It's winter and I'm back!

Hi! Seems like I forgot my blog and ran out of ideas. But hey now I'm back and full of new things to write about. This is me!

My current challenge: the winter

First things first. I went through my Flickr account around Christmas and noticed, that I haven't really photographed the winter. And I thought, well, that is really something I have to fix, because I live in Finland and I love the winter.

It's such a lovely, white and quiet season. I enjoy how the snow makes traffic sound softer and colors disappear, so there's much less to hear and less things to see. Everything is white and silent. Just breath in the fresh air and howl at the moon. Besides we really have a lot of snow, which might be of interest to some of my Flickr friends.

Then again, "colors disappear" makes the winter quite uninspiring to photograph, to me at least. Plus in Finland, during winter, the sun rises approximately at 9 AM and goes down before 3 PM. So there's not much chance to take bright pictures. Luckily I have sparetime during the afternoons, between my studies, so I have managed to be outside during daylight.

So, I decided to take winter photos. I found my old Canon IXUS and started carrying it around.

This is one of my favourite new photos. It's snowing, and I think I have captured the mood of the moment pretty well. The snow is the main point, you can see it on the stairs and falling from the sky. The photo is a bit askew, which makes it feel more spontaneous. The people that are climbing up the Helsinki Cathedral stairs are apparently Russian tourists. It's not a spectacular photo but it's dear to me!

I should take more photos askew. Like this one (by me 11/2009):

My feet and I

For some time now I've taken photos of my own feet in random situations. Usually they've been pleasant moments when there's been something interesting on the ground around me. Since I don't really have any photographic themes, I decided to start a project called "My feet and I".

My first goal was to take a winter photo, because there wasn't one yet. Well, now there is. And all the photos are different from one another, and I will continue to take photos of my feet, when there is a good reason to do so. This is just for fun, though!

My feet and I

Thank you for reading! I'll get back soon with more winter photos. :)

Helena

http://www.flickr.com/photos/owly/

P.S. As you can see, I sort of got bored with film developing.

Bokeh!

Hi again! Long time no photoblogging. I haven't been that inspired by photography this spring until now. Suddenly we have like 70% more light during daytime and the snow has melted so that here and there you can see islands of wet muddy ground and even some water where there used to be sea. And will be again in few weeks. Light = inspiration!

A friend of mine told me about his bokeh experiments. I was thrilled to hear how he'd done it: just cut a piece of paper and attach it to the lens to make the bokeh a different shape. I'm so going to try this one day soon.

This photo is by Olli:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dronir/

Perhaps it was this that inspired me to try nocturnal bokeh photography. I was walking in the harbor and decided to try another point of view. I often try to take photos of cool night lights but then fail at it because a) I don't have my tripod with me, b) I'm too far from the object, c) the photo just turns out extrelemy boring.

So this time I decided to make the lights the main subject in the photo and play with composition more, instead of trying to make the photo look just the way it is in real life. And I like what I got!



I'm not saying these are of great art or skill but I'm inspired by this new idea. I like it how you can just focus on the lights and their colors and on getting a nice composition instead of trying to get everything to look just as it is.


And another friend of mine gave me a huge bag of old, unused films, for free. The best befores have already passed some years ago so she and her husband thought they won't use them. I'm going to try bokeh things with them! Let's see what happens. I couldn't be more excited about this now.

Entry 3 - New year plans and a camera shop

Today, I was walking at the roundabouts where I live. And I found the cutest little camera shop there is, just 200 m away from my home! I bought plastic pages for my negatives (I had been searching for those for like a week and couldn't find anywhere!) and asked, whether I could take my old, dirty objectives there to be cleaned. They once belonged to my mom. The old, friendly man said I could, and if they couldn't clean them, they would send them somewhere. Marvellous!

Other news. It's new year's coming, and I was thinking about photographing fireworks. I've never been that interested in photographing them, though I love them with my bare eye. Perhaps I'll try long exposure on them. Also, I bought 30 little sticks that make stars (in Finnish, 'tähtisadetikku') for 1,50 e. Maybe tomorrow will finally be the day that I get to draw in the air?

Entry 2 - Film developing and more friends in the studio

Hi! It's been over a month I last updated. This is mainly because my computer died and I had to wait for Santa to bring me a new one. So here I am, on Christmas Day at 2:30 AM updating everything I've missed during the couple of weeks...


Film developing and printing

After the course at the photography club (previous entry), I've now been to the darkroom twice: once with a friend and once by myself, though some old man joined me and helped me with some problematic bits later. This was only two days back. So, I developed a film by myself this week. It went a bit wrong, there were some stribes in some of the frames. Hmh! The old man told me the liquids hadn't probably touched the film equally, so the little round roll that I had wrapped the film around must have not been attached properly or something, in the developing can. Better luck next time!

