The photographs were taken on November 15th in Meiko.
This morning I walked for over two hours in Vaakkoi, starting well before sunrise. During the night the temperature dropped to -2 °C, so there was some frost, and a little bit of ice on the smaller lakes.
(Posting title is from the poem Why Poetry Cannot Be Skimmed by Jessica Jopp.)
This morning I walked once again at Pirttimäki, towards south and southwest, walking across Isosuo swamp, circling around lake Sorlampi, and returning via lake Lintulampi. I got almost three hours of exercise today, and 11 1/2 hours this week.
The photographs were taken at Laitamaa on September 18th.
(Posting title is from the poem The Ecstasy by John Donne.)
This morning I walked for two hours, starting from Laitamaa, going to lake Kakarlampi, circling around Kakarsberget hill, and returning via lake Myllynpää. Thunder and heavy rain started after I had returned to the car, and there was 5 mm of rain within one hour. I did get quite wet, as the relative humidity was at 100% already before the rain.
Today there is a labour demonstration in Helsinki. I need to go to the dentist.
These photographs were taken at Korkeasaari Zoo on August 5th.
(Posting title is from the poem The Vagrant’s Romance by Eva Gore-Booth.)
This morning I walked for 2 1/2 hours in Sipoonkorpi National Park. There was a bus at the parking place at Byabäcken. I found a couple of dozen schoolchildren and their teachers in the forest. Otherwise it was very quiet. I walked southwest until the fields west of Karlsberg, and then east towards Gladersåker. And finally I followed the river towards north and back to the parking place. I found quite a lot of new things along the walk.
The photographs were taken on April 11th at lake Immerlampi and lake Kakarlampi in Meiko.
(Posting title is from the poem Nomadology by Alissa Leigh.)
Today was a wet day, and I got soaked while commuting by bicycle. But that didn't matter much.
Tomorrow, if everything goes according to plan, I may be able to do 6-7 hours of walking in forests and swamps 50 km north of Helsinki. The forecast promises rather cool weather, but there shouldn't be too much rain. The landscape should be interesting, and there was even a mention of Gavia stellata seen regularly at a lake.
The photographs were taken at lake Kakarlampi in Meiko on May 31st.
(Posting title is from the poem Physics by Richard Kenney.)
I have been excessively busy this week. The photograph was taken at lake Kakarlampi in Meiko on May 31st. There were no Gavia stellata ("kaakkuri" in Finnish) at the lake, despite the name.
(Posting title is from the poem Hurry by Marie Howe.)
I have still hundreds of photographs to be processed, but at least I managed to go through the photographs from Friday, when I walked for 3 hours 45 minutes in the north part of Nuuksio wilderness, from lake Saarijärvi past lake Suolikas to lake Ruuhijärvi.
In fact, I visited ten lakes in all, in this order: Saarijärvi, Sarkkinen, Suolikas, Mustalampi (a.k.a Pöksynhaara), Valkealampi, Kakarlampi, Ruuhijärvi, Pikku Pöksynhaara, Iso Majaslampi, and Pieni Majaslampi. Of these ten lakes I visited seven for the first time ever.
There were a lot of new things to discover, and the terrain was variable, from wet swamps to rocky hills to dense forests. My orienteering skills have improved quite a lot, and I managed to stay on the map. Sometimes I even surprised myself with map-reading skills, finding the way even in rather delicately shaped terrain.
Here are photographs from the first half of the walk, from lake Saarijärvi to lake Ruuhijärvi. One of the photographs shows a small island, but the name on the map is Isosaari, "Big Island". Whoever has named the place has a sense of humor. Perhaps the same person may have given the name to lake Pikku Pöksynhaara? (The translation into English is left as an exercise.)
At lake Ruuhijärvi there were a lot of frogs wrestling in the water, engaged in their spring rituals. Some of the clumps of frogs were submerged for minutes and minutes, and I was wondering that they don't drown when staying under water for such a long time.
