Cloudbusting

The End

2010-10-31T19:58:00.002+02:00

This blog is no longer updated. I have decided to start a new one here. Thank you for following this one.

Cloudbusting 507

2010-08-03T14:42:00.003+02:00

I don´t want to move
Trying to be perfectly still
The sweat has an independent mind of it´s own
Running down all down on me
soaking the shirt that I should have taken off
The summer day when nothing moves
on the surface of the mirroring water
I search for insects and small fishes
anything with enough of a movement
Sitting still like a monk searching for that moment
the index finger almost too sweaty to push the button
Hypnotized by the slow gentle waves
Stretching this moment as long as possible
Summer, sun and sea
What is the hardest task
doing nothing or everything?

Cloudbusting 506

2010-07-25T13:31:00.002+02:00

The house of cranes
by the beach of white sands
Looking out to the sea
at the southern point
Sun always shines here
and life is not that bad

Cloudbusting 505

2010-07-17T15:04:00.002+02:00

Just some ruins I saw today. It would be so cool to be able to see some places in some other time besides mid-july but if it´s not possible then it´s not possible.

Cloudbusting 504

2010-07-02T07:49:00.007+02:00

Finland is a country where people work hard to build large, clean and organized cities with lot of big spaces for very few people. People work hard to save money for their homes that are some of the most expensive homes in the world. Yet they choose to spend most of their free time at primitive cottages that cost almost nothing compared to their homes. When finns have the first chance to get away from the city, the city is deserted immediately. They open the door of the work at friday to leave and while the door is shutting they have already driven 200 miles to some lonely place in the middle of nowhere. Usually the cottage in some dark forest has only flies, sauna, outhouse, darts and then some more sauna to keep them entertained. There could be a really small TV but that is reserved only for rainy days. A big TV on a sunny day would probably be ideologically extremely unhealthy idea. Also listening to the faint noises of some pestering neighbour far away is a popular hobby. A neighbour they saw the last time in 1993 or was it 1989? All suspicious intruders with a car or a boat who enter their heaven within 1 mile radius of the cottage are frowned upon. These dubious intruders usually include relatives who are persona non grata due to some 50 year old fight over the ownership of some part of the forest that nobody has visited in the last 10 years.

Finland is a country where a building gets a lot of criticism before it´s build. After it´s completed it´s accepted. After 20 years it becomes an architectural masterpiece. After 40 years it´s a monument of finnish history that can never be altered anymore. After 60 years it´s an artefact that can be compared to the temples of ancient Greece and India. It doesn´t really matter if it was done cheaply in a hurry using corrugated iron in the 50´s after the war. Meanwhile during all those years nobody has bothered to remove the grass, weeds and small trees growing on the roofs of these masterpieces. It might be in a really bad condition but that doesn´t matter. It´s always perfect in the memories and there sure is lot of memories.

Cloudbusting 503

2010-06-28T05:17:00.003+02:00

Every year I take the same photo
standing at the empty crossroad
in the warm sun of the afternoon
It´s a good place to stop
to see the painting of the clouds
perfecting the sunday
with nothing else to do
It´s good that some things never change

Something small and red
that caught me wandering
on the memory lane
for a while
unexpectedly
This space could use some red right here too

Cloudbusting 502, bridge

2010-06-25T08:31:00.003+02:00

A bridge over the highway. I sometimes feel it wants to fly.

A small balcony made for cloudbusting. Complete with blue lights of airplane landing strip. A bus goes from this busstation (on the left) to the airport, so I guess that has given the architects freedom to play with some airport designs for this bridge. It is midsummer now and most of the people have gone away from the city which explains the lonely feeling of these photos that I took yesterday.

Cloudbusting 501

2010-06-21T17:47:00.004+02:00

I went walking one evening. It was still very light as it doesn´t really get dark here up north now. There was this path I like to walk as it goes between the rowhouses in a park and is practically a forest. I was just minding my own business, perhaps thinking about the new popular culture item I might need, as I often do. 10 metres ahead of me walked this woman, around 40 or so, who glanced back at me. Not just any glance but a real deer-in-the-headlights-panic-look. Okay, I checked my clothes. Hmm, I had all black clothes, as I usually do, but quite clean so no worries there. Nothing to stare really. She appeared really nervous so I slowed down a little bit to give her some space. 20 metres ahead of me now and another backwards stare...I became nervous too. What she wanted? I had to slow down even more as there was no other path to go. Was I really so scary? I couldn´t walk slower but I tried. 25 metres and third stare. Hmm, was she thinking I would make some move on her? (I prefer not to use the actual word, as that lures weirdos to comment) I was thinking if I should just yell her: "I´m a fatso with a hurting knee. I can´t go as fast as you!" No, no...that would obviously be a bad idea. 30 metres away and fourth stare to me. She is obviously going manic out there. What should I do? I got my phone out. Why can´t anybody call me now? I need something to do now! Should I pretend to call someone? That crazy woman is going to start screaming soon or something. I can´t just turn around and go back the same path as that would obviously look suspicious too. I think I´m quite gentle person but I might appear quite brooding to strangers who don´t know me. I have to admit that, yes, but this was getting just ridiculous. 35 metres and 5th glance. Still the same panic-look staring straight through me. Like all the trees and the forest disappeared and there was just her stare from the wide open eyes. Where else could I look? To my shoes? Maybe she would soon start running and get the cops to pick me up. There must be some cops patrolling somewhere near like they often do at night. I haven´t done anything! She is going crazy on her own! Then the path at last had a crossroad and she chosed to turn left with the 6th glance of course. As I had no exact destination, except to give myself mild exercise, I happily opted for the path to the right. Huh, I made sure not to watch to the left. Was she still there staring at me through the bushes? No, I couldn´t watch back. Never look back. Just go straight ahead like there is nothing out of the ordinary. Time to wipe the sweat from the forehead. What was that crazy woman doing there in the forest if she was about to panic? Too bad, that was a nice path to walk but I guess I should avoid that path from now on. Especially at night. Who knows what might happen there?

