My name is Ritva. I am an avid, self-taught photographer from southern Finland, currently living in Kirkkonummi. Interest in life is evident in my diverse subjects, capturing anything that catches my eye. Whether it’s the delicate intricacies of a plant, the breathtaking beauty of a landscape, or the compelling energy of urban life, My lens finds and celebrates beauty in all its forms. Nature serves as an enduring wellspring of inspiration for me, as I seek out and immortalize its enchanting moments. Additionally, in portrait photography I try to capture human emotion and connection , as I aim to encapsulate the very essence of each fleeting moment.
I totally enjoy playing with photos and immersing oneself in the editing process. It’s truly satisfying to have the flexibility that shooting in RAW provides, opening up a world of possibilities for editing. I’m of the same mindset when it comes to photo editing; I prefer to maintain the authenticity of the moment captured, striving to avoid over-editing and keeping the essence of the shot true to life. However, I also appreciate the occasional opportunity to explore artistic expressions through my edits, transforming images into minimalist monochrome representations that beautifully convey the essence and emotion of the scene. Or using colors to enhance the mood of the image. This delicate balance between realism and artistic expression is what makes photo editing such a captivating endeavor for me.
Inspiration and ideas change. My knowledge changes and grows. Each piece I create is simultaneously an extension from the past, where I’ve come from and what I’ve learned, as well as a preview of the future, where I’m going.
I do not classify myself as just a photographer, as some might think from looking at my work. I am a sculptor, a painter, a photographer, an artist.
If a viewer stops for just a moment to view and reflect on a photograph, a photo collage or a painting I have created, then I have succeeded in my work.
I’m at my happy place, I can hear the birdsong, sound of the wind, bee’s buzzing in this so called place of silence.
The variations of green…gotta to love it.
Here are some signs of spring , the joy and the glory of nature. I had made up my mind not to take flower pictures as I have so many of them already, but I did anyways. Forget me not – I did not forget these tiny little wonders
🦋 butterflies are so lovely … Here are some I have been lucky to capture.
And as Denzil wrote: For Nature Photo Challenge #13 we focus on Butterflies. Butterflies of course are beautiful, photogenic, and interesting. They deserve to be protected just because they are butterflies and worthy of our love and protection. However, they are also highly useful insects.
If you ask me to name these species, no, not able to do that, but as stated they are lovely.
This week, Amy challenges us to post some beautiful sky or cloudscapes.
what can I say, great topic. I have so SO many cloud and sky shots. When in a car I live watching the clouds, more often than not we have clouds in the sky here in Finland, it is m feeling, not an actual fact, but let’s go with that anyways. I did dig up some information about clouds, if not interested skip that and just view the photos. That is my thing anyways… enjoy. And Thanks Amy this was just up my kind of topic.
Summer night in Lahti.
These are cloud types in Northern Hemisphere
Cirro-form The Latin word “cirro” means curl of hair. Composed of ice crystals, cirro-form clouds are whitish and hair-like. There are the high, wispy clouds to first appear in advance of a low-pressure area such as a mid-latitude storm system or a tropical system such as a hurricane.
Cumulo-form Generally detached clouds, they look like white fluffy cotton balls. They show vertical motion or thermal uplift of air taking place in the atmosphere. They are usually dense in appearance with sharp outlines. The base of cumulus clouds are generally flat and occurs at the altitude where the moisture in rising air condenses.
Strato-form From the Latin word for “layer”, these clouds are usually broad and fairly wide spread, appearing like a blanket. They result from non-convective rising air and tend to occur along and to the north of warm fronts. The edges of strato-form clouds are diffuse.
Nimbo-form Howard also designated a special rain cloud category which combined the three forms cumulo + cirro + stratus. He called this cloud “nimbus”, the Latin word for rain. The vast majority of precipitation occurs from nimbo-form clouds and therefore these clouds are generally the thickest.
Clouds in the Northern Hemisphere can vary depending on the latitude, season, and weather patterns. For example, in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, clouds tend to form ice more often and contain less liquid water than in the Southern Hemisphere. This is because the air in the Southern Hemisphere is cleaner and has fewer aerosol particles for cloud droplets to freeze around.
One of the most interesting types of clouds that can be seen in the Northern Hemisphere are noctilucent clouds, which are the highest clouds on Earth and can only be observed at night during summer months. They are made of tiny ice crystals and reflect sunlight from below the horizon, creating a blue or silver glow.