(Posting title is from the poem Wrestling by Louisa S. Bevington.)
I went yesterday with my daughter for a walk in the forests at Meiko, intending to walk around four lakes there: Kotolampi, Kakarlampi, Immerlampi and Korsolampi. We decided to try going anticlockwise this time, up the hill from the parking place, following the path northeast towards Kotolampi.
However the path in the snow ended halfway to Kotolampi, and only some old snowshoe tracks were left to follow. In places the snow had got soft enough so that the snowshoe marks didn't hold and then we dropped knee-deep in snow. It was heavy going. But south of lake Kakarlampi we met another path, going towards lake Kotolampi from the north. We followed this path towards lake Immerlampi, and even though the snow didn't always hold here either, it was easier going.
We had picnic on the sunny rocks north of lake Immerlampi, and from here it was easy to go back, around lake Korsolampi, as quite a lot of people had walked this far. Here are photographs from the first leg of our walk, towards lake Kakarlampi.
(Posting title is from the poem Sheep by Judy Grahn.)
Yesterday I was thinking of going for a walk at the Luukki forests, and even had planned a nice route for the walk, but the daughters said that they have been too often there, and thus we went to Meiko instead.
It wasn't bad at Meiko, in fact quite the opposite, and one of the pleasant surprises was that there was a nice walking path going to four different lakes in Meiko: Kotolampi, Kakarlampi, Immerlampi and Korsolampi. Or in fact, we went the opposite direction, starting from Korsolampi.
There is a path marked with orange tape, and people had walked the path frequently enough so that the snow was packed tight, and in some places even icy, and it was rather easy to walk, maybe even easier than during summer. We had picnic by lake Kakarlampi, looking at the snowy scenery, rather silent expect occasional sounds from a dog somewhere farther away.
We didn't see anyone else after leaving the parking lot, even though the parking lot was packed with cars. I guess that may have been due to people going ice fishing on the big Meiko lake.
(Posting title is from the poem Toward what island-home am I moving by Joanna Klink.)
Today I walked around five lakes in Meiko: Kotolampi, Mustjärvi, Kakarlampi, Immerlampi and Korsolampi. (Well, technically I only walked around four of these lakes, as I passed lake Kotolampi from the wrong side so that it was not inside my circular route.)
The walk took me two hours, and I took 372 photographs. The children stayed home this time, as the sickness with fever hasn't passed yet.
I took the opporturnity to make a longer walk than usual, using an orienteering map I got from a friend. I also took my old compass with me just in case, and I did use it on the return leg of the route, between lakes Mustjärvi and Kakarlampi. However, there was a convenient path there (although not on the map) and I didn't really need the compass.
There is quite a lot to explore at Meiko, although some parts are becoming already quite familiar. I tend to remember places where I have walked and got lost...
I met four people and six dogs during the walk, and I was the only one without a dog. Maybe this was due to weather. Maybe I got lucky, as it rained when I drove to Meiko, and also when I returned by car, but during my walk there wasn't much rain. Or I didn't notice it...
There was an interesting (and somewhat provocative) posting about artists and photographers at TOP yesterday. This definition was rather interesting: "I think an art photographer is a photographer with an opinion."
I don't think I would call myself a photographer if the term would be defined like this. I don't have an opinion. Or maybe it is more so that I do know that what I want to do with my photography is to get surprised, to see glimpses of the world I didn't realize before. But I don't have an opinion about my photographs.
Also, I'm not keen on showing only those photographs which are good. Most of my photographs suck. I delete 90-95 percent of my photographs right away, and of the remaining most still suck. But still I post them here. And the reason? To learn, to get a bit of feedback, to feel committed to taking photographs almost every day, and to be part of the community of photographers who show their work to others without claiming it is supreme. By failing we learn.
PS. Onion had some fun with people like me who take and post an excessive amount of photographs.
(Posting title is from the poem Paracelsus by Diane Di Prima.)
Posts
All Comments
