RTFM

« Dancing, glowing sperm made with white ropes hanging from a wire illuminated by a black light on the Night of the Arts. (colour picture) I quite like the photo in spite of my disappointment of not finding people in sperm costumes dancing around an elusive, yet flirtatious, egg. »

I finally got around to developing some B&W film over the weekend that I've been meaning to deal with for about a month. I got a macro lens for the Leica for my birthday (Thanks to my recently deceased Great Aunt Alice who must be thanked from beyond the grave. After all those years of brown polyester socks at Christmas, it was an unexpected surprise.) which I took a few test shots with weeks ago and it was only slightly amusing to look at the negatives and wonder what part of the tiny 4-page manual I had missed reading since they were framed properly but with a lack of focus. After looking through the tiny little manual, it would appear that I completely overlooked the section that explains that the lens must not only be extended, but locked into position by rotating it until it clicks.

It is in those moments in life where you thought the object simple enough and the manual short enough that you smugly dispense with anything more than a fleeting glance at the documentation that life tends to remind you that assumption is the fast track to being shown your own limitations. I'm sure whomever develops the roll of colour film with about 15 pictures of test shots of the tyrni cake will wonder what in the hell the multitude of blurry orange blobs are about and think it's just some wanker trying to be artistic. Go me. In reading the manual though, I noticed just what a clever bit of engineering the macro kit is given that the 90mm lens by itself works as a regular lens but, when attached to the adapter, it is rotated by 180° which reveals a different set of focal lengths for macro work and the adapters' "eyes" compensate for the change in parallax for the rangefinder.

I've got a number of upcoming cookery bits this week since I did a bit of cooking, not baking, over the weekend so those who sulk about these things have been warned. :) Cook's Illustrated also just published what I presume is their answer to the classic Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens classic 3-ring binder cookbooks containing wholesome family recipes: The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. It will be interesting to see if they redefine the genre as they go more mainstream into the homemaker/family market. I'd love to see them take on all the freakish 1970s Betty Crocker recipe cards and remake them.

permalink Ω 26 September 2005, Helsinki

Landscape of the Mundane

« The Jaskan grilli - giving drunks garlic breath for the past few decades. »

Thursday night was Taiteiden yö, a.k.a. Night of the Arts, which is something like First Night on New Year's Eve in the US only you don't have to freeze your ass off to enjoy the variety of events around town. I mustered the energy to participate in the Fotomaraton again this year which was more of a challenge since it was shortened by two hours with the same number of clues. They mete out 12 clues, four every two hours which you have to return to the office to collect, that you then think of something to take a photo of that might represent the clue and you must take the photos in the order that the clues are given. It's a lot more difficult than it appears since six hours of running around town racking your brain for ideas of what to take pictures of requires a lot of stamina to finish. I was at a loss for inspiration for a number of clues so it's unlikely any of my photos will be selected, but it was a fun game nonetheless.

One of the students in the office who was handing out the clues fondled the Leica and mentioned that he he has an upcoming show in Lasipalatsi of his street photography. I'll have to go and check it out since it seems like the vast majority of Finns are either nature photographers or prefer nature photography in the extreme. I enjoy nature photography in small doses, but after a while the entire genre becomes a cliche of itself since you see the same subjects over and over only with different seasons and light. Finland has a lot of nature, true, but it also has a lot of blight from humans just like everywhere else. The EU has cited Finland for abandoned cars on the sides of the roadways, which I can confirm from my limited driving through the Finnish countryside that there are a curiously high number of derelict cars, but I've yet to see a series of photos of these cars challenging the Finnish vision of a bucolic pastoral. In the mundane lie many uncomfortable truths. Finland could use more photojournalists with a critical eye and a willingness to expose the things we all like to pretend don't exist.

It has been a long summer of not so many great new books, but as September approaches there are a few to be excited about.

• Anansi Boys ≈ Neil Gaiman's new novel, in the same vein as the last, about ancient gods living as ordinary mortals in modern times. I'm not sure why, but I find this strangely apocalyptic.
• The Diviners ≈ Rick Moody turns his sharp observation of people to the media and the navel-gazing society that goes with it. He's one of the few authors that can pull off social commentary cloaked in the humourously absurd.
• Oh Pure and Radiant Heart ≈ I collect most books on the history of the bomb and a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction, but this is an interesting twist by merging the two.
• Gag Rule: On the Suppression of Dissent and Stifling of Democracy ≈ Depressing reading from Lewis Lapham, editor of Harper's, the best US magazine that doesn't make it this far East. It's even more deeply distressing now that the stupid debate over scientific evidence vs. divine magic as the origin of life has returned.
• Landscape And Images ≈ John Stilgoe makes me regret not taking a course of his at Harvard while I lived in Boston as he challenges those who don't observe and reflect, those who have been consumed by modern hustle and bustle. I once wrote to him, he doesn't do email which I find very praiseworthy, inviting him to talk at a Boston perl monger meeting since programmers could learn a lot from him. Photographers, too.
• The Clumsiest People in Europe: Or, Mrs. Mortimer's Bad-Tempered Guide to the Victorian World ≈ I thought this book was a parody until I read the introduction which mentioned how the author was popularly read and, though she had a fixation for describing the poor and non-protestant countries as vile, didn't even travel as far as Ireland. The sentences are short and simple suggesting she wrote for children or the not terribly literate who likely would never travel and dispute her outlandish writings. Funny, yet sad in a Victorian-with-a-poker-up-her-arse kind of way.
• Field Guide To Meat and Field Guide to Produce ≈ Both books look like they're full of random bits of knowledge and trivia about produce and meat in handy rounded-corner volumes.
• The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century ≈ Food fads and classics likely tell more about a culture than all the usual history books combined.
• Rare Bits: Unusual Origins Of Popular Recipes ≈ This is an interesting book filled with some very unusual recipes and the stories behind them.
• The Good Cookie: Over 250 Delicious Recipes from Simple to Sublime ≈ Since the Cookie Sutra was a massive disappointment due to it being nothing more than a few tame illustrations of cookies fucking with only one recipe, I need another book for cookies. The ginger fortune cookies in particular sound great. We don't get fortune cookies with chinese food in Helsinki which is a bit of a letdown so I'll just have to make my own. :)
• Another Day In Paradise: Postcards ≈ Hilarious postcards in a continuing series from Anne Taintor.
• Acts of Charity ≈ A photographer goes into the NY charity scene and highlights the ludicrous and the ghoulish aspects of the people therein. Been there, seen that. He is disturbingly spot-on and almost cruel. A few sample images from the book.
• Fuck This Book ≈ An entire photobook containing only images of public signage that has been embellished with the word 'fuck'. :)
• Expletive Deleted : A Good Look at Bad Language ≈ One can never have too many books discussing 'bad' words.
• Doggy Days Journal: The Story of My Puppy ≈ Finally, someone has published a nice looking, non-cutesy, non-cloying puppy scrap book.

permalink Ω 28 August 2005, Helsinki

Blue Monday

« The Kaapelitehdas in Ruoholahti. [click image for the full-size photo] For some reason the negatives returned blue from development. It has an antique, aged look to it or maybe I'm just full of shit. :) »

permalink Ω 14 March 2005, Helsinki

Henchmen in Search of a Villain

« A henchman without a villain. A gallery of Superfriends at the Super Bar »

Last Saturday, we made it out of the house for a few hours to go to a party some friends of ours where hosting at the nearby Super Bar where the plan was to have everyone show up in a superhero costume and take over. Those who arrived without a costume received a black eye mask. Super Bar is a basement bar with a superhero theme that used to be the Kaurismaki brothers' movie theatre. It was a fun time, even if only about 8 of us showed up in costume. There needed to be a few villains since the masks made a few guys picture perfect henchmen lost without their villain to hench for. I took my camera since it went with my costume and managed to get a few decent pictures in spite of the very dim lighting and having consumed a few more Mr. Fantastic drinks than I should have. :)

permalink Ω 12 March 2005, Helsinki

Ultra-wide

« Jarkko and Otava survey the snowy park vista. A gallery filled with 15mm of puppy and crane porn. »

After about a year of reading reviews and trying to find one locally, I succumbed to my lust for a Voigtlander 15mm/f4.5 Aspherical Super-Wide Heliar lens and ordered one day when I was feeling particularly weak. I ordered it from a shop in California since the only one I could find here was twice the price, used, and came with a camera I didn't really need or want. The only downside is that it's not coupled to the rangefinder so you have to guesstimate the focal distance, but the depth of field makes up for a lack of distance precision. It has a 110° field of view, weighs a mere 4oz, a 30.7mm profile and can focus as close as .3m. The lens arrived a few weeks ago but I hadn't had time to try it out. Saturday, I thought it would be nice to take a few pictures of Otava to see what it could do. The lack of distortion and only mild vignetting is pretty impressive for such a wide and inexpensive lens. [as an aside, anyone who has a Leica and wants a $300 lens from a company who knows how to ship to the EU *wink*wink* drop me a line.]

As a followup to the aging population of Helsinki there is a story about the population explosion of weiner dogs in Finland. They are definitely popular in my neighbourhood with little old ladies in fur hats where the weiner dog quantum number is two, sometimes even three. There are quite a few puppies between 6 and 12 months in the park these days, many of them aren't very well behaved regardless of size. More than a few owners have mentioned that their older puppies still aren't housebroken which seems totally abnormal. Otava has been a week already without an accident. Maybe there needs to be an rise in puppy training classes.

The Sanomat had a wacky article about an archive of 1980s Estonian TV commercials. The "Kanahakkliha" spot is clearly the predecessor of the "Syökää Kana!" commercials from last year. It will take another year to get the freaky chant from that out of my head. HAKK HAKK HAKK LIHA LIHA LIHA.....

permalink Ω 2 February 2005, Helsinki

The Big Picture

« Mr. I. Finger visits Sinebrychoff Park. »

I put together a few panoramic photos [with craneporn] from the first roll through the Russian panoramic camera. They are mostly uninspired shots that I took to see what the thing could do with only 6 shutter speeds and partly to mostly cloudy skies. The distortions that happen when the camera isn't held level are fun and, in spite of the thing sounding and looking like it might have been a toy prize at a carnival, it's something different and the photos are cool.

permalink Ω 16 November 2004, Helsinki

Photobooth

« Two geeks, two photobooths, 8 frames. Both booths seemed to experience technical problems with the developer but still it was goofy, random fun. »

Self-portraits have always seemed terribly narcissistic and vain to me and I especially hated the years of school yearbook photos we were forced to have taken since they were always awful. The man who 'invented' the concept of individual annual school portraits died this week and I thought a fitting burial would be to fill his grave with millions of the photos he cursed us all with, including mine from the years of braces which made me look like Jaws had he worn plaid skirts while gnawing on James Bond. Still, there's something strangely curious about looking at yourself in 16 or more annual portraits that illustrate how quickly you changed even though time seemed to stand still when you were in grade school. Once we are out of school we rarely bother with the annual portrait and one morning you wake up, look tiredly in the mirror and wonder who the old prune is staring back at you. I've been thinking that getting our picture taken in a photobooth once a year or so might be a fun way to watch ourselves age. :)

Perhaps the only photos of myself have been taken in a photobooth for various identification purposes like passes for the underground, but I've always had a fascination with photobooths for some inexplicable reason. How can you not love a contraption that takes such bad pictures that they even make a Finnish immigration officer titter and smirk at them? I bought a copy of Photobooth expecting to read the history of the device and anecdotal personal vignettes from people who have had a love for them over the years, but sadly it only has a few pages of text and the rest is filled with photobooth strips from the last 70 years or so. The photos are amazingly interesting and some of them make you truly curious about what ever happened to the person staring back at you. The author has a site called the found photo, but it seems to be under permanent construction which is a pity since a site filled with found photobooth photos could really be a wonderful archive to browse through much like a grandparent's shoebox in the attic.

There isn't much at all on the net that I could find about the Siberian immigrant named Anatol Josepho who patented the concept for the photobooth in 1925. There's a history book for just about every other obscure and esoteric topic these days, why not the photobooth, its inventor and the people who loved the photos? In an age where everything is pushing towards the digital, there's something comforting about the steadfast analog technology that still works well, even if you have to stand around the booth trying to look casual while waiting for the pictures to develop. I found the photobooth directory which looks to be an ambitious project that could use a little more love as film booths get harder to find in the US with every passing day.

permalink Ω 16 September 2004, Helsinki

Polaroids from the Edge

« Snapshot from Mark Maher's American Polaroids. »

I've been noticing that Polaroid SX-70 cameras and snapshots are really making a comeback. I'm not really sure why as I had one of those cameras back in the 70s and the photos were either totally weird from inappropriate colours or they would disintegrate within a few years. So I'm a little surprised to see them becoming a new retro-hip item, especially since the film is even more expensive now than it was in the 70s.

One particularly good use of the polaroid medium I've seen is American Polaroids by Mark Maher. The monologues are worth watching as the polaroid slide show is synchronized to his talking which makes for an interesting guided tour of sorts. He's an American who, if I read correctly, lives here in Helsinki and shares a lot of the same inner conflicts about the country we both used to inhabit. The snapshot of Ronald McDonald is as creepy as it is revealing. He's also thinking about what will be considered folk art in 20 or 30 years which is interesting since I usually look around and wonder what will be dug up by archaeologists far into the future and it is likely the very mundane that will survive us all. We live in the mundane and pass by the same things every day without looking at the subtle changes in it or the details it tries to convey. A photo of a grocery store aisle from the 70s is far, far more interesting than yet another artsy picture of some building somewhere. Maher does a fine job of documenting some of the more random, bizarre and utterly banal bits of America.

