Ritva Sillanmäki Photography

Flowers from my archive’s and camera roll.

Something different, shaken and stirred .

Photographs were taken at the Botanical Garden in Helsinki with shaking hands.

Posted for Brens Floral Friday – and Posted Cee´s Flower of the Day.

Mid-Week Monochrome ~ alley

Captures from Finland, Photography

I have a soft spot for black and white photography, it is expressive and minimalist in and very mood enhancing.

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

Inspiration comes from not only within ourselves, but also from watching life around us. Anthony – T. Hincks

Spring 2023

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.

Different types of Anemones were also in bloom, some fading away.

Floral joy~ 6

Flowers from my archive’s and camera roll.

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

Posted for Brens Floral Friday – and Posted for Cee’s Flower of the Day

Lens-Artist Photo Challenge #248—mood

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.

I invite you to join us this week for Sofia’s Mood challenge.

Saturday Classics – 06052023

Saturday Classics

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 album I 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

Floral joy~ 5

Flowers from my archive’s and camera roll.

“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

“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.”

Posted for Brens Floral Friday – and Cee’s Flower of the Day Photography Challenge

Throwback Thursday

Cities, Photography, Travel

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.

Floral joy~ 4

Flowers from my archive’s and camera roll.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do. – Helen Keller

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

Posted for Brens Floral Friday – FF#88 and Cee’s Flower of the Day Photography Challenge

Mid-Week Monochrome #128-1

I have a soft spot for black and white photography, it is expressive and minimalist in and very mood enhancing.

Inspiration comes from not only within ourselves, but also from watching life around us. Anthony – T. Hincks

It doesn’t seem to matter, the time of day, watching people walking by always puts a smile on my face.

Posted for Bren’s Midweek Monochrome and Leanne’s Monochrome Madness

Lens-Artist Photo Challenge #247—Backlit

This week Ann-Christine challenges us to explore backlit photography.

What is backlit photography?

Backlight is light that hits the subject from behind, typically higher than the subject it is exposing.

Backlighting can be a very effective tool if used skillfully. If backlighting is employed well, it can bring a greater sense of depth and an emotional aesthetic to photographs.

Backlighting a photograph is not the simplest method of lighting in photography, nor is it right for every photograph. The first step to mastering backlight photography is understanding the effects that backlighting has on an image. The primary effects of backlighting include:

I use this technique on nature macro photos most often and of course on sunsets and rises, and I noticed night photos are also mostly done this way.

But when I was looking for samples I came to realise that I use sidelight more frequently. They are also often backlit, but, so that light is slightly is more on the side, so I don’t know if it is technically backlit. This happens mostly in portraits. Is this like splitting hairs? Not important?

Good use of natural light. If you’re shooting outside with a small amount of natural light, backlighting can be a good way to take advantage of your lighting situation to produce a striking and evocative image.

Street photography and architecture looks more interesting in backlite.

Depth. Backlight photography emphasizes the depth behind the subject and gives images a greater sense of place.

Dramatic effect. Backlighting can produce a dramatic contrast between the subject and the background. This can be an especially effective technique when shooting outdoor portraits.

I invite you to join us this week for Ann-Christine’s Backlit challenge.

Saturday Classics – 29042023

Saturday Classics

Paul Simon – 50 ways to leave your lover

In a 1975 interview published in Rock Lives: Profiles and Interviews, Simon told the story of this song: “I woke up one morning in my apartment on Central Park and the opening words just popped into my mind: ‘The problem is all inside your head, she said to me…’ That was the first thing I thought of. So I just started building on that line. It was the last song I wrote for the album, and I wrote it with a Rhythm Ace, one of those electronic drum machines so maybe that’s how it got that sing-song ‘make a new plan Stan, don’t need to be coy Roy’ quality. It’s basically a nonsense song.”

According to Simon’s younger brother Eddie , Paul made this song up while teaching his son how to rhyme. Even though he didn’t take the lyrics too seriously, it’s an interesting song, particularly for those who feel trapped in bad relationships.( songfacts)

Here is the original and Miley Cyrus version. Both work for me…

Paul Simon may have sung that there were 50 ways to leave your lover, but he listed only five, which are:

1) Slip out the back, Jack
2) Make a new plan, Stan
3) You don’t need to be coy, Roy, just set yourself free
4) Hop on the bus, Gus
5) Drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free

Lepis is hosting Saturday Classics, you can add your own link here Saturday Classics

Weekend

Interiors, Photography

We came to out summerhouse for the first time this year. It is early spring so not much green yet visible, it is time to do spring jobs, take the leaves and burn fallen branches. Clean the house.

