I tend to think of myself as a person who notices things. Ok, selectively at times, but quite a lot of the time I really do notice things. Call it an eye for detail, if you will.
My parents are over here for a visit, and it’s at those times, when we get visitors from abroad, that I catch myself on having turned “local”. Meaning that I overlook things that are beautiful, but common to me. I always try to see things. I always try to find the art and beauty in especially common things, but sometimes there are things that just slip through the maze.
Today we went on a walk through the forest and my mom pointed me to one of those things.

D200, ISO100, 1/60 sec @ f/19, Tamron 28-75mm, 36mm extension tube, off-camera SB-800

D200, ISO100, 1/60 sec @ f/19, Tamron 28-75mm, 36mm extension tube, off-camera SB-800

D200, ISO100, 1/60 sec @ f/19, Tamron 28-75mm, 36mm extension tube, off-camera SB-800

D200, ISO100, 1/60 sec @ f/19, Tamron 28-75mm, 36mm extension tube, off-camera SB-800

(… like I do every day).

Myeah, I know… I guess I’m a bit ignorant when it comes to that. I love nature, I love taking pictures in nature, but in a lot of cases I know the big lines of what I’m shooting, but have no clue specifically what I’m taking pictures of.
Bad, bad, I know…
Rule 1 in photography: Know what’s in your picture.
I know what’s in my pictures. It’s a tree. A bird. A mushroom. A flower.
So today I was taking a walk out in the forest and came across a spruce-like tree. And all I ever knew was that spruces and the likes stay green the whole year around. So when I saw a yellow spruce-like tree I was wondering. Until my better half (who’s a lot smarter than I am anyway) told me it wasn’t a spruce, but a larch.
And sure, they turn yellow. And even lose their needles. It looks funny to me for some reason.

D200, ISO100, 1/60 sec @ f/19, Sigma 10-20mm, on-camera flash

D200, ISO100, 1/60 sec @ f/19, Sigma 10-20mm, on-camera flash

Just for the fun of it, I took it to Photoshop and inverted the colors.
How’s that for a Christmassy feeling?

Opened in Photoshop, Image - Adjustments - Invert (Ctrl or Cmd I)

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

It actually did stop raining. I took a good walk with my better half today (still walking off the extra pounds that I gained back in the US ).
Fall colors are really coming through now everywhere. I’ll save you a lot of reading, just look at the pictures.

D200, ISO100, 1/1000 sec @ f/2.8, Tamron 28-75mm

D200, ISO100, 1/90 sec @ f/4.8, Tamron 28-75mm

D200, ISO100, 1/60 sec @ f/2.8, Tamron 28-75mm, off-camera flash SB-800

D200, ISO100, 1/90 sec @ f/5.6, Tamron 28-75mm

D200, ISO100, 1/60 sec @ f/2.8, Tamron 28-75mm, off-camera flash SB-800

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