Midnight in the summer in Southern Finland
Noctilucent clouds are only visible at night during summer months because they are very high up in the atmosphere, around 76 to 85 km (249,000 to 279,000 ft), and they need very cold temperatures and low pressure to form. They also need sunlight to illuminate them from below the horizon, which only happens during astronomical twilight in summer at high latitudes.
Above are clouds and skies from finland, below sunsets from all Sri Lanka (man gliding) next to it sunset in India, the red moon. Unser it a sunset and clouds in Key West, Florida. The very blue and red sunset is from Cape Verde. The last three are from Australia.
These first three are from are skies from Florida. Next two from France – Nice. Last row is Italy, USA – California and last Australia- NSW
I invite you to join us this week to, challenge hosted by Amy to post some beautiful sky or cloudscapes.
Something light and positive for this weekend, I am sitting on the patio at my summer house, and enjoying the sun and listening to the sing, sing, sing from the birds. I could not find a photo of an singer , but here is a bird.
Songfacts®: Travis’s frontman Fran Healy told Yahoo! the story of this song: “It was written while watching MTV with the sound down. There was a thing on about swing beat. So I started singing this song – I was writing at the time, I was watching the telly and playing the guitar and humming along – and I got this cool little melody, and when it naturally got to a sort of chorus-y part, I started singing, ‘Swing… If you swing, swing, swing, swing.’ And I was imagining someone pushing someone on a swing. It was just that feeling when you’re a child on a swing – it’s the coolest feeling! And so, I played to the guys the next in the studio and everyone played along, and we recorded it as a little out take, just to get the idea down. During that, it changed from ‘swing, swing, swing’ to ‘sing, sing, sing’ halfway through the chorus. It was half and half.” When Healy arrived back home that night and listened to it in his house, he realized the song had switched from the joy of children playing in the playground to the recuperative powers of singing. He told Yahoo: “I thought it was really cute, kinda charming. So the words in the verse I kind of directed at Nora, my fiancée.”
This song went on to become the band’s biggest hit to date and a favorite with buskers. Healy told Yahoo!: “‘Sing’ – You could replace that word with ‘Dance’ or ‘Cry’ or ‘Laugh’ or just ‘Let Go.’ ‘Cause as an expression, when you’re a child, you sing all the time. And then when you get older, you don’t – you just go, ‘I don’t want to, my voice is crap.’ But when you’re a kid, you don’t care! And I think that’s what you should always have – a little bit of that still in you. People look at people in the street that sing like they’re mad, like, ‘What are you singing for?’ But it’s about having fun and feeling good and all that stuff.”
The Invisible Band is Travis’ third studio album. The title refers to the band’s status after the success of its predecessor, The Man Who, as – says Healy – “having famous songs, but not being famous themselves.” The release quickly went to #1 in the UK and peaked at #39 in the US, making the band more visible than ever.
Baby, you’ve been going so crazy Lately, nothing seems to be going right So low, why’d you have to get so low? You’re so You’ve been waiting in the sun too long
But if you sing, sing, sing, sing, sing, sing For the love you bring won’t mean a thing Unless you sing, sing, sing, sing
Colder, crying over your shoulder Hold her, and tell her everything’s gonna be fine Surely, you’ve been going too early Hurry, ’cause no one’s gonna be stopped Now, now, now, now, now
But if you sing, sing, sing, sing, sing For the love you bring won’t mean a thing Unless you sing, sing, sing, sing, sing, sing, sing, sing
Baby, there’s something going on today But I say nothing, nothing, nothing Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing So, now, now, now, now, now
Lepis is hosting Saturday Classics, you can add your own link here Saturday Classics
On Her page she writes: This blog is back with hosting the Classics after few years break. This time we’ll be playing on Saturdays and you can link straight here on this own page. Rules: There are no rules, as long as the song you play is a classic in your mind. Linking open 8 am and closes 12 pm.
We all have these photos … throwback photos! Don’t we just… so many. It’s described as ‘nostalgia-inducing pictures … from a different era of your life”.
This week (#TB Thursday). We visited Karhulinna ( bear castle) in Korkeasaari Zoo in 2015. I got some nice shots of the bears enjoying a smim and playing together.
Korkeasaari got its first bears already in 1888, i.e. a year before the zoo was officially founded.
