KuvaLassi

New Family Member

2009-06-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

There's a new member in our family. This is our eight weeks old Jack Russell called jarilitmanen.

Driving School

2009-06-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

I thought it was finally time for an update. Here is how they do it in a driving school in Finland. Park their car in front of an emergency exit. There is an example for the rest of the driving folk. Pisses me of heavily.

Happy New Year Again

2009-01-29T11:30:00.001-08:00

Last sunday marked the beginning of the year of the ox in Chinese calendar. The above shot is from the celebrations in Helsinki. We were too tired to stay and see the fireworks so this shot must do.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T09:31:00.000-08:00

I spent the first day of the year in the countryside in wonderful weather. I spotted that somebody had celebrated the turn of the year there as well.

Fireworks

2008-12-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

This is one of my first attempts ever to shoot fireworks. Not a special good one I admit. It is shot at the inauguration party of the new harbour of Helsinki. Fantastic place fantastic party!

First Snow

2008-11-22T15:53:00.000-08:00

The first snow has fallen. I'm looking forward to a better winter than last year. The above shot is shot from our window this evening.

If somebody thinks sailing is just about sunbathing and shampagne check this out. Quite extreme wouldn't you say.

Playing Pool

2008-11-17T08:14:00.000-08:00

On friday we had a boys night out. Some beer and a couple of rounds of pool. Here's Miku opening the game.

Raindrops

2008-10-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

It is this time of the year again.

More Autumn Colours

2008-10-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

Shot yesterday couple of minutes afer sunset.

Autumn Colours

2008-09-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of days we have had nice sunny weather and the colours of the autumn are looking really nice.

Cranes

2008-09-19T09:56:00.001-07:00

Here's a shot from yesterdays photowalk. I'm exploring HDR again.

Lapland

2008-09-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

This is a shot from our hiking trip to the Kevo canyon. You can see the rest of the pictures here.

Light Trails

2008-08-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

I haven't shot anything decent lately so here is an older shot from this July. It was shot on the way back to Helsinki from Hämeenlinna.

On friday I will be leaving to Lapland for a hike in the Kevo canyon. I promise to shoot at least a couple of decent images.

Row row row your boat

2008-08-14T11:26:00.000-07:00

From time to time I think that I should shoot more in black and white because I like monochrome images a lot. I just don't seem to get my black and whites really stand out. No matter whatever I try to do with them they just turn out dull median grey. I've come to the conlusion that I am a colour photographer and the more the colour the better. Here goes one b&w anyway.

The above image is shot on the island of Jurmo which a really outstanding place. The image was originally shot in colour but I wanted to see how works in monochrome. Heavy vignetting added by Photoshop.

I have also posted a small gallery of photos from our sailing trip. You can see the gallery here. It is ok to leave comments.

Hanko by Sunset

2008-08-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

Last week I was on holiday and we went sailing. It was fantastic we were really lucky with the weather as the sun was shining almost all the time. The above is a shot of Hanko skyline when we were approaching the harbour.

Hippodrome

2008-07-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

I have been lazy publishing. That's because I haven't been shooting much lately. Last weekend I was at Juva and went to see these trot competitions. It was fantastic.

Taj Mahal

2008-06-26T08:36:00.001-07:00

Finally I've had the time and the energy to go through my photos from our trip to India. Take a look at the gallery here.

Wooooo...She's a Little Runaway

2008-06-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

I went to see Bon Jovi on the Olympic Stadium yesterday. It was an ok show, nothing mindblowing but nice. Here's a boring shot from the gig. Enjoy midsummer. I'm sure I will....

Happy Birthday

2008-06-12T07:40:00.000-07:00

On 20th of May it was the anniversary of my blog. I was supposed to post something on that day but...

Anyway I decided to post something today because I have some time on the computer before the football match kicks off. You know the European Championships are on.

I know it comes as no surprise to anyone that I like shooting reflections and twisting and turning them but here goes another anyway. It is shot at Fiskars. We went there with my Belgian mate Kristof who once again was visiting us. Thanks to Kristof for that it was nice having you here.

During the first year there were more than a thousand visits to my blog. Thank you all. Keep on reading. I will publish a gallery of photos from our trip to India someday soon.

Merihaka

2008-05-07T07:50:00.000-07:00

This is the beautiful district of Merihaka in Helsinki in nice evening light. To me it looks like wartime Sarajevo with some of the windows on the seaside shot down.

I have also posted a picture to the Canon Assignment competion. You can see the image here. Check it out and give it a vote if you like it.

