Being a native Dutch, and a photographer, pictures of one thing you MUST have in your portfolio.
Coffeeshops! Marihuana! Red Light District!

Yeayeah… I know us Dutch people have a reputation to uphold, but I don’t do those things! Yeayeah… *LOL*

Of course I’m talking about tulips!
I started wide and then went all the way in close. Wondrous world out there!

D700, ISO200, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 70-200mm

D700, ISO200, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 70-200mm

D700, ISO200, 1/750 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm macro

D700, ISO200, 1/350 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm macro

D700, ISO200, 1/1000 sec @ f/2, Nikkor 50mm, Kenko extension tubes 12mm + 20mm + 36mm

D700, ISO200, 1/180 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm macro, Kenko extension tubes 12mm + 20mm + 36mm

Did I ever mention how much I love my 50 mm f/1.4? I didn’t? I must’ve! Well, if I didn’t…: I love my 50 mm f/1.4. And why, would you wonder…? Because the right subjects shot with an aperture larger than f/2 give you this magnificent depth of field, this sweet bokeh which is such a feast to look at…

D700, ISO400, 1/125 sec @ f/1.7, Nikkor 50mm 1.4

D700, ISO400, 1/125 sec @ f/1.7, Nikkor 50mm 1.4

A week or so ago I was in Holland for a couple of days. The few days before I left it had rained cats and dogs, every day, the whole day, without stopping. When I called with the home front back in Holland I heard it had been and was supposed to stay great weather. That was positive.
But upon arrival the weather had turned 180 degrees, and I was left with spending my days in Holland while it was raining cats and dogs, every day, the whole day, save for the last half day before I left.
So what do you do when you can’t go outside, and you’ve worked to the point of irreparable boredom?

Right: you start to go through your mom’s window sills. Good stuff to be found there!

D200, ISO100, 1 sec @ f/11, Tamron 90mm macro, SB-800 off-camera flash

D200, ISO100, 1 sec @ f/11, Tamron 90mm macro, SB-800 off-camera flash

D200, ISO100, 3 sec @ f/11, Tamron 90mm macro, SB-800 off-camera flash

D200, ISO100, 1,5 sec @ f/11, Tamron 90mm macro, SB-800 off-camera flash

D200, ISO100, 1 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm macro, SB-800 off-camera flash

D200, ISO100, 1,5 sec @ f/11, Tamron 90mm macro, SB-800 off-camera flash

A little break from the Canaries…
Now that summer’s come to an end, and fall has been disappointingly short, and before I go out and change the tires on my car to studded ones, I thought I’d give a last little reminder of this year’s summer…. *sighs*

D200, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/4.2, Tamron 90mm macro, Sigma EM-140 DG ring flash

D200, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/11, Tamron 90mm macro, Sigma EM-140 DG ring flash

D200, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/16, Tamron 90mm macro, Sigma EM-140 DG ring flash

D200, ISO100, 1/250sec @ f/16, Tamron 90mm macro, Sigma EM-140 DG ring flash

D200, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/11, Tamron 90mm macro, Sigma EM-140 DG ring flash

D200, ISO100, 1/500 sec @ f/4, Nikkor 70-200mm

Ever looked at it from this angle?
I got the idea after seeing a gorgeous picture a friend of mine shot of a lily. Seriously Freudian image it was, but beautiful nonetheless. If you’d see either one of the close up images below separately, would you know what it was?

D200, ISO100, 30 sec @ f/32, Tamron 28-75mm, off-camera SB-800

D200, ISO100, 20 sec @ f/32, Tamron 28-75mm, off-camera SB-800

D200, ISO100, 30 sec @ f/45, Tamron 90mm macro, off-camera SB-800

D200, ISO100, 30 sec @ f/45, Tamron 90mm macro, 12mm extension tube, off-camera SB-800

D200, ISO100, 30 sec @ f/54, Tamron 90mm macro, 12mm + 20mm + 36mm extension tubes, off-camera SB-800