Cloudbusting 500

2010-06-20T08:01:00.004+02:00

To go to the beach means letting go
but can I really let it all go?
That´s the question
when I search all those islands in the horizon
All I know is that I need an ice cream
Now

Cloudbusting 499

2010-06-19T09:07:00.003+02:00

The darkness of mid-summer morning is so forgiving and gentle.

Cloudbusting 498

2010-05-14T07:54:00.005+02:00

Today the trees came alive at last
There is sun and all that
A long weekend with a religious holiday
which meaning I have totally forgotten
My new neighbourhood has everything
I could ever hope for
I have good people to live with
I´m far from lonely like I was long ago
Heck, even the job is in a good balance after everything
I can live with the extra 15-20 kg on my waist
and the aching knee
This may sound tacky
but...
I think...
that...
I love my life
Yes, that´s exactly the way it is

Cloudbusting 497

2010-05-08T09:18:00.002+02:00

Skies are more playful in May
Clouds hop and run like the kids in the playground
Free and without a worry
The layers and stench of the awful freeze is not even a memory
I wish to say something deeper too
but as it´s not coming then it´s not coming
I just have to accept it
Oh yeah, happy mother´s day
many of them to remember tomorrow

I wished this one could shape up to be an animal
dog or something
but it didn´t
That´s the way it usually goes
and I have to accept it too

Cloudbusting 496

2010-03-23T06:58:00.006+02:00

The piles of snow by the road have gotten slightly smaller
maybe, but not much
In the sunshine and easy slight freeze I almost like them
but it still feels stupid to take photos of snow piles
as I have tried to avoid the damn things all winter

This morning my knee felt almost okay for the first time in 2 weeks
The mountains of work are almost solved now
I´m alive again, for a short moment anyway
Mornings are like that

There is even a lonely cloud or two floating on the screen near me
Again life is not so bad even though I find myself questioning that
far too often

Cloudbusting 495

2010-03-21T07:03:00.003+02:00

A month ago I needed new winter boots. I wear the same ones all winter and by the end of the season, which has been really long this year, they were all worn out and I had stitched them together and used tape here and there. When I went looking for new winter boots in the end of the february I couldn´t find any from the shoestores. How strange it is to live in a country far up north and not find suitable shoes to wear for the season when everything is covered with huge piles of snow. All they had was fancy shoes to wear for the stroll on the summer boulevard, or if I had abnormally small or large feet then I could have find a pair. I can´t get my mind in to the idea that I should buy stuff in advance. I only buy stuff exactly when I need it but shoe stores apparently think it´s a bad idea. They have been selling summer shoes for over a month now, when there is nothing but snow. I thought that buying shoes online would be a crazy idea but it seems it´s the right way for me now. Then I had to order them online from UK, yeah UK, and now I have been happy with them for 3 weeks. It´s just really odd to run around stores and see thousands of shoes in neat lines and none of them can´t be used right now. What are they thinking?

Cloudbusting 494

2010-03-19T07:13:00.002+02:00

The distant memory of the sun dogs.

Cloudbusting 493

2010-03-17T07:08:00.002+02:00

The dancing couple and their show.

Cloudbusting 492

2010-02-27T08:36:00.003+02:00

There is a lot of snow everywhere
as long as the eye can see
It just doesn´t interest me
and these days I don´t know what does
Snow is boring boring boring
shovel shovel shovel every damn day
Still I always know that something new and tilted
is just around the corner

Snow lips

2010-02-27T08:20:00.001+02:00

Who left her big lips hanging on my fence for 3,5 months?
It´s time to collect them back.

Cloudbusting 491

2010-02-15T16:43:00.005+02:00

The path to a better brighter tomorrow is open
I have seen it with my own eyes
in one dizzying flash
and with these views I can prove it to myself
when the going gets tough again

Cloudbusting 490

2010-02-13T07:55:00.003+02:00

Friday afternoon I thought I had to get something worth a photo or two
and I mean I really really badly needed one
Then I lifted the curtain of my computer tomb
and what you know
it was there and it said to me:
Come and get me!
You know you want to!
Just for you baby!
Sometimes life gives you exactly what you want
and there is no better feeling than that.

Evening lights

2010-02-06T08:22:00.003+02:00

lights, fence and snow
enough to guide me to the weekend
of high expectations

Cloudbusting 489

2010-02-05T06:30:00.003+02:00

Every corner is a surprise
in wintertime
The cumulated wisdom
of the season
blocking our view
to see the things
that really matter
Thanks to the sun
for directing a spotlight
every now and then

Snow

2010-02-02T15:36:00.003+02:00

When I seldom go outside
I see snow
snow
and then some snow
All those useless things left out there
like forgotten in a room without a view
to be taken out later
if necessary

Energy saving lamp 2

2010-02-01T06:44:00.000+02:00

I had a previous post of this same lamp but I wanted to do a follow up. Now that I have watched the energy saving lamp it becomes obvious why it saves energy. It´s because it doesn´t give light at all. It takes a long time while it warms up, even though it´s not warm at all, and it´s very dim when I go to bathroom. If I use only energy saving lamps then it´s hard to see anything in the bathroom. Also, when I go to the bathroom I usually do what I have to do right away and not few minutes later. Logical right? It feels stupid to wait there while the light is dim. When I go away the light becomes "normal" when I´m out of there. The amount of light the lamp gives also changes constantly or maybe it´s just my mind playing tricks on me. I can´t wait for the time when incandescent lights are banned forever. There will be a lot of wondering around in dimly lit rooms and reading with a flashlight (that works on batteries). Oh yeah, and it will cost 5-10 times more than before + the cost of batteries for extra light. I just don´t get this.

Hello Mr. Sunshine

2010-01-31T06:47:00.004+02:00

Hello Mr. Sunshine!

I know you have great things to do in Australia or something but try to stay a little longer than 4 minutes next time.