But the frames weren't all ruined and neither were the stribed ones all bad. And wasn't that inspiring! So I printed some of the photos and they turned out pretty nice. Not great, nice. I learnt to add some contrast. Last time I printed photos in the darkroom (it was with the friend and after the darkroom course), I learnt that I'd like some more spice in the pictures, they were all just a tiny amount pale. So this time, I did that and succeeded in it. Well done me! Also, I developed quite good a routine in using the printing machine over the 7 hours I spent there...

Actually, I printed a photo for my Dad for Christmas (he had wished for one). It turned out really nice and he was so proud of me and truly liked the photo. It was an older one, though. One of the best shots I've ever ever taken. Sorry, only on film, so can't put it here (for now)!

The other photos that I printed of the film I had just developed, weren't that special. Practising, practising. Though there was one picturing a cute little wooden Christmas elf that turned out good. I knew it in advance because I took the same photo with my digital camera with the same settings. I did it first on the film, though (I had adjusted the light and shutter speed well in the film camera right away, well done me again!)

So I started fantasizing of a really good print. Then I realized - perhaps I should first take better photos with the film camera! There's some challenge, huh.


More friends in the studio

In the previous entry, I told how I learnt the basics of working in the studio and how I photographed a friend of mine, Laura. This time I'll tell about two other models I had some weeks back. Laura was the head editor of our student organization's magazine and she wanted me to shoot a mutual friend of ours for the cover - the theme was "women's magazine", say, Vogue, Cosmopolitan etc. So the mutual friend of ours came to the studio and I adjusted the lights etc (after first tearing one white paper background, whoops). She wasn't as easy to photograph as Laura was. We were both a bit nervous, didn't really know what the photo should be like. Laura, on the other hand, had had like 100 ideas ready to be photographed. In the end, we managed to get some really good photos. You just need to have an IDEA.

The studio is so "naked" with nothing else than just the person, that you just have to have something to inspire both the model and the photographer. In this case, soap bubbles and an umbrella did that, and the model had actually much fun, too. I told her to do some particular poses and even if it's a bit odd towards a friend, it really did the trick. And the cover turned out GREAT! (I didn't do the layout, just took the photo.)

The other friend of mine came by the same day. She also had various dresses with her, she also makes them herself (just like Laura, my first model). She was calmer, though, whereas Laura is very bubbly. She's really pretty in nature, always smiling calmly, and she's a really warm and lovely person. But still I wouldn't have believed how GORGEOUS she'd look in almost every frame! Like, wow! Some people just are meant to be in front of the camera. And I think she was really pleased with the results herself, too, probably didn't even know she had such talent.

And it's not just that she is pretty, but she looks so very different in every frame and I managed to capture so many different moods in just few seconds and with a smallest hint or change of angle. I really, really enjoyed photographing her and I took hundreads of good photos (at least I think so). Here's one of them.

And I managed to adjust the lights better this time. The background looks better in the photos and the face, too - not so many shadows as last time. I asked some tips from the more experienced photographers at the club. That's always good. I can call one of them whenever I need help with the studio equipment or the liquids in the darkroom.

Next up: I'd like to come up with something new in the studio. I've now photographed one fun cover girl with an umbrella and blowing soap bubbles (the latter I'd like to try once more properly!) and then two dress-makers, one of whom was bubbly and modelly with good postures and loads of ideas, other one steady and stunning gorgeous with good, changing moods. What next? Perhaps a quartet from our choir? They already agreed. That'd be challenge, four at the same time. Or something else? A man? A person with a pet/child/teddy? And who would that person be?

Night views

I went out with my tripod. I hardly ever do that because it's irritating to carry around and it takes time to adjust on the ground and what else, you need to crouch when you use it. Excuses! I really liked it. I'm into long exposures, been a while actually but never really gotten around to do it myself. So now I'm on Christmas holiday and I think I'll go out and experience. I already took a decent photo of streetlamps and some branches. I moved the camera sideways on the tripod (exposure 15 seconds) so I got lamps to look like lines. Fun!

Phew! Congratulations, you're at the end! Thank you for reading! And please leave a comment if you have anything to say, it's nice to get feedback. Though I'm not sure if this is of any interest to anyone, I just like to write. :)

Entry 1 - Photography club

Hi! Welcome! I felt like starting a blog, since I always feel like I'd like to share my thoughts on photography with my Flickr friends but it's not really possible on that site. So I warmly welcome you to my photographic world! Please, feel free to leave a comment, to discuss or just to say hi. That'd make me really happy.

I thought I wouldn't post that many of my photos in this blog mainly because you can find them in my Flickr, that is, here. In this blog, I'll focus on writing about my thoughts.

This first entry is a bit long because I have so much to tell! I've learnt very much in the past two weeks and I just couldn't wait to write it down. In the future, I'm sure, I'll write shorter updates.


Joining the photography club

I've studied the Finnish language (my mother-tongue) in the University of Helsinki for two years now, and this fall, at last, I joined a photography organization. I almost joined it a year ago but I thought I wouldn't have enough time for it. This fall I knew I most definitely would have time so I paid the registration fee.