Today’s Karhulinna is home to two bears, Sofia born in 2001 in Ähtäri Zoo and her female cub Yulia born in 2006 in Korkeasaari. They look very similar, but there are some differences in behavior – for example, the younger one of the bears likes to swim, but its mother is content to wade. Bears hibernate indoors in their own dens, usually from November to the beginning of March.
The bear is Finland’s largest predator, but it mostly eats plant food. It tastes soft shoots, leaves, roots, berries and grain, but also all kinds of animal food such as small mammals and fish. Despite its large size, the bear moves nimbly, climbs and swims well.
In Northern Europe, bears hibernate, when their body temperature drops a few degrees and their vital functions slow down. Hibernation is the bears’ way of surviving the long winter, when there is little food available. Before going to sleep, the bear gets fat, eating a lot of sugary berries in particular. Bear cubs are born during the mother’s hibernation in January-March. Their birth weight is only 350-500 grams. The cubs emerge from the nest in May-June, and stay with their mother for a couple of years. When the female has her young cubs with her, she avoids the males when moving, as they can kill the foreign cubs. The female does not have offspring every year.
I have a soft spot for black and white photography, it is expressive and minimalist in and very mood enhancing.
Alley
The greatest dishes are very simple. – Auguste Escoffier
Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors – it’s how you combine them that sets you apart. -Wolfgang Puck
Garlic was my choice this time. I add garlic to so many foods, and lots of it. Even now my hands smell of garlic as I just put a pan on stove to simmer, making pasta sauce.
Onions I’ve done several times so, this is a slight change.
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”
Those are famous words from the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, often called the father of Western medicine.
He prescribed garlic to treat a variety of medical conditions — and modern science has confirmed many of these beneficial health effects.
Fast facts on garlic
In many countries, garlic has been used medicinally for centuries.
Garlic may have a range of health benefits, both raw and cooked.
This week’s challenge features a focus on the arts. Public art in all its forms and locations. Whether in a park or a parking lot, an outdoor theater, or a street corner, art in public places can be found in communities worldwide.
Here we go
Mustion Linna – Mustio Manor is a similar place like the one mentioned in the group, but in a smaller scale here in Finland.
Mustio Manor is one of the most precious manor houses in Finland with a history of more than two hundred years. The manor was built between 1783 and 1792 by Magnus Linder II. The manor house is the largest non-ecclesiastic wooden buildings in Finland. The architecture is a mix of the two styles, rococo and neo-classicism, while the Gustavian style dominates the interior.
The park was originally designed as a baroque park in 1787 but in the late 19th century Fridolf Linder renewed the park into an English style of park. He planted many exotic trees from all over the world, which are unusual species in Finland.
The park is now a welcome retreat for the soul with its winding paths, romantic bridges, statues, follies and a water lily path over the water.
Here are some finds from my travels, statues seems to be the most popular art in parks.
Since opening in 2009, Wynwood Walls has evolved into a globally renowned street art museum . These remarkable Walls have transformed the definition of modern art and become a career-defining moment for contributing artists, all while helping to make Wynwood one of the world’s most celebrated urban revitalization projects and an oasis for cutting-edge creativity. The shots below are from 2018.
Art festival in Florida also in 2018
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, built in 1916 as a winter retreat, this lavish villa is a tribute to the Italian Renaissance. The museum contains much of the original furnishings and artwork, and is surrounded by lush, formal gardens, with many statues.
Photographs were taken at the Botanical Garden in Helsinki, and I do not remember the name of the flower. It is pretty, it is orange and that’s all good.
‘All Around The World’ Lisa Stansfield, barry white
This week this popped to my mind, and the addition of Barry White is a a sweet addition… that voice.
This song about searching for a lost love is the biggest hit for Lisa Stansfield, a white soul singer from England. It was the first ever US R&B #1 hit by a white UK female, and topped the charts in about a dozen countries.
The spoken intro came about when Stansfield, her boyfriend Ian Devaney, and other band member Andy Morris were sitting around the piano. Andy played some chords and Lisa began talking in a low voice, in a Barry White way. They liked the way it sounded and put it on the record. Stansfield, Devaney and Morris are the writers on the track.
The “ya ya ya ya”s in the chorus were put in as a placeholder until Lisa could come up with real lyrics. The nonsense placeholder worked so well, however, that they left it in.
