As Darkness Falls....

« Looking west from the Torni Hotel towards Ruoholahti and a few other photos of Helsinki at night. »

As I went to bed last night, I harboured a secret hope that my pessimism would be proven unwarranted. Alas, it would appear that I, and so much of the world who harboured the same hope, have been horribly disappointed. I have no explanation as to how or why such a close election could happen again save maybe that the election process in America is completely broken. It also brings into much sharper focus one of my primary reasons for leaving the US; the emergence of religious fundamentalism in American politics and overall culture. I hope the world will survive four more years and that the damage will be reversible. America itself, I fear, will not be so lucky. The first thing to go will be Roe v. Wade and suddenly, those who voted out of fear rather than religious fervor, will understand their mistake but it will be far too late.

I went up to the Torni balcony on the 13th floor, now that it has been reopened, to try some B&W film at night. I read the Ilford datasheet for the film and it recommended longer exposures beyond 1/24 which seemed to work ok, if a bit towards the overexposure side of the spectrum. Even with the larger apertures the lights have a starlight appearance along with a round halo in some since there was a bit of a light fog in spots. The grain is impressively fine, especially since I didn't use the Ilford chemistry specifically geared for fine grain. I'm not entirely happy with the set, but they aren't all that bad for a first run. On some of the shots there is a bit of glass apparent at the bottom of the photo which is a ~5ft tall glass wall surrounding the outdoor patio/balcony that, even with the tripod and extension, was difficult to avoid since my vertigo didn't make me to want to hang over the edge. :) The lights in Esplanadi Park, described very hyperbolically as a 'spectacular light installation', was a pain in the ass to photograph since the lights are on a voltage regulator which dims and brightens them at random making guesstimating the exposure a bit of a challenge.