Photo of the Day #43: Soaring in the Jetstream

I think I have to reconsider my statement of not being a bird photographer. Again I have chosen a bird as a photo of the day.

In November 2011 we look at the map of the Pyrenees and considered all the places we'd already been to and where we would like to go. We had seen most of the popular destination within a short drive away from Pau, so we chose a smaller smaller route, close to the village of Eaux Bonnes.

We packed a sturdy snack of power bars, fruits and coffee and off we set. We drove an hour up increasingly more winding roads, until we were ascending as if in tours de France, which is a rather close analogy, as the route has actually been used as a mountain track for the competition.

At the highest most point reachable by car we had to choose the route we would travel: there were several footpaths, but in the end we chose to walk across the shrub free slope of the mountain. The feeling of freedom was so tangible: there was a clear destination of the peak, but really no defined path to it: we were free to walk as we pleased.

At some point we noticed that there were large birds on the sky: enormous vultures were gliding in the updrafts created by the winds hitting the mountains. I guess the birds were looking for smaller birds or mammals, but by the look of them they could have just as well been waiting for us to fall off and die, so they could take advantage of our misery.

Of course we weren't really afraid of being eaten, but the thought did cross our minds. I managed to grab some marvelous photos of the birds, such as this one, where the vulture seems to be competing with a passenger jet.

I'm quite sure I'll be posting more photos of the trip here in the future.

P.S. The bird might just be the same species of bearded vultures from photo of the day #33, taken in a Finnish zoo.

Photo of the Day #42: On the Right Tracks

I was doing some photo shoots for a magazine in October 2008 in Lempäälä and managed to grab some pictures just for my own pleasure.

Of course the picture is just about as cliched as possible, but I hadn't gotten my version of the cliché yet, so I felt entitled to have a go. Of course if a really nice moment arises I won't hesitate to replicate this idea: after all the strong straight line of the railroad tracks leading to the horizon evokes so many images.

Anyhow Lempäälä is an important place for me, as my great grandad (check http://kallelintinen.blogspot.fi/2013/10/photo-of-day-5.html) built his summer villa there and my grandfather had his own small villa (pikkuhuvila) there, where we spent many a summer day, by the Kuokkalankoski rapid.

Despite the fact my knowledge of the surroundings could be improved, even though I lived in the neighboring city of Tampere for ten years. For instance I didn't know that Lempäälä is technically an island -just check Google maps for that.

Photo of the Day #41: Hard Soil

The definition of spring in Finland varies from that of much of the rest of the world. What you see here is genuine spring, progressed already quite a bit. The Nordic definition of spring is "the first occasion on which the average daytime temperature exceeds zero degrees Celsius for seven consecutive days".

So expect nothing that's green for quite some time. This is a field near where my parents live, shot in mid April of 2007. The sun is already quite bright and the snow has melted. The ground is still frozen hard from the winter and it will take some time until the tractors can plough the field.

Anyhow I'm really not from a very rural place -this is one of the few fields  dotted next to larger (sub)urban areas.

Photo of the Day #40:Gorgeous Gothenburg

I was in Gothenburg, Sweden, in July 2008 for yet another Chemistry conference. The weather was balmy and we had plenty of time to roam around the city in the evenings. Of course the rest of the serious scientist were interested in clubbing, or whatever, so I had at least some of the evenings for myself.

Even though Gothenburg is basically a coastal city, with the Göta river running past (or to some extent through) it, to my mind the most beautiful waterways were the canals inside the city.

I was fortunate the capture the Gothenburg Law Court and the Christinae church in the evening light, with a (aesthetically) perfect reflection of them in the canal. And it definitely wasn't the only successful photo of the trip...

Photo of the Day #39: Giant's Doorstep

I was touring Ireland (north and south) with my sister Eveliina in August 2008. We had planned an extensive itinerary for us, with quite an optimistic take on how long it actually takes to travel to places and also have some time to experience them.

Well we had planned to drive ca. 250 km from the Dublin airport car rental to the Giant's Causeway and stop in several places along the way. Everything seemed to be going rather well until at some point we realized that the sun would set before we reached the Causeway if we didn't hurry.

