Splendor of the Pyrenees: Part 2 Appendix -hunt for the lost photos

I just realized that I had stored my best photos of the Lescun trips in a separate folder. No wonder I was quite disappointed by how the photos turned out -they were much more grey in general than I recalled.

I won't be telling the same story all over again, but I'll share the better (in my opinion) pictures with you:

Ross examines the rocky water trough (which actually looks more like concrete now that I look at it more closely).

For whom the bell tolls ;)

The academic hikers...

Mountain pastures.

The way kids always draw trees.

The weary traveler Jose.

Professor Sylvie looks just a bite like a school kid.

It really was that steep.

A mountain lunch the French way: some wine and bread.

The Splendor of the Pyrenees: Part 2

The wooded hills of Lescun provided my first glimpse into the splendor of the Pyrenees

My last blog post ended in two rather mild attempts at experiencing the Pyrenees. Apparently one really needs to plan ahead and look for a guide book or a local to help you find a suitable location and check the weather forecast for a sunny day. We had postponed going back to the mountains for a few months, as there was so much else to see around Pau. My next attempt at experiencing the mountains came at the end of June, when Ross, an avid trekker colleague of mine, arranged a trip to Lescun for our work group.

We started our trek surrounded by a thick fog.

The town of Lescun lays 70 km drive (a bit over an hour) from Pau. It is on the western edge of Parc National des Pyrénées and is a popular trekking destination due its high elevation (9oo m) and easy access to the magnificent scenery of the Pyrenees. My colleague Ross had prepared a hike for our team there. As can be expected for such a trip, which had been in planning for a while, it’s bound to be a gamble with regards to the weather. Even though France is quite sunny, the mid-June date coincides with a generally wetter part of the French summer. As luck would have it, we were spared of rain, but we did have bucketfuls of fog and clouds, at least to begin with. This time I didn’t do much preparation for the trip, apart from taking with me something to eat and wearing trainers (sneakers), as Ross promised an easy walk. On a good day the advice might have been sound, but at least after a rainy June, the tracks were in part rather muddy and in some cases even flooded. I probably would have taken my Gore Tex trekking shoes with me, had I actually considered the trip by myself, but in the end I still managed to stay quite dry, so no real harm done anyway.

We parked our cars midway up the ridge of the Lescun peak and started our climb with no real knowledge of what lay ahead. As some of us weren’t accustomed to much physical exercise, our pace was accordingly sluggish. I was just happy about it, as I was free to take as many pictures as I liked, without slowing the retinue down, which is a constant problem for me when I usually travel with people. It’s rather remarkable how the wooded hills were portrayed in much more flattering light in the fog. Oftentimes when one tries to capture the raw beauty of the woods, the surroundings become a distraction –you really can’t see the trees from the wood. There are other tricks as well, with which to separate a small cluster of trees from the surroundings, but a good mist does as good job of it as any.

While we were having our well-deserved lunch break, the sun decided to end its game of hide and seek and gracefully stepped out of hideaway of gradually dissipating clouds. Up to that point we had had to trust Ross’s word that the scenery was worth seeing. As we finally gazed upon the rolling hills, surrounded by the Pyrenees on all sides, we could agree wholeheartedly. Having watched documentaries (such as Food Inc.) of mass scale industrial farming, I was quite convinced that more natural ways of producing our food had gone almost extinct. However the Lescun hills were a happy reminder that not all is lost –the hills were sprinkled with cows grazing the grass in sync with the chime of the large cow-bells around their necks. The chimes were there to help the shepherds find any stray bovines at the end of the day when the cows would be gathered for milking. The path to the pastures is so difficult that anything larger would have to be hauled with a helicopter, which we managed to see. Due the same reason the modest lodgings of the shepherds and the water trough for the cows were made of rocks scattered on the hillside.

When we started our lunch, the hills were still shrouded in mist.

Gradually the clouds started to part and we were able to see the majestic mountains.

Relaxing on a rock bench in front of a rock hut.

Ross confronts the local fauna.

The local fauna enjoying the mountain air.

After filling our bellies everyone was ready head home –this time along a slightly different path. Our trust in Ross knowing the way was unwavering –right until we realized that he had led us astray. Luckily we weren’t too far from our cars and the peak of the Lescun hill was a good landmark for us. The negative thing was that we were already running a bit late and the path didn’t have any marks showing where we were (or where to go). With only a bit of wondering we found ourselves back to the well-beaten path. Unfortunately the route wasn’t easily traversable and we had to jump over a couple of creeks and just and just avoided a nasty plunge in the probably icy waters.

