I have got 12 1/2 hours of exercise this week, half of it riding the bicycle, half walking in forests and swamps. It is a great time to be outdoors. Exploring previously unknown territory in Sipoonkorpi was the best thing; I may return there some day soon.
These photographs were taken on May 12th, while going to a concert.
(Posting title is from the poem Guitar Player by Garry Gottfriedson.)
I listened to some guitar music earlier this week.
(Posting title is from the poem Guitar Player by Garry Gottfriedson.)
We got a lot of snow yesterday, almost 15 cm, and today we got some more. The depth of snow measurement at Helsinki Vantaa airport is 73-75 cm, which corresponds quite well with what one sees around here.
Tomorrow I'm planning to commute by train, which is a change from the normal, but that should be ok as there is no big snowfall forecasted for tomorrow. Trains have had occcasional problems with show here in the Helsinki region.
I have been reading a biography of Billy Bragg, of whom I knew next to nothing, but the photograph on the cover of the book got me interested. It took some time until I realized I did know Mermaid Avenue, so there. (The book is by Andrew Collins, Still Suitable for Miners: Billy Bragg, revised and updated edition.)
These photographs were taken yesterday. I did some shoveling of snow, and then I went for a walk, rather late in the evening.
(Posting title is from the poem How It Adds Up by Tony Hoagland.)
Here are six sunny photographs. I went skiing today. An excellent day for skiing, as the temperature rose to -11 °C during afternoon. During nights we have had -25 °C or even colder.
I have been listening to the music of Tapio Rautavaara (1915-1979), a Finnish singer and movie actor. He was also quite an athlete, and became the Olympic Champion in the javelin at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. And not only that, he also got the gold medal in the Finnish team in the archery World Championships of 1958.
But coming back to the discussion about happiness - was Rautavaara happy? I don't know, but I think it doesn't matter much. He was doing things, and that is what matters. And his music, although it is dated and "traditional", still lives on.
By the way, Cedric Canard wrote well about the topic of happiness in connection with photography.
But how to think about life (or photography) if happiness is not anything to aim for?
I have been reading the book The Social Construction of Reality, written by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann in 1966. I must admit that I have been rather critical of sociology; maybe that is a natural trait in anyone who has studied physics. However, this book was good, and not only that, it was clearly written and based on real-life empirical approach and observations. So, I need to change my opinion about sociology: all of it is not postmodernistic word-games, some of it is relevant to the world and to life.
The recent upheavals in the Arabic world serve as an excellent illustration of the topics in the book. When the social structures and institutions lose their role and become irrelevant, a great deal of stress is put on the people.
We humans are different from other species because of our undeveloped instincts: we are adaptable to different environments. But to compensate our instinct handicap, we need routines to cope with out daily life. Otherwise we get very, very stressed.
"There are a thousand ways to build a canoe." To cope with the abundant choices, we need to select one approach, and work with that. Routines save us from anarchy.
I feel this applies also to photography. I have developed an almost instictive approach in using the Panasonic LX3. This helps to reduce stress, to such a degree that something quite complicated - taking a photograph - becomes a way of reducing stress from other areas of life.
Routines make creativity possible. One can submerge oneself in the taking of photographs.
One more observation based on thoughts from the book. I feel there are several very different "worlds" of photography. One such is the world of galleries and Art. Another is the world of taking photographs in your daily life to have something interesting to do, and to learn a little bit of what the world is like and what you are like in relation to the world.
I don't think these two worlds of photography overlap at all. Better be silent, then?
We are getting more snow, 10-20 cm during the next 24 hours. Because of the wind, the -10 °C temperature outside feels the same as -19 °C. The snow flakes are rather small and thus not so visible in these photographs, except in the last one, in the headlights of a car.
There has been plenty of time to listen to music, for example concerts recorded from the digital tv. (An excellent invention in that it allows you to be really selective in what you view and when.)
A Christmas concert by Sting at the Durham cathedral was excellent, but of course a show of this kind requires a big machinery to happen. Nonetheless, authentic musicians there. However, Fenee Fleming who performed here in Finland in the Finlandia house (another concert from tv) didn't manage as well with the popular music pieces she included into her program. It is seldom that an opera star can really work with popular music.
Two positive surprises were the new album "Shake, Shake, Shake" by the Finnish band Lemonator, and "High Violet" by The National. Excellent, both, but of course this is a matter of taste, as with all music.
I have been listening a lot to Kari Tapio, a Finnish singer who died suddenly a few weeks ago. He has been called the "blue-white singer", referring to the colors of the Finnish flag. He is one of the singers who the so-called common people identify strongly with. And indeed, what a voice he had!