Ian Devaney recalled in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, “We booked this little studio and started a really rough demo on an eight-track machine with Lisa’s voice being done in one take. When we came to the proper recording, we transferred the original vocals to 24-track, added some strings and transferred it back to eight-track which we later mixed at home.” (songfacts)
I don’t know where my baby is But I’ll find him, somewhere, somehow I’ve got to let him know how much I care I’ll never give up looking for my baby
Been around the world and I, I, I I can’t find my baby I don’t know when, I don’t know why Why he’s gone away And I don’t know where he can be, my baby But I’m gonna find him
We had a quarrel and I let myself go I said so many things, things he didn’t know And I was oh, oh so bad I don’t think he’s comin’ back, mm-mm He gave the reason, the reasons he should go And he said things he hadn’t said before And he was oh, oh so mad And I don’t think he’s comin’ back, comin’ back
I did too much lyin’, wasted too much time Now I’m here a’cryin’, I, I, I
continues….
Lepis is hosting Saturday Classics, you can add your own link here Saturday Classics
On Her page she writes: This blog is back with hosting the Classics after few years break. This time we’ll be playing on Saturdays and you can link straight here on this own page. Rules: There are no rules, as long as the song you play is a classic in your mind. Linking open 8 am and closes 12 pm.
We all have these photos … throwback photos! Don’t we just… so many. It’s described as ‘nostalgia-inducing pictures … from a different era of your life”.
This week (#TB Thursday). Thursday is filled with memories the past, in honor of my mother who passed away too soon, 35 year ago. Obviously these are from a different era and I did not take them.
My mom and her twin and in couple her older sister. I also added one with her and my dad, both passed away too soon. It was more of a custom to have your photo taken in a studio, now we take selfies.
Well on photo from me a throwback rose from my visit to see my sister in Vancouver in 2013. My sister a mom of four unfortunately has also moved to the greener pastures as the saying goes. Memories often hold lots of lost in them.
The last photo is of my mom’s parents and older siblings in 1930’s
I have a soft spot for black and white photography, it is expressive and minimalist in and very mood enhancing.
Alley
We plan our lives in long, unbroken stretches that intersect our dreams the way highways connect the city dots on a road map. But in the end we learn that life is lived in the side roads, alleys, and detours.
Richard Paul Evans
Chairs waiting for someone to stop by
Inspiration comes from not only within ourselves, but also from watching life around us. Anthony – T. Hincks
Well it has been cold lately, but hopefully it will in coming day warm up a little bit. Hoping. I got inspired when I found my old photos from the Botanical garden and took on myself to visit the place again.
You can see the spring is not all that advanced here, because the trees are just about to bloom, is that the appropriate here, maybe not, but the are nearly ready to glow in vibrant new green leaves. And some red leaves also could be seen.
Early sign of spring
Different types of Anemones were also in bloom, some fading away.
Daffodils flowers symbolize new beginnings, rebirth and the arrival of spring. The ancient Greeks associated the flower with self-love, while in Victorian England, daffodils were given as gifts to express admiration and respect. In literature, the daffodil is often used as a symbol of unrequited love and hope.
“Picasso said that no one has to explain a daffodil. Good design is understandable to virtually everybody. You never have to ask why.”—Hugh Newell Jacobsen
Photographs were taken at the Botanical Garden in Helsinki
This week Sofia challenges us to explore mood in photography.
What is mood?
A mental or emotional state, composure.
A verb form that depends on how its containing clause relates to the speaker’s or writer’s wish, intent, or assertion about reality. A sullen mental state; a bad mood. A disposition to do something. A prevalent atmosphere or feeling.
What does moody mean in photography?
A moody photo is one where the light and composition combine with the subject to create an image that generates an emotional response from the viewer. My dictionary says: Giving an impression of melancholy or mystery. An interesting definition – melancholy and mystery are powerful, emotional words.
Lighting your subject from the front creates a less directional look than lighting from the side or the back, and the latter two are better suited to a dark and moody style. If you’re shooting outdoors, the dim light of late evening into dusk is excellent for a dark and moody look.
Morning light hitting the fisherman’s net
Light and airy photos are bright, light, and generally feature soft, pastel-colored subjects. By contrast, “dark and moody” photos are just that: lots of dark areas, images with deep shadows, rich colors, and lots of drama.