The woods didn't look as ominous anymore when the sun was out.

Our detour took us over some not so mighty creeks.

At the end of the trip the sun was shining from a clear blue sky and we could see the surrounding peaks and the valleys basking in the light. An unobstructed view to the surrounding landscape is seldom seen in Finland, where forests usually block the view, but on a clear day it’s guaranteed on any mountain hike. I had finally had my share of the splendor of the Pyrenees. Now I only had to take Milka to experience it as well.

The Splendor of the Pyrenees: Part 1

I have lived most of my life in Finland, which while not being as flat as the Netherlands, still lacks any considerable mountains. The only hills worthy of mention are in Lapland, a full day's drive away, which means that I'm used to rather more subtle contours of the scenery. However my expectations weren't extremely high, when I moved to the south of France in the spring of 2011, as my perception of the Pyrenees was that is was the homely little brother of the Alps, not really quite worth remarking upon -just a small line in between France and Spain, something to liven up the map a bit.

The Pyrenees as seen in Pau city center. The prominent peak is pic du Midi D'Ossau.

Fortunately I was pleasantly surprised almost immediately upon arriving to Pau, my Hub of existence for the next twelve months. I have to admit that whilst I consider geographically well attuned, I couldn't have placed Pau on the map just five months before arriving. The rather small historical town of Pau lies in the valley of the river Pau, right beside the foothills of the Pyrenees. Even though the town itself looks rather ordinary by French standards (which is to say its town center is rather spectacular and historic from my Finnish point of view), it really stands apart due to the spectacular view of the Pyrenees right at the center of the town. The Pyrenees lie just circa 30 km (ca. 20 miles) south of the town and the highest peaks that mark the border between France and Spain, lie just 50 km south, as the crow flies, or a bit over an hour, as my vehicle of choice lumbers on. The Pyrenees form a saw-toothed ridge that defines the view to the south and the image of which is a regular companion to any tourist brochure to the region. What marks the Pyrenees quite apart from the alps is that being quite a stretch farther south, the climate of the nearby valleys accommodate palm trees and other trappings of the Mediterranean (Actually Pau is a bit closer to the Atlantic).

The Pyrenees could be seen in the distance from our first apartment. Unfortunately the apartment blocks in the foreground didn't improve the view.

From the moment I arrived in Pau, I felt a magnetic pull to the snow-capped mountains. On the many clear days that are so common in the region, you could feel that you could touch the peaks if you just stretched your hand far enough. It didn't take too long for me and my wife, Milka, to prepare some portable lunch and plenty of water and hop into our trusted Suzuki (on a good day) Wagon-R and find a suitable spot to drive to on our GPS and see what would lie ahead of us. The problematic thing about tourism in France is that it is rather self-serving and only (mostly) in French, at least anywhere beyond Paris or Euro Disney. So at first we didn't end up in the most spectacular location, but a ski-resort, which was just ending its season and as the skies were cloudy, we ended up just walking around and taking note that even if it's twenty degrees C in the valley, it is still rather cold in the mountains.

When there's nothing to see in the distance one can always look down to find the most spectacular things.

After a while decided to try again, this time with an American friend of ours, who hadn't had much chance to travel outside Pau, where she was doing a short language course. We had hoped that the weather would improve a bit, but even in the south of France, the mountain weather can play tricks and we were again shrouded by clouds. The place we had stumbled upon was called Lac de Fabrèges. In the relatively short winter season it is one of the (apparently) smaller skiing resort in the Pyrenees, but acts as a hub for outdoor activities during the rest of the year. As is common for France, the place was rather poorly signed and any place beyond the (already snow-free) ski resort seemed to be practical no mans land. Being the fool-hardy people that we were, we decided not to me intimidated by the intense fog and cloud cover and followed a scenic mini-railroad track along the ridge of the mountain despite the warning of locals. It seems that according to the locals it's foolhardy to walk in the mountains on a cloudy day. Whether or not they had any reason to be worried, we did survive the walk. The crowning moment was when we decided to stray off the railroad track and climb a hill marked only with small painted pebbles, which the French apparently consider to be sufficient signposts. The path wound up to the top of the ridge, where the locals had built a viewing platform. Suffice it to say that the view would have been much more spectacular had we been able to see more than a couple of meters beyond us, but we were rather proud of having conquered our first Pyrenean summit. Well the company was good and the home made falafel I had brought along couldn't have tasted better. Almost as if to remind us that the mountains follow their own will, the clouds parted as we descended and we did manage to see the splendor of the Pyrenees, at least for a brief glimpse.

