Falling

Maple leaves, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Dark sky, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Reflect, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Leaves are being colored, and falling to ground. The week has been busy, for various reasons. Autumn is gathering speed I guess. In any case, here are three photographs taken today, even one square one.

Edit: A new firmware version is becoming available for the Panasonic LX3, firmware version 2.0. It promises many improvements, of which several were on my wishlist, for example remembering the zoom length and manual focus distance, and faster autofocus at the wide end. However, "the firmware download is temporally suspended now", so I can't try it out yet.

Edit 2: A new note at the Panasonic site: "The download for the firmware update program to Ver.2.0 has been temporarily suspended, in order to make sure the reliability of the firmware, more specifically in case of the use of some newly added functions on Custom shooting mode. The download is expected to be available back again around the 20th Oct." So, have to keep waiting.

A walk to an unnamed lake

Stump, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Lines, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Pockets, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Today we went for a walk in the forests and fields between Tremanskärr marsh and Kurkijärvi lake. There is a lake near Kurkijärvi lake with no name shown on the map, so I can't give more precise details.

It was partly clouded, partly sunny day, and it was warmer than it has been during the last days. Autumn is progressing and there are more and more autumn colors in the leaves.

Here are three photographs taken today. I like the b&w perhaps best of all, but the other two has some attraction as well. A good day for being outside in the nature.

Bright autumn colors

Autumn colors, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Leaves, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Although this autumn we are getting a modest display of autumn leaf colors, some trees and bushes are putting on a nice show. It is still mostly green, with some pockets of bright colors here and there. Here are two photographs taken today, a clouded but not heavily overcast day.

Equinox

Dark clouds, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Clouds above, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Day and night are now equally long, but days are getting shorter fast. We had today both sunshine and dark clouds, nicely illustrated in these two photographs. A day of contrasts.

Photography at sunset

Birch, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Hazel forest, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Top 12 views + interesting, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

The two photographs above were taken at sunset today (7:30 PM), although that is not very visible as the sky was overcast. I used a mini-tripod with the LX3 to make these images as a long exposure was needed.

I have updated the sets of my top 12 most viewed and most interesting photographs (as reported by Flickr). The night, autumn and winter photographs are in a clear majority in the top 12 sets, summertime seems not to be such a hit with the viewers.

I haven't used the mini-tripod for a long time (since early spring), but now is the time to start using it again, and to relearn some of the skills needed in night photography. But the results seem to be worth it.

Brightness

Stripes, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Leaf colors, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Today was a bright autumn day. Days are getting shorter, but there is plenty of time for enjoying the sun still. Here are two images, from the morning and afternoon.

One more, to go

Web, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Leaves, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Leaf, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Well, why not to make an exception and do three postings in a day. (It has been slow here recently, anyway.) So, here are three images with some autumn foliage in all of them. Although it seems that this autumn will not be one of the brightest in leaf colors, unfortunately.

Visiting Nuuksio nature park

Duck, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Water and leaves, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

We went today for a walk in the Nuuksio nature park, looking at the forests and lakes there. Here are two photographs with water in them. It was a long walk, up and down the rocky hills around the lakes.

Carrying a camera only occasionally

Tree shadow, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

I haven't carried a camera with me so much as I used to during the last few months, but there are occasions when I have thought I should have.

For example, in the center of Helsinki, going to one or another of the ministries early in the morning, there are nice scenes of light and shadow and the autumn leaves falling down from the trees. Also, the university campuses are quite beautiful this time of the year, old twisted trees showing their autumn foliage to good effect.

As I mentioned, I don't usually carry a camera with me any more, but here is an exception. The image was taken at evening when I went to attend a board meeting of an association at the Kumpula campus. I didn't manage to capture the scene in all of the tones, but I like the image nevertheless.

Seeing the sea

Metro train, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

We visited Meri-Rastila on Sunday, there is a nice forested area by the sea shore. Someone was collecting names at a crossroad of the paths. Apparently the area will be changed quite a lot - new buildings built etc. We couldn't sign the petition on this as we are not living in the city of Helsinki.

Apples

Apple tree, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Apples, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Apples, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

There are a lot of apples this autumn here in Finland. This is of course not at all uncommon, but still, there are a LOT of them. At the same time you start to feel that the summer is over and we are advancing towards winter and darkness.

Shades of gray

Drawing, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

I know, this is not a black-and-white photograph, it is in color. And furthermore, this posting is quite off-topic from photography, I hope you don't mind.

Recently I have been pondering the term "black and white". You can say that someone sees things in black and white (right vs. wrong, good vs bad etc.). But isn't is so that a black and white photography is actually about the shades of gray, not just black and white?

Shades of gray is what I'm dealing with in all kinds of contexts, also at work. There is hardly ever (and perhaps never) only black and white. There are usually multiple views and interpretations. And thus it is very difficult to make decisions and tell about things, as there never is one and only truth.

But how then to handle all the shades of gray, that is the question. In many cases I have looked at the same thing from opposing viewpoints, and found both viewpoints reasonable and (at least somewhat) consistent. This seems to happen increasingly often when you are dealing with information technology. It is becoming more and more complex.

But how to make decisions? A compromise is often the worst solution. A better way is to find a third way to proceed, containing some good aspects (and also some bad stuff) from the two choices. But this requires a lot of thinking, discussion, looking at the situation in a creative manner.

Managing the shades of gray is demanding indeed.

A walk in a forest, then drive-in

Trientalis europaea, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Drive in, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Just to note that autumn is progressing, bit by bit. And long walks generate an appetite for some fast food.

Blur is good

Forest blur, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Not to forget... Experiments with motion blur are often rewarding, in surprising ways. Forest + b&w + blur = fun.

Going for a walk around a lake

Mushrooms, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Myllyjärvi, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Mating, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

We had today a long walk around lake Myllyjärvi ("Mill Lake"). The lake is not big but there are marshes and rocky hills around it, so it was slow going. But the weather was dry, althoug clouded. I took quite a few photographs, but as the autumn colors are only starting to appear, it wasn't so nice as it will be after a few weeks.

60,000 photographs taken with the Panasonic LX3

Rabbit, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Between, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Willowherb, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

I bought the LX3 in September 2008, and now I have taken over 60,000 photographs with it. (On average about 170 photographs each day.)

Here are three images from today, while going for a walk in the Tremanskärr marsh. All kinds of things are to be found when you keep your eyes open (and a camera with you), from dead rabbits to old wood to colorful plants.

I have looked carefully at the Panasonic GF1, and it is tempting, especially the new 45 mm f/2.8 macro. But with those kinds of lenses the camera is very much bigger than the LX3.

The recently revealed (though not yet available) Canon S90 is good (at least in specifications), and perhaps Panasonic will bring the LX4/LX5 to market quite soon.

But for now, the LX3 is a most excellent instrument for photography.

Quiet photographs

Fern, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Rowan, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Forest, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

There are photographs which are quiet, and you don't pay them attention. But if you start to look at them carefully, you find a lot to contemplate. In my (limited) experience black and white photography is ideally suited for this purpose.

Here are three images which provide contemplative content, at least for me. However, I suspect that you need to view these images in bigger size than these small ones on the web page.