I also stumbled across PolaroiDiary somewhere while wandering around the web. An American expat living in Hamburg who posts, usually, a picture every day. I should write to him and explain that his passport number may be visible on the legal alien polaroid as the format requires that it be on the machine readable lines on the bottom.

And, lastly, I just found a fabulous reason to buy Kodachrome for the Lomo, a really cool lampshade! I subscribed to the first issues of ReadyMade and wasn't all that excited since its market seemed to be all the kids too young for Martha Stewart and not technical enough for Popular Mechanics with most of the projects being really impractical. This isn't very practical but it's simple and creative without being gaudy. It sure beats slide shows. :)

permalink Ω 20 July 2004, Helsinki

Catching up

I've got a bunch of pictures to catch up on and scan in, as well as photos from Juhannus coming later this week, so the people who seem to like my pictures have something to look forward to in the coming week.

permalink Ω 29 June 2004, Helsinki

Hat Girl

Stencil graffiti often incorporates an optical illusion or something evocative into the design. This girl in a hat is unusual and I can't figure out why, when I look at it, I always see an asian female face. Is it the lips? The nose? I'm not sure.

permalink Ω 19 May 2004, Helsinki

Through eyes long since gone

A photo taken by my paternal grandfather of the fire at the Purina headquarters in February 1962. It was so cold that the water was frozen by the time it hit the building and turned it into an ice palace. I put a few more of them into a small gallery of grandpa's photos.

My brother-in-law has started scanning in pictures, given to him by my 95 year old grandmother, which were taken over the course of my grandfather's life. It's so strange to see these images taken by a man who was always remote and stoic. He was a brilliant mechanical engineer and mathematician who introduced me to cryptography when I was 7 via the cryptoquip in the newspaper. He patiently explained letter frequency and how to make a crib. Every time I pick up a draw-string bag from a store, I think of him since he designed the machine to make them but, being an 'Organization Man' straight out of Whyte's book, he shared none of the profits that the company reaped from his design. Grandpa was also the guy who, on Christmas, would take a pocketknife and slowly, carefully unwrap the paper from each gift and fold it.

While I respected his intelligence, I never really liked him very much as he made it impossible to warm up to him. I have an exceedingly vivid memory of him talking to me on my 10th birthday about 'niggers' and my immediate reaction of thinking much less of him for it. My mother always remembers him taking back a box kite he had made for me only to give it to my cousin. I didn't think much of it at the time since Robin was only 1 week younger than me, but he had been born retarded due to a negligent doctor with a pair of foreceps and I thought maybe he needed the kite more than I did in the guileless näive way that children tend to see such things. Later in life I would come to understand that he and my grandmother had a long history of playing favourites - from my father's brother, to my oldest sister, to Robin.

I spent several summers over at their house and can't really recall that I learned anything about them as people aside from what was obvious and already known; they loved bridge with friends, he was a type II diabetic and they were active Masons. They used to take me to various Masonic functions and even then I was cynical enough to think of it as a creepy cult-like organisation. They were inscrutable in many ways. It's is particularly odd to see these photographs that he took not only because I didn't know that he liked photography, but that he took more than just the usual family snapshots and appears to have been reasonably good at it. My father bought an Olympus OM-10 at one point and I don't know that he took many photos with it since work was his life. I imagine that had he lived to enjoy some of his retirement that he would have taken a lot more pictures. I started getting interested in photography about 10 or 12 years ago and I wonder now if it might be hereditary. :)

George, my grandfather, died from a massive heart attack at the ripe age of 84 while roofing his house, which wasn't a bad way to go all things considered. I cursed him at the time since it was right before my Calculus 2 and Differential Equations exams and he was helping my understanding of them tremendously. Looking at the few pictures my brother-in-law sent to me, it makes me wonder if he might have had some redeeming qualities as a human being that I didn't or couldn't see when I was much younger.

permalink Ω 12 May 2004, Helsinki

Pinhole Day

My first attempt at pinhole photography for Pinhole day.

April 25th was Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day and I was prepared with a Finney pinhole bodycap for my camera and Jarkko to valiantly carry my tripod around town while looking for things that might look interesting through a pinhole. Jarkko continues to be amused that I turned my camera into a cardboard box with film in it, too. :) I wanted to try it since I hadn't ever taken a pinhole photograph before and thought it might be fun. The exposure guide that comes with the bodycap is pretty disappointing so I had to do the math and calculate the range of exposure times. Amazingly, all of the photos were recognizable and reasonably well exposed, except I hadn't counted on so much flare from the sun and it was a gloriously bright, sunny day. We had a picnic of sorts while waiting for the sun to set on the Kide crystals as I figured that it would make an interesting photo as well as it being a very lovely place enjoy the colours of the evening sun. Those Kide crystals really do need a check-up from the lightbulb replacement guy as half of them are barely illuminated these days.

permalink Ω 3 May 2004, Helsinki

ei8ht is enough

The magazine stands carry a sea of digital photography rags these days whose seeming editorial thrust is to jam as many advertisements and articles pushing new kit into them as possible. There are a few photography as art magazines still holding on, but they don't appeal much to me either. I have been very happy with my subscription to LFI and wasn't searching for anything new when I noticed ei8ht Magazine, a quarterly photojournalism magazine that would appear to focus more on the storytelling aspects of photography that I find interesting. It has been in print for a while now, but I've just never noticed it before for some reason and it can't be terrible if Martin Parr is submitting work to them.

permalink Ω 27 April 2004, Helsinki

Random winter photos

I had a bunch of photos that didn't really have a theme or a home so I put them together in a random winter 2004 photo collection.

There is also a new craneporn gallery since I can't seem to stop taking pictures of cranes now that Paul craneporn Mison got me hooked. :)

permalink Ω 1 April 2004, Helsinki

American Ocean

Pimp, Day 112, East St. Louis, Illinois.

This month's issue of LFI has a breathtaking collection of photos by Aaron Huey who walked 3349 miles from Encinitas, California to Coney Island, New York with his dog Cosmo and a Leica M6. I've seen quite a few collections of photographs attempting to paint a cohesive portrait of America and I'm prepared to say that if the whole collection are as good as the teaser in LFI, American Ocean blows the rest of them away.

Huey was only 25 when he got sponsored by Kodak and Leica to do this trip. Given that he apprenticed with a National Geographic photographer prior to this project, my more cynical side suspected that he was just a kid with all the right connections and a bit of talent. However, when I started reading the journals he kept while he was on the road it quickly became clear that he's no poseur. Take some time and read them as he has a particular gift for telling the story that he went in search of for 154 days. Anyone who can walk through East St. Louis at any hour of the day isn't just doing this to make a name for himself.

East St. Louis is where you go after 3am to get booze at the drive-thru liquor store where the cashier takes your money with one hand while holding a gun at you with the other hand. The city is so poor and bankrupt that they didn't have garbage collection for at least 5 years. Dead bodies from St. Louis regularly turn up under the highway overpasses. The danger is the same for people of all colours, too. East St. Louis is a place to be avoided in a car and definitely not walked through. I particularly enjoy his astute observation of how close abject poverty and the suburban middle-class are to each other and the jarring reality it creates for those who notice. If Huey could not only walk through unscathed, but make friends and photograph some of them then he is a truly gifted storyteller with his camera and pen.

Day 111 NW St. Louis to South St.Louis

The rest of the day is a series of wrong turns. I walk through a wasteland. 2 hours of abandoned buildings. Empty streets. Where are all the people. Pockets of very rich. Pockets of very poor. Large blocks of deserted buildings. Strange city. Where are the people? Walk under the famous arch. It had to be done, it is the gateway to the East. So an official beginning for the final push. A looooong final push. Walk along the river. It is flooding from a week of rain. Down by the rail yards I walk 2 miles of world class grafitti, 20 feet high and 2 miles long. The most impressive thing I have seen in St.Louis. Worth staying the extra day for this alone. It is a better gallery than any museum here.

I've driven coast-to-coast a dozen or so times and I've driven the length of route 66. You can't get the idea of how vast the US is from an airplane. America isn't the place that is portrayed in the movies no matter how seductive the fantasy. America is a gigantic place in great need of a storyteller like Huey. Apparently no publisher has picked up his book which I find hard to believe since it's just amazing work. I really want to see this collection along with the stories in a finished, bound book.

permalink Ω 29 March 2004, Helsinki

Film processing plea

Does anyone in Helsinki have a recommendation for a good place to take film for developing? After a few months of Fotoyks printing nearly all of my photos with fuzz in the enlarger, randomly missing prints, negatives that look like they've been dragged through sand and rocks, negatives that have been cut in the middle of a frame as well as paying a lot for the luxury of all of the above, I'm looking for anyplace that will develop film, print it without fuzz on every photo, print all of the photos and leave my negatives unsavaged. My address is at the bottom of the page and I'm very open to suggestion.

Update: I received a number of responses from other people who have had very similar experiences with Fotoyks and I appreciate the feedback and suggestions. So far, Zoomi, Tunnin Kuva and the Antilla in the railway station have been recommended so I'll give them a try and update this when I've found the one I prefer the most. Thanks, again, to everyone who sent me an email!

permalink Ω 15 March 2004, Helsinki

Denise Bellon

The Helsinki Jugendsali is hosting an exhibit of photographs taken in Finland in August of 1939 by Denise Bellon for the French magazine Le Match until the 28th of March. Her photos of people preparing for war and living life in Finland are a lovely time capsule of a particular moment in history focusing less on the military aspects of the run up to war than on the more ordinary daily life which invariably continues even under duress. There are photos of a ski factory, Finnish women in fashionable war uniforms, the olympic stadium under construction which came to a halt for the war, and children amidst those of soldiers on foot, bicycle and horseback waiting for something to happen. There are also a few photos taken outside of Finland, most notably of Salvador Dalí which is the least surreal portrait of him I've ever seen. Bellon has a keen eye for capturing something special in her subjects and telling a story with them. Photographs like these are particularly precious for historians. The Art Deco Jugendsali was also worth seeing as I hadn't ever been inside of the beautifully restored building.

permalink Ω 11 March 2004, Helsinki

Camera Obscura

World Pinhole Day 2004 is Sunday, 25 April this year. The idea is to have people around the world take a pinhole photograph on that day and submit them. I wasn't interested in making one out of an oatmeal box or buying an expensive wooden model but when I noticed that you can buy body caps with a pinhole for your 35mm camera and an exposure guide I've decided to give it a try. Jarkko laughed at the idea of taking an expensive camera and turning it into a cardboard box. Everyone's a critic. :)

permalink Ω 7 March 2004, Helsinki

Virgin Goods

"Virgin Goods. Parking in Rear". The red cherries painted along the roofline was also a nice 'virgin' touch. :) Virgin is on the road to Zion National Park and is the city in the US that passed a law a few years ago requiring all residents to possess a firearm.

permalink Ω 5 March 2004, Helsinki

Soup of the Day

A pile of unsorted old photos was at the bottom of the box where the slides I went hunting for were. It was a surprise to discover this photo taken about 7 years ago with an old EOS at a sandwich shop on the Fresh Pond Mall which was right around the corner from BBN where I worked. There was a McDonald's across the street but the group I worked in would usually go en masse to this place for good fresh sandwiches and cheeky abuse.