Giorgio Armani is treating me well (and he should for the money I invested in him ).
Got some feedback on my previous pics and was advised to put in some complementary colors.
So… following the good advise:

D200, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/16, Tamron 28-75mm, off-camera SB-800 with Photoflex softbox

And the beauty?
The picture is unedited save for a bit tighter crop. No saturation, no alteration. Right out of the camera
Good that the flowers don’t have GIORGIO ARMANI on them, otherwise it would’ve been one hell of an expensive picture

So yesterday after my life-threatening operation downtown Helsinki I went to a big store where they sell fabrics. There was one piece missing still for my home studio table top: a black backdrop.
I went into the store and enthusiastically asked for black silk, thinking it would be some 30 euros per meter. You can imagine my surprise that the cheapest suitable silk they had in store was closer to 70 euros per meter. That was a good amount more than I had budgeted and seriously more than I was willing to spend on it. So I had to downgrade… I found a very nice piece of Lycra or something and that was really the best piece after the silk I could find. The others were not really black, or too shiny, or dusty, or what not. But this nice piece of cloth still cost me 39 euros per meter. And I needed two meters at least. So… *sighs* about 80 euros lighter (oh, and a 50 euros parking ticket, because I parked three meters from a pedestrian crossing instead of five – that’s TWO tickets in two weeks, for crying out loud!!!), but a nice backdrop richer I went home to test it out.

D200, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/2.8, Tamron 28-75mm, off-camera SB-800 with Photoflex softbox

I went out to get a bunch of leaves and I even had a really nice conversation with an old guy who was working in the garden close by. That’s such un-Finnish behavior! And I like it

Oh… And when I was testing out the backdrop, I found out why it was so expensive anyway… It said with big bold white letters “GIORGIO ARMANI” on it
Hahahaha! Now that I come to think of it… How decadent is it really? I’m using a GIORGIO ARMANI cloth for my photography backdrop…
Oh my… where is it going with me?

Helsinki’s not really my home town, Espoo is. But they’re so close and I’m actually more often “traveling” through Helsinki than I am through Espoo (and Helsink has a lot more touristic things to show for), that I’m mixing them both.
But today some Espoo. Been living here for six years now and this was the first time (yeah, I know… it’s sad…) I visited the old church in town.
This would actually fit well in the Fall series too. I love the red tree next to the church. It fits well with the building

D200, ISO100, 1/500 sec @ f/5.6, Sigma 10-20mm

I saw it already from the weather (well, if I may believe the stories it’s been fall here ever since the beginning of June), but nature itself wasn’t really sure yet what to do.
This afternoon I drove by this house and noticed this beautiful Thicket Creeper creeping up along the facade. You can really see the colors go from green to a deep burgundy red and it makes the house pop out instantly, even if it’s a bit further off the main street.

And I guess it means that fall’s really begun now.
I’ll probably get a lot more photos with all different kinds of colors. Looking forward to it.
If only it wouldn’t rain this much…

D200, ISO100, 1/45 sec @ f/4, Sigma 10-20mm

Supposedly the most popular place for picking berries and mushrooms in the greater Helsinki area. I went there with my better half for a good hike and some more colorful pictures than edible mushrooms. The lush green of the moss for example. It’s so soft that you have to suppress the urge to just lie down and go to sleep in it (I’m still not completely rid of my jet lag, so it really was tempting).

D200, ISO100, 3 sec @ f/13, Sigma 10-20mm

The marshes (Mustalampi) also looked very tempting. Looked, though… step in it in the wrong spots and you’ll be in water all the way up to your knees, if not higher.

D200, ISO100, 1/6 sec @ f13, Tamron 28-75mm

D200, ISO100, 1/6 sec @ f/13, Tamron 28-75mm

And many other colorful and less colorful things. If only we had more time… the 10 km walk that we did took us a good three hours. I take all the blame for it.

D200, ISO100, 1/90 @ f/5.6, Sigma 10-20mm

D200, ISO100, 1,5 sec @ f/13, Sigma 10-20mm

D200, ISO100, 1/30 sec @ f/5.6, Sigma 10-20mm