Landscapes – Page 5 – Ritva Sillanmäki Photography

Traveling Crete #2

Landscapes, Photography, Traveling Crete

On the mountain roads we on more than one occasion ran into these goats with bells on their necks letting us know they were there. So this post is dedicated to the goats we saw 🙂

A Cretan mountain goats with a bell around its neck standing alone mountainside.

Shepherding is one of the oldest proffesion in Crete. Bells for sheep and goats were used all over Greece and Crete of course.

The bells were the pride of the shepherd and they were used to monitor the sheeps and goats. The quality of each bell as well as their combination was very important so that the flock will sound harmonious.

The Cretan bells are hammered bells with thin sheet metal and consequently have a low weight. In addition, they are plated with bronze and bronze which protects them from seawater.

The sounds of sheep-bells allow sheperds to know whether an animal is grazing, drinking water, or trying to get away from something or even to locate animals that have been lost.

a small sample of the sound of the bells

All traditional hand-made sheep bells sound different. These goats below we saw at Anatolikos Selinos.

This is going to be the one of many posts, so sorry 🙂 beforehand for the nearly same named posts.

Traveling Crete #1

Landscapes, Photography, Traveling Crete

After our trip as well as having back up issues, which are now solved, I got a summer flu. Not happy about it, it certainly has me tired.

I still am now aiming to get some pictures published. I will try to cover as much as I can, in the end I did not take all that many photos as I would usually take, but still I was able to capture some beautiful places and things. The flowers bloomed as it was early summer, the hills and trees were still green. I had not many expectations beforehand so I was nicely surprised of what this island had to offer.

The first picture above is from Mousoura area, at least that is what came as the location in my mobile photos, I took shot with my camera and also with the mobile so I would have the locations to remember. The village in these photos, if I remember correctly, is mountain village Lakkoi surrounded by the beautiful mountains of that area

This is going to be the one of many posts, so sorry 🙂 beforehand for the nearly same named posts.

My oh my…

About, Landscapes

Thank you all my blogger friends who have been with me for years, I truly appreciate you and am inspired by you. A BIG thank you to all my new one I am up to 1999 followers as of now, one short of 2000. Nice to have here. I have been doing this for years and my aim has never been to search or do things that would create a huge following. I just do my thing post photos, sometimes I might even say something 🙂 I is my photo journal, diary of sorts of things I see and experience.

Thank you for joining me on my journey!

Traveling Crete

Landscapes, Photography, Traveling Crete

I am back from my short vacation in Crete. I have some issues with ma back-up storage. So I have not been able save or even go through all my photos. I was rather good, I only pressed the shutter 701 times during the trip on my camera and some on my mobile 🙂

The week went by fast, we rented a car for three days so we got to see more than the beaches and tourist areas. I am going to post here one shot that I really like. It was on top of a hill in corner of the road leading up to the mountains.

This is going to be the first of many posts, so sorry 🙂 beforehand for the nearly same named posts.

Holiday

Cities, Landscapes, Photography, Travel

I am currently on my vacation here are few shots from my trip, but I will come back to this topic when I get back home. Oh by the way I am in Crete 😊

52 Frames: Week 22: Everything In Focus!

52 Frames, Landscapes, Traveling Crete

We’ve all seen wonderful images where a particular subject is in focus and the rest of the image is soft, so our eyes are drawn to the main element. This week, we want to see Everything In Focus. This is where your choices of subject, composition, lens selection and depth of field all come together to give us sharp images front to back.

Took this in Crete, it is from the entry to the Samariá Gorge. The gorge is situated in the National park of Samaria, in the White Mountains in West Crete. This majestuous gorge is considered one of the great attractions of Crete. It was created by a small river running between the White Mountains (Lefká Óri) and Mt. Volakias.
I took some with f/22, but as I did not have a tripod, the are a bit shaky. I think this is a sweet spot for these shot f/14

Stability: Use a tripod or some sort of support to eliminate any chance of camera shake.
Shutter Speed: A high enough shutter speed to freeze any motion in your shot will get rid of blurs caused by movement.
Depth Of Field: Focusing to infinity at the highest aperture (f/22) isn’t always the best choice. Picks an aperture that’s at the sweet spot of your lens – usually a few stops below the max.
Focus Point: Try focusing at different points – one third of the way in or half the way in and see which gives better results.
Focus Mode: Single will usually be a better choice than continuous. Also, consider using manual focus to get sharp images.
Live View: Use live view and zoom in to your focus point to see if it’s sharp enough and lock in your focus.

Summer house season has started

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Nature

Life once again has changed, I have once again time to pursue my hobbies. My fixed term ended after a yea, so I find myself unemployed, and at my age getting new position is not a given. Well now I hopefully will be able to comment and participate more in the wonderful world of blogging 🙂 as I have been rather absent on that regard lately. I do look though and read post but have been rather silent. It might change.

We started our summer house / cottage season later than ever, middle of May. Usually we are there already in April, but this spring has been so cold and we had so much snow that there was no point going there. But last weekend we did go and you could see the green take over the bleakness in your eyes. I am loving it. The light is wonderful. I took these setting sun shot at 23.30 at night. The moon on the other side of the house and the setting sun on the side.

Saturday was nice, warm and sunny, but the clouds and cold wind greeted us on Sunday, but it was time to head home anyways.

April Saturday

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

I am so waiting for spring and summer that I drove to this small shop in the countryside that this lady keeps in her barn and home to buy linen clothing which is so nice to wear. Natural fabric and bright colors are the items she brings from Italy to her shop. I did not need anything but I did end up buying a green linen dress, a fuchsia linen tunic, necklace, and scarf to match the colors of the tops I brought. I cannot wait to wear them.