The guy who ran the shop [pictured] was a real sweetheart and always had a smile and something fun to talk about. He knew all of his regular customers in spite of lunchtime being SRO daily. His mother was similarly adorable and, being Greek, would always wink at me as if she knew a special ancient wisdom mostly forgotten that my being the only woman in this unkempt group of nerds I worked with could use the friendly feminine comraderie. The guy in the kitchen behind him flipped off the camera but he was always a funny guy.I don't know how many sandwiches they made every day, but it was a rite of passage in our group to always take the new guy to lunch and goad them into ordering the small meatball sub. Seemingly innocent and delicious until one of the guys at the counter yells loudly, "Hey, guy! You order the small balls?", and then giggles when he sees him blush. I miss those guys and wonder if the place is still around and if they still close the shop for two weeks every year to take the entire family and staff on holiday to Greece.

permalink Ω 1 March 2004, Helsinki

Functional Antique

We drove through Arizona, Utah and Southern California for our honeymoon a few years ago and I took most of the photos of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley on Kodachrome film. The lab made a mistake in the processing and only gave me the slides instead of including a photo CD with them. They refused to correct the error and I didn't have a projector so I've never gotten to get a good look at them. Since then the boxes of slides have sat in a container that I occasionally pass and remind myself that I should do something about the slides. By chance I noticed an old Leica Pradovit projector on eBay and bid on it. I lost that auction but I kept looking now and then and finally nabbed one. It is as simple and as elegant as a slide projector can get and certainly all that I need for the occasional viewing of slides at home. It's a Leitz Prado SM-300 from the late 1950s and 1960s with a solid lens and tough bakelite body. Instead of €250 or more for a projector with more electronics than my laptop, this was only £20 and will likely outlast most of the new ones that require service instead of a hammer or a pair of pliers. :)

The only problem with the projector was that the seller likely picked it up at a local boot sale without checking the parts or knowing the slightest thing about shipping things that contain glass. Fortunately, all of the optics survived the trip, but the bulb was not so lucky. Removing the old bulb was an exercise in patience since the socket is unusual and flanged. I had to use a leatherman to carefully go down into the socket and ease up one of the flange guides that had been bent which made the removal of the bulb impossible. I took the bulb's ID number, started searching on the net and only found one place that had them in stock and they were €150 each. For a cheap old projector, this was likely not an economical solution. I needed to go by EP-Kamera to see if I could get a lens cap for the leica anyway, so I thought I'd take a chance and ask if they had a bulb. The gentleman who owns the shop immediately recognised it and was able to order 2 of them for €20 each for me. It reminded me of why the internet sucks for buying things that require some level of expertise in the seller. I had forgotten how nice it is to have a shop like the electronic parts place my father used to take me to where the owners knew their business and loved what they did. Now we have a working projector and I promise not to torture the family with captive slide shows at dinnertime. :)

permalink Ω 27 February 2004, Helsinki

The world through the windscreen

The Windscreen Gallery is a fun and interesting collection of pictures taken from inside moving automobiles. It's an incredibly iconic theme for America since the automobile is almost as central to the culture as apple pie. Everyone has a road trip story, everyone has a story about when they first learned to drive, everyone has stories about making out in a car. The collection really could use a lot more pictures from outside the US in spite of the theme being terribly American, so I submitted my glimpse of death in Madeira.

permalink Ω 26 February 2004, Helsinki

People of Downtown

Sydänstadin kuvia [Photos of downtown] is a nice, small photo exhibit in the Pannuhuone kahvila on Uudenmaankatu [the mincemeat crepes are very good, too]. If you're in the neighbourhood, go have a coffee and a look at the photos. In spite of the photos being digital and showing it in the enlargements, the subjects are people around downtown Helsinki which I found very interesting. The pair of couples in the photo above are especially well done and I think the artist should get photo quality glossy prints and sell these two as a set. If you can't get there, the photographer, Ukko Heikkinen, has a gallerly online of the people of Uudenmankatu which, even with some of the stiffness/awkwardness in a few them, is a terrific collection of the people who live and work here in Helsinki. M-F 9-15 until Friday at Pannuhuone, Uudenmaankatu 19.

permalink Ω 24 February 2004, Helsinki

Film Heroes

I noticed a poster for a photo exhibit in a camera shop window and decided to go have a look since the theme was interesting. Valkokankaan Sankarit, Heroes of the Screen, is a provocative collection of photographs by Malla Hukkanen taken around Finland of tiny movie theatres that are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Hukkanen tells the story of these indie theatres in vivid colour on 35mm and panoramic film. I took my time looking at the faces of the people he captured so poignantly in and around their theatres and wondered if they were still in business. I'd love to see more of his work.

I have never really liked the giant 20 screen megaplex theatres that are so common in the US nowadays as they often show the same movies for weeks on end, have stale popcorn and they're as large and impersonal as a shopping mall. The small independent theatres have fresh popcorn, interesting films and often a small staff who remember your name if you're a movie junkie. It's ironic how the people who evangelise how the internet and social software are "revolutionising" our social lives when, at every turn, nearly every part of our daily lives away from the computer are becoming more and more impersonal and isolated. Hukkanen's photos will likely be a testament to the future of a time when people went to see movies and each other without the aid of a computer.

The Living Picture Museum [Elävän Kuvan Museo] is hidden away in a small warehouse in an out of the way neighbourhood, but it has an impressive collection of projection cameras and movie theatre ephemera, including an ushers costume from Kinopalatsi last worn in the 1960s. It's a short walk from the Sörnäinen metro station and it's worth the trip if you wax nostalgic over old movie theatres or enjoy photography that tells a story.

Living Picture Museum: Heroes of the Screen
Vanha Talvitie 9, Verkkosaari, Sörnäinen

Open: 29 Jan through 28 Feb 2004, Tues - Sun 12-6pm
Free admission!

permalink Ω 17 February 2004, Helsinki

LFI Magazine

So many of the photography periodicals and magazines these days are geared towards the digital photographer which, even as a digital photographer, I never buy since they seem to be filled with articles on topics that don't interest me and oodles of ads. The Academic Bookstore in Helsinki has an admirable assortment of various magazines, including B&W, a lofty art photography magazine and Leica World, a bi-annual journal that doesn't seem to have a lot of content.

I discovered Leica Fotografie International which focuses on Leica cameras and photography that isn't so highbrow since it has a number of articles for those of us who are enthusiasts if not world class artists. There is a lovely mix of practical articles interspersed with Leica photos you can appreciate and dream of taking yourself someday. There are also very few ads and it's printed on high quality paper. LFI may be one of the last non-artsy film photography magazines left so, if you have a Leica or just like interesting photos in the street or photojournalism genre, you might consider subscribing.

permalink Ω 13 February 2004, Helsinki

Blow me

I've never liked using cans of compressed air as they are wasteful, expensive and get really cold when you use them and trying to blow dust or lint off a lens with your lungs usually includes spitting on the previously clean surface. I found a gadget that has a clever use of form and function, the Giottos Rocket-Air Blower. It's shaped like a rocket and pumps enough air through the nozzle to get all but the most tenacious bits of crud off your camera or electronics. It even comes with a nice lanyard so you can wear it around your neck. At a price under $10 it's a practical, beautiful and economical little tool.

permalink Ω 6 February 2004, Helsinki

Film ain't dead yet

A photo taken on New Year's Eve which we spent at a friend's house with several other couples and their children who didn't stop moving all evening. It was one of the very first shots taken with the Leica and a really old roll of C-41 process B&W film I happened to have around. I'm impressed that I captured her smirk in spite of the low light, her dervishness and my rusty manual camera reflexes. The picture would have been totally different had I taken it with a digital camera and I'm not entirely certain it would have been a presentable photo.

Recently, Kodak announced that it plans to discontinue a number of products including their line of APS film cameras which, if you believe a lot of the chicken little reports around the net, means the end of film photography as we have known it for the past century. Well, aside from the bias that people in the insular world of the internet tend to place on everything from Dean to the blog revolution, film is not doomed or otherwise obsolete even if all the kids who wouldn't part with their digital cameras say it is. The market Kodak is getting out of is one that has gone digital but there are plenty of film fanatics, film cameras and film processing labs out there to keep film in business for many more years.

I succumbed to the siren call of a digital camera about 3 years ago and, while I think digital has helped me to become a better photographer, I don't know that it has produced better photos than a film camera. I recently read Why digital cameras = better photographers which is a nicely done article on what makes digital attractive but, judging by a lot of the digital photos I've seen around the net in comparison to the film photos, I don't know that this is entirely true. Digital has produced a lot more photographers and photos so that the odds of there being more and better pictures is greater than before. I often wonder how many great photographers there would have been in the 1920s and 1930s had there been as many film cameras in the hands of people as there are now. A digital SLR gives you enough exposure feedback to get a feel for what the camera is doing which you can then take back to your film camera, but most digital cameras are completely automatic. People are taking more pictures and enjoying their cameras more so digital is a boon for getting more people interested in photography. However, this is not the death knell for film. Not yet anyway.

I'm getting back into film partly due to many of the inspiring photoblogs I've found at Photoblogs.org in which many of them have pictures taken on film that appeal to me far more than many of the digital photos I've seen or taken myself. Both formats have their strengths and weaknesses for me and, I suspect, they are similar for others. As they say, there is no accounting for taste, but I compared two photos of the same scene from the trip to Madeira and find that the digital photo, while a decent photo, treats the light completely differently than the film photo which has a warmth to it. I found this with a number of shots I took for this very purpose of comparing the character of the mediums.

Digital

weaknesses

• DSLR is big, bulky, and heavy. Intimidates people at times.
• Trouble focusing in low-light.
• Batteries; aside from needing charging, they don't live long in cold conditions.
• It can crash at unexpected times without warning.
• Shutter lag.
• Lower light sensitivity.
• Archival concerns with digital format.
• Lots of equipment needed just to view and print pictures at home.
• An almost clinical perfection.

strengths

• Instant gratification.
• Instant feedback.
• Easier to share photos with wired friends.

Film

weaknesses

• Film can be expensive.
• Processing can be expensive.
• No instant gratification or feedback.

strengths

• Small and light cameras.
• Fun.
• More creative.
• A Challenge.
• Film has the capacity to surprise in ways that digital never will.
• No batteries necessary.
• No shutter lag.
• Fewer buttons and gadgets.
• No CPU to crash at unexpected times.

The Elph is a fun little digital camera that I can take in my pocket anywhere and use for photographic post-it notes or fun candids to share. The 10D may gather some dust for a while since the Leica and the Lomo are a lot easier to carry around and they seem to capture more interesting images as perfection doesn't leave a lot of room for creative imperfection.

permalink Ω 22 January 2004, Helsinki

Love Hurts

The stencil graffiti just keeps getting better and this one has a bit of wry humour to it for those who can identify the two men who have been a staple in daily news for the past 20 years. The One-Term President sticker is a nice addition since Dubya is the embodiment of the phrase "Love Hurts" and I like the optimism of 'one term'. Now all it needs is an oil well and Saddam to make the montage complete. :)

permalink Ω 29 December 2003, Helsinki

Holiday photos and megawatt redux

A snapshot from a Christmas long ago which proves that my lack of fashion sense started very early in life. :) A few random pictures I took before the holiday and a few from Christmas Eve are up in the Christmas 2003 photo album which will probably be interesting only to family. Others that weren't as good are in the xmas03/etal/ directory. I may add some photos to it after I get the film developed and see if there are any good ones worth viewing.

Finland celebrates Christmas on the Eve rather than the day of Christmas like the US and other countries. Dinner consists of a traditional ham and a variety of side dishes such as potato and carrot casseroles. I was asked what was traditional in the US for Christmas dinner but I couldn't really offer a decisive answer other than "food". Eila made a lovely dinner and Kirsi baked a few delicious cookies and a chocolate bundt cake which I'm glad I wasn't left alone with along with a jug of milk. :)

Two years ago I collected a bunch of photos for what I presented in "2001: A Massachusetts Christmas Photographic Odyssey". I culled the better ones, resized them a bit more uniformly and put them in an album, Merry Megawatt Christmas 2001. A few houses were added at the suggestion of Babbage who lives next to people whose homes are runway beacons for Logan. This year, Chris wrote to tell me about his pictures from this years' display and a disturbing video of the most obscene house. What is most entertaining for me is seeing what a difference 2 years make in the accretion of kitsch. In 2001, there were 2 reindeer flying and this year there are 9 reindeer, complete with red-nosed rudolph. :) I quiver at the thought of the size of the electric bill these folks must have over the holidays.

permalink Ω 26 December 2003, Helsinki

Poliisi Graffiti

permalink Ω 20 December 2003, Helsinki

Joulupolku

A selection of photos from the Joulupolku, the Christmas Walk, on Seurasaari on Sunday. It was a dark grey day that became a dark snowy evening with not much illumination so it's not a stellar collection of photos.

Seurasaari is an island very close to downtown Helsinki that is both an outdoor culture museum featuring historical architecture from all regions of Finland as well as being home to many furry-eared squirrels. I read a blurb in the Helsinki tourism guide that there was going to be a Christmas walk event on the island for a few hours. I grabbed my camera and took Jarkko along in spite of his cold thinking it would be good for us both to get out of the house.

A minor detail that the program failed to mention was that the event was for children and that children attending should bring a torch/lamp/source of illumination and 1 handmade ornament for decorating a tree. Had I known about the torch request beforehand, in addition to the weather, I likely would have left my camera at home. When we arrived the place was teeming with cars, more cars, hundreds of small children and a legion of prams.

It was sorta fun wandering around the island watching kids with miner style headlamps cavort about like they had been fed crack and looking for stuff in the dark and snow. Giant squirrels were handing out cookies and pedestrian reflectors, carolers were singing, warm rice porridge was being served and sausages cooked. Around what I have dubbed the scary Nazgul Nativity there was a collection of Christmas peace candles, some of which had been carefully placed within snowball containers to help keep the wind at bay. The handmade ornaments were adorable as were the gingerbread cookies left out for Santa. On the dance grounds there was singing about porridge and dancing in circles. And, of course, there was the Joulupukki and Mrs. Joulupukki to tell all the kids they'll all be getting coal this year. :) The trees were lit all around in various colours which had a mystical effect since it was snowing. The last stop on the walk was a few bon fires for people who brought their own sausages to complete the holiday outing with warm, greasy meat enjoyed al fresco amidst the falling snow.

So, next year we'll have to bring a torch, sausages to grill and an ornament or two to put on the tree. I think I'll start reading the event programs in Finnish more often as well since I'm finding that the information is a lot better and more accurate in Finnish.

permalink Ω 16 December 2003, Helsinki

Lucia Light

A few photos from St. Lucia Day in Helsinki.

So, what's an Italian Catholic saint doing strolling about Finland with her eyeballs intact? Good question. :)

John Donne said it thusly in A nocturnall upon S. Lucies day, Being the shortest day:

Tis the yeares midnight, and it is the dayes,
Lucies,who scarce seaven houres herself unmaskes,
The Sunne is spent, and now his flasks
Send forth light squibs, no constant rayes;
The worlds whole sap is sunke:
The generall balme th'hydroptique earth hath drunk,
Whither, as to the beds-feet, life is shrunke,
Dead and enterr'd; yet all these seeme to laugh,
Compar'd with mee, who am their Epitaph...

There is an odd mixture of the pagan and christian traditions in the Nordic countries. The Joulupukki, commonly known as Santa Claus these days, is also represented by the pagan goat where offerings were made to this god in the dark of the year to bring the sun back. Light plays a significant role in many of the celebrations here and so it isn't terribly surprising that the patron saint of light and the blind should be part of the holiday tradition in spite of the Catholics having little success in establishing themselves in the Nordic lands. St. Lucia died a martyr's death asserting her Christianity by refusing to marry the pagan suitor her parents chose for her to wed. Her eyes were torn out but miraculously restored. The day of St. Lucia marks the longest night and the beginning of the 12 days of Christmas.

In Helsinki, the Swedes here appoint a girl to be St. Lucy and sing in her honour. The girl wears a white dress, a red sash, a crown of electric candles and carries a sheaf of wheat. The boys wear white robes, pointy white caps and carry stars though I've no idea what they represent. This year's St. Lucy is the lovely 23 year-old Anna-Charlotta Thibblin.

I stood at the foot of the Tuomiokirkko freezing my arse off for almost 2 hours before she emerged to descend the steps with her entourage. Quite a few children were waiting impatiently for the main event along with me which made me feel a bit like the aged tourist. :) There were more photographers around than flies on a cowpie in summer. Some Japanese film crew set up next to me and I got tired of them hassling me so I jumped the line and moved past the carriage to get a couple of reasonable photos of her. The lighting was difficult since it was either very dark or blindingly light from the spotlight YLE had aimed at her. I felt a bit badly for the other maids and the boys since none of the photogs seemed interested in them. Once she was in the carriage, the parade started to move towards Finlandia Hall but I was terribly disappointed to find that she is at the end of the procession so all of us who waited for her to arrive were deprived of seeing the rest. Something to remember for next year. :)

Now, if I could only get Pavarotti's Santa Lucia out of my head....

permalink Ω 14 December 2003, Helsinki

Tuomaan Markkinat

An evening at the Tuomaan Markkinat in vivid colour.

We wandered down to the Tuomaan Markkinat, the St. Thomas' Christmas Market, yesterday evening and had a good time browsing through much of the touristy and non-touristy wares but the best part was the food. The polentadogit are full of everything bad for you but taste terrific. Fresh out of the fryolator, still steaming, a meat sausage coated in a deep-fried polenta batter and eaten while standing in the cold. Delicious. The lohikukko is salmon and fatty bacon rolled into a rye bread crust. A bit salty but tastes great.

The local handicrafts fall into several flavours; woolen/textiles, wood craft, metalwork and food. The things done with wool are beautiful. The sweaters are usually a traditional nordic style but the crazy hats, warm slippers and other items made with wool are colourful and beautifully styled. Items made from wood are no great surprise since much of Finland is forest. You can buy just about anything made from wood but I particularly like the more practical housewares such as the cups and serving trays. I'm not really certain where the metalwork figures into Finland's heritage but the designs are sleek, simple and practical with a few whimsical exceptions like a candleabra shaped like a viking ship. And, there's no shortage of food either. I like Finnish food and there were a few things like the lohikukko that I hadn't seen or tried before.

The market is held on the Esplanadi, [ map of the market from the HS on Monday ~140k ], and is very well attended. The aisle between the bright red tent stalls is rather narrow so the tide of humanity pushing past the vendors makes it rather difficult to browse or take photos. I somehow managed to take a few good photos, one in particular is a vendor modelling a hair towel for a guy who may be purchasing it for some female in his life. I'm intrigued by these people who sell things in a tent in cold weather to the crowds of people who go by each day. Some, like the wacky hat lady, obviously love their job while others have more complex stories to tell and faces to go with them. I'd like to go back and just hang out in one spot for a day just to watch people and stuff go by.

permalink Ω 10 December 2003, Helsinki

Picturing the Past

Under the City Sky, an exhibit of 8600 or more photographs of Helsinki taken between 1969 and 1987 by Eeva and Simo Rista. It's rather fun to look at all the photos from the neighbourhood 30 years ago and barely recognise the area.

Helsinki Panorama: 1866 and 2003. A really interesting comparative panoramic view of Helsinki past and present.

Museum of Photography at the Cable Factory [ Tallberginkatu 1G, open Tues-Sun from 12 to 19 ] I've been meaning to visit the museum before now, but there is an exhibit unti 21 December by Sakari Viika which sounds interesting even if the English description is awkward.

Snow, ice and light are motifs that have been part and parcel of landscape painting and photography throughout their history. Landscapes are pictured for their beauty, uniqueness or wondrousness. Immortalising landscapes is often linked to travelling. Being on the move, seeing new things and recording them are among the photographer's oldest tools, a role imposed by the profession. As a photographer, Sakari Viika belongs to that classical school of photographers who love to travel and are always dreaming of it.

These images were taken within a square kilometre in a landscape that was in No way special. They were taken during the darkest time of the year when life means stillness and monotony. In these images, snow, ice and light form scenery the photographer saw every day on his way from home to his study. Occasionally, the same scenery would change temporarily, natural light luring us on a journey into the moment at hand. Therefore, these images are characteristically silent and still.

The Degree Confluence Project. Jarkko found this one and it's rather interesting if you look at the map. Gaping holes of dark territory are all over the globe. What puzzles me is not why Novaya Zemlya hasn't been fully covered but why so few of the confluences and the pictures taken of them seem to be near anything.

The individual pictures taken as a whole make for an lovely mosaic, but the present incarnation doesn't interest me nearly as much as the 2nd stage of the project to document the changes over time at the various confluences.

permalink Ω 8 December 2003, Helsinki

The new face of holiday marketing

During the holidays this is not a message you would expect to see in the window of a retailer in a suburban shopping mall. It's like Wal*Mart turning customers away this time of year, the ones who haven't been trampled, and informing them that they shouldn't be buying into the crass commercialism of Christmas. :) I wonder if there is a misunderstanding in the meaning of "Cut the crap" since retailers really do like to sell you as much crap as you are willing to purchase during the holiday season.

permalink Ω 3 December 2003, Helsinki

Forces of Light 2003

A few photos taken around Suomenlinna and Helsinki during the Forces of Light event.

By some stroke of luck on Saturday night, I figured out that the lights in the Old Church Park, a.k.a. Plague Park, were part of something called Forces of Light. The program describes it:

The Beauty of Dark Helsinki

Forces of Light is a nine-year old urban event. During this time our capital Helsinki has become faster, more colourful and more loud. The mission of Forces of light has been to show the city in a different light - both for the inhabitants as for visitors. With small gestures, Forces of Light has demonstrated that Helsinki in the dark period can be quite an intriguing experience. Open-mindedly the festival has mixed urban planning, art and design - acting close to the people and co-operating with them. Helsinki is the City of Light - even in the darkness.

We took the ferry over to Suomenlinna with a friend, Arabella, and wandered through the handicraft market, various art installations, artists workshops and the museum. Sadly, the schedule was wrong and the parade, which was said to start on Suomenlinna, actually started at Plague Park at 4p and we completely missed it. The Helsingin Sanomat had a small blurb and fuzzy picture of it today with a mention that there was some excitement with one of the torches. This would explain why the torches along Bulevardi weren't lit later in the evening and why the performance at 20.30 in the park was done using glowsticks and blacklight instead of fire. I commend the fire artists who, at the last minute, changed the plan and still gave everyone a good show.

It was really cool, interesting and a lot of fun but, hopefully, next year the organisers will do a bit better job of getting the schedule firmed up and synchronised with all the various places which advertise such events since we would really have liked to see the parade and some of the other events we missed only because of incorrect information.

permalink Ω 1 December 2003, Helsinki

My Eyes. Your World.

Private and Public is an interesting concept for a photgraphy project. One spot, one year and many candid photographs. Photos of people tend to be the most interesting, especially when they are candid shots. Maybe I should pick a spot in Helsinki and entertain myself for a year. :)

Ami Vitale has some of the most captivating photos I've seen.

permalink Ω 29 November 2003, Helsinki

Lomo

I enjoy cruising through other peoples on-line photos when they're interesting and nicely organised. One of the sites I'm particularly fond of had a couple of photos last week that were instantly recognizeable as film rather than digital photos. At the bottom of the page he mentioned the camera, the Lomo LC-A. I went poking around the net and I became intrigued by this camera that I'd never heard of before.

The Lomo is a Russian camera which seems to have met with a very slick marketing campaign that makes the seductive pitch of fun, interesting and unsnobbish photography for everyman.

10 Golden Rules Of Lomo

1. Take your camera everywhere you go.
2. Use it anytime - day and night.
3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but a part of it.
4. Approach the objects of your lomographic desire as close as possible.
5. Don't think.
6. Be fast.
7. You don't have to know beforehand what you captured on film.
8. Afterwards either.
9. Try the shot from the hip.
10. Don't worry about any rules.

The Lomographic Society International apparently convinced the Russians to start making the LC-A again in 1997 and have created quite a small and passionate following, much like Apple has :).

• world archive of lomo photos * An interesting project to collect photos from around the world.
• Lomo photo albums * some of them are quite interesting.
• Lomo Links
• Buy a Lomo
• Lomo US User forum
• 120seconds interviews Lomo users
• lomo.kataan.org * A rather nice Lomo personal website.

Perhaps it's the novelty or the marketing but the photos taken with the Lomo are interesting. One thing I noticed while looking through the wide variety of galleries was that, in contrast to so many of the digital galleries I've waded through on-line, many of the photos are well organised, properly sized for the web, have something to interest the eye and have a texture digital cameras just don't have. I enjoy my digital cameras but I sometimes regret trading print film for the instant gratification of digital. The SLR camera, digital or film, is hefty and serious; something that takes photos with a purpose and not very inconspicuously. I've always wanted a Leica so maybe I can pretend the Lomo is just an ultra low-end Leica :) Why not as maybe I can have a bit of fun and have a go at a Helsinki variation on City of Glass: Douglas Coupland's Vancouver.

n.b. - A very nice reader sent me an email pointing out that there are Lomoizing filters for Photoshop. :)

permalink Ω 23 November 2003, Helsinki

My First Orson

A creative bit of mixed-media graffiti on a utility box on the side of a building.

permalink Ω 12 November 2003, Helsinki

A Helsinki All Hallow's

Photos of All Hallow's in Hietaniemi Cemetery.

I missed the usual pumpkin carving, drunken costume party and annual halloween candy like candy corn, caramel apples and seasonally coloured M&M's this year. I suppose I should just look at it as an opportunity to save my hands from getting sliced up, to not get drunk and look stupid dressed up as Ashcroft with Jarkko behind me as the draped Boobie of Justice [ or, more likely, the other way around ], to not drink more than a few beers, and to not stuff myself on candy. Still, I've always loved Halloween as the one holiday that is mostly seasonal and secular in the modern incarnation. It evokes nice memories of bonfires, hayrides, candy, the nice neighbourhood I grew up in, bobbing for apples, hunting for pumpkins at the farm down the road and scary stories.

Finland doesn't celebrate Halloween even though the candy shops, some of them, have Halloween candies and decorations. The Finns do celebrate pyhäinpäivä, All Hallow's, a christian version of the more ancient Kekri. I somehow convinced Jarkko it'd be more fun to wander around Hietaniemi Cemetery illuminated only by candles and take photos than to sit at home hugging a laptop. The tradition is to honour the dead by lighting candles at their grave which doesn't seem unusual until you see an entire Cemetery that looks like the milky way. I don't think I've ever seen so many candles lit all at once.

permalink Ω 2 November 2003, Helsinki

See 'n Scratch

The pumpkin says, "Pöö! Treat or Trick!"

Remember the old See 'n Say? Sounds that animals make really aren't on the usual vocabulary lists when learning a language. You figure out somehow that, in Finland, the dog says "Hau Hau" and the cat says "Mau Mau". Karkki Pussi, one of those tragically named businesses which means 'candy bag', has introduced me to the sounds things make at Halloween. Finland doesn't really celebrate Halloween but what candy store is going to pass up an opportunity to sell more candy? :)

What I don't quite understand is that if the banners and candy are printed with "Happy Halloween", then why are the ghosts and goblins and pumpkins speaking in Finnish? And why does the Finnish ghost say "Boo!" differently than the pumpkin? Is one of them from Savo?

The ghost says,"Huuuu! Wild Halloween[ie]!"

permalink Ω 16 October 2003, Helsinki

Autumn

A cold, rainy, and colourful Autumn day in Nuuksio National Park

permalink Ω 13 October 2003, Helsinki

Ye Olde Townes

Fiskars

Last Thursday, I went along on a short day trip with the American Women's Club to the Village of Fiskars which is about an hour drive southwest of Helsinki. Fiskars is a beautiful old industrial village that has been nicely preserved by converting it into an artisans community and tourist attraction. You may have heard of Fiskars due to their fine Fiskars Oy scissors, cutlery, knives and other fine metalwork. They have a very well done history titled Fiskars 1649 [pdf] that covers 350 years of Finnish industrial history and a walk through the various buildings in town. The Onoma Gallery and the Fiskars Museum [suomi or svenska only] also have informative websites.

My 10D is in the shop getting repaired since it suffers from the same problems a large percentage of 10D owners are complaining about, broken AF and random crashing, so I only had my little 2MP Elph along to take pictures. The Mill and the Granary are constructed of slag bricks which lends a volcanic texture to the buildings. The stream that runs through the town is flanked with all sorts of local arts and sculpture. We were a bit on the off-season since Winter is approaching but we did get to see an iron smith and a glassmaker working in their shops. Fiskars is a beautiful slice of Finnish history which the town has done a remarkable job in restoring while making it commercially viable instead of leaving it to ruin as such small towns so often are once much of the industry moves on.

A Day Trip to Tallinn

On Saturday, Jarkko and I travelled with a visiting colleague from Boston to Tallinn, Estonia which is a short 1.5 hour ferry trip away from Helsinki. Estonia is to Helsinki what border towns in the US are to Canada, cheap shopping along with cheap smokes and booze. We only wandered around the Old Town of Tallinn, a Medieval town complete with walls and fortifications from the 1200s. Much of the town has remained largely intact and is on the UNESCO preservation list. The language they speak is Estonian which is related, if not closely, to Finnish and it's a bit disorienting to see things that at first seem Finnish only to find that they're really Estonian.

One thing in Old Town is the number of churches and everywhere you look there is a spire. Many of them are centuries old and have accreted a wide range of architectural styles in additions over time which is sometimes curious in the question of taste and suitability.

tallinn.info and tourism.tallinn.ee have some lovely photos and more information on the history of the city.

permalink Ω 23 September 2003, Helsinki

Jesus is my homeboy

permalink Ω 17 September 2003, Helsinki

Kaivopuisto Chess

permalink Ω 4 September 2003, Helsinki

Sofiankatu Picasso

permalink Ω 2 September 2003, Helsinki

Not nearly warm enough....

permalink Ω 29 August 2003, Helsinki

Global Balalaika Show

We got to see a terrific show on Saturday night in Helsinki: The Leningrad Cowboy's Global Balalaika Show. There is a mention of the show being webcast after Tuesday and televised on YLE2 on New Year's for those who missed it. I took a few pictures with the little Canon Elph I have since I didn't want to lug the big camera bag around with me in such a large crowd. The lighting was a bit on the dark side, so much so that even the video crew had problems at times getting a good shot. The photo in the Sanomat was a better photo than I would have gotten. The smog machine and the lighting made it very challenging, even for the pros, to manage a decent photo.

In the early afternoon we went to have lunch and walked by the square to see if it might already be crowded and found it mostly deserted. The t-shirt vendors were setting up so we took the opportunity to buy a couple before the rush. After a few beers at a local pub I ran back to the apartment to walk HB and drop off a bunch of stuff along with the nice camera while the guys snagged a good spot on the steps of the church.

The warm-up band was an Eminem wanna-be rapper dude who seemed to be a favourite of many of the teenage girls in the crowd who were singing along and waving their arms to the music. Mercifully, they only played a few songs. :) Not long before the main event, someone announced that Helsinki was out of power. The Sanomat mentioned it was the first time in 2 years Helsinki had lost power but the show went on since they had generators and the outage was brief. The annoying part of a power outage is coming home to all clock equipped appliances blinking 12:00 and having to remember how to set them all, especially the ones with a horribly unintuitive UI. Why aren't modern appliances able to use NTP via the power lines to set the time? You can get every other bloody feature these days but the LED clocks are still stuck in the 1970s? *Grumble* ...but I digress.

The first half of the show was terrific and I was nearly convinced that the lead singer was Tom Jones in costume. A hyperactive smog machine unfortunately blotted out much of the Red Army Choir most of the time and I salute them for being able to sing with the cloud hanging over them. My only real disappointment with the show was that choir was not as much a part of the show as I had hoped. Hearing them sing "Sweet Home Chicago" made up for a lot even though it made me a bit homesick. It is a bit disorienting to hear it in downtown Helsinki being sung by a Russian Army choir. It's like popping out in some alternate universe briefly and noticing Iraqis singing "New York, New York" in downtown Baghdad; interesting, entertaining, cool and weird simultaneously. :)

When the musical guests from around the world came on in the second half of the show it became obvious why "Global" was part of the show's name. There were steel drums, African drums, samba dancers, Russian folk dancers and dancers with torches that added some not-terribly-local colour to the spectacle. Two of the guitarists had a jam duel which ended with them both smashing their instruments. Big Chief "Bo" Dollis performed "Papa was a Rolling Stone" and really added a dimension to the show since Soul/R&B artists aren't here very often that I've noticed.

"Stairway to Heaven" afforded the opportunity to light my Bic and yell "FREEBIRD!". It is at this moment that you realise that your self-amusement and brief excitement at this time honoured tradition is a signal that you've earned one too many grey hairs to be sitting with 60,000 people at an outdoor concert. Well, that and thinking that the kids should turn the volume down a bit. "Ghostbusters" was the finale, complete with fireworks and a stage full of Russian, Caribbean, samba and go-go dancers all gyrating and yelling "who ya gonna call". If I told a shrink I had dream like this, I'd probably be in a padded cell by now. :)

Anyone who went to the show expecting it to be like it was 10 years ago would likely be disappointed since the band has changed a lot over a decade and anything that could be duplicated over that span of time would already be a tired cliche. The world has changed since the Total Balalaika Show and they choreographed this new show with that in mind. I only hope we don't have to wait another 10 years for the next one. :)

The list of guests and songs is pretty impressive. I highly recommend checking out Angelique Kidjo as she has an absolutely amazing voice.

Guests:

• Angelique Kidjo (Benin)
• "Coto" Antomarchi Padilla Juan de la Gruz (Cuba)
• Wild Magnolias, Big Chief "Bo" Dollis (New Orleans, USA)
• Johanna Rusanen
• Tulikansa
• Yamar Thiam & Galaxy Drums (Senegal/Finland)
• Kirsi Tykkyläinen
• Figurantes de Cuba

Concert Playlist:

1. Blackhole sun
2. American woman
3. Sweet Home Chicago
4. Like a virgin
5. Land of 1000 dances
6. Those Were the Days
7. Bad
8. Easy living
9. Stairway to heaven
10. Pennies from heaven
11. That's the way I wanna rock n' roll
12. Afirika
13. Americano
14. No woman no cry
15. Pretty Fly (for a white guy)
16. Papa was a rolling stone
17. La Cucaracha
18. Kashmir
19. El Quarto de Tula
20. Tumba
21. Life is a carnival
22. Eloise
23. Rockin' in the free world
24. Coochie Molly
25. Ghostbusters

permalink Ω 25 August 2003, Helsinki

The War on Errorism

permalink Ω 12 August 2003, Helsinki

craneporn

Paul Mison has an unusual fetish: cranes. I mentioned the Kamppi bus station project which is an enormous hole in the ground with 6 or 7 cranes placed around the site. There is a webcam at the site but it doesn't work with all browsers. Anyway, I was inspired to go out and get some Finnish craneporn for his collection. :)

permalink Ω 12 August 2003, Helsinki

UBIK

permalink Ω 12 August 2003, Helsinki

Scotland

Pictures from Scotland: Part 1 and Part 2

We went to Scotland for a week before heading to Paris via London for YAPC::EU. I spent much of the week remembering how to drive in the UK after we decided to get a car in Edinburgh. Jarkko was going to drive but after he demonstrated that he had forgotten what a clutch was, I thought I had better drive instead. :) Neither of us had driven since we moved in January either.

The first few days were spent in Crail with a friend of Jarkko's who is an old Norse and Tolkien scholar, not to mention an utterly delightful host. Paul also took us all around Fife and St. Andrews. Every turn in the road gave way to postcard scenery as much of Fife is still very rural and bucolic. Paul's neighbour came over one morning, too, and took us all to the Crail Boot Sale [ as in car, not as in shoe ] which was an entertaining slice of local colour.

After leaving Crail we made our way to the West coast and stopped in Inveraray to shop at Loch Fyne Whiskies. If you live in a place with as pitiful a selection of single malts as Finland has, they do mail order :) Oban was a pleasant stop where I managed to get a really nice photo of the twilight over the water which I may just enter in the NGS Traveller photo contest for grins and humiliation.

It was a bit jarring when we left Scotland for London as it is everything that Crail is not. Next time I think we'll spend far more time in the quiet corners of Scotland drinking whisky and go there after we've been through London for books and visiting friends.

permalink Ω 12 August 2003, Helsinki

Ninja moment of Zen

permalink Ω 10 August 2003, Helsinki

YAPC::EU 2003 Photos

The photos for YAPC::EU::Paris are finally on-line. There were over 400 photos which I trimmed down to 275 which I then weeded to 80 with thumbnails. The venue was difficult to get really good pictures since the lighting was dim in most of the lecture theatres and I didn't want to use a flash during the talks. Also, I had a new camera, the Canon 10D which replaced my Canon D30, which seemed to have a intermittent problem with backfocusing. Canon has yet to acknowledge this problem but I've used AF with all my Canon cameras and haven't ever had a problem so I'm hoping they fix it soon. So...I'm sorry there aren't as many really nice shots as I had expected.

• I tried to get pictures of everyone. If you don't see yourself anywhere, please don't take it personally.
• If you'd like a copy of the original JPEG from the camera, send ONE email with the IMG_* filename(s) [ I kept the iPhoto filenames just for this purpose ] to eashton at mac dot com and I'll send them to you. Please note that these are large files so if you can't take a 1.5mb file in your inbox, tell me and I'll put it somewhere on the web for download.
• Do send me corrections and additions for names. I am utterly awful with names so please don't be offended if I have forgotten or misspelled your name.
• Feel free to share them.

There are a few different ways you can view and/or obtain the pictures:

• YAPC::EU::Paris - part 1 and YAPC::EU::Paris - part 2
• a big tarball [12mb] which includes all of the HTML and an /other directory with all the photos that didn't make the gallery cut.
• Copenhagen.pm's photo gallery offered to host the full selection of photos.
• and Claes, too.

Thanks again to the Paris.pm for hosting such a terrific conference and I hope the photos live up to your expectations :) I'll be sending a CD with the raw images on them to you.

It has also occured to me that I'd like to archive many of the photos from the conferences over the years in the history.perl.org archive so if you've got photos you'd like archived, make a tarball and send me an URL where I can download them. :)

permalink Ω 7 August 2003, Helsinki

Mundane no more

Some people seem to have a talent for making the most mundane and often unnoticed bits of daily life far more interesting or amusing by surprising with a subtle twist. I laughed when I saw these on the sidewalk near our house. :)

permalink Ω 31 July 2003, Helsinki

Earth from the Air

Aside from the very disappointing selection this summer at London bookshops which left me light on the luggage, there was a fabulous exhibit in the garden of the Natural History Museum titled Earth from the Air. It's a lovely outdoor installation with giant-sized posters of the photos taken by Yann Arthus-Bertrand while airborne. The photos are spectacular but it's difficult to really enjoy them at times because you're reminded just how quickly humankind is destroying the natural landscape. It is a celebration and a wake.

On the technical side of the photography, he uses a Canon EOS-1N :) I doubt if I'll ever get to fly over all these remote places with my Canon EOS, but I'm glad someone has and has done it so inspiringly well. :) The project itself is to be a beginning of an historical reference library so perhaps I can send them a few pictures from around Finland.

permalink Ω 31 July 2003, Helsinki

Scottish Moment of Zen

Quite possibly the most photographed bit of St. Andrews aside from the Royal and the Ancient and the the cathedral is this particular street sign. Of course, the name stems from the sport of archery but it still somehow elicits a certain puerile response. :)

permalink Ω 15 July 2003, Helsinki

Suomenlinna - The Fortress

Suomenlinna is a 15 minute ferry ride away from downtown Helsinki and it's a lovely place to enjoy a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I actually managed to get Jarkko away from the computer for a few hours yesterday and we had a bit of a picnic on Suomenlinna. It's a place where flowers grow on the bastions and around the old cannons that were once militarily strategic on the archipelago. It's peaceful in spite of all the tourists and the residents on the island. I took a few pictures and hope to return when the seasons change.

permalink Ω 7 July 2003, Helsinki

You say Keltainen, I say Oranssi

One of the few seemingly immutable things which most people assume to transcend cultural and language barriers is colour. The sky is blue, the grass is green and snow is white. Just don't tell Finns that their postal boxes are orange since, to them, they are most certainly yellow. When does yellow become orange? I don't know but I think it is far more subjective than I had previously considered.

There is a lot of my orange and their yellow all over Helsinki and I have mentioned this to Leon Brocard a few times since he is a man who is quite taken with the colour. I don't think he believes that Finland would be so fond of orange so I put together Helsingin Oranssi for kicks. I won't say which is orange and which is yellow to the Finns but if you calibrate for yellow with the posti box it sholdn't be too hard to guess. :)

permalink Ω 7 July 2003, Helsinki

Yankee Doodle Van-dy

Perhaps the most unexpected thing I've seen yet in Helsinki was a patriotic yankee van parked in front of Stockmann. It was complete with more than 6 American flags, an OK Route 66 sign, a "Fuck the Fuel Economy" bumper sticker to go with the gas guzzler mini-van and a "Fucking Bush and Son, Inc." sticker to complement the U.S. Army sticker. The "Protected by Smith and Wesson" was the crowning touch in the pastiche of gummy vinyl Americana stuck to the back of the van. I stopped and gaped at it for a while since, unless they made a wrong turn at the MASS Pike and somehow drove across the Arctic, I hope it's the only such reminder of what I left behind when I moved here.

permalink Ω 6 July 2003, Helsinki

Move-uh-what?