Cloudbusting 487, red lights

2010-01-30T08:50:00.004+02:00

Fixed the car
costed me over 1000 euros
Next year it will be more than the worth of the car
almost I guess
I have plenty of time to mull it over
while sitting in the red lights of the future
Too slippery these days too
but I have good winter tyres now
Driving, driving and driving
More red lights on the horizon
Nope, I wasn´t driving here

Cloudbusting 486

2010-01-23T08:23:00.005+02:00

This photo has a slightly blurred foreground because I had to snap this from a moving bus and the light was dying and I couldn´t get a clear shot before or after. I just wanted to capture those curly clouds as I still search for a good example of Kelvin-Heimholz clouds for my collections. I presume this formation is not Kelvin-Heimholz but at least it looks pretty. The linked page says that it can appear anywhere anytime but very rarely. Got to keep on looking and I´m sure it will show up some day.

Cloudbusting 485

2010-01-21T07:24:00.007+02:00

Yesterday morning I saw this orange glow
It was so unexpected
like what are you doing here?
What you want from me?
Can´t you stay away like all the other mornings?
Oh oh, have to drag the camera away from the bag
and start snap snap snapping
on the railroad bridge
Simple pleasures
that´s all I need

Cloudbusting 484

2010-01-19T13:59:00.005+02:00

I pass by this store almost every day. They sell hiking stuff and whatever people need out there in the wilderness. They have a big ad on the window saying "real products for real people". The people look like robots in their expensive clothes that were designed in a secret lab in the swiss alps by a bunch of international top level engineers. They think that the real people go to wilderness or mountains to perform highend tasks in their robot suits. I don´t know why but this shop makes me feel strange. I have tried to ignore it but I can´t anymore. I have never been inside and it´s likely I never will. Real people...I guess I´m unreal then...wouldn´t surprise me at all...or who is unreal?

Cloudbusting 483

2010-01-17T07:35:00.002+02:00

The everlasting oceans of space
without boundaries
deep blue and then some
We are just a tiny blip in the universe
floating by weightlessly
whatever the vessel under us
Operetta of the mind is playing
when the wind pushes you
to a new direction on the surface
without a point to focus
Never knowing if this is the point
where the X marks the spot
You never know if they laugh at you up there
with an evil smirk
or is it a smile to push you ahead
on the quest to find a form out of nothingness

Frosty times 2

2010-01-16T07:56:00.004+02:00

Every day this week has been the same
The frosty silent trees
prisoned in their white veils
The sky above a constant grey cap
Silent and waiting for a release
All of it
Only the roads, cars and streetlights
slice the greyscale monotone
I don´t want to hunt the past glories
but the present talks to me only in a cold way
Therefore I wait for the warmer future

Cloudbusting 482, wonders of translation

2010-01-14T11:21:00.009+02:00

I added the Google translator to the side of this blog and now it´s possible to translate this blog to many languages with just one click. Go ahead and try it. That´s simply frigging incredible! I love it! Now I can write and rant in, what, 40 broken languages instead of just one. It´s fun to see the thingy change the words one by one. Of course the translation is pretty random but still. No need for the translators to fear that their job is at risk because the translations are pretty out there.

Cloudbusting 481

2010-01-13T06:36:00.007+02:00

This is the kind of light I want to see today
but I know I won´t

This is the kind of light I don´t want to see today
But I know I will

Now that I have lured you here with another kind of photo I might introduce the energy saving lamp. The energy saving lamp introduces many enhanced features compared to the old incandescent lightbulbs including:

- 5 times more waste during manufacturing as every lamp has a lot of stuff in it.
- multiple cost to purchase yet the lifespan is not necessarily a lot longer. It can break on the way home just as easily as before.
- It gives less light. (see photo)
- It gives no heat and it is cold to the touch. That might be a good thing depending on your view. Since buildings generally need heat it was a good point for incandescent lights.
- It includes stuff like mercury but since it affects mostly chinese workers then it is oookay.
- Who knows what happens when the glass breaks?

+ It gives no heat and it is cold to the touch. That might be a good thing depending on your view.
+ It uses less energy.

In my view this is one of the biggest hoaxes of today even though there was some good points. They had good intentions based mostly on ideology but all they got was just more hazardous waste and a LOT LESS LIGHT! Just look at that lame light. Now I have to pay more and get less light but it is supposed to last a little longer. This is not progress.

Frosty times

2010-01-11T06:59:00.004+02:00

It wasn´t hard to get a decent photo yesterday.

The grey outdoors was inviting everyone to see the new clothes.

The trees almost faded to the grey skies.

I´m a bit anxious to see something else though.

All this silent winter time makes me want that something more is happening.

Once the year gets going then it will. Nothing lasts forever and action is just around the corner.

Shadows of sunday snow

2010-01-10T07:25:00.005+02:00

I´m always intrigued by the tracks that form out on the ice
Where they start
Where they go
Where they cross each other

No clouds today just blue blue skies
I wanted to capture some kind of Finnish national romantic feeling here
The blue shadows of birches on soft snow
like brush strokes on white canvas

Huh, I can tolerate cold more now
-16C (3F) isn´t that bad anymore

That´s all folks
Goodbye! Adiós! Auf Wiedersehen! Hejdå! Farvel! Adeus! さようなら! 再見! Au revoir!
Ha det! αντίο! до свидания! Powitanie! Tere!

Thanks to Google translator! What would I do without you?

Parliament house

2010-01-09T08:14:00.005+02:00

Parliament House of Finland in Helsinki swinging and twisting in all the winter fashion colours. I wanted to do a slideshow but I just couldn´t figure out how to do it with Picasa. Too complicated for me. Maybe it was a good thing as the photos were not exactly aligned to each other. I want to do a good large slideshow some day but I need to experiment more first until I´m satisfied with it.

