Whose full perfection all the world amazes

Trees

The photograph was taken at Lemmenlaakso on March 26th.

Last night the temperature dropped below 0 °C, but for this afternoon the forecast promises +12 °C. There was some fog this morning when I walked at Tremanskärr swamp. The swamp is starting to melt, but a lot of it is still frozen, and there is some ice and snow left.

I looked into the view counts of my Flickr account once again, and I realized it is not just the LX100 camera which generates views. Apparently Flickr has some kind of image recognition system which adds tags to photographs, such as "outdoor", "tree", "plant", "snow", and so on. When people search for photographs, these tags are being used for searching.

I haven't used much tagging for my photographs, as I'm using Flickr for storage: a place where to keep a copy of my photographs in addition to a normal backup system. The automatically added tags seem to generate a steady stream of views. During the last 30 days the daily view count varied between 2000 and 7000 views, which is about 40 times more than it used to be.

So, a recipe for gaining views of photographs stored at Flickr:

• use a camera that is interesting for gear enthusiasts
  
• attach a lot of descriptive tags to photographs uploaded to Flick, including the model of the camera
  

But things may soon change once again. One could use certain popular terms such as digitalization, mass data, robotisation, automation, etc., but what seems certain is the fact that people are putting less and less effort to taking and processing photographs, and machines are taking over.

That said, I'm lagging behind in processing my photographs. There are over 3000 photographs waiting for processing, and the queue is not getting shorter. I guess I should take less photographs. Or is there software that automatically decides which photographs are worth saving?

(Posting title is from the poem Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare.)

I have cleared this space for you, for you, for you

Red 1

Red 2

Red 3

Red 4

The photographs were taken on October 24th, north of lake Myllyjärvi, enjoying the autumn colors.

I commuted by bicycle today. There was a little bit of frost and ice on the road, but mostly the road surface was quite dry, and there wasn't much need for the studded winter tires.

In the front I have a Nokian Hakka SW240 studded tire, which has 240 studs, and in the back a Nokian Hakka A10 tire, which has only 72 studs. The SW240 tire has lasted a long time, but a Nokian Hakka W106 tire which I used in the back lasted only a short while before breaking apart. I hope A10 will be better, at least it seems that the studs are better positioned so that the tire may last longer when it will be mostly used on asphalt roads.

Tomorrow the weather will be colder, -7 °C in the morning.

I had a look at photographs taken in January, 2010, almost six years ago. I was quite surprised of the quality and content of the photographs, they felt better that those I’m taking right now. One reason may be that there was snow in the photographs, and I enjoy the snow season, it inspires me.

On the other hand, the camera I was using was the Panasonic LX3, which got me really interested into taking photographs, and I think the curiosity and interest in learning is visible in the photographs. It may be that I’m nowadays a bit too passive, a bit too jaded, and it shows in the photographs.

(Posting title is from the poem sweet reader, flanneled and tulled by Olena Kalytiak Davis.)

And I know it’s not really life

Summer 1

Summer 2

Summer 2

Summer 2

Summer 2

I'm a bit tired, due to lack of sleep. I have been commuting by bicycle, and the weather has been dry, +12 °C in the morning and +20...+22 °C in the afternoon.

I had a look at the statistics for this blog between May 2010 and June 2015, and there is a clear decreasing trend in the number of pageviews. In 2010 and 2011 I was quite interested in digital cameras, and that brought visitors to this blog, but these days I'm not keen on hardware, and thus there is little to attract visitors, except perhaps the photographs.

(Posting title is from the poem Baseball by Gail Mazur.)

Not ungrateful like

Water 1

Water 2

There has been over one million views of my photographs at Flickr, of which 2/3 since getting the Panasonic LX100 camera. I have taken over 426,000 photographs with digital cameras, so the view count is approximately two views per each photograph taken. However, only about 1/10 of the photographs I take survive the selection process all the way to Flickr.

