Ritva Sillanmäki Photography

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #228 – diagonals

For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #228, we’re exploring the power of diagonals.

We were invited to join this week to explore diagonals as a way to add visual interest and depth to our photos, as well as a sense of action. What diagonals can you find was asked?

Lets have a look at what I can find in a form of leading lines, I try to use them often to lead your way to something. Cityscapes are easy place to find them. They can lead your eye, frame the scene.

Did I find them, I had to stop lookng for them as I once again have an overload of them. Sorry…and as this is mainly a photography blog I will not go into details of the locations, I would not remember even if I tried. Diagonals you will find 🙂 Sit down and enjoy the scene’s as the header suggests.

On the top collage – Photos from Florida, California and Nevada

The second set is from Brisbane – Australia and the last one has bridges from Vancouver BC, first image, Brisbane AUS and the last one is from Sydney AUS

Patti – P.A. Moed CREATIVE EXPLORATION IN WORDS AND PICTURES hosts this weeks Lens-Artists Challenge #228 – Diagonals.

I survived November 2022

Photography, Still life

Lepis kindly made a patch to celebrate us once again surviving the deadliest month of all, November.

Here we are December, I have taken few days to recover from daily posting. As nice at it is listening to music it was hard trying to find every day a photo to match.

I am once again in silence, I think I need to but the music on. I also noticed a slight blue in the sky… it has been gray day out lately. Maybe this will cheer me up

Trying to figure what to post as nothing is really catching my attention. I can go through my archives, there are tons of photos I have not posted, I could re-edit them.

“I know I have gotta find somekind of peace of mind” The brokenhearted, I put the music on 🙂

Time to have a cup of coffee ☕and have some pastry with it and take a photo.

I also need to catch up on commenting and replying to your comments, thanks to all already for doing so !

Beautiful in Black and White 12

Black and White photos, Traveling Australia

I have a soft spot for black and white photography, I was once again reminded about the importance of exposure, light. It is the key element in these photos.

Clouds work well in B&W as do distinct shapes. I took these when visiting Queensland few years back

Bearded Dragon sign – Bearded Dragon Hotel Tamborine in QLD

The way that light hits objects, I think, is one of the more important things that sculpture and photography share. – Rashid Johnson

Posted for Bren’s Mid-Week Monochrome and Leanne’s Monochrome Madness

How to Survive November 2022 – 30

how to survive November, Traveling Cape Verde

I made it, this is the end of November. Thanks to my Novembers survivors Lepis and Susupetal for the company, I have heard songs that I haven’t in a while also made new discoveries. This has also made me again an active music listener, as I’ve grown older the less I’ve listened to music, And it’s a shame! Silence has been a good friend of mine, me and my thoughts, photos and art.

I need to keep up with this positive newly found joy of lisening to music.

Olavi Uusivirta is an actor and musician, As a musician, he is one of the most successful in our country. Three of his albums have achieved gold and Olavi (2016) received the award for rock album of the year at the Emma gala. Olavi Uusivirta has also acted in numerous films and on stage.

“The song tells about a compelling longing for somewhere else, for a new environment away from the familiar and safe, perhaps for a new human relationship — towards the new and unknown. You can also think that the narrator of the song experiences a powerful spiritual experience, after which there may be no going back. However, something happens and ‘the new pedaling takes me with it’!” Uusivirta opens the song.

And I hear a voice in the distance
The new rhythm takes me along
And gravity disappears completely
This is a forbidden game
It’s another reality
And if we’re being reasonable
The game ends with the autumn rains

”Laulu kertoo pakottavasta kaipuusta johonkin toisaalle, uuteen ympäristöön pois tutusta ja turvallisesta, kenties uuteen ihmissuhteeseen — kohti vierasta ja tuntematonta. Voi myös ajatella, että laulun kertoja kokee voimakkaan sielullisen elämyksen, jonka jälkeen paluuta entiseen ei ehkä enää ole. Jotain kuitenkin tapahtuu ja ’uusi poljento vie mut mukanaan’!” Uusivirta avaa kappaletta.

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

At the ‘How to Survive November‘ monthly theme we will combine photo and sound. You can select a piece of music to your taste and find a photo to portray the song or you can make a drawing, painting or collage. The picture can be from your archives or you can get it fresh. Enjoy and have fun!

How to Survive November 2022 – 29

Captures from Finland, how to survive November

I saw Kristoffer Kristofferson oin Helsinki in 2016

KRISTOFFERSON’S Singing has always been low and conversational, but that time it is even more so. Age and kilometers could be seen and heard both in Kristofferson’s singing and guitar playing, but it only brought more humanity to the show

It’s also due to his age that this time the legend didn’t talk as much as before, and it seemed like he was going through the repertoire of his familiar songs with a bit of automatic gear. Still with feeling and a style tempered by self-irony.

