Friday, October 31, 2014

By the light of the moon

I'm back in the saddle, and I don't mean commuting by bicycle. Also, I'm back to square. And dark is my friend. I could go on but I'm exhausted. And there is a little black thing waiting to be cherished.

Tomorrow I may say more about the LX100. Or if you have questions, I may answer. Now it suffices to say that this feels like coming back home. The LX100 is how it should be.

But would I recommend the camera to someone? No. (Except if you happen to be someone as strange as I am.)

(Posting title is from the song Back In The Saddle by Aerosmith.)

Thursday, October 30, 2014

My unkindness is thrown over and over

The Panasonic LX100 which I preordered was shipped today. I did some e-mail exchange with the shop, planning to cancel the order and shop elsewhere, until they told that they have the camera in store, and shipped it right away. It will arrive next week. I can't wait.

These photographs were taken at lake Kurkijärvi in Tremanskärr on October 4th.

(Posting title is from the poem Hart Crane Slept Here by Colette Labouff Atkinson.)

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

But never had explored in true detail

These photographs were taken at lake Kommelpott on September 28th. Today I attended a concert where my daughter played the piano.

(Posting title is from the poem Bel Canto by Kenneth Koch.)

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

I try to rev things up

These two photographs demonstrate that the Nokia E7 can fail badly in producing a usable image.

I commuted by bicycle today. Yesterday I applied "extreme lube" to the chain, and it seems to work very well, the dirt doesn't stick to the chain as well as it used to.

(Posting title is from the poem I Fail As a Celibate by Jerome Rothenberg.)

Monday, October 27, 2014

I never said a murmuring word

It is quite seldom that I commute by car, once in a month or so, but today I did it, and the traffic in Helsinki was much worse than I remembered. And I really don't like sitting in a car in a traffic jam.

I didn't have time to go for a walk last weekend, which I do regret, but here are photographs taken in Meiko on September 28th.

(Posting title is from the poem Scenes of Life at the Capital by Philip Whalen.)

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Beauty make delay

It may be that I won't be able to go for a walk this weekend, as there is shopping and all kinds of chores to be done. However, this week I got almost seven hours of exercise on the bicycle. Next week seems to be good for commuting by bicycle, as the weather is warming up. Well, some rain is to be expected, but that isn't a problem.

(Posting title is from the poem Down Stream by Louise Imogen Guiney.)

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Ever imagining the dire, the sudden

On September 27th I walked in the northeast parts of Sipoonkorpi National Park. In the beginning there was some sunshine, but then clouds covered the sky. The limitations of the Nokia E7 camera are clearly to be seen in the photographs; also, I was somewhat impatient to really get into taking photographs.

Update: You find some rather interesting discussion about the so-called full-focus-cameras such as the one in the Nokia E7 here. The processing done in the lens unit of the camera is unpredictable, and depending on the situation, the camera can provide either good or unusable results.

Update 2: I just realized I wrote a posting about the E7 camera three years ago.

(Posting title is from the poem Lucky by Dorothea Tanning.)

Friday, October 24, 2014

And made a string of pictures of the world

The best thing said to me today was this: "You are a lucky gentleman, sir!"

(Posting title is from the poem Fra Lippo Lippi by Robert Browning.)

Thursday, October 23, 2014

We keep records of our observations in a private code

I'm feeling, well, somewhat blurry, don't know which way to be. In fact it feels like a Friday, there has been so much going on already this week.

We got a little bit of snow today. I commuted by bicycle. In some places the road was slippery, but mostly it was quite all right.

(Posting title is from the poem kept busy by Joanne Burns.)

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

I am with little well content

When we left Stockholm on September 21st, thick clouds gathered on the sky. In the evening at sea there was thunder and lightning, but fortunately the wind stayed moderate, so the ship was quite stable. Quite a way to start the way back to Finland.

(Posting title is from the poem Love Me Little, Love Me Long.)

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Fancy this, imagine this: painting the phenomenal world

I have still some photographs from Stockholm to be posted. In fact, I'm getting used to the look of photographs taken with the Nokia E7. Even though it really isn't a camera to enjoy using, in some situations it works well enough.

It is getting colder, and today while commuting home by bicycle, there were some snowflakes falling. It starts to be winter, but I haven't yet thought about installing the studded tires to the bicycle. Last year I did that in the middle of November.

(Posting title is from the poem Makeup on Empty Space by Anne Waldman.)

Monday, October 20, 2014

But ponder instead relative truth and the warm

This photograph of bicycles was taken in Stockholm on September 21st. There were all kinds of things going on, to such a degree that the youngest daughter declared: "The Swedish are crazy."

(Posting title is from the poem Essay on Psychiatrists by Robert Pinsky.)

Sunday, October 19, 2014

And you’ve still got to get through this life

In Sweden near Stockholm there is an intense search for ‘foreign underwater activity’, whatever that means. A month ago the sea by Stockholm looked like this, the Gröna Lund amusement park is seen on the opposite shore. But maybe this time there is something less amusing going on.

(Posting title is from a poem by Evie Shockley.)

