Captures from Finland – Page 24 – Ritva Sillanmäki Photography

High waters

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Nature

We have had a long weekend at the summer house, five days of sunshine and joys of spring. Rest for the arm and also to the mind. I can tell you, that I have been outside most of the time. Joy of the new season! I had my son with his family with us there so it was very lively as small boys and big boys enjoyed the barbecue and soccer and walks in the nature. Laugh, screams, fights, all emotions were to be seen and heard.

Here are few shots from this visit. Nature is not at its best at the moment, but the beginning of nature’s bloom to the beauty of spring can be sensed in the singing of the birds, the open waters and the croaks or is the work ribbiting of frogs. The water in the lakes and rivers is very high

Good night

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Photography

First evening at our summer house, here I am sitting by the fire, now I can see the last moments of the sunset. This photo I took hour ago.

April morning

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

Again the blackbirds sings; the streams / Wake, laughing, from their winter dreams, / And tremble in the April showers

Pastel blues

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Nature

April Ist, I should be pulling some prank, but I won’t bother, I will just post few more pastel blue, misty photos. The mist was so thick, that you can touch in in these. These are photos from two years back that I looked at again and well was rather happy about and I just wanted to share them. This is the road that leads us to our summer house, it is well documented in all 26 seasons we have travelled it.

Veikka being a white cat is easy to spot in all other seasons but winter, but then again we don’t let him out at home during winter, only at our summer house as there is not so much traffic and a whole lot less neighbours. Tinka on the other hand being small and a brown cat can disappear so easily into the nature, but then again Tinka is not so brave and stays near the house and our own land.

Pastel landscapes

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Nature

The nature brings out beautiful colors to fill all our senses, even the bare nature looks lovely in these colors. Mist always adds a magic touch to any photo, then again that is my opinion.

Spring day

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

Few days back we had a lovely spring day, except for the cold wind that was so cold that it went straight to the bones at this lake Humaljärvi as I was taking photos there. The sky was blue, the shadows long and the wind was so cold. I did look nice and you could sense that spring was o its way.

the water flows you can see ripples on the water from the nippy wind

Winter blues

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Nature, Photography

No way getting over it, it is still winter. It looks lovely no denying that either. Lots of folks I know are really enjoying this. So lets be happy for them 🙂 The singing of the birds carries the notes of spring. All good. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Open water

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Nature, Photography

This is a sign that we are glad to see, not spring, but a hope of it. Areas of open water in places where there is a nice current in the water. The first one is from the end of rapids, as the water enters the lake. The second is from a river.

Reflections

Captures from Finland, Photography

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.

You know how it is with an April day

When the sun is out and the wind is still,

You’re one month on in the middle of May.

But if you so much as dare to speak,

A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,

A wind comes off a frozen peak,

And you’re two months back in the middle of March.

(Robert Frost)

It’s beginning to look…

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

It’s beginning to look a lot like Spring. A lovely warm day, well warm is so relevant to what you compare it with, but anyways, a lovely day at Kirkkonummi. I went out to see what is happening in the neighbourhood and buy some tulips to brighten the day. As today’s news are not all so uplifting, the opposite to be exact, so why not do something nice.

It lifted my spirits, so I decided to bake some cakes, hopefully they turned out nice. I have not tasted them yet, such self control. The scent they gave to the house was so delicious, if that’s an indicator, they are going to be fab 🙂 Banana chocolate cakes, I mixed together some of the ingredients that I had at home.

That’s my day so far, hope you have had a good one 🙂

Close up look at winter

Captures from Finland, Flowers, Landscapes

For the first time this winter, I was about to write year, which is also true when I went out to take close ups the day was not a sunny day, cloudy I would say. The color tone of the shots from that day is totally different than the ones I took yesterday, when it was rather nippy (-18C). Yesterday the macro shots of frost, snow and the few pops of color I found more blue toned.

After this long introduction, these photos are from the cloudy day, not macros, but close ups, the last one just showing the tone of the day.

Frosty morning

Captures from Finland, Photography

We have had several cold days this week, but the weather should be warming up a bit. This cold certainly brings us nice and sunshiny days and the clear starry nights. The amount of clothing you have to wear to keep warm. Layered clothing is the thing or just stay inside, which is the option i use the most.

We have been seeing news about Texas and other areas that are not used to winter conditions and the problems they are having…so sad.

caught by surprise

Captures from Finland, Photography

February 14

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Photography

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my fellow bloggers!

I am surprising you just with one photo today. I like how this turned out.

February 12

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Photography

Repeat from yesterday, all this is still valid, today we have the bluest skies, so lovely! The minus side is that it is so COLD! -15C /5 F but with the wind factor it feels like -20C /-2F .

Wednesday, I went for a walk and a drive to few lovely seaside places. Here are few pictures from my next stop, the Marina in Soukka. I stopped to see if there were any ice hole swimmers about this morning, nope, not today. What I ended up trying to capture was the quickly changing sky, the play of the clouds and sun behind it, playing hide and seek. Clear blue higher up, cloudy near the ground.

February 11

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Photography

Today we have the bluest skies, so lovely! The minus side is that it is so COLD! -15C /5 F but with the wind factor it feels like -20C /-2F .

Sunrise today was at 8:09. Sunset today is at 17:00. Length of day 8 h 51 min. Spring is coming 🙂

Yesterday I went for a walk, despite the cold. My fingers did not thank me for taking photos 🙂

I visited the Suinonsalmi inlet, when I was a kid I came here often. I was not the only one out there, I saw people walking, cross country skiing even though it was rather cold. This was my first stop.

February 2021 -3

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

I have surprised myself be going out now two days a row, since I have had no desire to do so in a long time. I am trying to force myself to be more active. As stated in yesterday’s post, laziness, depression, or just getting tired of all this shit has taken over.

It has been a lovely sunny winter day so far. I went for a walk and this is what I saw…

We got 10cm more snow during the night, so a fresh coat of snow made everything lovely.

To reassure you – I did take a shower 🙂

February 2021

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

We are at the point of winter that the light time is increasing fast, what a blessing, with the snow on the ground the effect is noticeable, in the south of Finland we will gain about 30 minutes of light in a week, 5 minutes a day. North, well a hour of more. The joy…

Today it is snowing again, yesterday was clear, so I made myself go out for a short walk, but did not make it out until later in the afternoon. I did take my camera with me, so I captured few winter shots of my neighbourhoods.

Today I am making effort to do a post, and contemplating if I should take a shower or not…I probably will. Do you have days that you would rather spend the day doing nothing, I’ve had several the past days?

Frosty trees

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

No words, just a lovely view from my home town.

Soft tones of winter

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

I have been rather silent lately, nothing has happened really. Winter came finally with snow, it’s been 10 years since we had this much snow. Boring, boring is what life is at the moment. Maybe I will feel more positive soon, one needs to be a bit down to feel the joy again.

This feeling in the winter is not new to me as I am not a winter person, but a child of summer. If one need to point one positive thing, it the light that is slowly but surely coming our way. Sunset is at 16:23, it over a hour more that it was in December. See, I can find something positive in all this 🙂

Have a great day!