Hippies

2008-05-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I posted a shot of a squatted old theater. This picture is shot one week later. You can see how the hippies have made progress.

Biking

2008-04-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

During the past couple of days I have been experimenting with my camera . I've been zooming and panning while exposure. Both techniques that I've tried before some years ago. The above is one of the better ones. Most of the frames were quite blurry as you might guess.

Speedy Gonzales

2008-04-23T07:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening I took my bike and rode to Lauttasaari to shoot some boats in this small leisure boat harbour. I took some fifteen frames of a nice looking old boat in beautiful evening light. Then I got bored of it and took out my monopod that I had been carrying around all evening and started to try some zoombursts. The results varied but it was fun and interesting. More of that stuff please.

Squat

2008-04-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

A bunch a hippies have squatted this old theater in Rajasaari Helsinki.

Traffic Jam

2008-04-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

I've never seen such a traffic jam in Helsinki as I saw today.

Cross Country

2008-04-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

Would you ski from Helsinki to Riihimäki? I know I wouldn't. Anyway I went Pyhätunturi in Lapland and skied 65 km which is roughly the same distance as from my home to Riihimäki.

Tiger

2008-04-08T07:36:00.001-07:00

I decided to post another picture for today as I have not been publishing much lately. The yawning tiger is shot at Korkeasaari on sunday. It is a nice place to visit off-season.

Bretagne

2008-04-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

Finally I have published the photo gallery from our trip to Bretagne and Normandy. It can be viewed here. It was a nice trip. The weather could have been better but luckily we did not get any snow as some sorry people in London and Northern Spain. It would have been quite tricky to drive around in snow without winter tyres.

The above photo is from Pointe du Raz which is the westernmost part of mainland France. The area is called Finisterre, the end of land. The weather was quite challenging for photography and for survival as well as the wind was blowing roughly 30 m/s. It was quite a wind. We wandering on the cliffs tens of metres above the sealevel but the wind was blowing saltwater on my lenses which was not really nice. I got them cleaned anyway without any damage.

Railroad

2008-03-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a lazy week in photography for me. I am looking forward to next wednesday when I head to Bretagne with Salme. If the coast there is not inspiring then I think nothing will be.

Here's a photo I shot today. I gave it a sepia toning in Photoshop. It was done with duotone which I find a very useful tool. I just don't know how to use it properly. In this one the tones turned out really nice.

Frozen

2008-03-05T07:48:00.000-08:00

We haven't had much of a winter this year. But from the beginning of March we've had the most snow this year and at some points the see has frozen. That is quite strange because usually March means the beginning of the spring. I wonder if this has something to do with the climate change or is it just coincidence. I suspect the latter because I wouldn't think the climate change to be this dramatic. Rather I think it will be more gradual over the years. Not +10 degrees in a year.

Fresh Water

2008-03-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

The tap water in Helsinki is very good. It is brought from the Lake Päijänne via a tunnel. Next month the tunnel will be closed for maintenance and we will be drinking this. Water from the River Vantaa. Looks delicious.

Lomography

2008-02-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

I decided to post another shot from the past couple of days. Yesterday I had real trouble choosing between this one and the one I posted. I quity like both of them. This photo looked a bit dull straight out of camera so I decided to boost it with this cool lomo action I found on the internet a while ago.

Reflections

2008-02-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

During the past couple of weeks I have been shooting quite a lot but I have been lazy processing the images. I had trouble choosing which photo to publish. I could have gone with any of the numerous seascapes but I decided to go with this one of the headquarters of the Sanoma Corporation. I like the symmetry in it and something makes it quite striking in my opinion. It is HDR of course.

Fog

2008-02-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

Last sunday was a foggy day as I had wished because I wanted to do some HDR experimenting in fog. Above is the result.

Seize the Moment

2008-02-02T03:12:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago I read this great column about exercising creativity and finding inspiration. One of the main points was not to be afraid of failure and not to take photos because of that. The author's point was that whenever you see something interesting you should take the photo and not to think about whether it is good or not. You can leave that to later. If you start hesitating the opportunity for that shot might pass by and you end up with no shot at all. It is better to have a bad shot than no shot at all and think about how it would have been. You might not get the oppotunity for that shot again.

On friday morning as I was preparing to go to work I looked out the window and saw the perfect light. I quickly grabbed my camera threw on a coat and rushed down the stairs. I managed to get this shot around the corner of our house but as I moved towards better spots for shooting the light washed out as the sun rose. Had I hesitated for a moment longer I would have ended with no shot at all. I think there is a lesson learned eventhough the picture is nothing special.

