Cloudbusting 291

Sweaty armpits
buzzing head
the usual friday afternoon rat race
and then it finally finally arrives
friday 4 pm
threshold of the weekend
time to think about the future
time to live the real life
time to unwind
time

Cloudbusting 290, sky watch

Wednesday comes with glorious sunshine
which means I have some fresh stuff for friday
straight off the Cannon
I snatch a couple of minutes for myself
making my arrival to work later than usual
just don´t tell my boss
...naah, I slaved on thursday evening
so it´s all right

See Sky Watch Friday for more skies
from all over our beautiful world
but of course you already have

Cloudbusting 289

It´s always clear above clouds
That is so strange
when I really think about it
because in winter 80% of the time
I stare at grey blank nothingness
which might be hard to believe
based on the photos I have here

Cloudbusting 288

Another clear winter day
and I just miss the best part of the sunrise
Even the steam puffs from industrial area
make me feel good
It´s an ordinary day
nothing strange about it
Life goes on just like it did before
no matter what the papers scream

My World 19

Waiting for a train in Leppävaara, Espoo

More waiting

New malls are often large black boxes with lots of colourfull signs.

That was my My World this week. See more there.

Cloudbusting 287

I´ve been listening to Bon Iver´s Blood Bank Ep lately. He has lot of songs about snow and his stuff fits nicely to winter time.

Cloudbusting 286

Soon I´ll go to gym
I do it every sunday morning
My life feels so programmed
and there is not much room for improvising
but it´s kinda comforting

Cloudbusting 285

This is a story about me and smoking. Stop reading if it´s not your bag.

When I was on this train station there was a lot of smoking people. More than usual even though the habit has somewhat declined lately. It just gaught my eye and nose. I have become quite sensitive to the smell of it lately. In my stories I have often had people who smoke because it was a habit of mine for about 10 years. It has been almost 2 years since the last one. I guess I take the view that I have never stopped. I´m just on a long break. Other stuff like alcohol, coffee and drugs have never been in my interests. That´s why I seldom have stories about drunken escapades as that is mostly unknown territory to me. I just wanted to smoke and I was probably not much more than 10 or 11 when I smoked my first cig. I had a long time off but when I spent some time in Denmark it gaught me again. People there were smoking so casually that it was almost ridiculous and it was fun to do. I never smoked like a pack a day, maybe 4-6 a day. I was able to have days and sometimes weeks off so I wasn´t that badly in to it. Besides it´s better that way, the small dizziness it gives is stronger that way. It´s no use to be dizzy all the time.

It was time to give up when it was just getting too bad in many ways. Every ordinary weakness of approaching middle-age was worse if there was smoking in the list of habits. Every time I looked info on something there was an advice like quit smoking or at least lower the daily consumption. It had to go. In the last years I got these headaches that lasted for 3 days if I just smoked one cig. I also felt ashamed of it as my clothes reeked badly and my breath was probably not very nice. I always knew it was a filthy habit but couldn´t drop it. That´s also one thing I hate these days. The smoke breath is awful and I have trouble to talk to those people at close range. Only thing worse than smoke breath is smoke/milk-coffee breath. I don´t know what happens then but the mix of that is just beyond hideous. Often these two habits go along which makes me feel sorry for them. I once was in a job where this IT-guy had that mix all the time. He wanted to stand close to me when he talked about software and such but I had to move away from him because of his breath. It was funny as he was kind of following me around all the time. He never noticed.

I see these people at the door of my office building smoking in the freezing temperatures. Some of them have coffee simultaneously too. It was fun to be out there sometimes and talk to these people in laidback situations. There is no time or opportunity to get to know these strangers now as it was before. Smoking unites people and that´s probably the best point of it.

Finnish legislation is also trying to kill smoking. Soon it has been banned from cafes and restaurants completely, just the terraces are a smoking cloud which is nice for the bystanders:-) Also they want to ban showing people smoking in magazines, ads and movies. Who knows, probably those dimwits will soon ban all Bogart/Bacall movies while violent action cop movies still remain. Hah hah. In my view I don´t think it´s entirely good to ban smoking completely. There are a lot of people who want/need mild legal "enhancement" to their life and banning cigs will only lead them to harder stuff.

Cloudbusting 284, sky watch

A calm moment
somewhere in between
the crunch times of friday


See more calming or fierce skies in Sky Watch Friday

Cloudbusting 283

If an alien spaceship went by, would it leave an alien smoke trail behind too?

Cloudbusting 282

< 0 means less than zero
> 0 means greater than zero
Now I should remember it the next time I need it.
Writing it down (or up there) always helps.

My World 18

Last sunday we were treated to perfect conditions for all kind of ice activities. A long cold period had made the ice solid and now the sun came up and warmed the weather to enjoyable -2C (28F). Ice was clear and there was only a very thin layer of snow on top of it. This week is known as skiing holiday week and usually most non-metropolitan people clear out to provinces in a flash after work in friday and some disappear to Lapland and mid-European skiing resorts. All the remaining people were on the ice and beach cafe´s were busting out of their seams, although some of you might laugh at this kind of "beach" life. Here is some activities I saw, like walking the dog.