Although we really couldn't see anything, just the fact that you couldn't see anything beyond a couple of meters when your on the ridge of a mountain filled us with awe.

On the way down the clouds parted and we could just about see down to the valley below.

To be continued...

Géougue de Tortes, near the village of Gourette, France. The peak in front is Péne Sarriére.

This is a modest rebirth of my  photoblog, which has  lain dormant for the last five years. I guess the major reason for this was the lack of any goal, or any idea what I wanted to say in the blog.


Well now that so many years have passed and I have amassed a huge portfolio of photos, it is much easier to find an focus to the blog: I've decided to tell stories of the pictures with a slight National Geographic touch.

My wife Milka, lit by the setting sun.

I imagine that most people who read my blog at the moment are friends and acquaintances, but just to be on the safe side, I'll tell something of myself. I'm not a professional photographer,  even though I've been taking pictures as a side business from time to time. I mostly take pictures of things that have some kind of a emotional connection to myself. I wouldn't say that all of my pictures are successful, or very gripping, but for me to post an image here, it has had to have a WOW-effect on me. I'm a chemist by profession, so I have a slight scientific bent on the process of taking pictures, but I do not revel in talking endless drivel about the settings or which camera gear I've used. Of course I've had to study all kinds of techniques and invest in equipment that allows for me to take the sort of pictures that I enjoy. But I only get interested in technique and/or gear, if I'm not able to take the photos I wan't without them.


I've traveled around the World (mostly Europe, though) for my work and just for fun, and I'll be posting pictures from all over in the near future. However I'm a Finn and live in Finland at the moment, so in the end I will focus on my native land the most. After all it's the place I know the best.

The pictures you see above are from the Pyrenees in France. I lived right next to them in Pau, a small city which they call "Pau Porte des Pyrenees". Whatever else I might have to say about France, I have to admit that the weather was almost always nice and the scenery spectacular.

If I am able keep my resolution, I will try to post something new at least every week.

Updates for the site!

It's been forever (about a year) since my last entry, so my original purpose for this Blog hasn't really been fulfilled. I guess I won't be 'able to' update regularly, so I'll change function of this blog slightly.

From now on I'm mostly going to report on new ventures and new pictures. Perhaps something else, but knowing me, probably not.


So here are some new additions to my main site:

Wallpaper gallery is the biggest change. Now you can download some of the cooler pictures for your desktop. I can even increase the number of wallpaper pictures if I get any requests.






(don't click the picture unless you wan't the full 1280 x 902 pixel picture)





I've added plenty of pictures, but the title images of each gallery are still unchanged.

The last year has been a bit slow for nature photography, but hopefully I can still turn the boat around.

Catching up

Deary me! My last entry was in November! Well perhaps I can explain things away with Christmas worries and being busy at work. Both are basically true but perhaps not the reason for the lack of posting. The true reason lies in my not actually taking too many pictures after the visit to Crete.

When the days are short and work takes often until six the aren't too many opportunities to shoot. There have been some occasions, though. Some for a project of a friend, some for my own pleasure. Here are a bunch of pictures, the small pictures are links for larger ones.

All apart from one are taken by me, guess which?

Chemistry vs. photography

It's been forever since my last post. In large part it's because of the stress that my postgraduate studies bring. I tend to work at least an hour overtime each day and when things don't go well, it shows in not having too much 'power' to do other things.

Well things gave been improving recently for several reasons. Firstly I managed to take a week off and go for a holiday in Crete. I spent the week relaxing and photographing a very different environment compared to Finland. And I really think I got several WOW-shots.





And things are looking good at work. I've managed to prepare a synthesis for covalently photopolymerizing fullerenes into sol-gel matrices. There's a lot of questions before understanding that phrase, but with the links you might have an idea what I'm doing.
What is especially nice is that if I manage to do it, it'll be the first time ever in the world. Granted that the field is quite narrow, but first ever is still first ever.

Assuming that things go well, I'll be traveling to the University of Trieste to improve my skills in organic synthesis for a month or two. And I'm sure I'll get some wonderful opportunities for photography as well.