Creating mood and atmosphere in your photography helps the viewer to connect with your images. Depending on the mood you create, it can make bring out certain emotions or memories in the viewer. It can also make your photo more tactile and realistic.
Remember that you can add emotions to your photographs by carefully choosing the color palette. A darker, colder color palette may convey fear or sadness. A brighter, warmer color palette may communicate joy, or melancholy. Add atmosphere and color to your subject matter, and you’ll see the difference.
mood also comes from the expression, not only color palette, or contrast play
Black and white photography is a great way to create moody photos, this time I chose mainly color to show the difference it creates in the mood . Well if you have followed me for a long time you know I really like portraits in B&W, in these sets I have couple in both ways, pointing it out in case you didn’t notice. They have a slightly different mood. In the last post I said I like to shoot with side light… well now I know why, mood. I always try to add mood to the equation. Hope you enjoyed the visit.
John Lester Nash Jr. was an American singer-songwriter, best known in the United States for his 1972 hit “I Can See Clearly Now”.Primarily a reggae and pop singer, he was one of the first non-Jamaican artists to record reggae music in Kingston.
Nash found his groove in Jamaica and recorded his biggest hits “I Can See Clearly Now” and “Stir It Up” with the reggae influence he picked up from local musicians like Bob Marley. Nash signed Marley and his group, The Wailers, but Marley would have his first taste of success outside of Jamaica when Nash included a cover of Marley’s “Stir It Up” on his own 1972 albumI Can See Clearly Now
We all have someone who influence us, these are his “There are three artists who’ve really influenced me in my singing career,” Nash told Melody Maker in 1969. “They are the late Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin and Harry Belafonte. They all have something I wish I had.”
Hold Me Tight” is a song written and performed by Johnny Nash. It was featured on his 1968 album Hold Me Tight,
I don’t want to hear it, No more fussin’ and fightin’ baby, Hold me tight. Let’s let bygones be bygones, Let’s think about tomorrow girl, Our future’s bright. Well, I know I was wrong, But, I was just a fool, Too blind to see You were the only girl for me. Ah but now I see the light, And everything’s gonna be all right, Baby, hold me tight. Well, I know I was wrong, But, I was just a fool, Too blind to see You were the only girl for me. Ah but now I see the light, And everything’s gonna be all right, Baby, hold me tight.
Lepis is hosting Saturday Classics, you can add your own link here Saturday Classics
On Her page she writes: This blog is back with hosting the Classics after few years break. This time we’ll be playing on Saturdays and you can link straight here on this own page. Rules: There are no rules, as long as the song you play is a classic in your mind. Linking open 8 am and closes 12 pm.
“A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone. It doesn’t struggle to be different than a rose. It doesn’t have to. It is different. And there’s room in the garden for every flower.” – Marianne Williamson
🌷 Tulip
“The tulip is a courtly queen, whom everyone bows to on first acquaintance.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Tulips are the perfect embodiment of grace and elegance.”
We all have these photos … throwback photos! Don’t we just… so many. It’s described as ‘nostalgia-inducing pictures … from a different era of your life”.
This week (#TB Thursday). Thursday is filled with memories from The evergreen glasshouses from Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden in Helsinki.
The glasshouses’ biggest attraction is the Victoria cruziana (Santa Cruz water lily), which has survived the bombings of World War II and now dominates the luminous and tropical Waterlily Room. The lily pad can grow to have a diameter of over two meters, and it can carry the weight of an adult human. The giant water lily is an annual plant that has occasionally been able to survive the dark Finnish winter in the glasshouse. Often, though, the water lily withers as Christmas approaches, and the new seedling is planted around March in the bottom soil of the pond. (So no reason to worry if you can’t see the water lily, it hasn’t gone anywhere!)
These shots I captured back in 2017, maybe it’s time to visit again.
Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do. – Helen Keller
bud of a sunflower 🌻
Pick up a sunflower and count the florets running into its centre, or count the spiral scales of a pine cone or a pineapple, running from its bottom up its sides to the top, and you will find an extraordinary truth: recurring numbers, ratios and proportions. – Charles Jencks
Roses get all the glory, but sunflowers provide all the cheer. Whether encountering them growing wild in a field, or for sale at a local shop, sunflowers just exude happiness. Add some sunshine to your life
Ritva Sillanmäki Photography 