Don’t look so sad, I know it’s over
But life goes on and this old world will keep on turning
Let’s just be glad we had some time to spend together
There’s no need to watch the bridges that were burning

Lay your head upon my pillow
Hold your warm and tender body close to mine
Hear the whisper of the raindrops blowing soft against the window
And make believe you love me one more time for the good times

Rain on the window

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

How to Survive November 2022 – 28

Captures from Finland, how to survive November

Let’s try something else. WINTER

Antonio Vivaldi is a genius and truly stands out as the most creative among the host of composers who brought the Italian Baroque style to its zenith. His works ooze the perfection of the 17^th-century Italian opera and concerto formats.

Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” or “Le quattro stagioni” in Italian is a set of four concertos. The generalized views suggest concertos as a conversation between – a solo instrument or multiple solo instruments and a wider ensemble. Antonio utilized the violin as the sole instrument in “The Four Seasons.”

Winter

The concertos end with “L’inverno” or “Winter.” The opening movement resembles a shivering person, stamping his feet in rhythm to stay warm. The middle movement portrays the pleasure of getting warm inside through a crackling fire. The final movement offers people outdoors walking down icy paths, while people inside houses feeling the relentless chill finding its way inside.

At a basic level, “The Four Seasons” is extraordinarily authentic, an association with profound elegance and luxury. It is full of glistening and brilliant sonorities, ingenious innovations with vivid solo lines capturing the essence of nature. The most important factor that renders its popularity is the fact that it incorporates the basic human elements – the passage of time, the cycle of years and nature. The program incorporates seasonal images and sounds spectacular, without constraining the imagination. Each season offers a “point of departure” for a diverse range of metaphors.

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

How to Survive November 2022 – 27

how to survive November, People

k.d. lang & Roy Orbison – Crying

This time instead of my photos I added two of my artworks here. If interested seeing more of my art check out myy blog

ART BY RITVA

Roy’s solo rendition of “Crying” that night was flawless. Lang pours even more emotion into that song than he did in her subsequent solo performances of it, and her voice is unbelievably clear and strong. Two spectacular talents.

ArtByRitva – Crying

I was alright for a while
I could smile for a while
But I saw you last night, you held my hand so tight
As you stopped to say, “Hello”
Oh, you wished me well, you couldn’t tell

That I’d been crying over you
Crying over you
Then you said, “So long”
Left me standing all alone
Alone and crying

Roy Orbison was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as operatic. Many of Orbison’s songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male rock-and-roll performers chose to project machismo. He performed while standing motionless and wearing black clothes to match his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses, which he wore to counter his shyness and stage fright.

k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter A mezzo-soprano,Lang has contributed songs to movie soundtracks and has collaborated with many musicians. I love her voice.

ArtByRitva- alone

Alone and crying…

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

Lens-Artists Challenge #227 – Home Sweet Home

Captures from Finland, Nature, Photography

Tina wrote; On the other hand, there is much to love here in my own country. This week, let’s give that some extra thought. If a foreigner were to spend a week or a month traveling your home country with you, where would you take them? What sights would you tell them to be sure to see? Where have you found some of your own favorite images?

Tina from Travels and Trifles hosts this weeks Lens-Artists Challenge #227 – Home Sweet Home

I live in Beautiful Finland, coutry with four seasons. While I embrace Spring, summer and autumn and winter, I detest November, the greay month. So I will not be posting shots from that month.

Finland, or Suomi as we call it, this is my introduction to of it to you.

First few shots from Helsiki, were I would obviously take you

Finland, officially the Republic of Finland is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland across Estonia to the south. Finland covers an area of 130,678 sq miles with a population of 5.6 million.

Helsinki is the capital and largest city, forming a larger metropolitan area with the neighbouring cities of Espoo, Kauniainen, and Vantaa. Finland is one of the world’s northernmost countries. Of world capitals, only Reykjavík lies more to the north than Helsinki.

Finland’s climate varies from humid continental in the south to the boreal in the north. The land cover is primarily a boreal forestbiome, with more than 180,000 recorded lakes.

First few shots from Helsiki, were I would obviously take you. There also several other cities I would take you too, Porvoo, Hanko, Tampere and Turku and also to Oulu. If I posted shots from them well, no one would look through my post.