While walking HB in the Sinebrychoff Park where he likes to roll around on the grass I noticed a sign posted next to some new sod they had planted as part of the ongoing renovation of the park and just had to giggle. I'm not used to seeing English on public signage so I didn't see it immediately and when I did it took me a few seconds to puzzle out what they meant by 'movable lawn'. Now I just need a moveable feast to go with my moveable dog on the movable [sic] lawn :)

permalink Ω 1 July 2003, Helsinki

Honeybear: A retrospective

While I was finally cleaning out the office now that most of the dirty work of renovation has passed I ran across the cutest picture of HoneyBear as a puppy chewing on a tiny pocket pack of tissues. I had forgotten just how small and adorable he was when he was so young. He came into my life at a time when it wasn't terribly responsible of me to have a canine friend but he has proven to be the smartest choice I made back then.

Dean Allen has oodles of pictures of his dogs including a daily picture which makes me feel like a bad parent since I have so few pictures of HB. I went hunting for pictures of my best friend, taken over the past 11 years with a wide range of cameras, scanned them in and made a retrospective of his life. I hope there will be many more years and photos to come.

permalink Ω 28 June 2003, Helsinki

Hietalahden Kirpputori

Apparently the 'blogerati' were in Helsinki last week for a meeting at Nokia with the new ventures organization. Of course, there were blog entries about what was presumeably a secret invite-only affair but one of them posted pictures of the Hietalahden Kirpputori which happens to be right around the corner from where we live. Strangely, the photos were mostly of himself or a woman with bleached dreadlocks instead of the gorgeous kauppahalli and few of them were in focus.

The Hietalahden Kirpputori [ Hietalahti Flea Market ] is a unique spot in Helsinki since it's the only outdoor flea market in the city. The Kauppahalli is a recently restored architectural treasure built in 1903. In February, Helsinki announced that they would close most of the shops inside the kauppahalli due to budget cutbacks. Inside there remains a tiny museum display of a circa 1940 grocery stall complete with vintage goods including Nokia toilet paper. The vaulted ceilings with airy pine supports and the beautifully aged wooden stalls lend the building a comforting warmth. I don't know what the city is planning to do with the kauppahalli but I do hope they preserve the interior since buildings today don't have the same character.

The one thing that fascinates me about the kirpputori is the ebb and flow in the span of less than 10 hours. By day the lot is teeming with people and kitsch and by night it is quiet and completely vacant. I put together a small selection of photos depicting a day in the life of the Hietalahden Kirpputori.

permalink Ω 26 June 2003, Helsinki

Hyvää Juhannusta!

Juhannus. Midsummer. Traditionally observed on the Saturday between the 20th and 26th of June it is the celebration that marks the summer solstice. Jarkko's parents had us over for the weekend and we had an incredibly nice time. I took a bunch of photos some of which turned out but a lot of them didn't since the weather and the light conspired against me on many occasions. We didn't have the best weather but it was still a lot of fun anyway.

On Friday afternoon we had a fabulous lunch and relaxed with HoneyBear before going to Seurasaari for the bonfires. Erikki and Eila hadn't been there for Midsummer since 1967 so it was incredibly nice of them to go along for what must be terribly old hat for the locals but new for me.

It was crowded along the way to the far side of the island, an outdoor museum of culture and architecture, with local craftspeople lining the path. There was a cute young girl dressed in a traditional costume selling 'magic spells'.

One after another, each fire was lit and accompanied by singing. There were people crowding the shore, sitting up on the rocks along and in boats on the water waiting for the main fire to start. A long boat carrying the Juhannus wedding couple, married just hours earlier on the island, rowed out and back with a torch to light the largest and final bonfire. Afterwards there were several hours of music and dancing in the outdoor festival grounds nearby but it began to rain so we didn't stay.

» Kokko, kokoo koko kokko kokoon!
» Koko kokkoko?
» Koko kokko.

» Kokko (name), gather the whole kokko (midsummer fire)!
» The whole kokko?
» The whole kokko.

We went to Porvoo on Saturday and walked around the old town though few of the shops were open. It's a town on the King's Road which is rich in history and I'd like to return some afternoon to see the markets when they're open as Eila mentioned they are quite good. One of the radio stations we were listening to in the car had a roving reporter with a microphone running around the deserted center of Helsinki which was pretty amusing. I finally got to try the Finnish makkara, a bratwurst-like sausage, and enjoyed them quite a lot but what's not to love about meat and fat grilled and eaten with mustard and bread? :)

It was a very quiet, restful and lazy holiday marking the time where we must now watch the amount of daylight wane until December.

permalink Ω 23 June 2003, Helsinki

Who says the Finnish can't have fun?

On Saturday we went to see the Helsinki Samba Carnaval which was really amazing with so many colours and fabulous costumes. I put the pictures up in new photo album in two different sections, samba1 and samba2, as there were a lot of photos, many of which I had to weed out. I'm rather happy with some of the photos and am glad they turned out rather nicely.

permalink Ω 17 June 2003, Helsinki

A Pleasant Afternoon

Jarkko and I went to his cousin Heini's confirmation party yesterday and I took some photos of our rather pleasant afternoon there. Jarkko has a really nice family and they, hopefully, didn't think it too strange when I took photos of the absolutely divine cookies for which I had to hunt the recipe down.

I decided to put the photos into a mock-up photo album of what I hope to have perl and mysql do for me soon but I wanted to get a feel for the presentation since I'm working in reverse. It was a good exercise as I have a much better idea of what I need to do and noticed small details from the one I am copying the layout from such as the thumbnails are carefully chosen bits from the picture instead of just a miniature version of the whole picture. I'll have to look into some of the graphics utilities to see if there is anything that will select a 50x50 chunk of a picture based on pixel variation.

Aside from its pleasantly austere display of the photos it really forces you to choose the best photos in a series and limit them to a small number since too many would ruin the effect. I really like this as I've been through far too many picture collections on the web where there is only 1 interesting photo in 25 or more which is a waste of time, especially since they are often not sized for the web.

Herewith follows the recipe for the cookies I could eat far too many of and still want more :)

Lusikkaleivät - Teaspoon cookies

Ainekset (ingredients):

• 200g Voita - 1 cup butter
• 1,5 dl Sokeria - 1 cup sugar
• 2 tl Vaniljasokeria - 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar or 3 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tl Soodaa - 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 dl Vehnäjauhoa - 3 cups sifted white flour
• Omenasosetta - apple puree/jam
• Sokeria - granulated sugar

Ohje:

Kiehauta rasva kattilassa välillä sekoittaen. Kun vaahto alkaa laskea, kaada rasva kulhoon. Lisää sokeri ja anna seoksen jäähtyä. Sekoita jäähtynyt seos tasaiseksi. Lisää keskenään sekoitetut kuivat aineet. Painele taikinaa soikeaan, mielellään melko syvään lusikanpesään ja vedä tästä pellille leivinpaperin päälle kupera puoli ylöspäin. Paista 175°C asteen lämmössä 12-15 minuuttia. Pane vähän jäähtyneinä kaksi vastakkain ja väliin sosetta tai marmelaadia. Kierittele pikkuleivät sokerissa tai siivilöi päälle tomusokeria ennen tarjoilua.

Directions:

Brown the butter in a heavy saucepan. Cool. Stir in the sugar and vanilla and mix well. Sift the flour with the soda and slowly add to the butter mixture, mixing until a smooth dough is formed. To shape, press dough into a teaspoon and level off with a knife. Place oval flat side down onto a greased baking sheet. Bake in a slow oven at 350°F for 12-15 minutes. While they are still warm, gently roll cookies in a shallow bowl of coarse granulated sugar and/or sandwich 2 cookies together with a bit of jam.

note: I am told the jam is not often used as the cookies are very delicate and are difficult to eat when sandwiched together. I also suspect that it would make the cookies a bit too sweet so a jam that isn't overly sugary like apple would likely be better.

permalink Ω 16 June 2003, Helsinki

Gimmankanto

In the fine Nordic tradition of pillaging villages and carrying off the young women Finland has the annual wife carrying championships in Sonkajärvi.

Today there was a gimmankantu event in downtown Helsinki so I strolled down the street in search of amusement and maybe some decent photos. I went an hour early and found the park already crowded. The bandstand was mobbed with people eagerly awaiting the start of the festivities. There was even a torch to lend an olympic air to the scene [ I love this photo as the kid looks like all she wants is ice cream while behind them is a giant poster for the official event in Sonkajärvi that almost looks real instead of a photo. ] :)

I lamented not bringing beer with me as it seemed like everyone was enjoying some sort of fun enhancing beverage, including the contestants. There was one couple who I watched guzzle down a litre of koskenkorva before running, or should I say walking, the course. They were so hammered that the crowd cheered when they finished. :)

There was a wide array of contestants, some of whom were in costume. I liked the costumes as they added a bit of fun and I thought they should have given extra points to those who went to the trouble. There was easy rider, Casper and Wendy, chicken little and the bunny, the hippies and the mod squad [ the winners ], the troll and fairy and the sisu footballers.

The course was pretty wimpy compared to the official course but the contestants started at the far end, met the water hazard, turned the corner through the tyres, lept over the hay bales and made a mad dash up the ramp to the bandstand to finish. There were a number of different styles of carrying the women; piggyback, upside down, on top of the shoulders as well as lying across the shoulders. I don't know what prize the winners recieved but they seemed to have a lot of fun.

In the background was a guy making a sculpture of unknown artistic value with a chainsaw which was mesmerizing to watch since I've always been a bit scared/respectful of chainsaws. Some of the professional photogs kept slyly looking over at me and passing by to see if I was new competition with the fancy camera which gave me a bit of a giggle. An afternoon of completely wacky, harmless fun. :)

permalink Ω 7 June 2003, Helsinki

Vappu photos

I survived Vappu and managed to take a few photographs of the melee. A Helsingin Sanomat article I found helps to explain the origins of Vappu which noone seems to remember or care about anymore. It's a giant drunken street carnival everyone seems to enjoy regardless of where it came from. :)

The tradition is to have a group of university students winched up by a crane over a rather voluptuous fountain statue whereupon they place a cap on her head at 6pm on Vappu Eve. They dangle in the air waiting for the time to arrive and discuss how many beers they've had already while drowning out the din of the bad, drunk brass band playing on top of a van nearby.

Once the cap is on the statue named Manta, everyone puts on their own caps, regardless of age, and the festivites officially begin. The harbor area is full of balloons, typical carnival fare, and a few food vendors selling sausages and pancake/crepe-like pastries with jam to help keep a few people sober or liven up the sidewalk vomit, depending on how you look at it. :)

People hang around while drinking champagne and wearing goofy hats. One girl had a giant grinning flower balloon in one hand, a bottle of champagne in the other with a curious look on her face while the friend next to her is saying somthing like 'you didn't need him anyway'. I really like that photo. I also caught Sammy Hagar amidst the crowd.

After about 2 hours of this, people wander to private parties or to pubs, leaving the empties for the clean-up crew.

permalink Ω 4 May 2003, Helsinki

The Art of the Exhibit

Last December I purchased a Canon D30 camera and searched the net for a decent package to install for displaying them on the web. After about 2 weeks of hunting I found Pekka Saarinen's Photography on the Net where his own D30 Photos had me thinking that I was unworthy of such equipment and I emailed him to ask what software he was using. Well, he wrote it himself and he's finally released The Exhibit Engine for anyone frustrated by all the mediocre gallery utilities to use and enjoy :) Kiitos Pekka.

permalink Ω 22 April 2002, Helsinki

Eat Here, Get Gas

I'm getting too old for road trips or at least that's what I was cursing under my breath as I hit a blizzard last Thursday night 100 miles west of Boston on the MassPike. It was like jumping to light speed in the Millenium Falcon for 600 miles only I was cruising much slower than light speed pace, 30MPH. The very large and heavy Sparc in my back seat was good for ballast in the near blinding snow. If you ever drive along I-90 in New York you'll notice the 4-6' high orange and white reflectors all along the road which are there just for this kind of weather since I wouldn't have made it without them. It's always a bad sign when the truckers disappear from the road and you find yourself creeping by a giant plow at 5mph and only realise this after you pass it on the right.

I made it through Cleveland but if the guy in the SUV who was riding my bumper in near whiteout conditions without headlights and talking on his cellphone is reading this I'd like to revoke your license without hope for renewal. And to most of the State of Ohio who haven't ever learned that the right lane is the travel lane and the left lane if for passing; passing on the right is dangerous and one of these days cops will be able to give out tickets for driving while stupid that may lead to revocation of your operators license. Really bad passenger car drivers are why I generally like to drive between the hours of 7pm and 7am as the truckers are usually polite and don't hog the passing lane.

Once you reach I-70 you can sleep since it's straight and flat all the way to St. Louis through Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Effingham and East St. Louis. I've done this drive so many times I know all the exits and which ones have the better places to eat at and get gas.