Cloudbusting 480

2010-01-07T16:21:00.003+02:00

Just clouds
with no hidden agenda
It´s so unbelievable to think
that the cirrus formations still wander high up there
every day and night
despite the low grey blanket
that covers my view 95% of the time
I have probably done a similar one before
or far too many times
but it doesn´t matter
because the revelation is always brand new
Cirrus on a deep blue background
all the way to infinity

Cloudbusting 479

2010-01-06T08:17:00.010+02:00

Some recent blogs have made me think about blogging and rights and money even though I have thought about them before. I put all my photos up here in quite big size because I want them to be good if I ever come back to remember them (which I never do). Also I think that otherwise they would just gather digital dust on my hard drive without any joy to anyone and most of all to myself. I have a job and I make money from that so I´m not that concerned about it if somebody snatches my photo from this blog. When I started this blog I presumed that someone would want to use some of these photos somewhere and ask my permission or ask for the original +3000 pixel photo in bigger resolution. In 2,5 years that has not happened even once. I once had a photo in other message board and one guy asked me if he could use it in his MySpace as an image for his song. That´s about it and it doesn´t surprise me much. Who would want to really pay anything for a cloud photo like the one above? I have some other subjects too but I don´t see any money there and that is why I have decided to do this purely as my hobby without any annoying commercials. Don´t get me wrong, I would dearly love to make money but I just don´t think there is any in internet. Once it´s there it´s as good as gone. It´s impossible to make money in internet with content unless it´s ultra hyper pro and even then it´s hard.

If I think of my career in the trenches of digital graphics, I have spent ridiculously little on other content not done by myself. In 15 years I have purchased two 3d-models that I needed in a hurry and one material library for 3ds Max to see how it is done. I also got some people photos from stock library but only because there was a coupon from software package. When I need scale people or other elements to bigger layouts that I have done I perhaps search a photo from internet and use it as a reference and do my own 2D or 3D-version of it. Often I just take a photo of my coworkers as there is certain positions they have to be in. There is usually not even any time to wonder about purchasing something.

I know there is no money in internet. There might be little but it´s not worth the effort. I make more in one day by doing commisioned stuff than I would do in a year by putting something up for sale in internet. I could have something worth money that is generated as a byproduct of my work but it would be too much work to put it somewhere and it would generate almost no returns. It´s not worth the effort. Internet has sold itself cheaply from the start and generating even a modest income out of it by doing content is somewhat impossible even for big pro-sites. Making enough money to get back the money I spent just on my modest camera kit would take ages.

While I think there are rights of the photographer and all that, I have chosen to put all my stuff here. Do what you will with it because that´s what people do. I assume at least couple of them have been snatched but it would be too much work to solve it and it would result in to nothing anyway. I´m not a pro photographer so it´s not a big deal to me. It´s okay as long as I have a real job.

The only thing I would see as beneficial in the internet is to build a name for myself but as I have a job paid by someone else it would be hard to do that on the side. It´s better not to do it with my own name then. What is this good for then? I think I have developed a little during blogging and now I even write. I very seldom did that before. All new skills are good to have.

Train kept a rollin´

2010-01-05T06:59:00.005+02:00

Couple of train carriages got loose and eventually met the trainstation walls and roof in Helsinki yesterday. I always wondered if it was a good idea for someone to be working in an office 5 meters away from the end of the train stop. This is not my office as my office is far away from this place. Nothing serious happened, just the tracks and building were damaged.

From the other side. It was a popular hobby to take photos of the runaway train.

Waiting

2010-01-04T06:49:00.003+02:00

He was just standing there
watching the horizon free horizon
What was he waiting for?
A new sailing season perhaps
but your guess is as good as mine

Cloudbusting 478

2010-01-02T08:29:00.006+02:00

What are the ingredients for a fine midwinter day?
20 minute walks in the sunshine and brisk freeze
Snow on the branches
Juicy bright orange tangerines
Christmas leftover gingerbread cookies
Ski jumping from the television
Garmisch Partenkirchen, Oberstdorf, Insbruck
Life is not so bad!

Thanks to Philippe Teuwen and Wikimedia Commons for the skijumper
Unfortunately I didn´t have one of my own
but there had to be one

Cloudbusting 477

2010-01-01T07:29:00.007+02:00

That is my modest new years fireworks with the moon seen from a snowy path. The rest of the story is not so fun and don´t read it if you are in a party mood.

On new year´s eve I thought about going to this mall near me after work where I often go. To refill on stuff for the long weekend. I was just checking online how the shops are open and as the day was slow at the office I checked the news often too. 4 People had been shot dead in the same mall where I had planned to go on the same day. I had been shopping in the same store only weeks ago. How creepy is that? I know it can happen to you on the road at random but at least it´s not like someone had set out to do it with his or her car. Of course I can´t wallow in the idea that I could have been one of the victims as it was a deliberate hit on one of the shops and all victims were workers of this one shop. There had been similar incidents in Finland lately but this was by far the closest thing to me. It feels bad to go by that large mall in almost empty bus and see all the cops swarming around there.

City of Espoo pulled the plug on all new years festivities, which of course was the right thing to do. Most of the fireworks were pretty lame anyway and the -13C (9F) temperature might have something to do with it too. There was a whole lot less of fireworks and explosions compared to previous years and sleeping was very easy. A strange new years day for sure.

Cloudbusting 467

2009-12-30T06:28:00.005+02:00

Taken on the same day as the previous photo
because the sky photo opportunities are very rare these days
Just yesterday I was in the bus going to work
and then I discovered that my bulky SLR was not with me
I had even forgotten the pocket cam
EEEEKKS!
Then I felt naked and started thinking
"what if there is something cool to see?"
but then I calmed down
There is absolutely nothing to see
and 4pm it´s totally dark
Then I might have to use the awful blurry 2mpix cellphone cam
which I have never done
Expectedly there was nothing to see
and so it is today too
I hate the predictability of these days

Cloudbusting 475

2009-12-28T07:05:00.004+02:00

People drive in their cars on the highway
Aeroplanes fly away to distant lands
Powerstations create heat for the apartments
Even the sun makes the occasional visit
How wonderful it is to know that life after xmas goes on
just like before
Sometimes it´s unnecessary to drown everything in layers of stuff
Nature and real life does it for you
just like that
Okay, the aeroplane had to be twice...no, 10 times bigger

Cloudbusting 474

2009-12-27T07:33:00.004+02:00

After christmas he had all these strange needs
to see something totally new
to see everything with new eyes
to go where he hadn´t gone before
to be happy instead of cranky old something
(to use excessively overlay- effect)
All this could probably be solved easily
by getting a blu-ray player from after christmas sale