Going skating. Note the old tube skates that were old-fashioned already in the 80´s.

What could be a better time and place for nordic walking?

Plenty of space to play hockey.

Skiing and pulling a sled.
Flying a big kite.

Ice surfing with only a sail and skiis.

Ice surfing with wheels. He didn´t do much, maybe he was just happy to show off his "boat". There was plenty more stuff happening and hopefully next weekend will be as good.

That was My World this week. See more there.

Cloudbusting 281

In the evening I saw these ice surfers out there
I waited for them to start surfing
and I waited and waited
to get some more action, colour and scale
When I was leaving they started it, of course
Maybe tomorrow, then
No, it´s a promise

Cloudbusting 280

Something easy for sunday morning

Cloudbusting 279

I remember all those saturdays
playing chess behind the pink house
if it was a homegame
from 12 to 5pm
depending how long the game took
usually around 3 hours or so
sometimes much less
if the opponent had a hangover
or if he was more interested about smoking
or talking on the cellphone
Playing against juniors was the hard part
they didn´t have much routine
but they were so disciplined
completely without distractions
losing against them was so shameful
although I avoided that as hard as I could

Cloudbusting 278, sky watch

When the morning starts at 8am with grandiose ways (mid-winter style)
it lifts my day at work to a next level

When the evening starts at 5pm with grandiose ways
it lifts the rest of the day to a next level
It´s a real blessing to get both of them

See more uplifting stuff at Sky Watch Friday

Cloudbusting 277

Something simple and playful in the air
What a difference a day makes
It doesn´t have to be anything special
just a trip to buy groceries
and it´s nothing but a celebration
Sun is simple like that

My World 17, taekwondo

Last sunday was quite foggy and boring day. That´s why I expanded my horizons and went to see 2009 taekwondo black belt finnish championships. Taekwondo, like all other martial arts, is more or less an unknown sport to me. I still have a lot to learn about sports photography in dimly lit places. Here is a story from one fight:

Eagle learns to fly.

The eagle has landed.

The comeback. It´s PETSHOO if one fighter goes to the red area.

The moment of victory. The moment of defeat.

That was My World this week. See more in My World.

Cloudbusting 276

I remember this home movie in the 70´s
back then home movies lasted only 4 minutes without sound
unless you count the humming of the projector
lot of people gathered to see it
the magic of the silver screen
the smoke from a chimney travelled in high speed
one frame taken in 30 seconds or so
the smoke travelled back to the pipe too
very experimental

this trainwreck of a guy
sat on an inflatable transparent red plastic chair
they were seriously in fashion in those days
the spearheading future of furniture design
he smoked a lot like people did in the 70´s
and in the end of the movie night
he had done a hole in the chair with the cigarette
and he and the red plastic chair
formed one drunken, swearing, melted and sad mess on the floor

Cloudbusting 275

I have lived
in the heart of the cities
in the suburbs
in the country
on an island
in a boat
on the road
but when I go through my old photos
there is something that never changes

Cloudbusting 274

There is this hill that I climb every now and then
in the middle of busy roads and neighbourhood
yet offering solitude for those who seek it
all kind of trash scattered around
pizza boxes
burned grass
candy wrappings
beer bottles
drug needles, maybe
but today it´s dressed in pure white snow
and sunlight that promises a lot
almost good day for cloudbusting

Cloudbusting 273, sky watch

A sunny day coming for a change
everything stands still in the morning fog
lingering in the valley
cold and crystal clear
waiting for 8 am start of the day
in the parking lot


See more foggy mornings, red sunsets and blue skies in Sky Watch Friday.

Cloudbusting 272

Typical winter skies with little action
and couple of painterly strokes
from my skywatch hangout Haukilahti watertower
towards Suomenoja powerstation

My World 16

Espoo Cathedral is a medieval stone church that was completed around 1490. Campanile (clock tower in front) was completed in 1767 and there has been renovations and additions all the time since then. It is one of the oldest buildings in Helsinki metropolitan area and a very popular church for weddings in the summer. There is a guy polishing a vintage car for just married couple outside the church in this summery photo.

Espoo Cathedral is a very popular spot for photographers too. I often snap a photo of it when I pass by the church, like here when I was on my way to a early morning meeting near by the church couple of weeks ago. I have other angles too and it looks just fine from those angles, but I liked the idea of pairing these two similar shots.

Travel around the world with My World.

Cloudbusting 271

Today it´s nothing but a red stripe in the horizon.

Cloudbusting 270

Behind the cracked icy horizon
a mirage of a boat
disappears to the rising darkness
hanging currently over Estonia
Estimated time of arrival 1,5 hours