In Finland (but not everywhere else, sadly) there exists so-called "everyman's right" (also known as "freedom to roam" or "right of public access to the wilderness"), which means that you are free to walk in forests whoever owns them. And this right also includes picking berries (and mushrooms) in the forest. Anyone can do it. And if you sell the berries the earnings are free of income tax. This can be a nice additional income. I know this from personal experience in my youth when I was studying.
Here are three images taken (or perhaps made) today. Our freezer at home is full of blueberries and strawberries, but today we had one more trip to the forest to pick blueberries (and some wild strawberries). It was a wet day, but it didn't rain too much to spoil the excursion.
I have finished reading (or more exactly, looking at) the book "The Photographer's Eye" by John Szarkowski. An excellent collection of classic b&w photography, a lot of the photographs taken by unknown photographers. There were only a few pages of text, mostly the book was photographs, which is good. The book was divided in five parts, or aspects of photography: The Thing Itself, The Detail, The Frame, Time, and Vantage Point. And excellent introduction to the "seeing" of photographs.
Now I'm reading "Why People Photograph" by Robert Adams. This is a book of essays, with only a few images in the book. Here are two nice quotes: "For photographers, the ideal book of photographs would contain just pictures—no text at all." "... the best way to avoid talking about the pictures is to talk about their subjects—tract houses or fields or any to the myriad and interesting details of life."
The latter quote leads easily to the questions: What/why should photography blogs discuss? Should there be any text at all? Should they only contain images? And if text is needed, why? (I guess: because of the companionship.)
Update: TOP posted their review of the Olympus E-P1 interchangeable lens camera. An excellent review, focusing on the use of the camera in practise.
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3 comments:
Juha: I wish that the US would come up with such a law. Here, everywhere you look, there are fences galore. Most everything seems to be private property fraught with "No Trespassing" signs. I've found it quite frustrating when I see some shot that I'd like to capture, but would have to violate a law to do it.
There certainly is no freedom to roam ... unless you own it or it is set aside as a national, state, or city park. I really like the concept.
Regarding photos and text. I guess that I like more of a journalistic style or a multimedia experience, perhaps. I like text and photos together. They seem to go hand in hand and do much to enhance each other as much as a series of photos work better sometimes than a single image. Of course, there is no one right way to do it. Only preferences.
Thanks for mentioning those books. You've just added to my list of "must read" books. I'm getting kind of far behind! :-)
@Paul: Thanks to you also for the book hints. I bought a copy of "Tao Te Ching" after you mentioned it in your blog. It is next on my list of books to be read. (But probably not in one sitting though...)
By all means, take your time with the Tao. It will take you a very long time to absorb it. I've still not made it through all of them and I've had the book for well over a year! It's pretty deep.
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