December evening dream

2009-12-26T09:21:00.003+02:00

The red blood of the evening
turns to electric blue of the cursed night
Paddle in the eternal july of dreams
under the evil cyclop of the green moon
The incredible world and it´s creations
radiates the eternal pure power at your feet
Travel the ellipse of time
See the night feel the day
The year will close in on you
Cold december night hallucination is complete
in the morning of 26th

Cloudbusting 473

2009-12-25T08:24:00.004+02:00

Some nights are so light when the the photons bounce
back and forth between low clouds and snow
Is it really this friggin orange and light out there in the middle of the night??
Maybe I exaggerated the agent orange just a little bit
but not that much actually
Taken with my 4 inch tabletripod
it kept the camera just a little above snow level before xmas
but wouldn´t do so anymore

Ice

2009-12-24T07:14:00.003+02:00

Icy xmas flowers of the bus stop
by the light of the phone commercials
and the cyclop of a bus light
Best ice I had for the holiday season
I could pretend that I was gone somewhere this weekend
but I´m not
It´s not that different from the usual life really
and I like it like that

Cloudbusting 472

2009-12-22T07:05:00.004+02:00

The darkest day of the year was yesterday
it can only get better from now on
Is that the lips of Mick Jagger in the clouds?
Or is it The Flaming Lips?
Naah, just clouds and lights
without a deeper meaning

Cloudbusting 471, hair part 2

2009-12-20T07:19:00.004+02:00

There you go
the long awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed hair saga
the second part of a two-part trilogy
it´s all in good order now in the hair department
I have bought all the xmas presents too
most of them with a real idea
Then I saw this cirrus cloud formation too
totally out of the blue
Only thing missing is the christmas tree
the project of the last sunday before xmas
I have the happiness and joy in my heart
I hope you have it too

Cloudbusting 470, hair

2009-12-19T07:37:00.002+02:00

My hair is the best part of me
and I´m really happy with it
It´s jet black but fades just a little in the summer
it grows easily and shows no signs of baldness
Today it has to go
back to crew cut because it´s easy
for a month or two

Cloudbusting 469

2009-12-17T14:33:00.004+02:00

Now this is convenient
just open the window
and have half of myself inside
while I capture the afternoon sun
the wisps in the shape of an X
and the reflection in the window

Climate change...yeah...
it changes all right
kinda inevitable with a big ball going around in space
It makes me think all kinds of stuff
when it´s -15C (5F) out there...

Cloudbusting 468

2009-12-16T16:54:00.003+02:00

After many wet, foggy and dark weeks
it´s a huge relief
to see the sun rising
and feel the icy wind on the cheeks

I should have had the longer lens too
to capture the seasmoke
but it´s too late now!
That small island in the middle
would have been just ace

My World: lunchbreak

2009-12-07T20:54:00.004+02:00

Hey, juhuu! Look here for a second! I´ve been waiting here for you a long time now!

Okay...now hold still for a while...

Hey, don´t go now! Heeeyy...why? Okay, you have something better to do now. I understand. Have a good lunchbreak. See you later.
That was my grey My World from my grey december world. See more worlds there.

Cloudbusting 467

2009-12-06T07:43:00.002+02:00

The Illustrious parKing lot of weEkend excursions. The only Available spaces are always far away from the door.

Cloudbusting 466

2009-12-05T08:29:00.003+02:00

I have been eyeing it for a while
and then lunchbreak finally comes
I run out for 2 minutes and catch what I can
the freeze tingling nicely on the fingertips
The catch of the week
Click, Click, Click, Click, Click, Click, hmm, Click, Click, hmmm, Click...Click...Click
Good but not exceptional
but it made me more than happy
to be lost in the swirls and textures for a while

December Moon

2009-12-03T16:24:00.002+02:00

Another morning but just a little different
It´s really cold and the unforgiving freeze smells in the air
The huge yellow moon rises behind the bus station
in sync with the morning sun
There it is following me around to work
I feel so much lighter already
like having a friend up there

(the moon was added from another photo from the same scene but with different exposures that showed the details of the moon. I made couple of duplicates because I never had the patience to do this kind of stuff with film. You know, standing out there in the freeze for real.)

Christmas card 2009

2009-12-02T09:33:00.004+02:00

Merry christmas and happy new year 2009!

First sketch of this years christmas card for my company. It´s a typical computer being attacked by all kinds of christmas tingel tangel. This will probably going to be altered in many ways later but I might as well put it here now. I just removed the company logo and switched my nick down there. It´s in finnish but that´s just fun, huh?

Computer and balls done in 3ds max and text and snowflakes added in Photo-paint X4. Keyboard is my own 3d model but the screen and computer tower are found items. 3d part was done in less than 2 hours and the texts and other stuff added in 1 hour. About 3 hours including the sketching of the idea. I can´t show the stuff I usually do at work but I can show this. Secrets are boring but they bring home the bread.

Sorry for not visiting lately but I have been really swamped with work and as there has been nothing up there I have also been quite uninspired and not willing to share my downbeat thoughts here.

Helsinki november night

2009-11-28T09:30:00.003+02:00

All the hard working office rats gather around in downtown
in nightclubs and bars to celebrate the time before christmas
and the fact that they still have a job that wasn´t given to the chinese
Maybe later next year it isn´t so but that should be worried later
Now they are happy and drunk
and then they wander around looking for taxi at the end of the mile long cue
the cold wind and the rain sobering their heads
Another low hanging artificially lit cloud making friends with them
Electric blue is the colour to set the mood
--
I´m just an outsider here
always have been
it doesn´t really affect me in any way
Sometimes I want to be an insider
but it´s too late now

Cloudbusting 465

2009-11-25T07:22:00.005+02:00

This one has been in the cue for a long time
Waiting for the right time
epiphany
revelation
inspiration
understanding
I know it´s there but it doesn´t come
Now the time is right
to be born again as electricity on screen
Go!