Lakes are lovely at all seasons, so I would take to one or two of them

Forests, woods…have asrtong place in Finns hearts, a place walk and calm your nerves.

Pick berries and mushrooms as we have Everyman’s rights. Public access rights, or so-called everyman’s rights, refer to the right of everyone in Finland to enjoy outdoor pursuits regardless of who owns or occupies an area. You do not need the landowner’s permission, and there is no charge. However, you must not damage the environment or disturb others while exercising public access rights.

Posted for Tina’s Lens-Artists Challenge

From my archives – orchids

Flowers

November will be filled with photos from the archives .

Orchids are easily distinguished from other plants, as they share some very evident derived characteristics . Among these are: bilateral symmetry of the flower ), many resupinate flowers, a nearly always highly modified petal fused stamens and carpels, and extremely small seeds.

Since I am sharing close-ups, mostly of flowers I’ve decided also to participate in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge.

How to Survive November 2022 – 26

how to survive November, Photography, Traveling US

Electricity” is the 1979 debut single by English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), featured on their eponymous debut album the following year.

Electricity” was the first song that Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys wrote together at the age of 16. It addresses society’s wasteful usage of energy resources.

SO, relevant sond still today, even more so

Our one source of energy
The ultimate discovery
Electric blue for me
Never more to be free

Electricity
Nuclear and H E B
Come fuels from the sea
Wasted electricity

Our one source energy
Electricity
All we need is to learn to save
And if a man would throw away

It doesn’t change the city cost
The alternative is only one
The final source of energy
Solar electricity

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

How to Survive November 2022 – 25

how to survive November, People, Photography

This is a song from a Finnish rock band called Kolmas Nainen (Third Woman)

The Lyric translation of the few lines that I included in this post is certainly not the best translation available, but it brings out the coffee…

I surprised myself by missing

my boyhood friends

especially that equally crazy one

the only one I fought with

who repeatedly told every coffee break

that he saw feline predators in the meadow

From this moment on I have

a few bushels of mammon

coffee and cigarettes to your heart’s content

At this moment on

heart only half-full, but

coffee and cigarettes to your heart’s content

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

How to Survive November 2022 – 24

how to survive November, People, Photography, Traveling US

I am getting desperate, but I am crabbing to straws….Melanie or Melanie Safka, is an American singer-songwriter.

With her sweet, captivating voice, quirky yet insightful songwriting and bubbly, upbeat, free-spirited hippie persona, pop and folk singer/songwriter Melanie totally epitomized the whole “flower power” counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s.

Oh, I wish that I could find a good book to live in
Oh, I wish that I could find a good book
Well, if I could find a real good book
I’d never have to come out and look at
What they’ve done to my song

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

Beautiful in Black and White 12

Black and White photos, Captures from Finland

Amalfi Cathedral is a 9th-century Roman Catholic structure in the Piazza del Duomo, Amalfi, Italy. It is dedicated to the Apostle Saint Andrew. Predominantly of Arab-Norman Romanesque architectural style, it has been remodeled several times, adding Romanesque, Byzantine, Gothic, and Baroque elements.

The Exterior, the Romanesque style bell tower is off-center. The structure includes four small towers of Arab architectural type that are adorned with arches and are covered with majolica tiles. During times of war, the bell tower was purposed for defense.
The garden contains colonnades, arches and sculptures. My photos this week are of the garden area.

More ℹ https://www.livesalerno.com/amalfi-cathedral

Posted for Bren’s Mid-Week Monochrome and Leanne’s Monochrome Madness

How to Survive November 2022 – 23

how to survive November, People, Photography, Traveling US

Today I am taking an easy way out AGAIN , I have spent so much time listening to music I like and find a song to go with it, and it is hard. I like wine, and I Like UB40 Red Red Wine!

I actually thought I’d have tons of pictures of wine, but surprisingly I didn’t. Have to drink some more to get few photos 🙂

The song in my opinion says what we need today – Red Wine

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

Street Photography in Helsinki

Captures from Finland, Cities

The November streets look, well what they look like. This is what it looked liked on a November afternoon and and early evening (between 3pm -6pm) I haven’t taken the camera out since then. But I thought I would share some fresh photos today.

Some season lights were already adding light to the bleakness of this time of year. The boy looking at the display window while his parents were in line to get into the store was a nice pop of colors as was the Cartier window display with the reflecting lights from the street.

We had the first snow on Friday last week, so obviously these were taken prior to that. The snow will melt but for few days it will give us a little bit more light.

Views from around the Helsinki railway station, and Aleksanterinkatu.

