Beautiful road

For a long time we are having nice sunny days. It has been only dull grey days for few weeks so sunshine is really appreciated. It was also very cold today, -28 C when I shot this photo. Trees are beautiful because having snow covers.

Our birches

These are the beautiful frosty birches in our yard today. It has been so stunningly beautiful weather (even if not so much sun shine) and trees and bushes look so marvellous. It is a pity that I haven’t had much time for shooting lately. At working days the outdoor shooting is almost impossible because darkness arrives just after 3 p.m. at this time of year. But our direction is spring time and lots more light! It is coming but slowly.

Conversating with himself

Tiitus looking at his own photograph and same time looking in his future. I got that feeling from this photo.

So, Happy New Year to everyone!

Castle Logix game

Kaapo playing Castle Logix game at Expert level. These are quite demanding ones but Kaapo copes them very well. It is very nice game: simple but having many skill levels and it really develops logical thinking. Master level is demanding even for adults.

Photo taken by a proud father.

Mittens

Now as we are having from -22 to -25 C outside you may need these wonderful mittens. My grandmother has made them. She is really a multi talented person in handcrafting. She is able to do almost everything from knitting to pottery. And what I admire most in her is that she is still able to learn new techniques and uses them to create something new.

I admire her greatly.

Young birches

This was mid-day in Finland in 5th of December. Now it is even darker. Weather was quite dull but the birches were fantastic.

It is possible to find really unique photo oppportunities when we have the darkest time of the year. It just needs more trying because not so much light available.

Singing Christmas carols at Kumpunen school

Nice occasion arranged every year near Christmas. Singing, coffee, Christmas tarts, gingerbread cookies, and good company. These kind of traditions are great to have. Simple but beautiful. Not any fancy surroundings but people having fun together.

Do you love pancakes? I do!

I got today my new Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH Pancake lens for my E-P1. I really said “wow” when I attached it to my camera. Really small in size and fast in nature. I think this lens may well be one of my favorites in near future. With this lens the E-P1 is really pocketable. So, an all-rounder lens I think.

Next thing that I am thinking to do in the micro4/3 field is to see how camera bodies will evolve. I hope there will be some interesting options by the next summer. If there will be a body with in-body IS and fast AF, I may well change my E-P1 to a new body. But we’ll see.

We visited Kaapo’s favorite forest

Today I visited nearby forest with Kaapo. He was very excited and we did a small “hike” there. Trees were very beautiful because of the frost. I really enjoyed Kaapo’s company and we had lots of fun together.

Absorbing

Here are my boys. I am getting shivering every time I look at this photo; Shivering in a positive way. You can so clearly see how Tiitus absorbs knowledge from his big brother, Kaapo. And next time Tiitus can blow out the candles by himself. This is learning from the life itself. It may seem so simple but it always needs someone to help you.

You can see how Tiitus silently admires his big brother, and how he learns in that very moment. I feel it from that photo better than I see it.

There is admiration, respect, and love. Absorbing.

Finnish forest

Another great Flickr group about Finland. Forest is a very special place for us Finns. It is our soul and it provides a place for relaxing.

Check out this group:

Finnish forest – Finländsk skog – Suomalainen metsä

My inspiration has stoned

I have had lately very low inspiration for shooting photos. It feels quite bad because photography is my #1 hobby. I feel that I can not shoot decent photos indoors and outdoors it is so dark at the moment because we are not having any snow. And it is like night (3 to 4 p.m.) when I am back to home from the work, so no outdoors pics then. At weekends there is so much other things to do, no time for daytime shooting really.

That’s why I am posting these old photos in Flickr hoping some people find them interesting. I hope I will gain some inspiration soon.

Some work-related stuff

Sometimes it is so nice to have a camera with you at your workplace and document the things you do professionally. Yesterday I did that and I think I should do that more regularly.

Co-60 source accelerator in Kuopio University hospital. We expose C3H10T1/2 murine fibroblasts to ionizing radiation (1 and 5 Gy doses). We investigate genomic instability processes which may be novel mechanisms for cancer initiation and development.

In my laboratory. Fancy Carl Zeiss Axio Imager A.1 epifluorescence microscope equipped with LED illumination system. Comet Assay IV programme package for analysing DNA damage and DNA repair.

Both photos shot with E-P1 and M.ZUIKO 14-42mm lens.

More cool Flickr groups about Finland

These are so great Flickr groups to check out Finnish seasons:

Winter

Spring

Summer

Autumn

A boy needs rules.

A boy needs rules., originally uploaded by Jonne Naarala.

I got this wonderful book “Rules for my unborn son” by Walker Lamond from my dear cousin Mathias.

“One man’s instructions for raising a thoughtful, adventurous, honest, hardworking, self-reliant, well-dressed, well-read, well-mannered young gentleman”

I really will need this book.

Kiitos, Mathias!

P.S. You can check Mr. Lamond’s great blog here.