The self-rotating kaleidoscope

Today is a rainy day, but I'm still planning to go for a walk at some point. September 21st was clouded, but not rainy, and we spent some time in the center of Stockholm and in Gröna Lund.

I updated the seven-year-old iMac to OS X 10.10 Yosemite, and it is working all right, as is the MacBook which I updated yesterday. If only all software updates would be as painless as this one seems to be.

In fact, it is rather impressive that the iMac update went so well, as I have always updated the OS on top of the old one, newer doing a clean install. Occasionally some software has been incompatible with the new OS, but otherwise there haven't been any problems that wouldn't have been solved rather quickly. And as said, this time there doesn't seem to be any problems at all.

(Posting title is from the poem The Indoors is Endless by Tomas Tranströmer, translated by Robin Fulton.)

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Where the wild thyme blossoms fair

These photographs were taken in Stockholm on September 20th, at Gröna Lund.

Yesterday I updated one of the Macs at home to OS X 10.10 Yosemite. The update was painless. Even though my MacBook is six years old, Yosemite seems to work perfectly well. It even seems faster than 10.9.

But of course there may be some hiccups. I needed to download a new version of TextExpander, which I'm using to automate the making of blog postings.

There is an update to Aperture to make it compatible, which is for me a critical thing. The first time Aperture starts up it updates the library, so some things have been changed under the hood. The visual look hasn't been changed, though, which may well be a good thing. I haven't yet got used to the new look of programs in Yosemite, and it may take some time.

However, even though the visual look of Yosemite is rather different that OS X 10.9, the things that matter seem to work as they should. If everything keeps on working on the MacBook, I'll update the iMac - which is over seven years old - to Yosemite this weekend.

(Posting title is from the poem Meet Me in the Green Glen by John Clare.)

Friday, October 17, 2014

Of common images, that sleep may show

I'm feeling lazy, but I really should be getting some exercise today. It is sunny outside, and autumn colors are prominent.

These photographs were taken on September 20th on the cruise ship to Stockholm.

(Posting title is from the poem The Brief Journey West by Howard Nemerov.)

Unless you turn your mind on its side

Yesterday I walked for two hours in forests and swamps, and it felt good, looking at the late autumn scenery. I didn't meet anyone while walking even though there were a couple of cars at the parking place. Half of the way I used a map and a compass to get where I wanted, not following paths.

I'm slowly going through photographs taken earlier. These were taken on the ship in the morning when arriving at Stockholm on September 20th.

(Posting title is from the poem How Long by Ron Padgett.)

Thursday, October 16, 2014

It’s a sensation of hunger

These photographs were taken in Nuuksio on August 24th, south of lake Saarijärvi. Nuuksio is rather remarkable area, especially because there are so many different lakes. And in fact, a year ago a guy paddled around all the lakes and ponds in Nuuksio, 165 of them. (Here you see some photographs of this, the posting is in Finnish.)

It is starting to be cold, and during the next two days the temperature is dropping below 0 °C during the night. And there is wind from northeast, making the weather feel even colder.

(Posting title is from the poem The Delicacy by Sandra McPherson.)

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Tell all the truth but tell it slant

On August 24th I went for a walk in Nuuksio, south of lake Saarijärvi. It was sunny but cool, a good day to be outside. A lot of deer fly, though.

Today I spent most of the day in a seminar. I did a lot of work with my colleagues to make it happen, and we felt it was quite a success. The rest of the week I'm on vacation, doing things with the children.

(Posting title is from the poem Tell all the truth but tell it slant by Emily Dickinson.)

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

And lead you through illusion to a rind

I had today a long day at work, many things to take care of, lots of surprises happening. I'm tired, and this photograph somehow fits the mood.

(Posting title is from the poem Mushrooms by Charles Tomlinson.)

Monday, October 13, 2014

I clear my evening with a play

These photographs were taken at Sipoonkorpi National Park on August 23rd. It was raining.

(Posting title is from The Spleen by Matthew Green.)

Sunday, October 12, 2014

But with those who walk at the same slow pace

On August 23rd I walked in Sipoonkorpi National Park, through the swamps west of Viirilä. In the beginning there were some clouds, and after an hour of walking a thunderstorm developed and it started to rain heavily. I didn't meet anyone while walking. That may be due to the fact that it is rather difficult to get to this place, as one needs to walk quite a distance from any of the permitted parking places.

(Posting title is from the poem The happy ones are almost always also vulgar by Patrizia Cavalli.)

Saturday, October 11, 2014

When I struggled with something

On August 17th I walked in Tremanskärr with my daughter. We both had cameras, but she took much more photographs than I did. I gave some advice, some of which probably wasn't needed.

(Posting title is from the poem Advice by Dan Gerber.)

Friday, October 10, 2014

How softly the night steps toward us

Today I was at work before 7 AM, as there were a lot of things to do before noon. During the afternoon I started to feel tired, but when I commuted by bicycle back home, I started to feel better. So far I have got over six hours of exercise this week.

The forecast promises rather good weather for the weekend, and I'll try to arrange some time for walks in forests and swamps. These photographs were taken in Nuuksio on August 16th.

(Posting title is from the poem Meditation by David St. John.)