We hopped in the rental car and drove as fast as we dared, but it seemed that the sun was running faster than us. Especially the last kilometers of the journey seemed to take forever on winding rural roads. The Causeway was looming just ahead of us as the sun sank under the horizon, but I realized that it would be hopeless to try to outrun the sun.

So I made the best of the situation and took some stunning photos of the surrounding area. And in the end I did manage to get to the hexagonal rocks of the Giant's Causeway and took some OK pictures of the rocks, even if they were illuminated by the gloomy light of dusk.

Photo of the Day #38: Inverse Niagara

Who said you have to take a picture of the Niagara Falls when you visit Niagara Falls? I was in Canada in July 2009, for a polymer chemistry conference in Montreal. I took some extra days off to see the Niagara Falls, with a friend of a friend as a guide.

I rented a car from Montreal, but there was one slight inconvenience: I had only reserved a car and assumed that I could rent a navigator from the rental company. I wasn't prepared for the fact that I collected the car from a pick-up spot, with absolutely no additional facilities -and definitely no navigators for rent.

Well being the boy scout that I am, I purchased a map of Ontario and informed the friend of a friend that I would be arriving in about eight hours. Had the destination been Niagara Falls, the trip would have been slightly less eventful, but as it were my destination was a small town called Port Colborne, a 40 km additional drive from the larger road.

I did have relatively good driving instructions there, but as the last 20 km were on rather small country roads, I did manage to panic a bit and drive just a bit to the wrong direction. But after a helpful phone call I found myself there and was greeted with genuine Canadian hospitality.

I'll leave the story on the Niagara Falls trip to a future post, but I'll just note that this photo of the cliff face is in my opinion better than any I took of the actual falls.

P.S. Cory: if you ever want your bread knife back, you're welcome to Finland anytime :)

Photo of the Day #37: Hurrying to Hermon

I was in Lebanon in August 2009. We had a chance to visit mount Hermon on the day of transfiguration. As the Lebanese Maronite Christians believe that Hermon is (or at least might be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_of_the_Transfiguration) the mountain, the place was full of local 'pilgrims'.

We set en route at the brake of dawn and as the sun was rising, we saw the first glimpses the mountain. When we arrived at the base of the mountain, from which we would trek to the peak, most of the people were already leaving. In a way it was even better for us, as we had more freedom to roam the mountain without the throng of people surrounding us.

Photo of the Day #36: Chasing Waterfalls

Today I'm posting a rare (for me that is) black & white (sepia) photo of Gavarnie Falls. The Falls are located at the far edge of a vast semicircular wall of stone, called cirque, in the the province of  Hautes-Pyrénées. I'll probably be posting some other photos of the place in the future.

A French friend of ours knew the place and absolutely wanted to take us there to see the famous waterfall. It had been quite a dry summer, so the waterfall was apparently just about as unimposing as it got, but in my Finnish eyes it did look spectacular indeed.

The route to the waterfall was surprisingly long. It took us half an hour to get in sight of the waterfall from where we parked our car, but it took another hour of walking to actually reach it. The scale of the thing was just unimaginable.

I chose to show this photo in black & white, rather than in color, as the monotone colors of the rock were better accentuated this way.

Photo of the Day #35: Autumn Leaves

Late autumn is always a tricky time for me as a photographer. The blazing colors have gone and all there is left are the fallen leaves of different shades of brown and yellow. And what light there is, it is during the working hours and gone before the day has ended and not up when the next working day starts.

So the only time to take photos are fleeting moments during weekend. One such moment was this mid October, when I went to the local kiosk to collect a parcel (very convenient). I had noticed that the clouds had parted and the sun was shining for a short instance, so I grabbed my camera along.

The light was pleasantly warm and slightly diffuse, but the sights weren't exactly majestic. I did like the contrast between the dark asphalt and the crisp dead leafs, so I made the best of a modest setting.