Now I've gotten new friends and already learnt a lot. I attended "photo night" where people can show their photos to others. The photos really took me by surprise - everything from band photography with signatures to abstract balloons and umbrellas in Berlin or subtle high quality pornography in the studio. I had one stupid photo with me (this one) and I felt embarassed. I decided to learn more. Still, everyone was really friendly and told me to eat more cookies. Man don't I just love cookies!


My first time in the studio

I attended a course on studio photography at the photography club. It was really good. The teacher really seemed to know a lot - and he was young. I felt like I'm in the right place. First I thought the subject must be really hard - would I really learn how to use the expensive gadgets or adapt my camera in the new situation?

I learnt how the flashes work and what you need to know before going in the studio. I learnt how to use a light meter, I had never tried it before. I learnt that my Canon Speedlite was perfect with the big slave flashes. After taking the course, I would be entitled to photograph alone (or perhaps with a model ha-ha) in the studio with all the great equipment: six flashes, a proper background etc. I took one good photo of the course teacher (who later became a friend of mine) and spent the following two or three days being excited about it!

The same day the course was held, I phoned my friend Laura, that I knew had lots of nice dresses and a good sence of humor. She was to become my first model! So later, I rented the studio for 4 hours (it costs like 5 euros) and wow, we had such a fun time! The use of the equipment wasn't at all as difficult as I had believed before taking the course.

So... We took really nice photos of Laura. She was excited and really innovative. I moved the flashes around, put more light, put less light, put light to the background, to the model's face etc. I tried out new things! The photos turned out really good, I think (you can see them in my Flickr, naturally) - just the way I imagined and perhaps a little better. Of course, after I had slept over it, I already knew a hundread things I could've done better. So I'm looking forward to learning more next time. Plus I got some good tips about the lighting from the professional club members. How cool is that? (After that discussion we went and ate and drank all night and we had a blast.)


Learning film photography

Yes, I am not kidding! I have also stepped into the history of photography and bought film. I got my mother's old Minolta camera with a few good lenses (she used to need them while she worked as an editor). Then I attended two courses at the club: film development and printing (I hope you call them those in English). They were only this week. And this is where I got my inspiration to start this blog: when I photographed with the old film camera and developed and printed a photo of mine, I learnt so much about photography in general that I was truly amazed.

I started my photographic career with a digital camera. After that, I once tried a film camera (I'm talking about (D)SLRs now) at the age of 18 and had the photos developed in a camera shop. So I haven't really had experience on the old-fashioned way before.

During these few years that I have photographed, I developed an attitude towards photo manipulation. I took photos with a digital pocket camera or later with my DSLR and thought, I don't want to crop my photos! I want to learn how to get a good composition while taking the photo, without changing the frame later. I also thought really strictly that changing contrast or brigthness after loading a photo on the computer is for cheaters. This, of course, was partly good, because it made me learn more about my camera instead of just point-shooting randomly.

Back to the course. I took the film out of the small can, cut the ends of it with scissors, put it in the spiral and in the tank in total darkness. I soaked it first in water, then in three other liquids and again with water. I dried it. I zoomed the little frames with a loupe. I set the six negatives on a paper and made them one big photo showing all the little frames in positive. I picked a photo and adjusted the focus, framing and brightness with the big printing machine (I don't know the name for it in this language!). I soaked the white paper in four liquids and water. Then I dried it. Guess what? The photo turned out just the way I had wanted! I felt so good and clever. I can post the photo somewhere later, if I get to scan it somewhere. It's not really that interesting, it has golden silk and fur in a shop window, in black and white. I wanted to test how different textures would look in black and white film.

After I left the darkroom, I felt really nauseous the whole night. Next time, I'll make sure I have more oxygen and less chemicals.


New perspectives

After the film courses, I started thinking, perhaps I shouldn't be so strict about adjusting digital photos after all. Obviously, I hadn't had any perspective on the whole thing called "photography" at all! I felt embarassed, again. Adding contrast and re-framing were there decades before Photoshop! A friend of mine always tells me, I'm silly with my attitudes about adjusting the photos after they're taken. Now he was glad to hear that I had changed my mind. That day, I learnt so much more and got such a better perspective on the whole matter that I was just bouncing with inspiration!

Oh, and one small note more. When I walked in the center of Helsinki with the film camera the first time and the daylight had already stopped for the day, I felt important and a bit solemn. I would only have 36 frames. And I should get at least average photos for the film course because I knew the others would have such brilliant photos with them (in the end, not that much better than mine!). I took up to 3 shots per object instead of 10-15 as I usually do with my digital camera. It felt more exciting.

And the funniest thing was, when I took photos with my digital equipment some time later, I didn't feel the need to take 15 similar photos anymore. I felt, 2-3 per idea will do.

MY FILM PHOTOS SOAKING IN THE WATER
(THE PHOTO HAS BEEN MODIFIED)

Thank you so much for reading!

Helena