Here are two photographs taken this evening, after sunset but just before the street lamps etc. are switched on. A special moment, especially today when we had low-hanging clouds and a little bit of fog painting the landscape.
A shop in Finland is currently selling the combo of E-P1 and the Panasonic 20 mm f/1.7 pancake lens for 800 euro. Also VF-1 is included (the optical viewfinder). And as a bonus, you get the flash unit FL-14 for free from a Olympus promotion (valid until January 31, 2010).
This seems a rather good deal. The combination of the image-stabilized body of the E-P1 and the f/1.7 lens is very close to my imaginary "Finnish winter camera", (almost) able to shoot handheld in available light this time of the year. Basically, it provides an improvement of 2.5 - 3.5 stops over the Panasonic LX3, if you estimate that ISO 400 (or 800) on the E-P1 is the same as ISO 100 on the LX3.
The images shown here were taken with a mini-tripod and the LX3. It would be possible to get rid of the mini-tripod with the E-P1 and shoot handheld only.
But I'm still debating. I like to keep things simple, and the LX3 is a simple tool to use. Learning yet another tool doesn't seem an attractive proposition at this moment.
But... I'm still debating.
The landscape changed suddenly once more, after the fog yesterday. Now tree brances, fences etc. are covered in frost, 1 cm layer of it or even more. As the frost is grayer than snow in color, the tone of the landscape is subtly different. Here are three photographs taken today.
I have been reading (in Finnish) books of Juha Seppälä, an author highly regarded by literature critics, and three-time candidate for the "Finlandia price", the highest regarded fiction price in Finland, and a winner of several other prices.
As I understand it, although Seppälä can sustain himself as a writer, he is not one of the big sellers in Finland. But his writing provides a feast for the demanding reader, especially his experimentation with the forms of writing (novels, short stories) and his description of the everyday life and happenings from a rather dark but humorous/satiristic viewpoint.
His style is quite spare, no long descriptions or metaforas, but between the lines there is a strong message coming through. Often the apparent subject and the metatext of the writing are opposite to each other, so you need to be able to "read between the lines".
I guess Juha Seppälä's text open best for those who have tried writing in some form and who know how hard it is to capture the sense of effortless description of everyday things. In that sense at least, he is a writers' writer, providing a learning experience to other writers.
I'm pondering whether are there similarly photographers who may not be well known but who provide a learning and motivating role for other photographers? And who they might be?
I can suggest one name, but he doesn't fulfill the "not well known" criteria: Sam Abell. At least he has provided a big learning experience for me.
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