Photo of the Day #34: The Wall

We were on a day trip across the Gulf of Finland to Tallinn, Estonia this July. It's just amazing how much older the city is compared to Helsinki (or Tampere or Espoo for that matter). It has a recorded history of almost a thousand years and it was much more important as a Hansa town than any place in Finland. The old town is full of amazing buildings, but my favorite is the wall.

From the edge of the old town, the city of Tallinn opens up -or down, if you consider it being much lower than the old town. For this photo I used a wide angle lens, so everything looks a bit bent. Hope it doesn't detract from the shot.

Photo of the Day #33: Come Fly Away With Me

I'm fighting a urge not to post this photo, as I feel that the cropped wing ruined the shot. But on the other hand I can't because it so rare to have such a magnificent light for such a magnificent animal.

I was in Korkeasaari zoo again this July with my friends and their children. The bearded vultures had quite large space for them to walk and even fly. At first the birds were in the shade, with the intense summer sun shining behind them, ruining the contrast of the shots. Finally the big fellas started lumbering out of the shade and with deliberate slowness one of them took to flight. Unfortunately I still couldn't quite keep up with the bird, but I did manage this shot. Again it's not perfect, but I love the light.

Photo of the Day #32: As we Walk on Walls of Gold

As I look at this photo I'm reminded by the Sting lyrics:

You'll remember me when the west wind moves

Upon the fields of barley

You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky

As we walk in fields of gold

I can't remember whether there was a wind and whether it blew from east or west, we weren't on a field, not even on barley, but you don't have to be factually accurate to hit the emotional spot.

We were on a day trip to Loviisa and found our way into an old, long abandoned, fortress. It was a rather easy climb to the top of the fortress, with a pleasant view to the surroundings. The top of the wall was growing grass, but it didn't stop us exploring it. And at the end of the wall we jumped off...

...well not exactly jumped, but the climb was rather steep.

Photo of the Day #31: Peerless Pier

I was in Lempäälä this June, on a small photo excursion with my friend Mikko. The day seemed to be fine, and it being just a couple of days to midsummer, the sun wasn't about to set anytime soon.

However this being Finland, the June weather turned quite damp and the balmy sunshine changed in to drizzle, which eventually became a right downpour. Fascinatingly the best pictures of the trip where when the weather changed and there was still some diffuse sunshine and light drizzle.

We were on a small pier on a forest pond, which had seen better days and by the look of it wasn't much in use anymore. The pier was growing grass and a barrel used when washing rug, was happily rusting on the side.

I composed the edge of the pier to form a Zorro Z and voilà -there was a peerless photo :)

Photo of the Day #30: Howth do you do?

I was in Dublin this June, accompanying my Wife Milka, who had a conference there. We had a short weekend together there, before her conference started and I flew back to Finland. Dublin itself was nice, especially as the traditional Irish rain chose to be absent during our stay. However the best part of the trip was a hike in the peninsula of Howth, circa 10 km from the city center.

Most of the peninsula is actually either inhabited/has a large golf course, but the edge is kept in a natural state, either by zoning law or just by the inconvenience of building next to the sometimes stormy Irish sea. I guess it has to be by law, as people usually prefer magnificent sights over practicality.

We were able to get rather close to the lighthouse in the background, but the actual site was fenced off. I decided to make the best of not being close to the lighthouse and took a completely different photo, with the lighthouse being just a speck in the distance.

Photo of the Day #29: Don't Mess with the Mungoose

I visited the Korkeasaari Zoo, in Helsinki, with my extended family in July 2007. One of the most guaranteed photogenic creatures there are the dwarf mungooses, that are always lively and exciting, even when they are (supposedly) resting. That's why the zoo set up (after my 2007 visit) a mungoose camera (http://www.korkeasaari.fi/ajankohtaista/livekamerat/mangustikamera#.UocsnHBGQhV), so that you can peer at what they're doing 24/7.

These two fellas were obviously having a heated argument about something...

Photo of the Day #28: Chiffchaffing on a Tight Rope

Although I do not consider myself to a bird photographer -at all, I seem to have quite a few OK shots of birds, that I've chosen for the photo of the day.