A Dry Spell

During the past month I haven't been too occupied with photography. Only on couple of occasions I've managed to venture out and take pictures. One such occasion was yesterday, when a friend of mine invited me to take photographs of him doing stunts with his motorcycle.

Here are two of the more successful pictures:








Most of my energy has gone to my (post) graduate studies, as I'm on a trial period until the end of the year and if I don't manage to impress my professor, I might find myself without a job. As it is I tend to work nine to ten hours a day just in case. And at the end of the day I'm often too exhausted to go out and take pictures.

On a lighter note I'm glad to say that the friend of mine, who was applying for art college, got in. As there were 500 applicants and only 20 got in, I can say that he, if anyone, 'has it'.

And the most labour intensive photography project I've been involved with to date, shooting for the "Noviisi" magazine, has reached its conclusion as the magazine has been published. I'll post a link to an internet version, if there ever will be one.

Back to work

I've been suffering from constant crashes on my computer, which has put me off of writing for a long time. I've rarely photoshopped any of my pictures, to a stark contrast compared to last year.

I did purchase the Sigma 105 mm F2.8 Macro lens, but haven't used it to shoot macro too much. I somehow lack inspiration. And worst of all my summer holiday will draw to its end in a week, as I continue in my university and start working on my PhD. Probably rewarding, but loads of hard work. Hopefully I'll find time for photography as well.

If I'll get this computer to work properly I'll probably be adding loads of new pictures on the pages.

On Commission

My summer holiday has finally started and gradually it's beginning to sink in. My official graduation is in three days and depending on whether I'll go to the graduation ceremony I'll get the papers out either very soon or on the 22nd of June.

The summer will be spent taking photographs, possibly traveling and helping out in various projects, such as the Noviisi Magazine that'll be delivered to all new students in Tampere in the autumn.

I'll probably contact my university early next week to inquire whether I'll get the PhD post or not. If not, I should be starting to seek for a job.

Here's a potential magazine cover for the Noviisi Magazine. The couple will be in the cover, but there are quite a few possibilities to choose from.

The breath of summer!

I've submitted the last of my lab reports and finished all the paperwork for graduation. Now I'll just have to wait a couple of weeks and I'll officially become a MEng (or DI in Finland). It's been five short years and quite a lot of studying, but well worth it.

I can't wait until the summer break starts and I can invest more of my time into photography and possibly even traveling abroad to see friends. Time will tell.

Here's a glimpse of a nice spring sunset:

Updates -what are they?

Updates should be long due. I've taken a lot more photographs, some of them quite good, but I find it hard to find time to upload them onto my site, or even process them in Photoshop at all.

Well there's only two and a half weeks until the summer holidays start and I should have plenty of time then. Until then I'll just post this petite post of a bench on a pier by the lake Aulanko.



by the way you can view the picture bigger (and most others as well) by clicking them.

Now we're cooking with charcoal again!

I finally received the 12-24 mm F 4.5-5.6 Sigma, and I've even had time to test it.
Even though it weighs a ton and is quite dark (4.5-5.6) it doesn't matter that much, as it's not meant to be a sports zoom. Even when shooting inside you can easily handhold it, as the wide angle means that camera shake doesn't affect it as much. The colour reproduction is great and it's much sharper than my previous lenses. It might not be as sharp is it could, as I've heard their quality varies.

I've been shooting for a christian paper in my university, and the paper will be sent to every new student next autumn. It's a fun project and I hope I'll get proper enough pictures. It'll mostly be people photography, but I'll give it a feel of nature as well.

Work is going along fine -the kids seem to like me as much, if not more, as their real teacher. I won't apply for the post when it opens this autumn, as I wouldn't feel comfortable teaching computers all the time.

I've managed to do all of my lab work for my final module at the uni and I'm sure there's nothing delaying my graduation on the 8th of June.

Here's an example of what the new zoom can do with me handling it (it's a double exposure by the way).

Winding down

I'm really tired, even though I've spent this evening relaxing - a rare occurrence for me. Most of my days have consisted of dawn to dusk work, with very little sleep. I've been taking some photographs, some of them very good in my opinion at least, but find it very hard to find time to process them. Final studies, graduation, work (in two places) and volunteer work seem to be a bit too much for me.

I think the pace won't slow down completely until the 8th of June when I officially graduate, but things are winding down a bit.

I've also received a confirmation that the sigma wideangle zoom is on its way, which is good news. Here's a picture that was possible even without the zoom: