28 December 2013

photographs from oulu VIII.

this is the last post dedicated to our winter trip to Oulu - last but not least as the ones below are possibly my favourite photographs of the whole stay. the day we walked along the Oulujoki river Jacopo and I finally got on top of a very high bridge: from there we could admire the most spectacular reflections on the icy water - not to mention the mystical steam hanging above the river. it was an astonishing sight - which I am still not sure if my photographs are able to represent to the fullest.
photographs from Oulu part VIII - Oulujoki:
Nikon FM - Fuji Superia X-tra 800
I will be back home in Helsinki on Monday night and I will try to get the films I have been shooting here in Italy developed as soon as possible. hopefully I will have some nice photographs to share of my lovely italian holiday in just a few days! ♥

25 December 2013

photographs from oulu VII.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas day! I took these photographs more than two weeks ago - still I think they look quite Christmassy with that beautiful white snow. that morning in Oulu the sky was clear and the temperature was -18°C: Jacopo and I walked along the Oulujoki river and found some spectacular spots to photograph - a very cold but lovely excursion!
photographs from Oulu part VII - Oulujoki:

Nikon FM - Fuji Superia X-tra 800
along the river we entered the garden of a lovely cottage that looked uninhabited: the view was beautiful there! the frozen trees and the colour of the ice were incredible and everything around us was so peaceful in the frosty air - not to mention that the cottage itself looked fantastic too! the most spectacular bit of our walk was yet to come though: I will share more about it in my next post.
Happy Christmas and thank you for stopping by Passer Domesticus! ♥

23 December 2013

photographs from oulu VI.

last but not least here is the final batch of photographs taken in Koitelinkoski that I would like to share with you - my favourite one above all. last year I could not photograph this very bit of the place as my film roll was already over before getting to the end of our walk - luckily this time I had plenty of shots left instead. I think that turquoise bridge was really worth picturing!
photographs from Oulu part VI - Koitelinkoski:
Nikon FM - Fuji Superia X-tra 800
it may seem that the only place we visited in Oulu had been Koitelinkoski but it is not true: in fact I have a precious selection of photographs we took during a morning walk along the Oulujoki river that I am going to share with you later this week - I hope you will like them!
I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas! ♥

21 December 2013

photographs from oulu V.

I promise I am going to share just two more posts dedicated to Koitelinkoski before moving onto something else: I just could not stop taking photographs there - for me it will always remain a fascinating place no matter how many times I visit it!
photographs from Oulu part V - Koitelinkoski:

Nikon FM - Fuji Superia X-tra 800
here you can see some of those bridges that I like so much and I will share more photographs of them in a new post. where the water is less strong it freezes in dark pools - which creates a beautiful contrast with the white of the snow all around them. the little cottage in the third picture is a dream!

18 December 2013

photographs from oulu IV.

I believe the first photograph of this batch to be my favourite among the ones I took in Koitelinkoski. in the first couple of images you can get a better look at the rapids of Koiteli: the flow of the water is so strong that it is almost scary to get too near to the edge of the river. I could not resist to take a couple of closer shots though: when I take photographs I tend to forget about my fears.
photographs from Oulu part IV - Koitelinkoski:
Nikon FM - Fuji Superia X-tra 800
that lovely wooden cottage is a cafe that unfortunately is open only during the summer time - I remember eating an ice-cream there the first time I visited Koitelinkoski two years ago. the place has a totally different atmosphere in winter - in my opinion it is possibly even more fascinating!

16 December 2013

photographs from oulu III.

I still want to share many photographs of the ones I took that day in Koitelinkoski - I hope you will not mind! Koitelinkoski literally means rapids of Koiteli and in fact the most fascinating aspect of the place are the turbulent waters that do not freeze in the winter time but flow even more powerful.
photographs from Oulu part III - Koitelinkoski:

Nikon FM - Fuji Superia X-tra 800
I really love the bright orange spots on the trunk of those trees - which species are they? I also have a thing for suspended wooden bridges and there are plenty of them to cross in Koitelinkoski.
I wish you all a wonderful start of the week! ♥

13 December 2013

photographs from oulu II.

I have finally got my analogue photographs from Oulu back from the lab: unfortunately some of them turned out too dark and grainy - Northern Ostrobothnia is not exactly the most luminous place in December - but there are still several shots I would like to share during the next couple of weeks. I hope you will like them - though sadly I had to use the infamous Fuji Superia X-tra 800.
photographs from Oulu part II - Koitelinkoski:
Nikon FM - Fuji Superia X-tra 800
one of the places I wanted to visit the most was Koitelinkoski - which I had never seen covered in snow: I ended up taking many photographs there as it was even more impressive than I was expecting it to be. Jacopo and I spent a couple of hours wandering around until our feet and noses froze off.

