kesäinen seurasaari.

for a couple of weeks it felt like the summer had already arrived in Helsinki: the sun had been shining every day and the temperature reached 28°C. it has been cold and rainy for a some time now and looking through the photographs I took during those summery days makes me long for more sunshine. I would like to share here two shots taken in Seurasaari with my Hasselblad.

kesäinen Seurasaari:

Hasselblad 500 C/M - Lomography Redscale XR 50-200

sometimes I find it difficult to come up with interesting titles for my post: this time I chose to write one in Finnish since I really like the sound of the word kesäinen - summery. that day it had been so hot that I almost felt like going for a swim! it is hard to believe that these two shots were still taken on a Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 rated at 25 iso: there is almost no trace of red at all. I really love the vintage-looking tones of these photographs!

here's to a sunny weekend and a wonderful start of June!

lomography redscale XR 50-200 part 2.

I am happy to read that many of you seem to appreciate the colours of my first Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 rated at 25 iso. I wonder if I might have involuntarily encouraged someone to give a second chance to a film that provides such different results when rated at 200 iso.

Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 rated at 25 iso:

Hasselblad 500 C/M

here are a few more photographs from the same roll I took in Herttoniemi two weeks ago: most of it has turned out with the same beautiful warm tones and dreamy colours - I am still so impressed by them! I am also glad I have taken out my Hasselblad again after a very long time: I have missed the spectacularly high definition she can provide! Redscale XR 50-200 ♥ Hasselblad 500 C/M

lomography redscale XR 50-200 rated at 25 iso.

I had only tried the Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 last autumn in Northern Lapland: since the light was scarce I had to rate the film at iso 200 and all my photographs turned out extremely red. I was looking forward to test the Redscale during brighter days and - when last weekend summer finally came to Helsinki - I decided to take my Hasselblad for a walk with Jacopo.

Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 rated at 25 iso:

Hasselblad 500 C/M

I could not believe my eyes after getting a couple of film rolls developed: when rated at 25 iso the Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 behaved in a totally different way and the photographs turned out with some wonderful warm tones and not completely red. I am especially happy with this first batch though I will share more photographs from those rolls as the colours vary quite greatly throughout.

P.S. the author of the second photograph is obviously Jacopo! ♥

color film for spectra.

there is still one last photograph from our Easter Holiday in Northern Finland that I would like to share with you: a portrait that Jacopo took of me with his Polaroid Image System. that afternoon we ended up walking by the sea in Oulunsalo and the sun was shining bright on the pieces of ice scattered by the icebreakers - what a beautiful sparkling sight that one was!

a portrait of me taken by Jacopo:

Polaroid Image System - Color Film for Spectra

we seldom shoot polaroids nowadays and I really miss the beautiful soft tones of the Impossible Instant Film! this has been one of the first polaroids that Jacopo has taken since the start of 2014: Finnish winter is certainly not the best time of the year to shoot films that do not stand cold temperatures. I truly hope that we will have the chance to take more polaroids now that the summer is finally coming: I am looking forward to trying out more of this Color Film for Spectra.

I am currently waiting for two film rolls to be developed: I will not be posting anything new here for a few days. until then I am leaving you with a quote from a book I have just finished reading and found very inspiring: Tove Jansson Life, Art, Words: The Authorised Biography by Boel Westin.

Duty and pleasure are a long story for me, permanently relevant, and I've gradually reached an unusual and altogether personal conclusion. The only honest thing is pleasure - desire, joy - and nothing I've forced myself to do has ever given pleasure to the people round me. Tove Jansson - April 1955

sunset over the gulf of bothnia.

during our holidays in Northern Finland we decided to spend one evening taking photographs of the sunset by the sea. the day was already quite long and we had to wait until ten to see the sun going down: when it finally did some clouds had gathered up and the sky looked very dramatic and colourful. it was such an impressive sight that I do not think I was able to capture at its fullest through my photographs: still I would like to share two of them which I particularly like.

sunset over the Gulf of Bothnia:

Nikomat EL - Kodak 400

it was an extremely cold evening in Nallikari: the temperature had dropped down of several degrees since the afternoon and a strong wind blowing from the sea made my ears and fingers numb. I am glad I have managed to take those two photographs after all: that sunset was really worth remembering!

P.S. that was the last bit of our Easter Holidays that I wanted to share with you: I hope you have enjoyed it! now you can go back and take a look at the other bits if you have not done it yet.

oulujärvi part 2.

I was really happy to receive so many positive comments about the first part of this series: here is the second part - which I hope you will appreciate as much. in case you have not read my previous posts: all photographs were taken at Oulujärvi by the island of Manamansalo in Northern Finland.

more photographs of Oulujärvi:

Nikomat EL - Kodak 400

I must say that on our way to Oulujärvi I had no idea we were still going to find some snow and ice there: I think the landscape looked incredible because of the contrast between the springy looking sky and the wintry lake. Note: in both part 1 and part 2 the last photograph was taken by Jacopo.

I wish you all a lovely weekend!

oulujärvi part 1.

on Good Friday the weather was extremely beautiful and Jacopo and I decided to drive to Oulujärvi: a huge lake about 100km away from Oulu. I had never been to Oulujärvi and I was blown away by its vastness. we reached the island of Manamansalo by ferry and finally stopped on a beach that was still partly covered in ice and snow: the landscape looked extremely fascinating there!

photographs of Oulujärvi:

Nikomat EL - Kodak 400

the snow on the beach almost seemed like white sand and the light was beautiful and bright. that scenery looked simply incredible to me and I got carried away and shot too many photographs: I hope you will not mind if I share more of them in my next post.

P.S. I have decided to add DISQUS as a platform for commenting on this blog: I hope it will be easier to leave a comment from now on - also for the occasional readers of Passer Domesticus!

ferryboats in northern finland.

Finland is famous for being the land of a thousand lakes. I do not know exactly how many there are but it is true that my adoptive country is full of lakes of all shapes and sizes: some of these have bridges across them and some others you can only cross by boat. depending on the length of the stretch of water the ferryboat can be a lautta or a lossi: a big ferry or a small ferry.

ferryboats in Northern Finland:

Nikomat EL - Kodak 400

here are two ferryboats I have photographed during our latest holiday in Northern Finland: a lossi on Oulujärvi and a lautta that connects the island of Hailuoto to the mainland. I really like the fact that the Finnish language has two different words to distinguish a large ferryboat from a small one! there was still some ice on the Sea of Bothnia but the weather was sunny and clear that day.

P.S. I hope you all have had a wonderful start of May!