Helsinki – Keskuskatu and the corner of Mannerheimtie

Colorful window display

How to Survive November 2022 – 22

how to survive November, People, Photography, Traveling US

Today I am taking an easy way out, I have spent so much time listening to music I like and find a song to go with it, today well I have photos and will find easily a song to go with them. Viva Las Vegas! Song for my old hometown

So if I assume we all know Elvis Presley 🙂 Iwon’t be wrong

The song in my opinion says what we need today.

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

How to Survive November 2022 – 21

how to survive November, People, Photography

HIM (sometimes stylized as H.I.M.) was a Finnish gothic rock band from Helsinki. Music critics have referred to the music of HIM as gothic rock, gothic metal, alternative rock, alternative metal.

Oh girl we are the same
We are young and lost and so afraid
There’s no cure for the pain
No shelter from the rain
All our prayers seem to fail

In world so hollow
It is breaking my heart
In joy and sorrow my home’s in your arms
In world so hollow
It is breaking my heart

The band has referred to its music as “love metal”, the title of the group’s fourth studio album. According to Ville Valo, the term “love metal” was coined as a response to people having difficulties categorizing HIM’s music. Regarding HIM’s reputation as a “goth band”, Valo stated: “We can’t do anything about that [label], but I think we are a special shade of goth, more tender than others. In Finnish tradition, our music is very melancholic.”Valo has also described HIM’s sound as “sentimental, hard-hitting rock music”. The band’s intent has always been to combine more melodic and melancholic elements, with its heavier influences.

Lyrically the songs of HIM largely deal with themes of love. According to Valo: “I feel like there is no subject more important for a song than relationships. It’s the only thing that moves me.”Valo also takes inspiration from literature, but only certain aspects of it, explaining: “As a guy who writes songs, I get excited about an idea, or a book, or a sentence. I don’t necessarily get excited about the whole of Tolkien, I just get excited about Uruk-hai. Just a little detail that just makes my mind work overdrive.” Valo’s lyrics have been described as “oozing with blood-dripping hearts and gothic melodrama”.

The song in my opinion says what we need today.

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

Lens Artists Challenge #226 – Textures

Nature, Photography, Still life

This is my third week in participating in this challenge. I have to say, there has been beautiful posts about the chosen topics tthese past weeks, I have found new blogs to follow and it has given me inspiration and intoduced me to new places and ways to look at photos. But to the topic at hand…

Jude from Cornwall in Colours hosts this weeks LAPC #226 – Textures.

She wrote; Texture is one method of bringing life to your photos. While the structure of an object is its form, the material from which it is made constitutes its texture. You are aiming at translating texture visually, bringing life and energy to a photo through shape, tone and colour.

I have done macro photography for some time and capturing texture is one of the aspects of it. Hope you enjoy my findings in the world of textures, I am also going to post my findings from nature and the nature’s produces, fruits and vegetables plus some spices,

Texture adds variety and visual stimulus to the surface of a photograph. There is a better chance of getting an exciting photograph from a laboured study with texture than from a smooth clarity without it.

Posted for Jude’s Lens-Artists Challenge

How to Survive November 2022 – 20

how to survive November, People, Photography

Thinkin’ about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating?
Why can’t we live in bliss?

Yusuf/Cat Stevens wrote “Peace Train” as a call for unity and understanding on his storied Teaser and the Firecat album of 1971.

Now I’ve been happy lately
Thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be
Something good has begun
Oh, I’ve been smiling lately
Dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be
Someday it’s going to come

Now I’ve been crying lately
Thinkin’ about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating?
Why can’t we live in bliss?

‘Cause out on the edge of darkness
There rides a peace train
Oh, peace train take this country
Come take me home again

Oh, peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train

The song in my opinion says what we need today.

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

How to Survive November 2022 – 19

how to survive November, People, Photography

Jukka “J.” Karjalainen is a Finnish singer-songwriter. His first album came out in 1981.”He states that his music is a mix of “Blues, Rock´n´roll, Folk, Country, Soul, Funky, New Orleans stuff.”

Karjalainen is one of Finland’s most popular singers and songwriters of all time. Karjalainen is one of the most significant pioneers and developers of 1980s Finnish rock.

Karjalainen has written and composed all the songs he has recorded, with a few exceptions. Karjalainen started his recording career with blues, folk and country-influenced music, which was colored by the brass instruments of the Mustat Lasit group with their soul tones. In the 1990s, he moved into a more pop- and rock-influenced direction

We are walking together

to the brightness of the day

on a road that is surrounded by wild lupines

and the air is fresh full of scents

on a road that is surrounded by wild lupines

Big red roses

someone has brought into the room

I am yet a very tired man

falling asleep again

And you are coming to meet

me grabbing my hand

on a road that is surrounded by wild lupines

Wild Lupines

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

Visiting Cafe’s

Captures from Finland, Cities

I have not been taking many photos lately, last weekend I made an exception as I went to Helsinki.