Cloudbusting 464

2009-11-24T06:45:00.006+02:00

When I was a kid I had this friend, maybe I call him Sam. We used to play in the basement of their house. It was a large labyrinthine place with couple of naked lightbulbs hanging around there. It smelled like puke and mildew and it was always cold and damp even in the summer. The basement looked just like a crack house but there was no crack or other drugs in Finland then. Not much at least. There was a lot of cardboard boxes thrown in and we used to cut the boxes with scissors to make them look like spaceships, cars or houses. If it was a good sunny day we would take the boxes out to the yard in the small patches of grass between the warehouses and garages. Smoking workers of a tyre company or truck drivers on their breaks would sometimes comment our constructions and offer us cigarettes. They would warn about them too, of course!

Sam was bullied often. He would many times yell back "When I´m grown up, I will come back and have my revenge!" after he was once again beaten after a stupid joke. I sometimes wonder if he ever came back for his revenge but I doubt it. He was more like a clown and he rarely remembered the old fights. Kids don´t often do that anyway.

Then we went our separate ways and didn´t see again as often happens when people go to different schools. Then many years later one murky autumn night when I was walking back home Sam ran towards me in a hurry. He only managed to yell "You stupid piss!" (free translation) until he disappeared without lowering his running speed. Sometimes in the autumn in a similar kind of night I wish he would have stayed a little longer at that moment and say how it´s going and maybe crack a few jokes, but it was not meant to be as he wasn´t that kind of guy.

Cloudbusting 463

2009-11-23T06:58:00.002+02:00

November is a month of big contrasts. It´s like a machine with one knob with two positions: ON and OFF. It´s either total blue or total grey. In the space between those two there might be something to see and this is it. My 5 minute chance last week to do some cloudbusting for a ghange.

Weekend reflections: Tapiola central pool

2009-11-21T08:03:00.005+02:00

The Espoo cultural centre and it´s reflections in the mirror of the centre pool of Tapiola in Espoo, Finland.

The swimming hall of Tapiola by the same central pool.

These aren´t enormously innovative reflections but I couldn´t resist them while passing by one afternoon at 5 pm!

This was my Weekend Reflections post. See more there all weekend.

Cloudbusting 462

2009-11-20T07:02:00.003+02:00

There is sunlight only between 9 and 16
There might be blue skies but that would be rare
I´m just too busy to leave the desk
It´s easier to just bury myself between the chair and the computer
Sometimes I accidentally glimpse the blue sky from this window in the ceiling
If I was a real convict I would want to have at least that much to see
but being in a windowless place would be too much
Why am I thinking about being a convict?
I´m not, I´m just too lazy to go out every now and then
Maybe I should today
but of course, today there is nothing to see...

My World: mailbox

2009-11-17T06:31:00.010+02:00

At the previous round of My World I was asked to share a better view of the local mailboxes and here it is. Finnish mailboxes are orange painted metal. The heavy base is concrete and I don´t think I have ever seen one fallen to the ground. Only detail is the lid that is cut from an aluminium profile. The form is very simple. In the middle of the front there is a blue disc for sticker ads of the post. This place usually attracts other stickers too. On the left there is two mailboxes side by side and that is a common solution for really crowded places in the city center. Because there is an even top on the mailbox, this causes that it is sometimes used as a "nightclub-table" and there is often stuff left on top of them. It´s also handy to keep gloves up there while you put in many letters/postcards etc. Remember that people need gloves 5-6 months a year here.

These mailboxes were the results of a design competition in the 90´s. All details of that competition have vanished from the internet so I can´t share the names of designers etc. I will share that later if I find the details.

A better view of the lid. There is also another smaller version of the mailbox that is used in the suburbs. It stands on top of a heavy metal bar and is attached to the ground. The boxes are emptied usually either at 9:00/9:30 or 16:30/17:00.

That was my My World. See more there.

Shadow Shot Sunday: Fountain

2009-11-14T08:39:00.011+02:00

The warm dizzy psychedelic july sun plays on the fountain in Sergel´s torg. Stockholm, Sweden 2009.

The shadowy side of the fountain. This is one of the busiest spots in Stockholm but I can always lose myself for a second or two while watching this. I took this at 6pm and I can´t understand anymore how I was able to filter all the cars away from these scenes! The fountain is inside a big roundabout. I think it´s sea water that they have there as sea is not that far away from this fountain.

This is my first Shadow Shot Sunday. See more there.

Winter light

2009-11-12T08:44:00.006+02:00

After the snow storm
the light plays out there
I lose my focus
__on the job
__in the photo
__to the light
and it won´t be there tomorrow
it´s meant for this moment
The light that plays
with me

Snow and shoes

2009-11-11T06:25:00.005+02:00

Many years ago
I remember having these pointy-toed shoes
because style was more important than other issues
One november day the nib of the shoe was broken
a big gaping hole appeared
and the first slushy snow of that year
flooded in to the shoe from the hole
Oh-oh, I was in trouble
It was time to stop dreaming and get practical

My World: Iso Omena

2009-11-10T06:34:00.005+02:00

Shopping mall Iso Omena in Espoo is the 5th largest shopping mall in Finland and 6th most popular by the number of visitors. The name means Big Apple after New York. This mall is supposed to be as big as New York and you can find almost anything from here or something. There is a large library, a small chapel, movie theaters and many restaurants and of course lots of shops. It was opened in 2001 and before that here was mostly just fields right next to a highway. Everything is new including the streets. Espoo is a city with short history. This is the main entrance on the east side.

Entrance from the west side. I didn´t take photos from the inside as there are a lot of hard working guards inside who don´t want you to do that. By the entrances you can usually find 3-10 smokers as smoking is banned just about everywhere including pubs. On the front is a typical orange mailbox.

That was my My World. See more there.

Clear day

2009-11-07T07:07:00.004+02:00

The day closes with clear skies
The steam from the powerstation
being the only thing alive
on the pink gradient of the evening sky

The day opens with clear skies
I have forgotten my manual settings to ISO800 of the previous night
and I desperately seek fast enough speed
to fully capture the glow of the sun on water
It took only 1/4000 seconds to take this
but about 20 000 times more to fully appreciate it

Cloudbusting 461

2009-11-05T15:00:00.005+02:00

Unordinary morning
like it wants to spoil me with all that light
and all those layers of clouds
but if it´s the only one of it´s kind during this grey week
then it better be good!

