What spring?

I honestly think stores changed their decor into spring way too early. Days might be getting longer, but winter isn't going anywhere.

To Stockholm and back + few weeks of nothing

Sorry for not being active much these weeks. It's been quite silent around here. Dark and gloomy skies for months, constant bad weather going from severe snowfalls to slush on the streets, nothing much to be done other that being home watching something and playing games. 

I did my best to take a break from the internet, and frankly it's been refreshing. 

During that time, here are the highlights:

This is what's been ruining every glitch of inspiration we might get. Completely impossible to get nice long exposures without light pollution carried by clouds to smudge half the photo.

We went on a short family cruise to Stockholm and back, no getting off the ship [and thank gods for that], only sailing. It felt great because of the family group and the slight change in the everyday life.

this is how daytime has been for a while now

I was traveling light, with only a backpack, so these photos were taken by Kalle.

Note: For photos from Stockholm, click here.

Currently, we're in Pori, since it's ski vacation week. We're keeping the place warm and working on some home projects. Sun showed up today, so I have some interior shots to share later on. 

I also applied for a International Business Bachelor program at Turku University of Applied Sciences, fingers crossed for the exam on April!

I'm also planning of putting some posts on a queue, so that I don't get behind again [like with the past few Video Sundays that are finally posted, only backdated].

Violeta

Sunflower seeds happiness

 

Sunflower seeds are something I love quite much. Sadly, for whatever reason, they don't sell them in Finland [except raw seeds for birds] . I got a surprize-pack for Christmas, from the Mothership, and oh the delight!

My fingers almost have holes from cracking the seeds [I never learned to do it properly with my teeth], but it feels good. 

Violeta

Resolution 2012

Almost forgot about thinking back and summarizing the year! still, last day, here we come.

I'm glad that I managed to accomplish most of last year's goals.

This year has been a lot less intense and maybe a bit boring, but also quite progressive in some areas.

Here's what happened:

1. Maybe the most significant thing - Google+. Amazing community was formed there, I can only be happy to be a part.
2. At the beginning of 2012, the sea froze, so we were able to walk on the very thick ice. The experience was incredible to me, since the Black sea in Bulgaria never freezes. 
3. We got new family members - the gerbils tank and Topi. <3 br="br">
4. I started making the Food of the day series.
5. Visited Stockholm for the first time. Huge disappointment due to very high expectations [if you want to know why, check out the travel note].
6. Around Easter, we moved to Turku, since we were spending most of our free time here anyways. Amazing city, gorgeous locations and nature. 
7. Got involved into DiskGolf [and learned about it for the first time].
8. Finally opened a 500px account, which changed a lot on how I viewed photography.
9. Went again to Stockholm, still didn't like it.
10. Summertime happened and witch it the amazing White nights and summer festivals such as Pori Jazz and DBTL. Also around Midsummer, I got my first own DSLR camera, my aunt's old Sony.
11. In July, I had my 20th birthday. Sadly I had to spend most of the day at the dentist, due to several months of wisdom tooth pain that got to its peak, and the tooth had to go away. Thank gods.
12. Also for my birthday, I got a new camera - Canon 600d, from Kalle. Now we can both shoot each other with Canons. <3 li="li">
13. I started learning Finnish language at the local international school. I'm already in Level 3. The progress is slow, but sure.
14. I got hooked up with Tumblr, for good or bad.
15. Went to Umeå, Sweden.
16. Prometheus came out, and we got ourselves a poster. Epicness.
17. Carnival of Light happened, where I took some of my best shots for this year.
18. One year in Finland rolled out from the calender.
19. Got voted Popular on 500px.
20. Got featured on Tumblr.
21. Got a new family member - the Small Silver bunny Johnny Silver.
22. 12.12.12 happened 
23. Survived yet another apocalypse.
24. Had another great Christmas.

 

And here we are, waiting for another New Year to come. 

My goals for 2013 are:

• get a job
• enroll in university studies
• keep progressing with Finnish language
• become better in photography
• explore more [that kinda depends on the weather, but still...]

Thank you all for your support during this year! I wish you only the best and see you in 2013!

Violeta

Christmas lights and mood

corridor

kitchen

our awesome tea selection

balcony

Add hot chocolate and cinnamon and you have great mood and cozy atmosphere. 

Violeta

One year in Finland

 

This is from December 2011, one of the first shots in Finland. 

Taken by Kalle on the coast of Rauma.

Violeta

Meet Johnny Silver - the small silver bunny

We just got a new family member! He's a Small silver rabbit, only 6 months old, very very fluffy. 

He's still adjusting to the new environment, so we haven't introduced him to the gerbil neighbours he's having, but it will happen over time. 

Violeta

Violeta on "conditional appreciation" and the problem of "I will if you do" on the Internet

The comment above appeared on one of my photos in 500px (link here), and it gave me the reason to share some thoughts on a very common problem all over the Internet.

Have you seen the "I will follow you, if you follow me", or in this case, "vote + fave if you..."?

For some people it might work just fine, they would go and check out the other person's profile, maybe fave, comment, no problem. But for everyone with common sense it feels pushy and rather negative.

For an artist especially, it's very insulting.

• Why does your appreciation for my art have to be under conditions?
• Do you really like my photo or you're shamelessly promoting your own gallery?
• If you like the photo, as you state in your comment, why don't you just put it to your favourites collection, and let me decide, if I can spare my time to check out your profile?
• What if I already checked it, but didn't like anything I saw? How would you know that? I don't want to lie to you, but you might not take criticism. (and this is a very common problem all over the internet, especially Facebook, but that's a different, very long topic)
• Isn't one major website enough for you to showcase your work, so you have to mooch on other people's profiles?

