Somewhere over the rainbow...

Certainly not the most usual phenomenon to see in Finland in late Autumn. It was barely over 10 C, VERY windy, rain showers. But the sun came out for a while, and at a perfect moment for me as I was on a bridge with a fabulous view. I was already on the bridge when it appeared, and it made me gasp in awe. This was a bit after 3 pm today. I sure wish I'd been a bit farther away as I couldn't get the entire rainbow to fit in the camera lens: it made a perfect arch over that group of buildings in the picture. Maybe a wideangle lens would've done the same (if I had one). I could of course have tried to take three pictures and then combine them in a panorama, but in my excitement I didn't remember that.

From the righthand end...

...to the high point of the arch...

...to the lefthand end.

Not the greatest of weathers but I had a fabulous time nevertheless: I walked all the way from my home in eastern Helsinki, along the shores, to the city center - some 9-10 kilometers. I felt almost euphoric when I got to the city, not only because of the rainbow but because the exercise felt so good. I didn't feel tired at all, but invigorated (still do). A long time since I last did this walk.

After the rain, the sun comes out

The moment when a shower of rain ends and the sun comes out, and the light sparkles on the streaming rain water and in the raindrops on tree branches, that's a perfect moment.

Lots of work

A few city pictures that I like this time: just ordinary scenes.

Well now, they did not accept the article that I sent to a periodical in late August. No worries there, it happens in the academia. I did get plenty of important (and accurate) feedback, though, and am finding it quite motivating and good to continue on. Consequently, I'm trying to get lots of work done during the weekdays.

Back to the nature

Taken on the way to my brother's yesterday, on some tall cliffs. They looked very inviting so I went ahead to climb them. Not exactly with as great agility as a mountain deer, but I enjoyed it. I'm somehow enchanted by visions of contrast between man-made and nature, although here the plastic chairs look quite tranquil and in harmony with their surrounding.

My sister came along. My brother had a public PhD defence and the attached evening celebrations to go to, so it was a house full of women - plus of course two little men, my nephews. My elder nephew, at 8, is of course quite a big boy now. Not being the one primarily responsible for him, it feels like the time has gone so fast, like it was only yesterday when I had the responsibility to look after him for the first time when his parents had a night out and I was immensely nervous that I'd do something wrong when changing his diaper. Had a great day. Was good to chat with my sister-in-law and spend time with the boys. My elder nephew exhibited tricks with his hip hop cap (throwing it up in the air with the aim of it landing on his head) and his skills on a computer game. Then there was some hardcore playing with Star Wars legos with my younger nephew (who is turning 4 in December). We also had a discussion (a short one, but still) about our favourite between-meals snacks. He said he is partial to waffle bisquits and white chocolate (milk chocolate with the cocoa removed), whereas I went for youghurt.

This is pretty cool

From the Hakaniemi underground station in Helsinki. Watch in large size and move the page up and down, it's almost hypnotizing. :-)

So, I joined this camera club called the Camera Club (innovative name huh?). It's the largest club of camera enthusiasts in Finland, has a monthly meeting, and various sub clubs (study club, technics night, natura, people photography etc) with their monthly meetings. Usually the meetings have a photographer talking about his or her work and about some aspect of photography. I couldn't make it to the monthly meeting which was this week, because there was a meeting of the Classical-Philological Society at the same time (with, as it turned out, an absolutely fantastic lecture on the Finnish research project in Pompeii which is on its 7th year now, excavating a house of a wealthy man named Marcus Lucretius, in the center of Pompeii. The lecture was held by Paavo Castrén, professor emeritur, leader - now retiring - of the project). But next tuesday is the meeting of the study club, and I'm going to try and get there. I'm a little worried that the club emphasizes technics too much, and I'm not really interested in learning about photography by listening to someone talk about it. What excites me is finding out things MYSELF, through trial and error; finding new themes and new ways to photograph the themes. Also, they seem to have lots of competitions, which I fear makes for a very competitive atmosphere. Well, hopefully my negative expectations prove out to be baseless and hope there'll be plenty of nice people - and not too many of that class of amateur photographers for whom photography is a 'who's got the biggest one' competition. ;-)

A couple of night shots

These are from tuesday, just the first tries at night photography with the new camera. The view is to the Sompasaari docks (link in google maps).

I couldn't resist today going and buying a proper Manfrotto tripod. I really do need it, being interested in night photography (among other things). Especially if you use very small apertures and long exposures, you need to keep the camera absolutely still, and many times when you want a picture of something there just isn't anything to rest the camera on. I think that's it with camera gear for me for a long time. Better learn the camera properly with the basic lens first, before going about getting anything else. Luckily I have no need to buy camera gear just to have it - this is a very specific class of amateur photographers: people for whom photography mainly seems to be about competing on who's got the biggest... lens.

Home on the hill

Only the boots remain...

Homeless

From today, this one. A bit of a departure for me here, thematically. There are about 5500 homeless in Helsinki according to official statistics. Far too many in a wealthy social state. In most cases, alcoholism is involved.

Two things

Two things happened today. Or rather yesterday as it's now a couple of hours past midnight.

1) The foundation that awarded me the research grant for this year, I applied for a second year in May. Today they awarded me the second year grant! It's the same sum, 18 000 euros, for the entirety of 2009.

2) I went and bought a digital SLR, my first. Canon Eos 450D. I was rather beside myself with excitement, though calmed down towards the evening. :-)

Obviously it will take some time to "become friends" with the camera. This one I think is fairly successful though. The idea is that the man has, through his sleep, blended in with his surroundings, become one with the tree. From contrast to unity/harmony kind of thing.


I will not stop using the PowerShot S5 IS though. For one thing, you obviously need various kinds of lenses for an SLR to do lots of stuff. For another, there are occasions when an SLR is difficult to use, for example the shutter sound causing disturbance.