In Midsummer 2008 I was at my granny's cottage in Jämsä and was photographing everything that seemed interesting. I came across a chiffchaff (just looked to bird up on wikipedia today -I might be wrong on the species) sitting on an electrical wire, with quite a harsh sun beaming at it and lighting the foliage behind it ablaze. Granted the bird isn't perfectly exposed, but I do like the background.

Photo of the Day #27: Ain't no Mountain High Enough

Besides the Pyrenees, I've been to quite a few mountain ranges, and the Alps are one of the most splendid. I was at Villars-sur-Ollon at the french speaking part of Switzerland, again for a photochemistry seminar in August 2008. Fortunately the time table wasn't that grueling, so I had the opportunity to see the Alps close hand (Villars-sur-Ollon is already quite high up the Alps already).

A mountain train took us rather close to the nearest summit and we trekked a small hike around a peak and several mountain lakes. The weathered rock revealed stripes of ancient strata, which worked as an effective contrast to the deep blue sky above. It was a good day...

Photo of the Day #26: The Voice of Dragonfly

I've been on the lookout for dragonflies, but have been too lazy to find sweet spots, where they can be reliably found, so usually the chances to shoot dragonfly come by chance. This individual found a small wooden pole at my parents' backyard, with a bent nail on top, very fascinating. I would imagine that it  might have been able to obtain moisture or salt from it, or then it was just gathering strength for its next lap. If you know, just leave a comment. I guess it's not rehearsing for the next Voice of Dragonfly, even though it looks a bit like it.

I haven't been able to shoot such a good photo of a dragonfly since that one day in July 2005. Well there are plenty more opportunities to come.

Photo of the Day #25: The Seagull has Landed

In July 2005 I was in Helsinki -I'm not even sure why, when I spotted a seagull on top the Russian imperial two headed eagle at Kauppatori. Helsinki is full of signs of the Russian rule, now over for nearly 96 years and what would be a better way of winking towards the past and laugh a bit at the Imperial pomposity.

And I do think that the Seagull looks more majestic than the slightly suffering eagle...

Photo of the Day #24: The Call of the Woods

I enjoy walking in the woods, but often find it hard to photograph them, due to the harsh contrast of the light. However for this picture all the pieces just seemed to click and I managed to frame an undulating footpath lit in a soft evening light by the mossy green trunks of two pines. 

Photo of the Day #23: The Frozen Link

I was in Kuopio, Finland at the end of April 2005, teaching chemistry to medical student wannabes on a prep course. I have to say that the experience wasn't all positive, as it seems that the kids had high expectations of results, but not always the matching motivation to study as hard as they should.

Anyhow the courses ran over two days per week and I had to take the train to get to Kuopio from Tampere, so I had plenty of time to see the town. As the town is at the latitude of 62°53′33″N, roughly on the same latitude as Nuuk, Greenland; Reykjavik, Iceland and Fairbanks, Alaska, it takes some time for the spring to arrive. The waterways were still mostly frozen, so I got some nice photos of ice in the spring sun.

For the life of me, I can't remember where the chain was connected to -probably a boat or a pier.

Photo of the Day #22: Sunset -on the Rocks

I was walking along the shore of Näsijärvi lake in May 2005 while a breathtaking sunset was coloring the still water with the pastel colors of the sky. The first leaves of spring hadn't still arrived and the leafless bushes were painted red by the setting sun. I chose the large rocks placed on the shore to break the waves as the foreground of the photo to create some contrast to the serene light.

Photo of the Day #21: Heron for a Day

I was in Kyoto, Japan for a photochemistry conference in April 2006. It was an amazing time of the year: the cherry trees were blossoming and the weather was good, at least quite a bit of the time. Unfortunately the conference took most of my time and I didn't have much time to roam the city.

However one morning I decided to wake up early and see what Kyoto had to offer. Luckily I wasn't disappointed: a magnificent Heron was basking in the morning sun on top of a Temple. It wasn't too bothered by my presence, so I had plenty of time to take quite a few pictures before it flew away.