I do always check the profiles of people who comment, fave, follow, like, +1 or whatever type of interaction is available on the websites. And if I find something good, I let the people know - either by liking, faving, or sending a message. But if I don't, which is more often, I just move on, or simply thank back for their appreciation.

I don't like being pushed towards interaction I might not want to deal with, or not have the time for.

I'm curious if any of you have experienced something like that, and your thoughts about it in general. 

Violeta

FIRST SNOW!

I am like a little kid in a candy store right now!

Violeta

Carnival of light and Worldwide photowalk

We're currently charging the batteries for tomorrow!

Plan involves heading to Helsinki early in the morning. We'll be there mainly for shooting the opening of the Carnival of Light at Linnanmäki amusement park [they were great to give us free full-entry passes], but we might as well hop on the Worldwide photowalk that will be held there in the afternoon.

I can say there's been some really bad organizing for the photowalk, since there's not even the slightest info about the leader [apart than just a name that matches a bunch of inactive google+ profiles], nor event marked on Google+ [and the Facebook one doesn't seem to work according to the comments]. 

I also found one here in Turku, but same thing with organizing - no event was set, and even with having 60+ Finnish people in my circles, I found out about the event from the official page. Such a shame, really. 

Maybe next year I'll sign up for a photowalk leader, at least organizing isn't a problem for me.

Apart from those two, we might as well meet up with a very sweet person at the carnival. Hopefully she'll make it. :]

Violeta

Linnanmäki amusement park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alien movie marathon

We kicked off a movie marathon last weekend. The whole Alien + prequel movies are planned to be watched during the next weekends.

Prometheus is finally out, so we got to start with it, as a prequel to the anthology. Great execution, the amazing style of Ridley Scott shows once again. I love how faithful the movie is to the original Alien form 1979, which is what we watched next. Everything matches up so well, though we're expecting the second Prometheus to come out after some time. It will definitely clear the left questions.

Next weekend we continue with the second movie Aliens and if we have time Alien 3.

Violeta

Neverwinter nights

In case you're wondering why I've been quite inactive this week, here's the reason:

 Neverwinter nights is what keeps me away from editing photos in the past week. It’s been years since I last played the game, but it’s always as enjoyable.

Problem is, I managed to fuck up majorly**, because of playing too sleepy [not the first time, sadly] , so now I’ll be starting from the beginning and fix what I missed.

I’ll do my best to keep the stream going here, during the breaks from playing. Cheers!

**For those familiar with the game, in the second chapter, you’re supposed to go to Luskan and investigate the Arcane Brotherhood. But before going there, you should explore all the Port Llast roads and finish the side quests, or they will be lost once you enter Luskan. Problem is, I forgot about that and couldn’t finish most of them, which is very valuable experience. I only went through the North road to Luskan and the East road to Cherwood, where everything ended up in burning hell. Note has been taken, so I’m re-starting now.

Violeta

Swiss diamond pan

We got ourselves a new pan from Swiss diamond. It has diamond coating for faster heating and longer durability. Easy to use and clean.

 

 

photo by Kalle

photo by Kalle

Violeta

Turku - Vaasa - Umeå

 Yep, trip to Sweden again. This time no dirty, gloomy Stockholm, as we're taking things up to the north. I've never been this far up, so I'm very excited to get on the road on Friday and then cross thr Gulf of Bothnia with a ferry.

See you after the weekend!

Violeta

Down by the Laituri

 Festival page

The opening concert was really really awesome!

We saw Paleface, Jukka Poika and Apulanta.

Violeta

To the 20+

Birthday time, yey!

An important time of my life, to finally pass the "teen" years.

Also, thanks to Kalle, I have a new camera - a shiny Canon EOS 600D.

 

 And no cake this year, because of a nasty wisdom tooth that had to be removed. Oh well...

Violeta

Tumblr

I just opened a Tumblr account. Feel free to follow me and make sure to leave a comment so that I can follow you back!

vivanova.tumblr.com

Violeta

Midsummer

awesome Midsummer bonfire, done by Kalle

 Since it was my first time celebrating Midsummer, or as you may know it - the Summer Solstice, I don't have much to compare, but here are some thoughts and photos:

 Starting with the negative part. 

The only thing that minimize the enjoyment of the experience, at least for me, were the mosquitos. We had tons of those spirals that were supposed to keep the bugs away, but they failed. I still carry the bites and is making me crazy to restrain myself from scratching the skin out of my body. 

Also, mosquitos will be the major reason why you won't be seeing much nature photos this summer. Believe me, it's impossible to go out and even stop for a second, not to mention take your time to take a photo. There will immediately be a pack of 10 mosquitos trying to suck your blood through any open skin area.

Since it was a family gathering, there were many kids running around, playing in the water, and I really think that they and the dog had the best time during that day.

This birdie shot isn't a part of Midsummer but it's something I took with my new/first camera - a Sony Alpha A100.  

It was my aunt's for the past 5 years or so, but now I get to use it. 

I have to admit that it is a HUGE degrade after using Kalle's Canon 5D mk II in a matter of the camera feel, its functions and the focusing system, but it will be a good way to learn how to use it manually so that I can get the best out of it. And of course it is my first own dslr camera, so I'm back to the very basics.

I will be posting more images, but have in mind that they're still a sample of practice.

Violeta

Summertime

I've been inactive for a while now. It's summer outside [not now, but normally it is], there are festivals waiting to be attended, also Midsummer is coming [it will be my first time to celebrate it, sauna + bbq + bonfires here I come!].

Whenever the days are rainy, we just stay home and play games. It's much more relaxing than stressing over the internet.

Here are some shots from the past few weeks:

 

At Duck's lake

 ICCO rock at Pori first day

 

ICCO rock second day

See you again after Midsummer!

Violeta

Suomi Perkele!

Violeta