On the ice

Lammaslampi ice, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

When I went to the nearby lake (Lammaslampi) today night, my eyes were not yet adapted to the night, and so when I walked to the shore I went a bit too far and stepped on the dark new ice near the shore.

Fortunately the ice was thick enough to carry me, but it made a quite worrisome noise until I got back to the shore. I had the LX3 in my hands, and so it was quite close that the camera (and me) did not get a cold bath in the lake.

Here is a photo stiched from two images in PTGui. Here, once again, I was not planning to combine the photos, but in the end I decided that this was the best use of the original photos.

I got several nice comments to the posting on how to develop as a photographer. The most recent commenter was Lynn:

Another way to develop as a photographer is to look at photography in terms of the visual arts, and study the history of visual art, to gain an appreciation of the "ways of seeing" that have evolved since prehistoric cave art right through to modern art, with photography being one branch of that story. The ways that artists and photographers perceive and represent their world, and how conventions have developed over time in our visual language, can be helpful in developing one's own visual style. So read up on the history of art, visit art galleries as well as photo galleries, you will find much food for thought.

This is indeed an excellent suggestion. It brough to mind some of the interests I had as a teenager - before going to study physics, mathematics, and information technology. In high school I was quite interested in the arts, painting with watercolors etc., even planning to study architecture. (No, not the information technology type of architecture.) But the interest somehow stopped when I was a student, and never really surfaced again.

It so happens that when browsing some photography books at Amazon.com I noticed that many of the comments recommended a guide to painting as a source for photography inspiration.

And - it so happens - today I opened a package from Amazon, and that book (with two others) is now on the table beside the computer as I write this. The book is "The Simple Secret to Better Painting", written by Greg Albert. At first glance the book seems promising - and although it discusses painting, I think many of the points do apply to photography as well.

The other two books in the package were "Camera Work" by Alfred Stieglitz and "Tao of Photography - Seeing Beyond Seeing" by Gross and Shapiro. Both contain photos, and some text. But mainly excellent b&w photography. I think they will provide excellent reading (and seeing) these dark winter nights.