Also, I checked the view counts to see which photographs had most views. 9 of the top 10 were taken with the LX100; 18 of the top 20 were taken with the LX100. It seems that the LX100 has generated quite a lot of interest, not the content of the photographs. Personally I think the best photographs I have taken so far were taken with the LX5, but I'm slowly learning to use the LX100, and I may catch up some day.

These photographs were taken on June 6th at a nearby lake.

(Posting title is from the poem coping skills lost in the flood by CAConrad.)

I saw with an injured eye, captive

Introvert

I couldn't find a good name for this photograph, so I asked for suggestions, and got a lot of them, for example that it looks like an inverse totem pole, or life, or iron maiden, or eagle claws, etc.

As they say, "a camera always looks both ways", so I named the photograph "Introvert". You know the saying: “How can you tell if a Finn likes you? He's staring at your shoes instead of his own.”

(Posting title is from the poem On Antiphon Island by Nathaniel Mackey.)

And their voices become one

Street 1

Street 2

Street 3

Street 4

These photographs were taken on March 30th and 31st in Helsinki.

I have been taking less photographs with the Panasonic LX100 than I was taking with the LX5 and LX3. The reason is a somewhat different shooting style. With the LX5/LX3 I was often "shooting from the hip", raising the camera and taking half a dozen photographs in quick succession, trying to rely on instinct and not on rational thinking. With the LX100 I'm using more and more often the EVF, and this means a slower and more deliberate way of taking photographs. Often I take just one photograph where I would have taken several with the LX5/LX3.

In five months I have taken 25,000 photographs with the LX100. I'm keeping more of the photographs than I used to. Earlier I deleted 90-95% of the photographs when going through them in Aperture, but now I find that I may delete only 80% and save the rest. The more deliberate shooting style is the main reason for this.

I bought a JJC Auto Open and Close Lens Cap for the LX100. The price was half of the Panasonic automatic lens cap (DMW-LFAC1), and this one allows a filter to be mounted on the lens. So far it has worked very well indeed. Although I have become so used to the normal lens cap that I often try to open the lens cap manually until I realise there is no need.

I walked for 2 h 25 min in Nuuksio today, starting from Velskola. I walked around lake Kattilajärvi, and visited lake Kilpilampi, which I haven't done before. It was a good day for walking, as the sun was only partially hidden by a thin cloud cover.

(Posting title is from the song Lene Májjá by Mari Boine.)

Something, in the ineffable clips of light

Zero 1

Zero 2

Zero 3

Zero 4

Zero 5

Today I attended a seminar on open science and research which ended with a panel discussion. The discussion was a delight to follow, the best one I have seen and heard in years. The panelists listened to each other and to the questions from audience, thought carefully what they were saying, and seemed to have fun. All were top people in their professions, and even though the questions asked were complex, all were tackled with finesse and clear vision. I wish all work weeks ended like this.

Yesterday I wrote about how the view count of my photographs at Flickr grew by one or two orders of magnitude since getting the Panasonic LX100 camera. This doesn't mean that all my photographs are popular. Almost 10% of them have zero views, which is a bit depressing.

So, here you see somewhat older photographs, all with zero views according to Flickr statistics. These photographs were taken with the Panasonic LX3 between October 4th, 2008, and January 21st, 2009. At that time I hadn't yet grown into square (aka 1:1 aspect ratio).

I commuted by bicycle on four days this week. This year I have so far got 862 km.

(Posting title is from the poem Going to Zero by Peter Balakian.)

Everybody knows who’s selling, who’s buying

Street 1

Street 2

I decided to change the subject from wilderness to Helsinki city. Thanks to Markus for pointing out Arno Minkkinen and Helsinki Bus Stop Theory. The photographs were taken on February 23rd and 27th.

They say that great minds think alike, and so these two postings happened: (Not) Shot on iPhone 6 and Not Shot on Iphone6. I don't have an iPhone, but there are two of them (older models) in the family. I must say that in terms of how easy it has been to have them I'm rather happy. Everything works.

Today I commuted by bicycle, with summer tires installed, and it was good and easy.

To celebrate great minds I searched for a poem with the word iPhone in it, and thus the posting title is from the poem Torment by Daisy Fried.