HDR

2008-01-23T10:52:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know, HDR is short for High Dynamic Range. It is a photographic technique used to combine two or more differently exposed photos into a single one. It is usually used to compensate for the lack of dynamic range of the sencor cell of a digital camera. The results can be quite stunning or horrible depending on how one sees the photo. Some people like the surreal results achieved by excessive use of software and some like more discreet results.

I have been wanting to explore HDR photography for a long time but it was only today that I gave it a first go. When I bought my digital camera I already felt like testing HDR but by the time my computer was too crappy to have a conversion software in it. When I updated my computer there was another setback. My tripod broke down. You may want to try and shoot HDR hand held. Give it a go. Seriously.

As you might know I got myself a nice and solid Manfrotto tripod for christmas present but until now I haven't been using it. Today I finally took my gear out to grab a shot of the full moon. As I was heading out I realized I might as well try some HDR photos as well. The above photo is the one that worked out the best in my opinion. It is shot in Eiran ranta in southern Helsinki.

Verona

2008-01-15T08:19:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went to Verona with Salme to celebrate my birthday. As a surprise Jani and Anne came along which was fantastic. Verona is a nice and quite beatiful city. Some tourist brochure titled it the Bonsai-Rome. I don't quite understand what that is supposed to mean.

We had a fun weekend, lots of food and very good Valpolicella. On our way back we stopped at a couple of villages by Lake Garda which is supposed to be beautiful. The weather was awfully foggy so I don't what it really looks like. You can view a gallery of photos here.

New Year, New Gear

2008-01-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

As soon as the tax refunds are paid to my account I hit the camera store for some new gear. This year I have added a tripod, a monopod and a couple of neutral density filters to my gear. I haven't had the time yet to give them a try but hopefully during the weekend I will get something done.

To sum up last year I uploaded a gallery of the best shots from last year. You can see the gallery here.

Gone Fishing 2.0

2007-12-30T11:43:00.000-08:00

You realize funny things when you start publishing your images on the web. For example I didn't know that I have a habit of shooting fishermen but here is already a second published image of one.

Recently I have also come to a conclusion that the crappier the weather the better it is for shooting. Today the wind was blowing around 21 m/s and rain was coming down every now and then. Luckily the sun came out for a while to provide me and other photo enthusiast with dramatic light and seascapes. I will publish a gallery of the seascapes shortly.

This will be the last post of this year. I will be looking forward to publishing a lot more the coming year. With this photo of this insane fisherman I wish you all a happy new year.

At the Mall

2007-11-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

Today there was the official opening of the christmas season in Kamppi. I grabbed this not very original shot from the top level of the mall. I didn't want to see the fireworks because lst year they were so crappy.

This is not a black and white image

2007-11-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

In my last post I wrote about publishing a black and white image shortly. As you can see it didn't happen this week. Maybe next time. We'll see...

By the way the image is shot at one second hand held. Not bad don't you think.

Psychedelia

2007-11-04T10:34:00.000-08:00

On friday I went the see a Sally Mann exhibition. I was inspired by her black and white images. The tonal range in real monochomatic prints is simply amazing. Today I went for a photowalk with an idea to shoot in black and white. I was able to stick with my plan until I noticed these nice reflections on water.

Anyway I think I will be shooting a lot more b&w in the near future. This time of year the light is really good for it. With sun low on the sky the light brings out shapes and textures nicely. I'll be looking forward to post my first black and white image on this blog shortly.

Gone Fishing

2007-10-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

Couple of days ago I realized that I hadn't shot a single picture for a few weeks. That's why I went for a photo walk to Hernesaari. I didn't get any great shots. Spotted this fisherman anyway.

Picking Mushrooms

2007-09-24T06:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to a secret location to pick mushrooms and we found plenty. Jussi was very stylish indeed.

Fireworks

2007-09-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hello folks!

It's been a while since my last update but there's a logical explanation. My computer broke down. Luckily the warranty was still good and the boys in the computer store had to repair it for free. Unfortunately it took those lazy bastards at Mikromafia two weeks to get the job done. Anyway I'm back online now.

I realized one other thing now that I started to write this post. During the past couple of weeks I've shot only a couple of pictures. The only decent ones are from the fireworks competion some weeks ago. Here's one of them.

I'll keep on looking for inspiration. Take care.

