seconds) from the Godis Grønt event:

Importantly, I can now also take slow motion footage of shaking dogs…

Teaser for October

We landed in Adelaide in late September, so next month’s round-up will include many wildlife and landscape shots!

Photo of the month

On the hike to Godis Grønt we passed a beautiful forest (Bidstrup Skovene) and lake (Avnsø). Part of the reason for buying a new tripod was to get more into landscape photography, so this was the first landscape shot with the new setup. What you see is a 10 second exposure, only possible due to the use of a ND (neutral density) filter. These filters go in front of the lens, and the idea is to block light from hitting the camera sensor in an even fashion (i.e. no colour bias). This allows one to open the camera shutter for a longer period of time and capture a scene with the added element of time.

There are many creative reasons as to why one would wish to do so. For this shot, I wanted to smooth out the water to simplify the shot, as moving water can be quite busy and distracting. I also wanted to portray the movement of the wind on the branches and leaves of the tree, as I think it adds a nice contrast to the otherwise sharp foreground. The last little detail I love of the shot is the opening in the branches just left of centre of the shot, where one can look out over the lake to the other side. (I didn’t actually intend this in the composition, but it’s a happy accident).

11mm, f / 8.0, 10 sec, ISO 100, ND1000 filter

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

Ambient field recording in remote Australia. Natural soundscapes are beautiful, and I’m glad that people are out there recording them.

Tax Justice Network released a working paper showing what could be done if the top 0.5% wealthiest were taxed at a minor rate of 1.7-3.5% (press release).

We estimate that a tax between 1.7 percent and 3.5 percent on the top 0.5 percent wealthiest would result in revenues of an average of 7.3 per cent of current tax revenues of federal or central governments, adding up to more than US$2.2 trillion

Spain apparently already does this, so it’s not exactly reinventing the wheel. Something definitely needs to be done, considering that:

On average, just 3% of each country’s wealth is owned by half its population, while its richest 0.5% own a quarter