This is a conundrum

What should I do now?


My photo-project seems to be going down the drain. For the moment it´s completely impossible for me to produce one fine art photograph a week. I´m not sure I could even produce one a month, either. Time is such a valuable thing. I need to balance work, sparetime and family. This meens no sparetime, and therefore no photography.


So what should I do with this blog? I would love to have this forum for me to display at least a small part of what I achieve when it comes to photography. Bur for now, we´re close to zero. Lately, familyphoto has been my main area. Extremely important documentations of our every-day life, but nothing one would want to share online. I really need to develop my photography. I need to develop as a photographer. Someone once said that photography is the language of light. Well, if that is so, then I have a serious stutter.


I guess, for now, this blog has to be a kind of a misc.-folder for me. Putting thoughts and, occasionally, one or two photographs online. I need to be able to combine photography and parenting in a way that doesn´t leave anyone unattended.

Frozen

Wow, my project works out perfect. Not! The last weeks I´ve had absolutely no time for photography. I´ve been forced to watch the beautiful autumn pass by without exposing a single frame to the cascade of colours. Hopefully that will change now. Starting my photo-fall, here is a creation of mine showing frosted leaves, one cold morning.

Nomomortia III

A dying flower embraced by spiders web.

This photograph is not as much a photograph as it is a graphic product, a collage. And even though I labeled it under 'one photo a week', the photo of the flower was taken last week, during my vacation. My blog, my rules!

The flower is one of the many interesting objects I found during my urban exploration field trip - in the countryside. An abandoned greenhouse with the doors wide open. I guess I was trespassing, but I left everything untouched. In this photograph I especially like the spiders web that is looking so soft, and is embracing the dead flower. And I love the fact that the dead flower still shines with beautiful colours.

Nomomortia II

Predator fly feeding on another insect.

The brutal nature, or the nature of brutality. Or just the way of nature...

I found this killer fly sucking the guts out of another fly on the wall of our sauna. Inspite of the photographs tragic tail, the two counterparts do fill their purposes in the depicted story - and in our reality. They play their parts par excellens.

The Gift

A medallion in the palm of a childs hand.

My daughter holding a medallion, a gift by her godfather, my oldest friend. Looks pretty fine in B&W. I think I should try out some new angles on this subject.

Going away next week. I´m planning on doing a lot of photography. Not sure about uploading anything, though...

The devil is in the details

Detail of a flower

I recently discovered the - perhaps - cheapest way of starting macrophotography. It obviously requires a few lenses, but that shouldn't be a problem for just about anyone. This detail of a flower in my backyard was photographed with my D80, fitted with the 50mm. In front of the 50mm was a reversed Minolta AF 35-70 3.5-4.5, an old lens I used 15 years ago. No couplingrings, just a steady hand, some bluetack and a paperclip. In Memoriam MacGyver...

The Original Scrat

Curious squirrel looking at camera.

No experimental photography this week, although I still favor infrared photography at certain occasions. This time I settled for a classical photograph - a squirrel. I think it´s kind of cute.

Garden Still Life

Upward striving flower with old fence in the background.

At first I was trying to capture this image in infrared, but the fence in the background reflected just about as much infrared light as the flower itself, so the end result was not really that good.

So, I ended up with just a classical shot of an interesting plant. And I must say, I´m quite satisfied. This is another black & white shot, but with a hint of Sepia.


Nikon Nikkor 50mm/f1.8, ISO 100, 1/320 sec at f/1.8. PP includes ACR and a great deal of photoshop techniques.

Infrared landscape

Lake in the woods

Infrared photography i so cool! I´ve been adimiring beautiful shots in different Flickrgroups, most of them beeing created by semi-pros or really advanced amateurs. Many photographers swear by the IR-modified camera. To my delight, there is no need to modify your camera for IR-photography. All you need is a filter that you put in front of your lens. I bought my filter on eBay for 12 euros (including postage).

