The Raph Round-up: December 2024

And so, another year passes. I’m pretty glad that I managed to get a monthly round-up done for each month of 2024 (even if some were horrendously late). I think this is an exercise I will keep doing into 2025. I will, however, endeavour to make it less of a mad rush at the end of the month and try and chip away at it weekly.

To help enforce this habit, for 2025 I want to make an effort to spend more time out with the camera (at least a couple of hours a week). Being outside (even in Danish winter) and open to observing the world makes me happy. It doesn’t have to be anywhere fancy, there’s always something interesting to be found – even in places that we walk by and take for granted every day. There’s a difference between seeing and observing (like hearing and listening)and being out with the camera helps me observe the world around me.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these round-ups, and wish you well for 2025!

Taken from the balcony of the Danish Architechture Centre. Actually had a break in the clouds on the horizon for sunset (at ~3:40 PM).
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

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).

One of the oldest images I have with my camera + Tokina 100mm macro lens (circa October 2016)
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

I like the triangles in this one – both from the leaves (in the bottom left and top right corners), and the mantis’ head.
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

Another macro shot, taken in NZ. A honeybee on the windscreen of a car. I really like the background, and the diagonal line of focus in the frame.
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

This is a macro shot from the underside of a Coprosma leaf (NZ plant). The structure you see is called a domatium (latin for house, same root as ‘domestic’ I guess). These are structures made by some plant species to house beneficial invertebrates. I’m not 100% what these invertebrates do for the host plants, perhaps fight off parasites? Regardless, they are pretty cool evolutionary features!

From Adelaide, I think a Currawong (pied??). I love the background in this shot. While it’s quite busy, the depth of field smooths it out nicely. I also like the shadow of the prominant beak on the bird’s foot.
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

Taken in Zealandia (wildlife park) in Wellington, New Zealand. Takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri), a gorgeous native NZ flightless bird. Thought to be extinct, they were rediscovered in the South Island in 1948. Population is about 500 as of 2003, and growing at a steady rate (source).
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

Near mount Ruapehu in NZ (early 2017). I like the layers of this one, and the little break in the flowers for the middle ground.
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

Same trip as above, this one taken from the latter stage of the Tongariro Crossing hike. View over to lake Taupo in the distance. Not a well-crafted composition, but sometimes the landscape is enough.
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

Underside of a fern in NZ. I love the texture, and the diagonal lines of the main stems.
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

I quite like the composition of this one (though would have preferred if there were more space to the left and right of the frame). Kākā (Nestor meridionalis), native NZ birds taken at Zealandia.
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

On the escarpment track between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki. I like the leading line of the stairway towards the ocean/rocks.
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

Also on the same track as the previous pic. Again, I like how the staircases lead the eyes through the frame.
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

Close up of a lightbulb in a lamp that my dad made (out of chopsticks).
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

With the protographer in the reflection.
© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

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).

© 2024. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC 4.0

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.