We went to a concert of Jari Sillanpää today in Helsinki. If you are a Finn, you know who Jari Sillanpää is, and if you are not a Finn, I'm not sure if you need to know. In any case, the Kallio church is a beautiful place, and good for music as well. Outside it was snowy and maybe not so nice because of the wind, but inside people enjoyed themselves. And Jari gave us a great show, as always. Excellent musicians, and good adaptations of the pieces.
Last Sunday I did something I thought I would never, ever do - I gave music recommendations about Finnish artists. (My problem with bad recommendations applies also to the other direction, namely music recommended by others to me. I probably still have a Girlshool cd I can't stand listening to.)
Today while listening to radio I realized I had forgotten something essential in my short list of Finnish artists. There was a Finnish Christmas song being played, the music was quite traditional and you could imagine the words would be telling about a family gathering around the Christmas tree, children happy opening their presents, everyone full of good will. Well, the song was traditional all right, telling about a Finnish Christmas.
The lyrics tell about a feast where the skis received as a present lie broken on the floor, there is vomit on the shirt, and a girl and her little brother are escaping, guided by the Christmas star, towards grandmother. The title of the song is appropriately "To grandmother at Christmas" (lyrics in Finnish).
As background, you should note that the notorious Finnish alchohol consumption peaks at Christmas. And that it is extremely unevenly distributed.
The Christmas song I heard was made by Leevi and the Leavings: "... a Finnish rock-band that operated from 1978 to 2003. The band consisted of Gösta Sundqvist, Risto Paananen, Juha Karastie and Niklas Nylund. Sundqvist was the leader of the band, he composed and wrote all the band's songs as well as being the vocalist. Sundqvist was also an interesting character, he rarely gave interviews or appeared on television, although he hosted a radio program for YLE."
Leevi and the Leavings have made the best rock lyrics in Finland, and if there ever will be a movie which captures Finland, the sound track will contain their songs.
For foreigners [not understanding the Finnish language] it is not apparent that the catchy tunes and choruses provide an extreme contrast with the tragicomedic lyrics. Their music is highly recommended. And if the originals are not available, there is also a rather nice cd from 2007, "Melkein vieraissa – Tribuutti Leevi & The Leavingsille", the songs performed by current Finnish artists.
The photo here has little to do with music and Leevi and the Leavings, except that it was on the way from this flower shop that I heard the song in question.
Update: I'm currently playing Leevi and the Leavings (I have ten of their cds), and I once again recognized the genius of Gösta Sundqvist in writing lyrics. But it is also interesting to note how certain things can be said very concisely in the Finnish language, which probably tells a bit of our society: skis received as present (lahjasukset), vomit on the shirtfront (oksennusta rinnuksilla). Each of these phrases brings forth powerful visions, not always pleasant.
Update 2: Apparently this was the 500th posting at Light Scrape. I noticed it too late to say something more topical, but this is milestone nevertheless. Using Google with the phrase "leevi leavings 500" returned this tidbit: a list of the top 500 Finnish popular songs. Although I'm bad at making music recommendations perhaps this helps.
I was planning to go out with the camera this evening, but then I got lazy (and besides, it was raining and really dark outside). So, to end the day, here is another photo taken at noon today, in a children's playground. I'm not sure what was my intention of taking this photo, but I guess there was something playful about these lines.
Going off-topic, Andreas wrote a nice posting on finding good music recommendations: "I find much by browsing lists and recommendations on Amazon, I find thing by chance, I get personal recommendations, don't worry, instead of drying up, I have to restrict myself to not browse too much."
This rang a bell. I have collected quite a lot of music during the years. Years ago this meant going through the cd collections in music stores (especially the discount tables), and more lately browsing through Amazon.com, Play.com, Emusic.com, Last.fm etc. In fact, I have 7865 tracks in iTunes which have never been played. (I'm not sure whether I have listened to them from a cd either.)
However, nowadays I'm lagging behind even with my Emusic.com subscription. There are several instances when I have forgotten to download the monthly 50 tracks. (Reminder to self: remember to download before Christmas the Emusic tracks of December.)
For one reason or another, most of the current digital music services suck. Emusic.com has a nice collection, but it is limited in a same way like a discount store: sure, there are excellent things to be found there, but if you try to find a particular piece, it is missing more often than not.
In many ways, iTunes is excellent, except that I don't like any kind of DRM - it complicates backups and potentially locks me out of my music collection. (And still I have bought several hundred tracks from iTunes.) Buying cds is one option, but I don't like to wait for the music to arrive after several weeks of waiting.
But worst of all, the digital music stores have a really limited music selection. For example, most Finnish artists are not covered in any of the big music stores.
On the other hand, perhaps it would be best to listen to the music I already have, and not to try to get even more music which might never be listened to.
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