There are obviously certain challenges by using this specific method for IR-photography, the few I found most challenging were difficulties in composing, focusing and the long exposure. Composing the photo is not possible through the viewfinder when the IR-filter is in front of the lens. I solved this by using a tripod and locking the camera in the position that I wanted. Focusing is a problem. I haven't figured out why, but the image is no longer sharp after screwing on the filter, and this has nothing to do with clumsy fingers fidgeting with the focusring. I solved the focusproblem by trial-and-error and manually focusing according to the image on the display. The long exposure is not really a problem, not if you have a tripod, the method of finding the correct exposure thorugh trial-and-error was also used here. One tip I read on one of the many photo-mags writing on the subject is that when shooting RAW, if possible shoot RAW + jpeg, and set the camera to black and white. This way you get a feeling for what the photo is going to look like later.

Nikon Nikkor 50mm/f1.8 fitted with an IR INfrared Pass 950nm standard filter , ISO 400, 15 sec at f/4. PP includes ACR and a few photoshop techniques.

The Hands

Old hands carrying a baby.

Fine, so I missed my deadline. But hey, I´ve been on a vacation. I didn´t do as much photography as I thought I was going to be doing, but I found several more relaxing ways of spending a week in my native surroundings. The photo above is one of the photographs of my daughter in the hands of my grandmother. Very emotional to me and perhaps also other viewers. PP as usual.

I´m not sure if I´m going to be able to pull through my one-photo-a-week-project. It just seems so hard to be doing this all by myself. No-one but me is demanding anything. I don´t even know if anyone is enjoying my photography. If you are reading this, then please leave a comment. It´s okay to be anonymous.

Thank you!

Rendevouz

Butterfly meeting with flower in a B&W surrounding

Saved by the bell... With only forty-five minutes to spare, I finally came up with this photograph for my "one photo a week"-project. Deadlines truly are the greatest inspiration for an artist.

Solitude

A single rock in a stream of water, surrounded by boulders.

Continuing on my new project: one photo a week. Obviously my aim is to improve as a photographer, develop my creative thinking and - basically - just 'get out there' more often. This weeks photo is from the central park near my home. We´ve had some heavy rain here lately, so the streams are filling with water. The photo is quite classic, and perhaps not that unique - but hey, there is no need to reinvent the weel everytime you go out.

Nikon Nikkor 50mm/f1.8 fitted with a circular polarization filter, ISO 100, 7.1 sec at f/8. PP includes ACR and a few photoshop techniques.

Nomomortia

The legs of a dead frog on a bench.

This is the first photograph in my project "one photo a week". Just my personal thing, trying to force myself to be more creative and productive...

Colours of winter

We went for a walk today, I brought the D80. The light was great, and the clouds inspired me to have a go at some HDR-photography. Here is "Academill", on the coast of Vaasa. I particularly like the reflections in the ice and the dramatic clouds. Enjoy!

Solarigraphy

Finally! Here are 4 photographs, or solarographs, that I created using small pieces of Ilfords photographic paper that I placed in small containers with a hole in the side (basically pinholecameras). The exposures were 2-4 months. This project was totally experimental, and my main objective was to record atleast a few strokes of the sun on the sky. I´m proud to say I achieved this. I haven´t added any landscapes to the photographs, but I think that could be the next step in this project.

The paper I got from my pinholecameras was about 5 x 3 cm. I scanned the image and inverted it, flipped it horizontal and adjusted the contrast along with curves and shadow/highlight. I also added a sepiatone to these particular images.

the big dipper

This landscape needs no further introduction. A 55 sec exposure and some ACR along with my beloved softing-technique. A memory from the summer past...

Classical landscape

The archipelago needs no further introduction. The beauty, the drama, the serenity.

Autumn is still (here)

I´d like to continue on my autumn-theme. Here is a couple of shots of a leaf in the water. And, yes - it´s the same leaf. It´s getting harder and harder to find colourful leaves in good shapes, they are all starting to decay. PP as described in the earlier post.

Nature is on fire

I mentioned earlier that i like rust. Well, guess what else I like? Autumn! Finally the air is crisp and clear and natures treats us to a majestic cascade of colours. This afternoon I decided to go for a walk with my D80. I found some really nice scenerys. Along with some leaves. I had a go at creating a triptych of a collection of leaves I found in a park nearby. PP as usual.

Autiotalo

This weekend I had the opportunity to visit an abandoned house in a small village in the Kvarken archipelago. Here are a few photographs from that visit.