As soon as I got to St. Louis, I drove over to Webster University since this is where the search engine would call home. Ben Hockenhull valiantly wheeled the system through the door to its home in the machine room. [ note the solstice shirt wasn't planned :) ] We plugged it in, it came up and since it was Friday night went to find Sarah, minus 6 wisdom teeth, at Coffee Cartel in the Central West End. I spent the night over at Sarah's in her cool apartment with Dolemite, Circus Flora and intimate images of body parts adorning her walls and windows :). It's an odd feeling to leave somewhere one night and wake up in another the next day, especially when that other place happens to be the city you grew up in. It is said that familiarity breeds contempt and I have a love-hate relationship with St. Louis in the sense that I miss it when I'm away and when I'm back I'm ready to leave again. Someone please tell Sarah and Ben that they need to move to Boston so I don't have to drive to St. Louis every time I want to see them :)

We wandered around for the day in the CWE mostly and drove over to the Galleria so I could pick out some new eyewear. I'm the Imelda Marcos of glasses and love to buy new frames when I feel like pampering myself. Sarah bought a monkey t-shirt and I bought a dental floss fishie at Dry Ice, a goofy store that caters to the teenage girl set.

I stuck around for the afternoon on Saturday but had to leave for fear of losing momentum, not wanting to go back to work and dreading the drive back. I took a last picture of Sarah on Euclid and drove off into the sunset.

On the way to St. Louis I nearly drove off the road when I saw a giant looming crucifix 200 feet tall and 113 feet wide looking like a cruciform grain elevator. When I drove back, I stopped in Effingham, Illinois to get a photo of it and see what the story was. While I was taking pictures a trucker and his schnauzer puppy named slick came up behind me and said;

"They're building them all over the country".
"Oh, who?", I replied.
"Christians, of course."
"Well, gee, that's a relief as I thought it might have been the secret christian faction of Islam trying to subvert our highway faithful."

Apparently, this is the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere that was built last Summer and displaces the Groom, Texas Cross as the largest.

I managed to miss the snow on the way back and arrived home in time to watch the Oscars on Sunday and get some sleep before facing the joy that is my Dilbertian job at HP on Monday. Next time I go on a road trip it will be one way to the Caribbean and I'll leave the Sparcs at home. Thanks again Sun :)

permalink Ω 26 March 2002, Helsinki

Acid-free pixels

Since I recently joined the ranks of the digital camera owners I found Love in the Age of Digital Photos to be an interesting column from Stewart Alsop as he makes the same sort of bossa nova pining I've been having over the medium which is so loveworthy yet so lamentable. I've not tried any of the online services he mentions but I did install OS X on my iBook to optimistically try iPhoto only to be left somewhat unimpressed.

Film cameras remove much of this workload since you can have the film processed and, after a few days, get back prints and a CD with digital copies. Also, noone seems to be thinking about archival problems that may arise in the future since, at this point in the technology lifespan, I'll choose paper for longevity well before digital media. Digital cameras are cool but I hope there will be an easier way to manage the volume of pictures soon as well as more thoughts for archival qualities of storage formats.

permalink Ω 24 January 2002, Helsinki

Drowning in pixels...

The upside of a digital camera is that it takes nice pitures with immediate gratification, the down side is that you suddenly find yourself swimming in hundreds of 1.5mb+ sized filles. The old way of shooting film limited you to 36 shots or so per roll which cost anywhere between $8-$20 to have developed...so it cut down the volume and you had something physical to either file away or put in a scrapbook, etc. With 500 JPEG files in a week or so it quickly transforms into a much larger problem of how to organise them and how to manage them.

The software that comes with the Canon D30 is nothing to write home about but does an adequate job of extracting the photos from the CF card and transferring it to, in my case, the iBook. I quickly found that the Microtech ZiO! comes in very handy for hoovering off the photos without having to have the camera around. I've also started using Image::Info along with MacPerl [ thanks to Matthias and Pudge :) ] to bypass the Canon software altogether and gather all the EXIF information in a far more convenient manner than I would otherwise be able to do with the vendor software. Translating the Canon MakerNotes into useful information is not quite as clear and simple as one might hope though.

I've got lots of original files from the camera, a bunch of resized files for the web and, now, a whole lot of data relating to each. So, I'm thinking it needs a database, something small and simple but even with all the data that is extracted from the picture there is value added data such as location, type, comments, etc. which really make the data useful yet takes a lot of time since it cannot be automated.

And, of course, the logistics of sharing them becomes something of a task as well. The elderly couple who lived next door to my family when I was growing up would usually take an exotic holiday 2 or 3 times a year and invite us over for dinner and a slide show of photos with colourful stories afterwards and mail us picture postcards from their destinations too. Sharing pictures over the web removes all of the personal elements...I usually feel like a dirty old man looking at other peoples photos of family and such online without the personal commentary that would normally accompany such pictures. How do you share photos that are meaningful to you or meaningful enough to want to share while removing the personal? Well, I've looked at a lot of photo album software for the web and I figure if the personal can't be present then at least a certain amount of simplicity and utility should be. Pekka Saarinen is about to release his newly named exhibit engine which he's spiffed up in the last few weeks but the list feature is something I've not found in any other software. Pudge also has a nice photo gallery plugin but, at least on the boxes I use for photos, I can't install slash 2.x yet due to software conflicts. I'm hopeful that EE won't have any such issues.

And now I have to figure out the best way to send print orders to the photo shop so I can get physical copies to send to Mom :) Digital cameras are great if you can avoid drowning in the sea of pixels and info....

permalink Ω 4 January 2002, Helsinki

Happy Frigidaire New Year

I've always thought the whole New Year's thing as a rather dull and cold event. Why can't we celebrate midsummer when it's warm out with drinking and debauchery as a national holiday instead? :) I've done the Times Square celebration and others so this year we gave the Boston First Night celebration a whirl.

When we arrived we were promptly greeted by an array of inflated figures of a clown, the Temple of Been Here, and a group of weird creatures one of whom had killer boobies even Madonna would envy.

Ice sculptures were a very popular attraction as well. There was one where easy rider complete with steamy exhaust represented the old year with a child on a tricycle as baby New Year. A lovely scene of Bears and salmon with an amazing backdrop of trees was a big hit. The Snow Queen sculpture in Copley Square with the queen herself on a gryphon sleigh and a buck and child while the artists completed the bears with chainsaws was also pretty stunning. I wanted to ask what the creature in the center of the snowflake was but couldn't get close enough. Another sculpture in front of the library appears to be made of metal but is made of ice. I think it was a ring of people joining hands around a blazing white dove that Jarkko suggested was a grouse ( The Grouse of the New Year or of Peace? :) but there were TV news crews next to it making it impossible to get a photo.

Walking towards the parade route an ecclectic mix of public art was on display. Next to the public toilets this shamanistic creation gave even the most urgent bladder pause. A wood frame in the shape of a house with paper flames in the windows was a curious item and the cryptonite constellation made me chuckle.

My toes nearly froze off while waiting for the parade to begin but things finally started moving with cops on bikes, segways and horseback. Father Time made an appearance on a high wheel bicycle. A fife and drum corps dressed in costume, a scary dragon, cranes and a giant gold puppet were a small selection of the parade events before the cold and crush of people drove us in search of hot coffee nearby.

Before we left downtown to go sit on the nice warm couch with nice hot tea in the nice warm house we watched the fireworks display over the Common.

Next year at this time we'll be preparing to go to Finland so maybe we'll have to try Greece or somewhere very warm for the New Year instead :)

permalink Ω 1 January 2002, Helsinki

Babbage sure wasn't kidding :)

As we turned off of Broadway tonight and onto Glen street, 3 or 4 blocks away we could see the beacon to holiday cheer making me wonder if the space shuttle could see the humble Somerville home from space. Mere photos nor words can describe this Edisonian shrine to holiday cheer. I could have stood there for an hour and still not consumed its every detail like the angry virgin, 2nd storey santa and cow, seraphim and minnie mouse, santa playing rudolph and an exceptional star that I could have stared at for hours alone.

While we were still trying to comprehend the enormity of the display a woman walked by informing us that there was another house just 2 blocks over that was probably also visible from space or at least causing navigational problems with Logan airport. The house had a nativity, snowflakes, and a glowing pastiche of everything else. The entire house was covered with lights. I skipped the animatronic reindeer :)

Thanks Babbage! :) There are a number of Finns who are both horrified and delighted by the first collection and will certainly enjoy these new additions.

permalink Ω 27 December 2001, Helsinki

2001: A Massachusetts Christmas Photographic Odyssey

This year it has been especiallly difficult to find some of that good old fashioned holiday cheer but, much like Brazil relaxing its energy rationing for Christmas lights, I went forth with my new camera to catch a little twinkling festive levity. I can't say that I've found any good reasons why humankind should continue to exist but some of the displays both amused and delighted. So, Merry Megawatt Holidays and hopefully the photos will put a little festive chuckle into your Christmas Eve :)

There are quite a variety of lights and displays around the Boston area but Keyspan is sending a special"Thank You!" to this bright home in Arlington complete with the constellation Pegasus. Another house in Arlington has a nice classic look with a tree in the window and a lovely wreath as a crowning touch. A nativity on the porch with Santa as the North Star caught my attention one night. A little closer look at the porch nativity not only reveals the baby doing the full monty but the king at the left may be 'profiled' out of next years model. Is that a bomb he's holding? :)

For the canine lover, one Arlington home had a sheepdog wreath and Snoopy and Scooby-Doo to get you into the festive mood.

The City of Boston splurged and put up a cheap sign on the Common so as not to appear to be spending our tax dollars frivolously. Boston Common also had a large menorah for Chanukah and a rather loud christian guy attempting to save people but lost even the homeless guy on the bench who was trying to get some sleep. An associate of his was inspired to offer the gospel of jesus to rabbinical students with the rabbi looking on wonderment. It was a really funny moment :) The Wang Center Nutcracker is an annual sign that Christmas has arrived in Boston.

One home in Woburn embraced the American way of 'if one is good, 50 is better' in their lighting pastiche including a herd of reindeer, glowing nativity with camel, freaky frosty, another nativity where Joseph appears to have a club and Santa "The Green Finger" Claus. Another Woburn home turned their house into a glowing flag. A simple entourage-free nativity appeared and a politically correct Happy Holidays. The Woburn Boy Scout troop Christmas tree lot had a sweet little tree with a "pay here" box for the honest and a very large guy in a car for those not so honest.

A group of brightly costumed "Jingle Ride" bicyclists rode into Harvard Square and stopped on g enough for Rudolph to lead the kids in a rousing Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer carol. I also spied Santa, Elf #69, and some apprentice elves riding in style before they departed. The Republik Pub down the street from Harvard Square bid passers-by to join Mrs. Claus for a stiff one on Christmas Eve...I wonder what Santa will be having. :)

One Lexington home sported Santa and a basket of Reindeer hanging from the side of the house. The detail of Santa looking skyward and the reindeer looking nervously at the ground was delightful. Next year Santa will probably fly Southwest Airlines instead. Lexington is home of the Minuteman, a very patriotic symbol of freedom so it's no surprise that patriotic red, white and blue lights and flags abound this year. I even caught a real live patriot on the T one night returning from the Boston Tea Party reenactment. [ The minuteman photo was a casualty of having a tripod in the middle of MassAve at 11pm while freezing my arse off, getting hassled by the Lexington cops and not having the manual handy so I could figure out how to lock up the mirror :) ] A non-glowing nativity in front of the First Parish Church with the celeryleg crier and Mary and Joseph contemplating the empty crib.

Cape Anne [ the 'other' Cape in Massachusetts ] was full of holiday garnish. Another sinister snowman started to make me wonder if snowmen are really the clowns of Christmas. An illuminated Santa and sleigh caused traffic to bunch up a bit and I imagine that those in awe must have been seeing this version instead. mmm...pass. more. eggnog. Rockport trimmed Motif #1 in a wreath and flag to liven up the fishing shack for the holidays. The Rockport Ladies Club outdid themselves this year adorning the tree in stars and stripes bows, reflective foil stars and patriotic twinkling lights.

The look in Spock's eye and the set of his head
Soon gave them to know he would not go to bed.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And tuned all the sensors then turned back to Kirk,
And pressing a button and counting to three,
He lit up the bridge like a huge Christmas Tree.
His work done, he nodded, and walked toward the lift
As his friends stared in awe at his luminous gift.
But they heard him exclaim, his voice with good-will rife,
"Merry Christmas! And to you all, Peace and Long Life!"

permalink Ω 24 December 2001, Helsinki

On the 13th day of christmas my wallet screamed to me....

Years ago I bought one of the first Casio digital cameras made. It was cool at the time but I decided I liked film much better and left the digital cameras to edgers. Well, after having a few disappointing rolls of film recently and having the developer lose a few rolls of film I decided to give digital a try again. A friend of mine is a professional portrait photographer and he firmly believes that digital is the future and that film cameras will be collectors items as soon as 5 years from now. That gave me pause :) So, I currently have a Canon Elan7e and, after shopping around a bit, settled on the Canon EOS D30 since both cameras use the same lenses and I'm familiar with the Canon line of cameras.