Wink wink!

Night out

2009-11-04T06:08:00.004+02:00

If I sometimes get some spare time
what am I supposed to do with it?
I wander by movie theters but they don´t show much anything that could interest me
Drinking beer is unthinkable now, it just makes me feel awful
It´s like the life of 20 something is not there anymore hidden underneath it all
I can´t even donate blood because I´m in a flu constantly
or I have just had another dentist operation
7 times to a dentist...
all that fixing and double shots of pain killer
Sometimes I wish my teeth were all plastic

Life speeds up and down the highway
all that electricity is so wonderful and so vulnerable
Yesterday I finished my blog and I was supposed to comment back
but there was a long blackout out of nowhere
I have been lazy bumming anyway on those, sorry
Listening to Yo La Tengo lately, Popular Songs, love it

Cloudbusting 460, comment 1 get 4!

2009-11-03T07:02:00.008+02:00

It´s time to sell all photos from the summer collection and make room for new winter collection!
Crazy Day! Comment 1 photo, get 4!

A moody early autumn sky. 75% OFF!

A dreamy summery floating scene. Excellent condition! Remember 75% off!

Dynamic aeroplane sky with exotic swedish palm trees. Slight strange compression defects but it´s made for you busy traveller!

A pretty summer sky with a huge red boat! Travel cheap now with our special price! 75% off!

Cloudbusting 459

2009-11-01T07:13:00.003+02:00

I felt like wandering in the valley of darkness
with those fog photos of this week
Then friday came with sunshine and blue skies
Some lovely free wisps high up there
Had to take a break from work
and keep shooting like there is no tomorrow
The trees glow in the late autumn colours
those few that still have some clothes on

Third foggy day, reflection

2009-10-31T06:22:00.003+02:00

Swan flies over the lifesaver
leaving only a ghost of a reflection
I would like to paint this as a serene all natural beauty
but the 8 am morning traffic
is demanding me to get back to the merry-go-round
right behind my back

Check out other Weekend Reflections

Another foggy day

2009-10-29T18:36:00.002+02:00

Another foggy day
When it´s like this the air is so full of water
that it´s like walking through water
even though it´s not even raining!

Foggy day

2009-10-28T06:53:00.003+02:00

First the sky disappears
then the sea
Finally in the end
this is all that is left

Helsinki by night

2009-10-27T06:30:00.003+02:00

If there is light and life
then there is something to photograph
I don´t know why I was so pessimistic in the last post
I just have to use what is available

Besides, this study shows that Finland is, TADAA
the most prosperous country in the world!
Based on health and education and freedom
So, it has been proven now, scientifically?
I guess I should stop all my whining from now on...

Cloudbusting 458

2009-10-25T07:07:00.003+02:00

I haven´t taken a single photo in 6 days
Everything has been so depressing outside
and the light has been hard to find
that sometimes I go outside without a camera!
Rehashing old stuff has never been my thing
so once again I have to figure out a way
to keep this blog alive despite everything
I have no worries, something always comes

Cloudbusting 457, Sky Watch Friday Reflection

2009-10-23T06:37:00.004+02:00

October is often just a flame
at the end of the street
at the early end of the day

See more skies in Sky Watch Friday

Cloudbusting 455

2009-10-21T05:38:00.005+02:00

I would like to add a nice profound caption here
of what I was thinking when I was watching the evening sky
but there was nothing that deep
Probably if I should buy new winter tyres for the car
or the dentists appointment I forgot
Yes, something along that line
No, that sky is not real

My World, Eteneminen

2009-10-20T06:03:00.006+02:00

There is a hollow life size metal jacket on the shore resting on a rock.

This is the central point of a new statue in front of Hanasaari conference center, in Espoo, Finland. It is called Eteneminen (Progress) and it was done by Kaarina Kaikkonen. There was a big media event recently when this was unveiled by the president of Finland and king of Sweden. The other part of the statue is in Sweden and together they portray the relationship between Finland or Sweden. How these empty jackets and rock slabs show the relationship is still not that clear, as most media coverage focused on the swedish royalty and their clothes as usual. If you think that the sculpture looks creepy it´s okay to say so, because many public sculptures in Finland are creepy.

The statue is made from about 20 big rock slabs that divide the island and about 10 hollow jackets progressing on top of those. The statue continues to the sea as a small pier with a small tree. I don´t know if this was intended as a part of the statue or not but I wanted to have some colour here.

That was my My World this week. See more there.

Cloudbusting 454, catch the sun

2009-10-18T06:07:00.006+02:00

I have been listening to Doves lately. One of their catchiest songs is Catch The Sun from the almost classic album Lost Souls released in 2000. One morning I just had to catch the sun too, or maybe it was the clouds that did it for me. Is it a turtle that eats the sun?

A small experiment from 4 images where it actually happens. I wish it could be looped.

Cloudbusting 453

2009-10-17T07:02:00.004+02:00

That bright morning the industrial area, corrugated iron factories and electric powerstation had a feeling of hope and poetry written all over them. No kidding.

Cloudbusting 452, fly me to the Sky Watch Friday moon

2009-10-16T06:22:00.005+02:00

Fly me to the Sky Watch Friday moon
Ride the white swan
over the clear blue october sea
and forests of warm colours
Can you see the bird of the clouds too?
This week I wanted to tell a story
all at once!

More lovely skies in Sky Watch Friday

Cloudbusting 451

2009-10-14T05:33:00.003+02:00

A bright cloudless morning
just a promise of Estonian surprise
estimated arrival 2pm.

My World, morning traffic

2009-10-13T05:54:00.005+02:00

These photos were taken from the red point towards the direction of the arrow at 8am on an ordinary day. The cue is about 5-6 km long (3 miles) along the orange road called Länsiväylä (West fairway). It doesn´t get much better after that as the center of Helsinki is usually as jammed too in the morning.