We forgot to bring the wireless internet with us here , so I will be here with just the phone.

Wishing everyone a great weekend,.

Pink nose

animals

Veikka our sweet cat.

Floral joy~ 3

Flowers from my archive’s and camera roll.

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” – Lady Bird Johnson

We are still in very early stages of spring, but moss is is green. I know this is not really flowers, but it is my blog 🙂 so this is what are my take on flowers this week. Moss is so pretty and interesting if you look closely.

Moss grows where nothing else can grow. It grows on bricks. It grows on tree bark and roofing slate. It grows in the Arctic Circle and in the balmiest tropics; it also grows on the fur of sloths, on the backs of snails, on decaying human bones. It is a resurrection engine. A single clump of mosses can lie dormant and dry for forty years at a stretch, and then vault back again into life with a mere soaking of water.Elizabeth Gilbert

The moss sits hedgehog-like on the stone, softly hibernating, gently green. Kelsey plucks it, surprised by the wetness that remains from the morning rain when every other thing has been dried by the sun.Angela Abraham

Posted for Brens Floral Friday – FF#88 and Cee’s Flower of the Day Photography Challenge

Floral joy~2

Flowers from my archive’s and camera roll.

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” – Lady Bird Johnson

This wonderful plant has so many uses and yet is often neglected in our society. The primary use of the dandelion plant is for its superior liver cleansing qualities. The plant is a powerhouse of nutrients! -Valerie Hoffman

Posted for Bren’s Flower of the Day and Cee’s Flower of the Day

A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows. – Doug Larson

Throwback Thursday

Cities, Photography, Travel

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 window shopping in Stockholm, Sweden. I for some reason find these quirky Very Important Clothes windows fun and creative. I have no idea if the shops exists an more, I doubt it. Many times these small business don’t have a very long life span. I generally like windows with creative design.

I am going to be kind and limit the photos to only eight.

Mid-Week Monochrome #127-1

I have a soft spot for black and white photography, it is expressive and minimalist in and very mood enhancing.

Classy women never lose their dignity.
“There is strong shadow where there is much light.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. – Dorothy Nevill

Posted for Bren’s Midweek Monochrome and Leanne’s Monochrome Madness

Lens-Artist Photo Challenge #246—still life

Lens-Artists #246: Still Life

This week Patti challenges us with Still Life.

This is the topic I return to when I need something to photograph when the weather is bad or I am too lazy to leave the house. This is my contibution this week, enjoy, savour the tasty freshness.

The term “still life” describes a work of art that shows inanimate objects from the natural or man-made world, such as fruit, flowers, dead game, and/or vessels like baskets or bowls. Looked at another way: still lifes depict things that are “still” and don’t move. Still life is a genre that spans art history.

Fact: Food photography is a still life photography genre used to create attractive still life photographs of food. It is a specialization of commercial photography, the products of which are used in advertisements, magazines, packaging, menus or cookbooks.

Fruits, berries and candy…

Still life settings, flowers, product, fashion.

Odds bits from here and there.

Saturday Classics – 22042023

Saturday Classics

Nora jones – come away with me

Just a nice mood piece- I like singing to it. My voice range is abled me to sing along with it 🙂

This love song is the title track to Norah Jones’ debut album, released in 2002 when she was just 22. A patient, peaceful song, it finds Jones singing about a romantic escape where the only thing that matters is that they’re together. At the time, Jones was dating her bass player, Lee Alexander.

The music video was directed by James Frost, whose work includes Radiohead’s “House of Cards” and Coldplay’s “Yellow.” It shows Jones driving what appears to be the 1971 Cadillac DeVille that played a very important role in her life (we’re not sure if it’s the real one or a replica, but it has Texas plates). Jones’ mother bought her the oversized vehicle when they were living in Texas and Norah needed to commute for work. The car was pretty much indestructible, so it was a safe choice.(songfacts)

Come away with me in the night
Come away with me
And I will write you a song

Come away with me on a bus
Come away where they can’t tempt us with their lies

And I want to walk with you
On a cloudy day
In fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high
So won’t you try to come

Come away with me and we’ll kiss
On a mountaintop
Come away with me
And I’ll never stop loving you

And I want to wake up with the rain
Falling on a tin roof
While I’m safe there in your arms
So all I ask is for you
To come away with me in the night
Come away with me

Lepis is hosting Saturday Classics, you can add your own link here Saturday Classics

Floral joy

Flowers from my archive’s and camera roll.

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”
– Lady Bird Johnson

Posted for Bren’s Floral Friday and Cee’s Flower of the Day

Throwback Thursday

Cities, Photography, Travel, Traveling Sri Lanka

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 Thriving Fishing Culture from Negombo, Sri Lanka.