I was even too lazy to take my camera, just my mobile. Here are some street photographs. These are focused on cafe’s that all seemed to be full, we had to wait over 40 minutes to get our coffee 🙂 That time we spent people watching

My favorite image is the header.

How to Survive November 2022 – 18

how to survive November, People, Photography

Baker Street, I have no photos of that street, but I went to Helsinki during the weekend and these are from there. Also a dream of countryside This was very popular back when I lived in Australia, so it always brings back memories from that period of time.

Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty wrote it for his second solo album City to City, released in 1978.

Named after Baker Street in London, Rafferty wrote it during a period when he was trying to get out of his Stealers Wheel contracts. He was regularly travelling between his family home in Paisley and London, where he often stayed at a friend’s flat on Baker Street. Everybody was suing each other, so I spent a lot of time on the overnight train from Glasgow to London for meetings with lawyers. I knew a guy who lived in a little flat off Baker Street. We’d sit and chat or play guitar there through the night.

This city desert makes you feel so cold
It’s got so many people, but it’s got no soul
And it’s taken you so long
To find out you were wrong
When you thought it held everything

He’s got this dream about buying some land
He’s gonna give up the booze and the one-night stands
And then he’ll settle down
In some quiet little town
And forget about ev’rything

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

Beautiful in Black and White 11

Black and White photos, Captures from Finland

I have a soft spot for black and white photography, I was once again reminded about the importance of exposure, light. It is the key element in these photos.

Sunset in B&W is it’s own thing to capture once again it comes to the light, lowlight in this case. How it enhances the shapes and creates shadows.

Sunset in Naples Pier. Unfortunately it was destroyed in Hurricane Ian, but I have a memory.

The way that light hits objects, I think, is one of the more important things that sculpture and photography share. – Rashid Johnson

Posted for Bren’s Mid-Week Monochrome and Leanne’s Monochrome Madness

How to Survive November 2022 – 17

how to survive November, People, Photography

The Killers are an American rock band formed in Las Vegas in 2001. The Killers have been grouped with various genres, including alternative rock,indie rock.

Don’t want your picture on my cell phone
I want you here with me
Don’t want your memories in my head, no
I want you here with me

Spent the summer just layin’ out in the sun
Time seems to move so slowly, when you’re taking it as it comes
Maybe we were just too young

Your body was tan and your hair was long
You shot me a smile and my cares were gone

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

How to Survive November 2022 – 16

how to survive November, People, Photography

Postmodern Jukebox, also widely known by the initialism PMJ, is a rotating musical collective founded by arranger and pianist Scott Bradlee in 2011. PMJ is known for reworking popular modern music into different vintage genres, especially early 20th century forms such as swing and jazz.

I went to see them when they were in Helsinki last time, I might have to go and see them when they come back in March. A real talented group of entertainers and great show.

This time I am posting All About That Bass, originally by Meghan Trainor. Body positivity.

I’m all about that bass, ’bout that bass, no treble
I’m all about that bass, ’bout that bass, no treble
I’m all about that bass,

Yeah, it’s pretty clear, I ain’t no size two
But I can shake it, shake it, like I’m supposed to do
‘Cause I got that boom boom that all the boys chase
And all the right junk in all the right places
I see the magazines (ah-ha) workin’ that Photoshop (ah-ha)
We know that shit ain’t real
Come on now, make it stop
If you got beauty beauty (ah-ha), just raise ’em up
‘Cause every inch of you is perfect
From the bottom to the top

Yeah, my mama she told me don’t worry about your size
She says, boys like a little more booty to hold at night
And no I won’t be no stick-figure, silicone Barbie doll
So, if that’s what’s you’re into
Then go ahead and move along

Thanks PARALLEL LINES |in scale for hosting How to Survive November once again.

How to Survive November 2022 – 15

how to survive November, People, Photography

I had a real bad day yesterday, I had no energy at all. I chose this song due to its title, I am not suffering from love sorrows. Just pain. But I do like soul.

This month I have listened to more music that I have for a long time, over the years it has gradually become less, which is unfortunate. This has been a trip to memories in new discoveries, this band is one of them. This song Pain and Misery is heartbreaking song that pays homage to the soul music of the early 60’s.

I must keep this up after this month, listening to more music that is.