P.S. I am flying to Italy tomorrow morning to spend Christmas time with my family: I will keep updating Passer Domesticus from over there. I wish you all a lovely weekend! ♥

10 December 2013

photographs from oulu I.

last night I got back to Helsinki after spending five days in Oulu: it had been a lovely little holiday! the lab says they might take a few more days to get my rolls of film developed so I would like to share here some mobile phone photographs - while I am waiting for my analogue ones to be ready.
photographs from Oulu - part I:
more on Instagram
despite the midwinter darkness and the bitter cold - one day the temperature went down to -18°C - we managed to spend at least a couple of hours outdoors every day: we visited some of my favourite places and everything looked so beautiful covered in snow! whenever we got too cold we returned to Jacopo's grandparents' lovely cottage and they fed us with warm and abundant food: it felt like Christmas! I really cannot wait to tell you more and share my analogue photographs with you! ♥

04 December 2013

all around kaitalampi VI.

last but not least here is the sixth post dedicated to our weekend hiking around Kaitalampi lake. I suspect I might have posted too many photographs of Kaitalampi - but I hope you will be able to enjoy this final batch anyway. on the right side of the lake we had to climb on and descend some very steep cliffs and we even lost our way a couple of times in the forest. the view was totally rewarding though and we finally made it back to the start before it got completely dark!
all around Kaitalampi - part VI:
Nikon FM - Fuji Pro 400H
tomorrow morning we are flying to Oulu to spend five days with Jacopo's grandparents: I am bringing a couple of film rolls as I am hoping to find some snow there - I would like to take many walks in the nature despite the cold temperatures and the midwinter darkness.
I will be back on Passer Domesticus sometime next week!

02 December 2013

all around kaitalampi V.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and a wonderful start of December! I went to a spectacular concert - Sigur Rós in Helsinki - and I had a delightful Pikkujoulu with some dear friends. December will be a month of travels for me - hopefully with many photographs - but before starting a new film roll there are still a couple of posts I would like to dedicate to Kaitalampi.
all around Kaitalampi - part V:
Nikon FM - Fuji Pro 400H
these photographs were taken just before turning on the right side of Kaitalampi lake - where the hiking trail became unexpectedly challenging. even though the sun was already beginning to set we had to stop once again to take photographs of such an incredible view. I really like the last picture of this batch where Jacopo's silhouette stands out against the brightness of the sky and the lake below!

29 November 2013

all around kaitalampi IV.

when along our trail we spotted a wooden sign promising a wonderful view - Jacopo and I decided to continue hiking in that direction: we were eager to find out what the sign meant. to do that we had to leave the side of Kaitalampi lake behind us for a while and enter deeper in the forest: the path became narrower and steeper until we reached the top of a hill.
all around Kaitalampi - part IV:
Nikon FM - Fuji Pro 400H
after climbing on top of a huge rock - covered in soft green moss and virtually free of trees - we were finally able to look down onto a large forest endlessly streching in front of us. that wooden sign was right: it was indeed a wonderful view - even more glorious in the light of the setting sun! I could have stayed there contemplating that spectacular vista for hours but we had to keep on moving: it was going to be dark soon and we still had to hike a considerable length of the trail around the lake.
more about Kaitalampi next week! have a lovely weekend! ♥

27 November 2013

all around kaitalampi III.

gratified by all the positive feedback I have got on the previous posts - I now want to proceed by posting a third batch of photographs taken in Kaitalampi. I really hope you are not yet bored with trees and lakes because there are going to be three more batches coming after this one!
all around Kaitalampi - part III:
Nikon FM - Fuji Pro 400H
the trail on the left side of the lake was going up and down hill and whenever we reached a clearing there had been a huge rock where to climb on and admire the panorama: Southern Finland is relatively flat so these changes in level were quite exciting for me to experience - it was so beautiful to look down onto the lake! I was also very fascinated by the strong contrast between light and shadow. when Jacopo spotted a wooden sign that promised a wonderful view - we momentarily left the side of the lake to follow a second trail in that direction... I will tell you more in my next post!

25 November 2013

all around kaitalampi II.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and are ready to start a new week! snow has not yet fallen over Helsinki but we have had some beautiful sunny days instead - just like the one we spent in Kaitalampi over a week ago. here is a second batch of photographs from that outing.
all around Kaitalampi - part II:
Nikon FM - Fuji Pro 400H
the first time Jacopo and I visited Kaitalampi was last summer on a very hot day: we did not walk all around the lake but simply stopped to have a picnic on the sunny side. last Sunday instead we wanted to follow the trail until the very end and it was a beautiful and surprisingly challenging hike. I took these photographs during the first part of our walk on the left side of the lake: this was the easiest bit of the trail and we could stop many times to enjoy the wonderful view.
to be continued!