Negombo made its start as a fishing community, and fishermen today continue to hawk their wares on the city’s sandy shores. Starting from as early as 4AM, fishing boats begin to make their way to the beach laden with that morning’s catch. Shrimps, crabs and lobsters are hunted at the famous Negombo Lagoon, while fresh fish is hauled in from the waves of the Indian Ocean.

A Unique Concept

Visitors that walk the shores of Negombo beach can witness the day’s catch being laid out on enormous mats made of coconut fibre. Using an age-old method of open-air drying, the fishermen use the heat of the sun to remove all moisture from the fish and extend their shelf life. It will then get salted before being shipped to all over the island and sold in stores; dried fish is a very common inclusion of Sri Lankan cuisine.

Adjacent to the shores of drying fish, the wet market is where fresh seafood can be bought. Ranging from of offers of tuna, mackerel, squid, sardines and shark, the market is said to be closed on Sundays when the city’s predominantly Catholic population heads to church. However, some Muslim fishermen still operate on Sunday (their religious day of the week being Friday), so it is still possible to witness the fishing community in action.

While some of the fish for sale at the market are brought in fresh, others have been brought in from larger wholesalers in the morning to be sold here. The best fish are sold to local hotels and restaurants before being relegated to either the marketplace or to being dried under the sun on the beach.

what would be your choice for the day?

Mid-week Monochrome #126-1

I have a soft spot for black and white photography, it is expressive and minimalist in and very mood enhancing.

Roses are beautiful even in monochrome

“There is strong shadow where there is much light.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Take time to smell the roses.

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

Lens-Artist Photo Challenge #245—Environments

Lens-Artists Challenge #245 – Environments

The promp this weeks in Environments, that is the question of this week from Tina.

She wrote: We’d love you to show and tell us what it is about your own environment that is most special to you. Maybe you’re a city mouse (as above) who loves to travel to the country for a change of pace (as below) – or vice versa. Maybe you travel back and forth from home to work. Whatever your ‘druthers, this week’s challenge is to share your images and thoughts about environments, whatever they may be.

Environment has a huge impact on the way we think and live. I truly believed that. It doesn’t have to define you, but it shapes you for sure. People, family, you cannot leave them out of this, they are a huge part of the environment you live in

I have lived in three continents and moved about 27 times. I once counted them.

The most impact on the environment I want to live in has been where I grew up between the years from 5 year to my teens. A place called Kaitaa in Espoo Finland. it was a small area with single houses on rather big block of land near the sea, and woods. I did not live there all the time, I lived in Australia for several years on two different occasions.

So I lived in a suburb about 15 km from Helsinki in a residential area just a few minutes away from the sea. Woods starting from the backyard, an area where we kids could play around by ourselves. I have spent hours trying to find photos of the area, but no, it was nearly impossible and to get good ones totally impossible. Below there are photos of my current backyard. One of the houses in Australia, this one my had built as he did the one is Espoo also, the last image in this set.

So when I think of the place I now am most comfortable at is where I have a nature opening behind my window, privacy. I don’t have the sea as near as I would like, it is still near, but I have the woods, rocks and nature opening from my windows. I still live near Helsinki where I can sit in a cafe watching people, visit bookstores and take part in events and happenings if I wish. The need for this is less all the time. Age, it must be the age.

Helsinki – our capital is a lovely place, but I do not wish to live there. (below) I was born there, lived there for the first 5 years, but the memories are very vague.

Between this I have lived in big cities, small towns and very different surroundings. I have traveled a lot in Europe, the US and Australia. Sunspot location and cities. All have had an impact on me and how I view the world, people. Life, really how I view life.

Here are few places I’ve lived in when abroad

Hammondville, NSW, Mt. Gambier, SA, Adelaide, SA, Liverpool NSW, Cambelltown , NSW, Leaumeah, NSW, Nyack, NY, Las Vegas, NV , San Diego, CA

One has been a constant in my life, I want to live near by the sea and woods. Well in Vegas, not so much so :-)) Lake Mead was there… These are the important elements in my life. I tried to find scanned photos from San Diego, but could not find all that many on my hardware. La Jolla was a place we spent lots of time

We have had a summer house hour and half hour drive away in the countryside – solitude, our own little getaway. Once again woods, farmland and lakes nearby. So that is what I come from and where I have ended up being. The photos below are from there, our summer haven. This has been in my life for 30 years, when we bought it was in a really bad state, but now after working on it for these years if is one of the best places to spend the summer.

I’m not really happy with this post, but I’ll just post it anyways.