That what I wrote above is why I took these photos on our way there, I mean come on, April and the day was as wintery as it could be, it snowed several times during the day. Well, new snow is the death of the old snow as a Finnish saying goes.

snow covered field in April under grey skies

Peru-Cusco

Landscapes

This week we’ve has new snow, lot’s of it, slush, and rain. It has been cold and I am so over winter and snow. Busy week at work and I have not taken any new photos

Then my son shared these…

Travel fever, that is what I have… I have not taken these photos, only edited. My son is traveling in Peru and he shared them from Cusco, often spelled Cuzco is a city in southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It looks so beautiful…

Sunset

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they're absolutely free. Don`t miss so many of them.” – Jo Walton

Sunrise

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

“We need to be reminded sometimes that a sunrise last but a few minutes. But its beauty can burn in our hearts eternally.” – R. A. Salvatore

Mist morning

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

still posting photos that have a small painterly feel to them.

Winter road

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

This photo turned out a little bit like a painting

I am posting this photo as it looks slightly like a painting, muted tones, not so crisp and I like it for some reason.

Even nicer weather

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Nature

What a difference a day makes added with sunshine, the snow covered trees look so nice.

I still haven’t ventured beyond my backyard to take photos, but I am happy to have this as my view.

Nice weather

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

it snowed yesterday, a lot! We got so much snow in our backyard, well in the front too 🙂 I took these first three this morning during the blue moment. The others a little bit later, you can see how it effected the colors.

52 Frames, Week 5: Depth Of Field -3

Landscapes, Nature

Today we went out and took a quick walk at the mall as I needed some Yupo paper and we stopped to have a some milkshake at Kittys and I thought this might be a opportunity for a Depth Of Field shot – a super important concept in photography that often separates those photos that look “amateur” from those that look “professional” or as I like to call it, “profesh”.

Retro décor and pastel colors, this might work. Four slightly different versions.

52 Frames, Week 5: Depth Of Field -2

Landscapes, Nature

It has snowed a lot lately, today there was a moment of sunshine and went out with an intention to capture Depth Of Field – a super important concept in photography that often separates those photos that look “amateur” from those that look “professional” or as I like to call it, “profesh”.

In my previous post I had taken some shots outside, here are few I took inside still life. Once again I was sloppy, I forgot to dust the table prior the shots, well, so it goes.

Here are some of them, give me once again your valuable input as I try to improve my photo skills.

Snow, snow and snow

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

we have some snow in out backyard, and it is so hard to tell the time.

52 Frames, Week 5: Depth Of Field

Landscapes, Nature

I also took some inside – still life shot, but that is an other post.

Here are some of them, give me once again your valuable input as I try to improve my photo skills.

What winter looks like – 6

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

I have no plan other than that I am going to share pictures of what winter looks like. These pictures were not taken on the day I post them, but random shots of what winter can look like in southern Finland.

Not all images are new, actually most are images are images that accumulated in my archives waiting to be edited. I have re-processed them for these posts. My intention is that all the pictures would look good, no matter what the weather was the day I pressed the camera shutter button to capture a view or detail of winter. . I will keep it simple, one photo in the post and an other as a featured image.

Thanks!

Landscapes

First I want to thank you all the followers for their support on my November survival.

Kiitos seurasta marraskuun selättäjät!

At the end of the month I got an eye infection, so I got well behind in my replies to your encouragement and comments. I hopefully was able to reply to them today. I have not been a very frequent visitor to my fellow blogger due to the thing. The light from the monitor irritates my eye. I am on the mend and in weeks time it should be nearly as good as new, or at least as it was prior the infection.

During this darkness I am dreaming being on a beach at sunset. Here is one beautiful memory.

On the road

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

I took a drive on this grey and misty day to barn shop about 40 km away from our house, just to buy some clothes I wanted, not needed. I don’t need anything, that is for sure, but sometimes, something new , warm and soft to lift my spirits is needed. That is what I try to convince myself. I tend to be cold very easily I often have woolen sock on in the summer, well not during a heat wave, but on those normal days.

Update on my purchase, I bought a BIG light beige cardigan and woolen top which was a mixture of a poncho and sweater in light brown. Poncho with sleeves, that what is is. No photos of them, but instead I offer you some road views from the drive.

Misty

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

One word, lazy, would cover how I’ve felt lately.

Maybe it is the darkness that is beginning to surround us. Getting up in the morning is getting harder, all the usual thins that comes with this time of the year, you know what I am talking about, November.

I feel misty, head in the mist no great vision to follow. The other day the weather was very suitable for my mood. Misty days, they always appeal to me, no matter what the season is, winter, summer or fall.

No more chatter, here are the pics I took as I stopped by the lake to capture my mood.

Autumn path

Captures from Finland, Landscapes

I used to drive past this side road, path weekly, when participating in art classes nearby. I enjoyed watching the seasons changing the colors on this private road. I took a drive purposely to check how it looks with autumn colors taking hold of the nature. I was not disappointed. Depending on the zoom length the colors leaned more to yellows or greens.

Moment of light

Captures from Finland, Landscapes, Photography

Autumn in the city

Cities, Landscapes, Photography

I took my husband to the doctor and during his visit I took some autumn color shots from the city. The flu season has started after being almost nonexistent during Covid, my husband had it and now I am sick first time in three years. I had forgotten how it feels. Not nice.

Well anyway, I am giving you an overload of fall photos, bear with me, soon it will be dark and gloomy.