Cloudbusting 269

4th photo of the 4th folder of the 4th folder. That is me visiting Kultaranta (golden beach), the summer residence of the finnish president in Naantali. I´m in the shade but the clouds are quite promising. The photo is obviously not taken by me.

Cloudbusting 268

Best one of the recent week
or was it the week before
It has been slim pickings
and I wonder why I carry a camera with me
but it will get better some day
it always does

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Cloudbusting 267

Couple of challenges today.

First is a 5th photo from the 5th folder of 2007. People on a ferry watching the beautiful finnish archipelago. More than half of the photo was cropped away. Mostly just parts of cars and that metal floor. This could have worked for The Bum Bum blog too, maybe, although that would have required more cropping.

4th photo of the 5th folder of 2007. Six english but random things about me: I couldn´t think of that many english things about me. They are surrounded by sea and so am I often. They like the sea (?) so do I, especially when it glimmers like that. I hope that is enough.

Cloudbusting 266

I have wanted to show you
for quite some time now
but I still have no clue
who you really are?

My World 15, my equipment

This is my photographic equipment that I use now. I have lot of older non-digital cameras too, but I don´t use them anymore. If I count the bags too, it seems that they are,erm...quite red. This is not a conscious stylistic choice that 3/4 or these are red, it´s something else. I think the red stuff is aimed at women but even they are not willing to buy red stuff. Women prefer the usual black or grey colours just like men. When I come to the store to buy the stuff at discount prices then the only remaining items are the red ones. The sellers are happy to sell the last items and I´m happy to buy it. The only Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS5 left in store was red, but I thought that the wide lens in pocket size and 30 fps video was good for me despite the colour. Bag was chosen to match that, at discount price of course just like the DSLR bag.

They make DSLR´s now in colour. See Panasonic Lumix G1 here. I predict that some day in the very distant future I will own a red DSLR. Not by choice but, you know, more by accident. Now I´m more than happy with my EOS1000D.

That was My World this week. See more here.

Cloudbusting 265

Sometimes I open the door to this view
between these trees
and I feel the warmth of the spring in january
although I know it can´t be here for real
it´s not entirely in my imagination
which means it´s somewhere in between

Cloudbusting 264

I must admit that I have been jealous
Seeing all those photos people take on their flights
The scenes are so different from above
I thought I should have one too
I just had to find it from the archives
Now I have
Somewhere over the Baltic Sea
What is that knob hanging out there?

Cloudbusting 263

Open sea
Fresh winds
Pink dawn
Snowy islands
Great way to start friday morning

Cloudbusting 262

Every day
even for a fleeting second
I want to
feel the air
breath the air
see the air
and right now that is exactly what I do

Feel more air from all over the world in Sky Watch Friday

More blur

Yesterday´s post feels so stupid now. There is not much going on cloudwise and I barely have time to comment back on those who have commented here. It feels like I need a break but I know myself. Soon I will have an itch to post something. At least it´s fun to experiment blurry visions from bus window with all the functions that the camera has. It´s not all drab.

My world 14

I don´t even have time to participate in My World 14 this week but I just call this post as My World. It´s going full tilt and I can´t even think anymore soon. When is the f&%¤#%g economic recession going to show in my work? It seems never. I just eat some microwavecr&¤p in couple of minutes and then rest of the day I barely have time to go to toilet. I could use some recession here, HELLO!

Cloudbusting 261

Scenes from a parking lot
just before the sun that never came up goes down again
Last minutes to shop something for the haus
but I´m more interested in photography
no matter how boring it looks

Cloudbusting 260

Yet another beautiful winter day is about to end in Espoo. It´s only mildly entertaining so maybe I change it later. Some people seemed to think it was okay so I keep it.

Cloudbusting 259

The Baltic Sea glowed beneath her
in the scorching july sun
Gusty wind shaked her hair
a mesh of cylindrical and conical forms
too lifeless and fixed to deteriorate
Her immaculate red lips opened every now and then
to reveal a snake of blue and grey smoke
from luxurious brand new Kosmosas- cigarettes
Tamara was on top of her game
She was also deadly bored
It was nothing but endless waiting

Cloudbusting 258

Winter
cruel unforgiving light
steady flow from southwest
narrow gaps
minute or two a day
always gone too soon