The fortunate thing about his camera

Snow 1

Snow 2

v 3

Snow 4

Sunny days have been so rare that I keep returning to the photographs taken on such days. These were taken in Meiko on January 6th.

On the other hand, it often turns out that photographs taken on clouded, rainy or otherwise not so pleasant days are the best. What is good for the photographer may not be good for the photographs. I have over 1,100 photographs waiting on the computer, and almost all were taken when it was not sunny.

I have taken over 13,000 photographs with the Panasonic LX100 so far, and I'm getting used to using it. Things are starting to become instinctive, which is as it should be. I have fine-tuned the settings, and I feel that I'm now rather close to the way the camera should operate.

(Posting title is from the poem Timothy O’Sullivan, Photographer by John Spaulding.)

Lookin' forward to the weekend

Flow

This photograph was taken handheld, 0.4 second exposure, at ISO 1600, but yet it is surprisingly sharp. I have returned to this photograph again and again, thinking whether it is any good, or rather bad, but there is something which gives this photograph character. What that something may be, that is hard to say.

I walked for 1 1/2 hours today, and that felt good. Snow is melting, and there is 5...15 cm of it left in forests and swamps, and here and there is flooding to be seen.

(Posting title is from the song Friday by Rebecca Black.)

Fail in an instant, no man did

Poisonberry

Rowan

In 2014 I have published 535 postings here; in 2013 there were 537 postings. I'm not sure whether any of them are worthwhile in retrospect, but at least I have had a place where to go through the photographs taken during each year.

Even though the act of taking a photograph is for me the most important thing - the act of seeing - there is also something rewarding in going through the photographs, thinking about them, learning from them.

These photographs were taken on December 24th.

(Posting title is from the poem Crumbling is not an instant's Act by Emily Dickinson.)

Over a groove. The other slushes chords.

Snow 1

Snow 2

Snow 3

Snow 4

Well, we have had plenty of rain, so that the snow we got has mostly disappeared. The official depth of snow measurement is 0 cm, fitting the visual look of the landscape.

To compensate for the lack of snow, here are photographs taken on December 13th, walking along the nearby paths and roads. I met a lady with a dog, who had a look at my camera and said that it is a great time for some black-and-white photography. I agreed, even though I can't really do b&w.

(Posting title is from the poem Little Song by Rowan Ricardo Phillips.)

Nothing he sees can hold him, nothing daunt

Wet 1

Wet 2

Wet 3

As I mentioned, I have now the problem of a lot of photographs from which to select those for the postings here. I take 100-200 photographs daily, of which I delete 90-95%, but still there are quite a few left.

I'm slowly getting familiar with the controls of the LX100. With the LX3 and LX5, when using each of them for three years and taking about 200 000 photographs, I got so familiar with the controls that taking a photograph became instinctive, I didn't need to engage rational thinking often at all.

With the LX100 is is now different, I need to check where the controls are, how to switch on the camera, how to check that I have the right settings for the occasion, and so on. However, because the LX100 is better suited for "the manual approach" to photography, I expect that I'll be even more instinctive with the LX100 than I ever was with the LX3 and LX5, after I have used the camera for a year or two.

(Posting title is from the poem The Poet by Amy Lowell.)

With painted wooden sticks

Arktikum 1

Arktikum 2

Arktikum 3

Here are three photographs hastily taken in Arktikum museum at Rovaniemi. I didn't correct the flaws in these photographs in post-processing, let them be as they were. But I recommend highly the exhibitions as Arktikum, they were of top quality and well presented.

One of the attractions was a photography exhibition by Pekka Sammallahti, titled Arctic Mindscapes, which was there until 3rd of August. Somehow I managed to confuse Pekka Sammallahti with Pentti Sammallahti, who is my all-time favorite photographer, and at first I was a bit disappointed not to see the kind of photographs I was expecting.

But when I had looked at the photographs for a while (none of them is shown here), I realized the quiet strength of them, for example a photograph which was mostly black-and-white, except for an iceberg floating on the sea, showing blue color.