Photo of the Day #20: Winter Wonderland

Today's photo is again from Saariselkä, Lapland. It is one of the magazine cover photos that I provide to a magazine for the Finnish church of Germany (http://www.rengas.de/rengas-lehti/). They especially love wintry images, as Germany doesn't really experience winter like we in Finland do.

Photo of the day #19: Highway to Heaven

This is photo  is from a very special trip. I got married in July 2011 and took a hot air balloon ride as a sort of pre-honeymoon. Granted that the trip might have been even more romantic if I hadn't taken so many pictures and my wife hadn't been as acrophobic, but I did manage to take plenty of pretty pictures until as the cruel fate of irony would have it -possibly the hot air from the burner loosed the shutter from my camera (i.e. broke it) and I was allowed some uninterrupted romantic moments with my wife in the end.

And as P.S. if have to commend Canon for providing a free fix for the shutter -I think not every camera maker would go as far as that to please their customers (especially as the camera is a second hand one).

Photo of the day #18: Thistle Along

Today's photo is rather simple, but just slightly different to the theme of pretty flower that I dared post it.I took it in July 2010, whilst roaming the "hundred acre woods" of Nekala and Viinikka (in Tampere, Finland). Of course it isn't a surprise to anyone that thistles can be pretty, but what I like about this picture is that the main idea aren't the thistles, but the speckles of light in the background.

Photo of the Day #17: Pic du Midi d'Ossau of the Day

This photo is quite a special one for me. We lived in the south of France for a year. Pau is a smallish city practically at the foothills of the Pyrenees. When you are at the picturesque medieval center of the city, the Pyrenees cover the whole horizon, with the most distinctive peak being Pic du Midi d'Ossau. We visited the Pyrenees often and twice we hiked around the peak.

The whole path is full of spectacular sights, but what iced the cake for me was the relatively unpretentious stream that made a marvelous contrast for the tooth of the Midi d'Ossau.

Photo of the Day #16: Strumming Along in la Paris

This is actually yesterdays photo: I was too busy hanging hay stakes onto our walls to post photos.

What do you do when I go to Paris, one of the most photographed cities in the world? What I attempted to do was to take a wholly different approach to the cliched subjects that I nevertheless wanted to see. So the regular photo of the Eiffel tower is taken from a respectable distance, where you see a bit of Paris as well -so been there (and took the picture just in case).

Here the Eiffel tower is so skewed that it takes a second to realize that you're not looking at an over sized harp...

Photo of the Day #15: The Rock of Ages

I took todays picture in September 2004, when I was living next to the Näsijärvi lake, in Rauhaniemi, Tampere. The lake is very long (ca 40 km of continuous open water and the width is over 10 km at its widest. The rock you see in the picture is granite, the nethermost rock you can see on earth. It's one of the oldest rocks on earth. Of course even granite weathers and changes shape, but it is much harder than the limestone prevalent elsewhere in Europe.

The smooth water was created by shooting a six minute exposure, which calmed the water, creating an ethereal haze on the lake. I must have taken hundreds, if not thousands of photos by the lake.

Photo of the Day #14:Roses are Red, Cheating is too

I took this picture of rose with water drops in June 2005. I'm rather happy with the picture, but there is a nasty story that taints it. I had the picture on my website (http://www.lintinen.fi/) and I had introduced a very rudimentary guide to purchase pictures.

I hadn't really sold any pictures that way, and wasn't really putting much effort into it. So I was surprised a couple of years ago, when I received my first order of several photos. Someone had browsed my website and had found several pictures he liked and placed an order of seven printed pictures. I was rather happy for the sudden interest and sent the pictures via print service to the young man anxiously awaiting for the pictures.

Being a trusting Finn, I had paid for the prints myself and sent a bill to the young man so he could pay by internet bank (common in Finland -we don't use checks). I waiting for a while, but after a long wait I began to realize I had been duped. The young man wasn't intending to pay, the scoundrel.

I contacted the bailiff officer to inquire what I could do to retrieve what was owed to me. The friendly officer was able to inform me that the fellow had already incurred a sizable debt and the prospects of obtaining what was rightly mine were extremely dim. So I decided to let it go and considered it a lesson learned -I won't fall for the same one again...