See more winter skies in Sky Watch Friday

More My World

I pulled to this cold gas station and there was one car. I got out and started to see where I could take the photo but I waited for this one car to leave. When the car was by my side the driver rolled the window down and asked me if I was a reporter and was I interested in a frozen swan. Maybe he asked this because I had semi-pro looking camera. I replied that I was only practising. He then proceeded to babble boringly (like me to you now) how he had come back to live in this area and how he had seen a swan about to freeze in the lake. He called the authorities but they did nothing. I wasn´t interested in this and I just wanted him to leave. Besides, swans don´t belong here and if they freeze then it was meant to be so. It could have been an old swan too and I don´t think every old bird needs a rescue mission. He just babbled like I still was a reporter. He must have been a bit out there. Anyway, I can see how life could be different when carrying a bigger camera. Strange people talk to me about everything. It has been awhile since I carried a big one with me and it feels nice for a change.

My World 13

The price of gas was 1,60 euros/litre in autumn. Very rapidly it dropped as low as 1,10 euros/litre. It has now been 1,15 and is increasing. 1,1 feels so low to me that I won´t bother to check anymore where I go, it feels so cheap anyway. Because there is high taxes and the cost of importing gas, the price of gas is around 3 times higher than in US.

Weather is usually grey but the gas stations by the road side are often the only well-lit places in the landscape. I have often wanted to take photos of them but the lighting is quite demanding and my equipment was not producing the results I wanted until now.

Most of the gas stations are "cold stations" meaning that there is nothing but pumps that can be used with bankcards.

When there are actual people in gas stations it means that the place is open for 24 hours and there is usually just one worker in the night time. He is often a teenager who sells candy bars and hot dogs and has no knowledge how car works and is not allowed to leave the register. Most of the cash for "warm" gas stations comes from selling something else than gas.
The colours in this night photo are still a bit blurry, which means that I have to practice this kind of lighting a little more.


That was my My World this week. See more of them in My World.

Cloudbusting 257

The new stuff I listened in 2008.

Goldfrapp: Seventh Tree - wonderful brilliant, magical and all that. Love it.
Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes - same as above. This will be remembered from 2008.
My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges - funny and eclectic collection of Prince-y stuff
R.E.M. : Accelerate - Hollow Man was my song of the year
Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago - good album for almost any occasion.
Steve Kilbey: Painkiller
Marty Willson-Piper: Nightjar

Weirdo album: Mercury Rev: Snowflake Midnight / Strange Attractor

Finnish album: Kauko Röyhkä & Riku Mattila - Kauko Röyhkä & Riku Mattila

Cloudbusting 256

Winter sun plays on the sheet metal walls
and frosted stairway glass
My first cloudbusting with Canon EOS1000D
I´m in lurve with that thingy
it doesn´t produce grainy and noisy stuff
it´s size is the only thing...
but what I wouldn´t do to get better stuff in here?

Cloudbusting 255

Every year ventilation systems take more and more space on top the buildings. Soon ventilation systems will start to live their own life as intelligent beings and start to dance on top of the roofs and breath fire and wreak havoc like japanese sci-fi monsters.

Cloudbusting 254

couple of scenes from the icy sea
tired low light
some people skating there
cold hard wind
nose starts running
I dive back to the car
I´m alive
without a doubt

See more skies from all over the world in Sky Watch Friday

Cloudbusting 253

Twelfth night
threshold of the dream season from reality
busy day ahead
first call at 9 am before the first coffeebreak
end of the holidays
for the people with skiboxes on top of their SUV´s

My World 12

This past week my world has been cold and clear. There has been almost nothing else but clear blue skies all week, which is quite unusual for this part of the world during winter. That is why I´ve had to pay more attention to smaller details of the world, which is nice for a change.





That was my My World this week. See more winter worlds in My World.

Cloudbusting 252

There was something in this photo that yelled "show me, show me"! Then I had to do it for no good reason. An ordinary building from an ordinary architect (?) in a small finnish coastal town (Kotka).

Cloudbusting 251

The last couple of days have been crystal clear
Cold days and nights
Winter wonderland without the messy snow
Every day is a frosted jewel
I feel really upbeat and enjoying life
only sweating under all the layers of clothes

Cloudbusting 250

Front row seats for the spectacles of the sky

New Year´s Eve

16:20 pm New Year´s Eve
Venus met the Moon
twinky winky over the last red rays of the year;
sayonara 2008
none of the fireworks stuff worked
so this will have to do

See more New Year´s skies around the world in Sky Watch Friday