Pekka and Pentti Sammallahti are brothers. Pekka Sammallahti is a professor at Oulu university, specializing in Saami language and culture. Pentti Sammallahti is a world-famous photographer.

(Posting title is from the poem Culture and the Universe by Simon J. Ortiz.)

And we’d be hungry from travel and for being almost home

Tracks

Lamp

I'm keeping to the chronological order with the photographs, making it easier to keep things in order myself. So far I have processed the photographs of traveling to Kilpisjärvi in Lapland by train and by car, and of climbing to the top of two fells, Salmivaara and Saana. The two photographs shown here were taken from the night train P266 from Helsinki to Rovaniemi.

In my Flickr stream there are usually 100-200 daily views of the photographs, but the Lapland photographs generated extra interest, as there have been a couple of thousand views so far today. Using the photographs in postings here at Light Scrape will take quite a few days, but that is good, as I have taken only a couple of photographs since returning back home.

(Posting title is from the poem Night Travel by Esther Belin.)

Unless we divert ourselves with art objects

Bug

Seed

It was once once again a cool day, and there was even a little bit of rain during the afternoon commute by bicycle. I started my summer vacation today, seven weeks of it. I hope that I'll have a bit more time for photography, and for walking.

I had a look at the most popular postings here are Light Scrape, and all of them are postings about technology or photography gear, except for one posting, which discusses the history and current uses of photography. But then I realized that even this posting is about technology, not about photography as such.

All of the most popular postings are more than two years old. I think this is due to the fact that I'm not writing about gear much any more. It isn't an important topic for me in the way it used to be. But this other stuff isn't generally interesting in the same way as gear is.

Also, I realized that many of the photographs I took two years or six years ago are quite good, or at least not as bad as I thought they could be. I don't think that the photographs I'm producing these days are better the those I took two years or six years ago. They probably are worse.

One reason for this is that I'm no longer taking photographs daily, it has become something I do during weekends when I take long walks in forests and swamps.

(Posting title is from the poem Beginning With an Acute Stab of Nostalgia, It Gets Worse and Worse by Arthur Vogelsang.)

If you look carefully

Forest

Rock

Fallen

Path

These photographs were taken in Sipoonkorpi National Park on May 17th.

I commuted by bicycle on three days this week, making the total 448 km in May. I felt rather tired today, maybe I'm getting the flu, or maybe it is due to lack of sleep.

The rest of the week is vacation. I'm planning to go for long walks. Tomorrow will be rainy and cold, +6 °C, but that is quite all right for a long walk, provided that one uses the right clothing.

I visited Vaakkoi twice in May, and observed a pair of Gavia arctica diving at a lake. Or I thought that they were Gavia arctica. I had some doubts the last time I visited Vaakkoi. When I compared the size of them to a pair of Branta canadensis nearby, they seemed so small. Today I finally had a look at the photographs I took, and using the Loupe tool in Aperture at 100% I realized that the throat is brown-red instead of black.

So, the birds were Gavia stellata, which I should have known. I discussed this with a friend who knows nature from birds to flowers and rocks to trees, and the advice was that I should have observed the shape of the bill to recognize the species.

I must admit once again that I'm a poor observer of nature. One explanation for this is that I'm wearing my old eyeglasses when walking in forests and swamps, to avoid making scratches to the new ones. The drawback is that the old eyeglasses are full of scratches and I don't see details especially well with them.

Also, I don't carry binoculars with me, and the LX5 is far from good in taking photographs of remote objects such as birds. The photographs of the birds were taken at 90 mm equiv., and at 100% magnification there were only a dozen pixels showing the red color in the throat. As nature photographs they are no good, but at least they allowed me to identify the bird species.

I should invest more effort in knowing what species I'm observing in nature. However, as a photographer I'm interested mainly in the landscape - the shapes, colors, and the underlying structure - not so much in the biological or geological details. Probably I'm missing a lot, recognizing the surface only. However, even though a photograph shows just the surface, I feel it can go deep.

(Posting title is from the poem Endangered Species by Phillip Carroll Morgan.)