Photo of the Day #13:The Boat Challenge

Todays photo was taken in Aulanko as well. The Aulanko lake is full of row boats for the hobbyist fishers and others aquaphiles. Most of the boats aren't moored to piers: due to the boggy shores the passage to the boats is by duckboards (pitkospuut, in finnish). Unfortunately they have the habit of being swamped, especially during the wet spring. As you can see you can only just about see a glimpse of the boards, but there is no chance of getting to the boat without getting your shoes wet (that's why we use rubber boots, or Gore-Tex in Finland).

Jack-O'-Lantern and Conk Lamp

Besides my Photo of the Day -project, I also have some other newer photos, not necessarily belonging to "the best of" -category. The first one is a conk lamp, tuned by my wife, Milka and myself from a basic IKEA lamp. The shade was white, but I painted it magic mint and Milka glued a bunch of conks, which we had gathered on our long walks in the woods, to the stem. 

I'm not terribly happy with the photo, but I'll let it be for a while.

While I don't subscribe to the whole Halloween thing per se, there were a lot of pumpkins for sale in the local Lidl, so I bought one, made some delicious pumpkin muffins from the pulp and roasted the seeds and just by the sheer fact of not wanting to waste the shell, I tested how easy it is to carve a Jack-O'-Lantern.

I'm quite happy with the result, but I think next time I'll come up with something a bit more original -a bit less demonesque  ;)

Photo of the Day #12: Aulanko at Dawn

This photo was taken in August 2004 at Aulanko, Hämeenlinna, Finland. My parents live just a couple of kilometers from the Aulanko nature reserve, so it is one of the most influential destinations for me for photography. Depending on the time of day, weather and time of year the area transforms into a myriad of different guises and it is often worth the while to go see what has changed or stayed the same.

While it might look that what you are seeing is the start of an endless wilderness, there is actually the Hätilä army firing range just across a couple of the hills. I can remember many a night when the suburban tranquility was pierced by shells firing -not necessarily while taking photos, but nevertheless...

Photo of the Day #11: Ant & Aphids

I'm a great fan of macro photography, but for some reason I haven't taken too many pictures of bugs lately, probably because I'm too lazy to squat down on the ground peering at all manner of critters. Or its just that in Finland macro photography is only for summers and I've been (supposedly) too busy.

Anyhow this picture of an ant and a bunch of aphids was shot in July 2004, quite probably while squatting (I just love the word) in my parents' backyard. It's amazing how little interest bugs have of you. It's much easier to take a picture of an amazing insect or spider (if the light is right), than it is to shoot a magnificent mammal or graceful bird. The only thing you need is a camera with macro capabilities (an extension ring in this case).

Photo of the Day #10: Swing Bridge, River Tyne

Having just claimed that my previous post the first photo I can show without cringing, I just realized that not all of my photos were lost (or that there were some gems left).

This is the Swing Bridge, that connect the twin cities of Newcastle and Gateshead. I lived just a mile (less than 2 km) away from the river Tyne, so I took every opportunity I could to search for the right places with the right light. Most of the seven bridges were standard fare and they rarely disappointed. Here the supporting frame looks just like a ship traversing the river that started the industrial revolution.

Photo of the Day #9

Todays photo is intentionally inferior (at least in some aspects) to other photos of the day. I decided to dig deep into my archives and try to find the "first presentable photo" I've taken. Due to some problems in image transfer from CDs to my home computer, I've lost some nice photos, so this is the first good photo I was able to retrieve.

Ten years ago, in 2003, I went to Newcastle, England, as an exchange student. I already had a film SLR camera, which I tried to use as much as I could, considering that film (and development) wasn't cheap. During that time Canon launched its first "cheap" digital SLR camera, Canon 300D, for "just" 1000 €, and I decided that I could just about afford it. In the spring of 2004 I was finally able to shoot as many photos I had ever wished. Sad to say the skills I had gathered during three years of shooting with film cameras (first with a point and shoot, then with a film SLR) weren't phenomenal.

Very very slowly I began to understand what made I good photo and what ruined it. I was still using the cheapest lenses possible and a flimsy tripod, but when everything clicked, the mediocre gear wasn't a problem.

This photo is of Edinburgh in June 2004. I was at a final round-trip around the UK with my parents and my sister after my exchange year was over. I was at a hill overlooking the city center and everything just seemed to click into place and I got this photo.

In hindsight there would have been many things to improve, but this is the first photo I can claim as mine, and not cringe ;)

Photo of the Day #8

Todays photo is a rather unconventional view of Tampere. There is (at least was) a floating ice cream shop next to the Ratina stadium, which was a perfect element to highlight the backdrop of Tampere city skyline.

Photo of the Day #7

The photo of the day is sort of an optical trick. The photo is of a rowan branch, against a lake full of water lilies, making the water look like a hazy sky, with the water lilies a shadow of the rowan. I kind of like the illusion...

Photo of the Day #6

Today's photo is just next to where I used to live in Tampere. The city sapling garden in Nekala was officially off-limits, but as it usually was a very pretty place, right next to the lake Iidesjärvi, I went there quite often. As you can see it's not always easy to shoot against the sun, but I'm willing to live with some flares...

Photo of the Day #5

The photo of the day is bridge built by my full namesake: my great-grandfather Kalle Lintinen. Ratinansilta in Tampere may not be its most beautiful landmark, but most people there need to cross it more or less often. It links the Western part of Tampere to the East (http://www15.uta.fi/koskivoimaa/kaupunki/1940-60/ratisil.htm in finnish).

Photo of the Day #4

For the fourth photo of the day I chose a slightly unconventional photo. I was in Saariselkä in the Finnish Lapland in March 2010 for a yearly seminar for our chemistry lab and in between presentations in the morning and the evening we had time for a bit of healthy exercise. Actually staying indoors was very much frowned upon. Saariselkä is one of the most exotic places in Finland with bare trees laden with thick clumps of snow, bare hills, reindeer and aurora borealis (which I have only seen in the south, though). Instead of showing a cliched scenic vista, I decided to show just a bank of snow by the road. Even it looks so much different to what you'd see almost anywhere else, even the south of Finland. 

Photo of the Day #3

After some romps around Europe, this is the first photo of my native Finland. Pyynikinharju in Tampere (my old home town) has a scenic tower with a panoramic view around whole city. This picture is of the road leading to the tower, as seen from above. On the right you can see the lake Pyhäjärvi.

Photo of the Day #2

I was at Maria Laach, near Bonn, Germany in April 2010 for a photonics seminar. There was a picturesque old Abbey near an old crater lake. I did't manage to take stunning pictures of the Abbey or the lake, but the woods surrounding the lake were splendid in the verdant spring colors.

Photo of the day #1

Having figured out that I'll never be able to post long photojournalistic stories in regular intervals, I decided to start with a slightly less ambitious goal: post a single picture from my archives and possibly say something about it, if I feel like it.

This photo was taken from a trip in Italy in May 2010. I had just been to a organic solar cell conference in Assisi and was on my way to Rome. We spent a night in the mountains between Assisi and Rome and I managed to take an early morning stroll and came across this old stone building in the middle of the fields. Who knows what's it for -I just know I like the photo.