Dipper

The dipper looked kind of funny swimming with it's wings and diving. Pretty remarkable bird actually. They hunt for small prey by diving and hanging on to rocks in the bottom. Dippers see very well under water and can hold their breath for 30 seconds, which is quite unusual for such small birds.

Swimming dipper. ('cinclus cinclus' or koskikara in Finnish)



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Last rays of the day

Sun was just hiding behind the horizon. It set extra-ordinary colors and glimmers in it's final moments.

Shot down from over 10 meter height from an observation tower.

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Finnish country views

What a typical view in Finnish country side. Thousands and thousands of these old decaying structures going to waste. In a way it's a shame but they are great subjects for photography. And well... time for everything I guess. In Finland you really don't need to go searching these. Just go out - anywhere out of the city - and open your eyes.

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Using surroundings as frames

Sure, you can always add frames. No news there. And sometimes the photo needs frames in the context to really work. A photo with a white background doesn't necessary go well with white wall for example. Or white web page. But be careful, use subtle tones and don't let the frame out-do the photo. White, black and natural white are sure choices.

Then you can use "natural" frames. Compose the photo with the surroundings as a frame. Windows are usually effective as well as doorways but you can use all other kind of things as a frame too. Fences, bushes or pretty much everything that you can shoot through. Natural frames create a certain mood and can separate your photo from the mass, turn an ordinary photo to an interesting composition.

Here's a window shot from last weekend.

This one is a little older photo but as you can see almost everything can be used as a frame. This is from a railway station and the frames are just two poles and the roof.

Now go out, be creative and find a natural frame!





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Bench - Taking a different aspect

Sometimes you get good results just by taking an ordinary subject and viewing it from an out of the ordinary aspect. This bench was shot from over ten meters straight up. Sun gave a welcome addition to the image.

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Hollola observation tower

Climbed to a tower in the area to see the views all over Hollola landscapes. It was about -20C but felt more like at least -30c at the top of the tower.

The observation tower is located around here on the hill in the area behind the church (Hollolan kirkko): Google Maps

You get nice and very Finnish views from that tower. I recommend.

And if you have some creativity and some tele lenses you might see something otherwise interesting too.

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Kukkasjoki

River of Kukkasjoki in cold and beautiful sunlight.  (-20C)

There was some fellow photographers admiring this view also. At least two dippers (Cinclus cinclus, or Koskikara in Finnish) were occupying this river. River bends are easy to walk and follow so this a good place to shoot dippers. Some local photographers already know the place but if you want to take a look, it's located here: Google Maps

And just for proof, this is one of those dippers.

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Alert

Continuing the black and white theme...

It's black and white!

I think this is a very good example of what I stated in my post
Why should I go for black and white?

Dogs on ice

If you like dogs, more photos of dogs worth watching here:

PhotoDogs Blog


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