Dancing Teen

2007-08-27T08:36:00.000-07:00

Friday night was the Night of Arts in Helsinki. The above shot is from Hesperia park where they had the biggest pique-nique in the whole universe of something. There was a DJ playing nice music and plenty of drunken teens dancing.

I've also added a small gallery of photos to my webalbum. You'll find rest of my photos from the walk when I grabbed the shot of the hot air balloon I posted the last time. Gallery available here.

Double Balloon

2007-08-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Today was supposed to be the last summer day of the year. To celebrate this I went for icecream with friends. It was as hot as the weather forecasters had predicted. It was nice anyway.

On the way home I saw some hot air balloons in the sky. The one in the image was quite nice because it was flying behind a cloud and it was backlit so in made a shadow in the cloud. So it's not a UFO it's just a normal hot air balloon and its shadow. It made quite a strong image I think.

Ghosts

2007-08-19T09:21:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been very unispired in photography. I have realized that I don't shoot enough to keep my standard of photography good enough. But I don't want to just wander around and shoot anything, rather I would like to have something specific to shoot. I have been trying to find something without a result so far.

I have also thought about trying to shoot and publish something everyday but I don't think I will. I tried shooting a picture a day a couple of years ago and I realized that it didn't make me a better photographer. It was only a stressful experience and most of the days I just ended up to shoot a crappy picture just to get it under way. After a couple of months I dropped the whole project.

So I will not start the project again at least not for now. Rather I will try shoot aand publish a decent picture every weekend for starters.

This weekend I went to see the castle of Mustio. It is not really a castle rather a mansion. According to a legend it is haunted. I didn't see any ghosts though. It is a nice place for a day trip from Helsinki. Plenty of strange things to see.

Mölkky

2007-08-13T07:49:00.000-07:00

This weekend was mainly about mölkky, beer and swimming. Here is Daniel showing his skills. According to him mölkky is Finland's national sport.

Finnish Countryside

2007-08-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

Went to the countryside last weekend. Finland is such a splendid country especially in the summer. The above photo should prove that.

In the year 2006

2007-08-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

This time I have added a compilation of some of my best photos from last year to my gallery. Please do visit it here: http://picasaweb.google.fi/LassiKallio/2006

Summertime and the living is easy

2007-07-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was fun. We went to Suomenlinna for a picnic and as usual had a blast out there. For some reason strange things always tend to happen there but i won't go into detail. Here's a summer snapshot from there.

On the Sea

2007-07-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend me and Salme went sailing for the first time by ourselves. Everything went fantastic and we got back home alive. Now I'm a fully licenced captain. Woohaa!

However, one rather funny incident there was. There we were sailing towards Hanko in a really mild wind. The boat was hardly moving at all. All of a sudden a bird crashed into our main sail and stumbled on the deck. It looked around and decided our boat was its new home. Of course I had to grab my camera and get a few shots of this stupid pidgeon.

When we got home we started thinking that it might not be a pidgeon at all. It might in fact be a really rare turtle dove. I'm going to get it recognized by Birdlife Finland and see if I can make some money with the pictures.

I have updated my photo gallery to which you can find a link on the right hand side of the site. You'll find my photos from Iceland and the US as well as the photos from our trip to northern Norway and Lapland last September.

Squirrel

2007-07-04T07:21:00.000-07:00

I'm a lazy publisher I know but I have an excuse though. I was on holiday for a couple of weeks in Iceland and the US. I will publish some pictures from the trip as soon as I get them processed.

From New York I bought a new lens, Canon EF 70-200 f/4. It is my first prime lens with the red ring around it. Sweet. On sunday me and Salme went to Seurasaari with Melli and Marcus and their three dogs. I didn't shoot the dogs anyway. We spotted a squirrel there which is by no means a miracle over there. Anyway Marcus was feeding it some nuts and I grabbed some test shots with my lens. I have to say it is a very good lens indeed. I don't think there's a way back from prime lenses anymore.

The above picture is one of those test shots. I think it is actually a really good photo of a squirrel.

All the best,

KuvaLassi

First steps in web 2.0

2007-05-21T10:05:00.001-07:00

Hello world. Here I am finally taking my first steps in web 2.0. It has been on my mind for a while (read couple of years) to publish my photos on the internet but I'm lazy guy to learn new tricks. But here it finally is.

The above picture is from Camden London where we went for easter with Salme. You can view the rest of the photos here: http://picasaweb.google.fi/LassiKallio/Lontoo

Feel free to comment.

Yours sincerely,

KuvaLassi

2007-05-20T09:32:00.001-07:00