I never go to this direction to the center of Helsinki at the morning. I wouldn´t have the patience to sit on that cue such a long time if my job was that way. I wonder why so many still do it instead of going with a bus? At least they have beautiful sea views almost all the time while standing there. A subway will be build around 2014-15 from Espoo to Helsinki and maybe then this morning traffic will look different.

I´m usually too busy at the mornings, but one morning I just had to snap these as the light in the morning was so warm and my longer lens was kinda demanding me to do it. To make it look really long and frustrating.

That was my My World this week. See more there.

Cloudbusting 450

2009-10-12T06:13:00.008+02:00

At the gym one of my favourite exercises is back extension.I used to do 3 x 15 reps of that with a small 5kg (11 lbs) barbell as an extra weight. I have always keeped the barbell there above my head, maybe because I have always done it. I saw it done by more serious gymrats and maybe I thought it has to be done that way. Yesterday I couldn´t find a barbell of that size so after some thought I had to do it without it. What a relief! It was much more easier and I had more control of the whole exercise. I was able to do 3 x 20 reps and I felt a lot better afterwards. I also thought that my fat upper body should be more than good to substitute for the extra 5kg that I was so used to hold up there.

Back extension is one good exercise for an aching back of a computer worker. I have two others too. With those exercises I can go through the week without much back pain. Before I was just an aching mess by thursday. Last time that I mentioned that I went to gym somebody asked me if other ordinary every day exercise couldn´t substitute for gym exercise. Such as lifting heavy babies (a back killer) or biking long distances to work. Unfortunately weather conditions in Finland include rain, snow and hailstorms outside summer period and those could be bad for my health as my distance would be 25 km (15 miles) a day. Besides, I wouldn´t have time for it. No, for me those are not options. I´ve also had younger coworkers who were under the illusion that lifting babies is indeed a real exercise for back pain but they soon discovered that they were badly mistaken. For some biking works but it can´t work for me.

Cloudbusting 449

2009-10-11T06:20:00.005+02:00

Headquarters of the biggest finnish companies under the evening sky. Nokia (left), Kone, Elisa and Fortum. This bicycle road is really wonderful and it goes by the sea from Espoo to Helsinki with many bridges. Not much traffic in the weekend but it´s sure busy during the week.

I want to have some autumn colours here. This worked well as my desktop background when I flipped it horizontally. All the icons went to the left and they were all nicely on blue background. I still like it more this way.

Cloudbusting 448

2009-10-10T05:28:00.008+02:00

Walking in Helsinki on a typical october afternoon. The low sun just barely lights the upper parts of the buildings. Soon here will be the days when I never see the sun during the time I´m out after 4 pm.

Just a nice view towards southern Helsinki. Note to myself: first find a good secured spot before taking photos in the city. A tram or a bicyclist might scare you by going past too closely while watching the sky through the camera!

Cloudbusting 447, Sky Watch Friday

2009-10-08T06:04:00.004+02:00

Clouds from Estonia
Boats to Sweden
Water splashing to the shore
Mirage islands in the haze of the horizon
The birds going south
The warm sun on the empty october beach
At sea everything is always on the move
I can´t really tell you how happy I am
right now

Cloudbusting 446

2009-10-07T06:02:00.008+02:00

I went to the local burger joint yesterday. Just an ordinary McDonalds in the suburbs. They had a big renovation there and it looked completely different than before. All stainless steel, dark wood, design chairs, overdesign everywhere...it looked just like a downtown trend bar. They had removed all kids playthings too. What were they thinking? It´s just a fastfood diner in between a gas station and a cheap german grocery store. I felt really uneasy there, which wasnt the case before when it was just an ordinary place for all kinds of people. It made me think of my own attitude towards taste and design.

I know now that I don´t want to enter a design McDonalds again as I don´t like the idea and style. Besides, if kids don´t like it then that about settles it. That might be good to me as there should be other options, not many but still. Maybe they find new customers that way but I think it´s strange to push elitist design in to suburbs right next to gas stations.

My World, lights of Helsinki

2009-10-06T05:36:00.006+02:00

The blue time of october at 19:30 in the center of Helsinki. Busses dive towards the suburbs in front of The Finnish Museum of Natural History (right).

Marshal of Finland C.G.E. Mannerheim continues his ride towards the southern Helsinki. Parliament house of Finland on the left. These are just tourist shots but the light was inviting.

See more My Worlds.

Cloudbusting 445

2009-10-05T06:15:00.003+02:00

I hope there is a similar scene waiting for me
somewhere in the monday morning rush hour
naah, it will be a grey rainy scene just like the previous days
it´s not going to be a morning of the magicians, that´s for sure
There will be so hard wind that it will snatch my hat
if I had one
Got to get my act together and go

October night story

2009-10-04T06:21:00.003+02:00

The october moon is low and so big
My october moon of the cold foggy nights
the cold white veins and dark seas
washed in the red of the horizon
What´s that?
It must be a ghost gliding on the fields
in jerky twitchy slow-mo flow above the ground
leaving only a blur of a shadow for the camera to trace

Oh, it´s just the angry dog lady whispering for her dog to come back...

Cloudbusting 444, autumn wishes

2009-10-03T07:07:00.007+02:00

Syysterveiset! Autumn wishes! Hösthälsningar! Feliz Otoño! Høst hilsener! Herbstgruss!

If you know other translations then please include them in your comment.
Autumn is my favourite time of the year and it´s easy to see why it is so.

Cloudbusting 443

2009-10-01T19:29:00.003+02:00

under construction
under the bright sun
under the dark cloud
under the autumn skies
I don´t mind
looks good to me

Cloudbusting 442

2009-09-30T16:43:00.001+02:00

One day last week I lost my ability to whistle
I don´t know what happened exactly
it was just gone and I felt different
I don´t know if it will ever come back
unlikely I guess
I never knew I would miss it so much

My World, swan

2009-09-29T05:47:00.002+02:00

Scratching myself vigorously, because I can!

Huh, that was worth it! How about some privacy next time?

See more My Worlds.

Cloudbusting 441

2009-09-24T06:06:00.003+02:00

As I post this I see a new red dawn rising
I have a need to go out and catch it
more than I want to post this older one
I want to look to the future
more than to the past