So...I bought, I waited, and it arrived today. The reviews didn't lie and I'm exceedingly pleased with the results. Look at an Elan 7e photo vs. a D30 photo of my Macquarium at work. The difference is rather impressive. I'm no Ansel Adams but I'd like to be able to take decent pictures. Hopefully I won't go too Ladnar with the new camera and I'm pretty amazed with the quality of the photographs, the reasonable software they ship with it and most everything else. Pekka Saarinen has a fine gallery of photos taken with a D30. [ no, he's not related to Eero since, apparently, Saarinen is like Smith in Finland :) ] I also really like the photo album software Pekka uses, even if it is PHP.

permalink Ω 12 December 2001, Helsinki

Merry Megawatt Christmas

I am not terribly fond of John Grisham, the author, but recently bought a copy of Skipping Christmas as I was in need of a bit of fluff reading and figured it doesn't get much fluffier than a Grisham Novel. It's a story about a couple who decide to go on a cruise instead of doing the whole Christmas thing of lights, parties, presents, etc. Seems simple enough until the neighborhood engages in a bit of suburban terrorism since their house is the only one on the street without lights. This happens in real life so no shock value there. However, it reads like a Stephen King novel about a couple being attacked by the Christmas cheer mafia and their daughter. If you are moving to suburbia but have reservations don't read this book. :)

I spent about 5 hours tonight driving around Lexington, Woburn, Burlington, Rockport, Glouchester, Lanesville and Essex looking for inspired holiday lighting displays to capture on film. I bought a tripod and some Ilford 3200 black & white film a few weeks ago in preparation. I was a little uncomfortable at first to jump out of my car with photographic equipment and take photos while people were in residence but after the first shots it got easier. One couple even came out to say hello and tell me the story of their creation.

I'm still not finished but after one night of driving around I noticed that there are a lot fewer people with holiday lights and even fewer with truly inspired displays than in the past. The patriotic theme of red, white and blue is very popular this year. I found a flag on the side of a house in coloured lights and denuded trees seemed to be the most popular choice to adorn with patriotic strands of light.

Today was the arrival of Santa in Rockport by lobster boat. Rockport has an almost Whoville-like Christmas as once Santa arrives, he is driven around the Neck, he lights the Christmas tree in the square and then everyone in town gathers around with hot chocolate and sings carols with Santa leading from the old Rockport firetruck. It was 71F in Eastern MA so it was lacking the usual bitter cold and the threat of snow. However lacking in appropriate festive weather the Rockport Christmas tree is absolutely lovely. It is adorned with red, white and blue lights, shiny foil stars, red balls and big bows emblazoned with a flag motif. I helped decorate the Rockport tree for a few years when I lived there and prefer a more traditional theme but, as trees go, it is quite a sight. I hope the photos of it turn out and I may have to go back with some colour film to capture the red, white and blue theme.

permalink Ω 2 December 2001, Helsinki

Good Things™ for Halloween

Halloween is my favourite holiday of the year probably because it involves candy and no family or religious obligations. Last year I carved up a pumpkin and extorted a few photos out of Jarkko for fun and giggles.

This year I thought I'd embrace the Martha within and share how I made the 'Perl pumpkin' so you too can terrify everyone on your block :).

1. Purchase a resonably large and smooth skinned pumpkin. This is a key step :)
2. Remove guts of pumpkin. Save goo for later to torment the obnoxious kids in the neighborhood or drunken adults trick-or-treating when they show up at your door.
3. Print out 2 copies of the pattern and tape one copy on clean and dry pumpkin. You may need to make vertical slits along the sides to make pattern lie flat on pumpkin.
4. Get out your tools. You will need an exacto or box knife, sharp utility knife and a speedball linoleum cutter found at most art stores (unless you live in MA which seems to be devoid of linoleum cutters) or you can order a really deluxe set of tools from Martha. I'll confess to owning this and it is a really nice set if you are into carving pumpkins. Some stores carry a cheap-o set of tools from the pumpkin masters but they are frustratingly cheap and you are better off carving the pumpkin with a dremel.
5. Use the exacto or box knife to trace around the white areas. Do the inside of the P and the E first, then the others. After these are all done, leaving only black paper, trace around the edge of the black.
6. Look at your 2nd copy of the pattern and take a black marker to mark the parts that are black on the pattern as a reminder which parts are going to be scraped.
7. Get out your speedball linoleum cutter and start from the right side of the design and, in clean vertical cuts, start removing the skin. You need only make one pass per cut since you seek only to remove the orange skin and give it a woodcut-like appearance.
8. When done scraping the marked areas, use utility knife inside the pumpkin to carefully cut away a bit of the rind in the area of the design.
9. Use drill or other instrument to create air holes in back or on on the bottom of the pumpkin for the candle
10. Insert candle, display and watch those neighborhood kids run screaming from your house.
11. If a guy with long hair calling himself "St. Ignucius" shows up at your door, hand him an AOL CD and point to the pumpkin before shutting the door. :)

permalink Ω 14 October 2001, Helsinki

Postcards from Finland....

Last spring I traded in my old camera for a new Canon Elan 7e since I knew we would be travelling over the summer and trying to develop hobbies that aren't Perl related. :) I know, I know, it's very low-tech to still own a film camera but I like film and I can even get them put on Kodac CD at the time of processing or scan them in with my Canoscan 676U.

Perhaps it is a function of age that I started to think of all the countries I have travelled to and all the events of my life that I had no pictures to peruse when I'm even older and more a curmudgeon than I am now. So, risking being branded a tourist, I lugged along my camera to Helsinki and Turku last August to take some pictures I could enjoy. I must admit that I am not that terrific of a photographer but the Elan 7e is a camera that makes up for much of my inexperience. All of the following photos were taken using Kodak Portra 400VC film and if you have a slow modem be warned that all of them are ~80k or so.

Jarkko's parents Eila and Erkki [ this was taken in Boston Commons in May ] whom we stayed with for two weeks at their lovely home in Espoo, a suburb of Helsinki or, really more precisely, one of the 4 cities that make up the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.

We slept late and went out to eat a lot as people do when on holiday. The Art of Star Wars exhibit was in town at the time and managed to catch it though it was mostly unappealing stuff from Episode I. The display of Darth Vaders costume was fun since you had to walk into a completely dark booth when you would begin to hear the heavy breathing....and lighting would illuminate the visage of Darth. I was hoping he would say something like 'Luke, I am your father' or another equally cheesy line but no, he just kept on with the heavy breathing. I managed to drag Jarkko to just about every bookshop in town as well as to Stockmann's Department Store a few times too. Stockmann is everywhere and sell everything from underwear to automobiles. If you need it, Stockmann likely has it.

I love Finnish food..then again, I love English food so this may be some indication that I'm a little odd :) I never met a loaf of bread I didn't like and Finland has *excellent* bread and these little karelian pies I can eat by the pound. They are made with either a rice or potato filling and, on one occasion, carrot. McDonald's has the McRuis which is a hamburger with trimmings on a rye bread bun. I'm nearly drooling on the keyboard just looking at the web page for it. I'm jonesing for my McRuis fix. Their cheese is also delicious. There is Aura or, as it is marketed in the US, Midnight Blue cheese named for Aura, the area with the river Aura where it is made and Finlandia Swiss Emmental. You don't need to understand Finnish to grasp the power of cheese. The Finns have some weird things I won't eat though....a mixture of butter with either chopped egg or roe mixed in. These people use roe like butter. My lip curls at the thought of fish roe but it's everywhere....I guess I'll try to aquire the taste for it. :) I'm slowly warming up to the idea of Baltic herring.

Jarkko decided to book a cruise on the Silja line cruise ships to visit Stockholm for a day and, while we were there, see Artur and his lovely girlfriend. On our way to the terminal I took a shot of the Tuomiokirkko [ Lutheran Church, literally "Doom Cathedral" ] which looms large on the landscape of Helsinki and is visible from nearly everywhere you look. The Helsinki Town Hall is right next to the port and another prominent feature. You can't really see it in the photos but the streetlights are beautifully designed and they take quite a bit of care in interior as well as exterior lighting and design.

So, I didn't really tell Jarkko about my deep fears regarding cruise ships and general lack of 'sea worthiness' and just decided to give it a go and try to have a good time. Before the boat left the the South Harbour we got an excellent view of The Helsinki Yacht Club along with an amazingly bright red sailboat, a blue boat and a sailboat that I wouldn't mind having for myself. We took a walk around the deck and the boat moved on out of port towards Suomenlinna [Finland's Fortress], the sea fortress built by the Swedes in the late 1700s. There is a ferry that takes tourists to the fortress that we had taken a year earlier. It's quite an amazing fortification, half of it is still in use by the armed forces. We cruised by the Kings Gate and past the parapets and bastions and out into the Baltic while Jarkko assumed his Finnish national pose :) Once we were cruising along I got a reasonable sunset photo or two before the sun retired for the evening around 9pm and we went to find food and drink indoors.

The cruise ship indoors is like a hotel with a shopping mall, a casino, a bunch of restaurants and a duty-free shop where every alcohol and cigarette depraved nordic citizen shops in a crazed frenzy. We had dinner at the seafood restaurant after I spied what looked like a very appealing baltic seafood platter. When it arrived on the table it was filled with a variety of crustaceans but after a while I started noticing that the baltic crayfish were covered in roe...not just a little but covered in roe. It was unexpected and unusual but, sans roe, it was rather good. Afterwards we went up to the top deck to have a few drinks in the bar before going to bed and happened to be just in time for the karaoke. Now, there is nothing quite so disturbing after a few Finlandia Vodka, lakka and cranberry cocktails as a bunch of drunken Swedes and Finns singing karaoke to Willie Nelson and other such American music classics. One act drove us to another round and the bartender giggled showing off his airport quality ear protection for such occations. One ray of hope was that not one person sang an Abba song.

Above and beyond the call of duty, Artur Bergman and his girlfriend picked us up at the terminal when we arrived at the awful morning hour of 8am or so on a Sunday. We dropped our stuff at the hotel and wandered around the old town section of Stockholm while I took pictures of a manhole cover and a fountain before feeling a bit too touristy to take more photos. The Vasa Museum was very interesting and I enjoyed spending a few hours there. I'm still in awe of it's size and that it was successfully raised and preserved after 333 years on the bottom of the sea. I think it should be a required study for PHBs to illustrate that no matter how important you are or how much money you spend on a project, it can still sink straight to the bottom if you don't let the engineers do what they do best. The rest of the day we just hung around and ate lots of food while talking little about Perl. If travel to and in the US weren't so unrecommended I'd love for them to visit Boston and show them around town.

On the return trip to Helsinki there was a freak storm that made for very rough going with 10 foot swells. Needless to say I was a bit green in the morning and having a breakfast of coffee while watching people slather roe on their karelian pies was almost enough to make me run to the railing. We slogged through a driving rain through downtown to the bus station to catch a ride home. I haven't changed my mind about giant cruise ships but I survived and enjoyed seeing a side of Nordic culture that a tour book wouldn't satisfactorily cover.

Jarkko borrowed his Father's car for a day and we took a scenic drive 2 hours west to Turku. Turku was recently in the news for giving Microsoft the shove and switching to Linux. We wandered along the river in downtown and visited the Turku Cathedral, the largest gothic cathedral in Finland first built in 1286. Outside stands Mikael Agricola the first Lutheran Bishop of Finland and is also credited with creating the written Finnish language. It's he whom we can blame for all the bloody double-consonants. The Finnish Historical Society has a biography of Agricola and a host of others. The front door of the cathedral exudes gothic age while below it on the river banks is rent-a-canoe. Turku also had a lot of public art including a fountain, spider web and Turku spelled in pink impatiens to remind people where they are if they've managed to forget.

We left Turku in search of Snappertuna, yes, it's really named that, and Raasepori Castle, the castle on the rock, built in the late 13th century and was surrounded by water when it was built. This is the sort of place kids would love to have to play pirate games in. I caught a shadow from one of the windows that looked just like an Atari space invader, or a jellyfish or...something. It was nearing sunset and the light inside the castle was casting long and, at times, creepy shadows. From the tower I saw a house that is pretty typical for Finnish homes. A wood frame house with vertical slats and a flush ladder, no shutters on the windows, modest design and a sauna. The New England Saltbox style is similar.

In the last couple of days in town before heading home we took a cruise around Lauttasaari in a friends' old trawler that he is making a hobby of fixing up and one last day where I took my camera along to be a tourist. While getting a picture of a seemingly rather perturbed carriage driver and his steeds on the esplanadi, we saw this group of kids carrying pails and squirting each other with mustard, flour and other goop. They looked like an interesting group so we followed them down to the harbour fountain where they began to rinse off the goo and freshen up. One girl whom I dubbed bat girl was particularly interesting. We still don't know what the event was all about but it was certainly amusing to watch. :) One thing that I thought was rather odd in Finland was the abundance of graffiti everywhere. There is a pedestrian underpass at one of the metro stations that could be mistaken for a Bronx mural. Finland is very serious about its coffee, so serious in fact that King Kong himself scaled the YLE building to behold a magnificent mug of the national drink. I think he's missing a bottle of Finlandia though. And, if you ever wondered of what became of the Leningrad Cowboys then your search is over as they run a Russian Tex-Mex Restaurant in downtown Helsinki.

So, if I've made Finland sound appealing, Winter is coming and is a perfect time to visit The Ice Hotel which is just what it sounds like and Santa Park where Santa really lives. Reindeer is good eatin'! :)

permalink Ω 13 October 2001, Helsinki