A short trip to Greece

  Had the chance to visit Greece for a few days. Our destination was the Halkidiki peninsula, and there the town of Ouranoupoli. Our main goal was nothing less than to relax and have a dip in the Mediterranean sea. Of course I packed all my camera gear with me as I was hoping to make a few images too. Sea is a good subject for photos as are the olive trees growing all over here and there, so I shot a few landscape images. Had cool little portrait session on the beach with a very atractive lady. And finally a few herp images. My coolest sightings for the trip was a juvenile eastern Montpelier snake, which despite saving its life, bit me. After three days searching I finally found an adult Caspian whip snake, with whom I had a nice photo shoot. And a big surprise was a European blind snake found under a rock. All in all, Greece is an awesome destination, and I wouldn't mind to go there some other time again.

     

A landscape: with or without people?

  I really don't know if there is a single person who've touched a camera and didn't never ever make a single landscape image. There's so many reasons to make landscape pics. One reason is just because you were there and the view was just so cool. For many who are interested in shooting wildlife, the reason might be to get the animals habitat within the picture. Some might make an image of the same view year after year just to see how the surroundings are changing. For a long time I tried to avoid having people in my landscapes. Somehow I guess I felt that a person in my image ruins the shot. Lately I've changed my opinion. I still shoot landscapes without people, and sometimes it really can be hard to make such an image, especially if the place where you are shooting is crowded. For example, a few weeks ago, when shooting the waterfall Skaklya, the place was swarming with people. There was always someone within the frame, and just when I was pretty sure that now the view is clear, of course someone popped him self in the image to make a selfie. Finally, after standing some 15 minutes in a freezing cold mountain stream, I managed to make an image from where I could crop the people out in post. Definitely an image were I didn't want to have human beings. Even though sometimes you don't want to have people in your images, then on the other hand, sometimes a person or two can make the image alive or maybe it can give some scale to the landscape. Here's a few images from last week. Maybe the pics would've been good without a person, but I think that with a person in them they are a tad better. What do you think?

     

In the rain

   Lately we've been trying to learn our dogs to travel by car. The benefits are obvious, it's nicer for the dogs with all those new smells and for me it means maybe a few more images into my portfolio, and of course it's always great to be together with the family and do stuff. On Monday we drove a bit out from the town, unleashed the beasts and started to walk. A Little flipping stones resulted in a nice small smooth snake, but mainly I shot landscapes. Suddenly it started to rain, but as fast as it started as fast it ended too, and finally the sun revealed it self in all its glory. One reminder I got, wast that always carry a towel of some kind with you. Very essential when the rain pours down and gets in to your lens.

This spring

  Thought it would be nice to post a few photos from this spring. As usual, I've been so busy or lacking inspiration that keeping this blog up to date... Who cares.  I had the possibility to enjoy  the cold Finnish spring, that meant mainly landscapes. In Bulgaria I visited a waterfall called Skaklya. Even if the waterfall was amazing, my highlight for the trip was a nose-horned viper we found on the path. And then a few random images from this spring.