Fireplaces in Australia

Australia seems to have a long tradition of building fireplaces which are stupid beyond belief. I can only assume its because most people (not just Australians) don't and perhaps can't think.

Lets take this old abandoned farm cottage as an example.

In this, the vast majority of the benefits of the fireplace are wasted. Sure it may be cosy to actually have the fire going in the evening, but you'll only get a tiny portion of the benefit from it; the direct radiation from the fire. This of  course only warms when the fire is still burning.

In contrast the back and sides of the (quite substantial thermal mass) fire place will probably remain warm for most of the night. And people wonder why their dogs and cats snuggle up to it when tossed outside for the night.

Now people will argue that they build them like this because of the fire hazard; more evidence of a complete lack of the capacity for thinking ... which side will most likely cause a fiire hazard the stones of the back and sides or the actual burning fire?

FFS ...

In Finland (and from what I saw the rest of Scandinavia) they build them more like this:

Note that the entire thing covered in tin sheet is essentially the stack of bricks in the Australian one, and note that its in the middle of the house (so that it can uniformly warm the entire place). The door to the right is the bedroom (its a small cottage) and so the back wall of that fireplace is right by the bed.

As well that steel door is an oven as well as where you build the fire. So you can put stuff in there to cook and "voila" no cooking fumes in the house!

Because its an enormous thermal mass the outside remains warm for pretty much the whole day, and at night after dinner till the next morning. The smaller doors at the bottom are for getting out the ash that's left behind and the top doors for heating smaller things.

That this one is covered in tin is just to cover the surface of the bricks as its nearly 50 years old and the original paint is flaking and the edges of the bricks cause a little dust. Tin was just the quick fix to make it look neater cheaply. Tin is not an insulator so it then just radiates out into the house.

Here is another one in a log cottage under construction, this one will be rendered with a covering and also tiled to look nicer.

in front of it is the kitchen and behind it is the living room.

Smart use of energy ... using your brain I'd say.

XC Ski Bindings (a primer for non-snow-country people)

This is for my Australian friends who don't know a  lot about Cross Country (XC) Skis and bindings. So if you're from Canada ... move on ... nothing to see here

Basically the style of XC I do is "classic" which means you propel yourself forward by a combination of "kick" + "stepping into the glide" + "poles"

Firstly, lets look at a video I did some years back on (by todays standards) a crummy camera. Take note of how much the heel lifts and how much the boot needs to move as if on a hinge.

Those are my "off track" skis (they're actually NATO military stuff so they're tough and can take abuse). When I post pictures of my local Ski Track like this:

its been groomed by a machine (snow mobile) towing something flat and heavy to pack down the surface a little (making sking easier) and carve in that pair of grooves, which resembles what you'd experience if you were "off track skiing" in a group (following someone as you do ... because its easier).

The Skis

So, lets look at the difference between "track skis" and "off track skis" ... firstly "track skis" are shorter

slimmer

and of course lighter. My track ski weighs 880g while my off track ski weighs 1,780g (yes, nearly 2Kg on each foot, not counting the boot {or any ice you happen to get friendly with}).

This makes skiing the same distance harder work with off track skis (on a track) than track skis (on a track) ... if you have to lift you skis a lot (which you may do on the track when skating a bit) it wears you out a lot ... but the extra with and length means it will carry you over snow which you'd sink into with the track skis, making it easier going in the rough. The off track skis I use also have steel inlays around the edges to make it possible to get some grip on hard packed snow and ice (think spring)...

One needs to be a little careful handling (like storing and transporting) these because that edge is sharp ...

The Boots

On my bindings above (which are New Nordic Norm {a subject unto itself, introduced here}) and there are track and "Back Country" styles ... the BC ones are heavier duty, which becomes clearer when you look at the boots:

(... and do ya like my lounge pants?)

and have wider binding mounts and thicker binding Pins (which form the hinge, allowing stepping)

You can see from this shot that the boots are only secured to the binding at the front

and that the binding Pin is much thicker as well as wider ... so one boot will not go onto the other binding.

The boot presses simply onto the binding with a click (well as long as the fucking thing isn't frozen solid with ice, but see that other post) ...

... where the Pin is captured by the front of the binding and held captive in that hole (where the red circle is) by the arrow slider closing over the top of the "cylinder".

Thus the boot is held onto the Ski firmly allowing you to "ski" it forwards, keep good footing (that won't tip on you causing a twisted ankle...) and lift the ski to do stuff like change direction, step over something (like dog shit on the lake ... thanks arseholes) or move around stuff in your way (as happens in the forest when you ski up {yes up !!} a hill)

note the obstacles and uneven terrain ... hard work? Yep ... sure is, but much harder sinkin in to your groin and trying to walk it up or snow shoe up with your shoe getting snow falling in on top of it and having to lift your foot up further with every step...

When its too steep, you can climb by traversing (see the horizontal "lines" up the slope in the below picture) allowing you to keep your feet at a comfortable angle to your legs (unlike snow shoeing)  and if you have a decent clear run you can ski down which is a shitload of fun (unlike snow shoeing) but you can't steer without stepping.

But to step you need to "have sure footing", transfer your weight, lift the other ski (as if you were skating), move it "outwards", and step into that now moving the other ski (to follow the same path). Yes I like that bank and yes I train there a bit.

... expect to fall over a bit (entertaining those you're with) till you work it out.

So, now you know :-)

the camera you have with you ...

despite my overwhelming urge to pound my phone into a rock every time I try to type on the fucking thing (only those who can't type, have never used a decent QWERTY keyboard and can tolerate so many spelling errors and interpretation errors could confess they like on screen keyboards) the phone makes a good camera. Not least because its always  with you. Like today, I was out wandering around and enjoying the beautiful weather when I looked back (in anticipation of some good backlighting) and found just that:

These days I reflexively put the camera into RAW and then I've got that too. I've earlier found that this combination is about 85% of the quality my GF1 (with the 14mm f2.5 lens) gives.

The camera app did a pretty decent job of this challenging lighting situation (I'd tapped on the brightest cluster of leaves over there mid lower right) but RAW and Snapseed enabled me to pull the highlights down in development and sharpen up a good image.

Here is a full segment

Based on my experience with printing I reckon this'll be good for 52.6 x 71.1 cm (20.69 x 27.97 inches).

I reckon this'll go nicely on a wall back in Australia (to remind me of here when I'm there).

Getting DoF at a distance

one of my pet "disturbances" is people taking pictures of a tiny toy on their keyboard from 5cm away and going on about the DoF and Bokeh of their new lens, especially when its clearly going to be useless at "normal focal distances"

The only way to get DoF is by pupil diameter, not "f stop" ... the bigger the pupil the shallower the DoF

Of course to get that pupil bigger for the same angle of view one needs either a bigger f stop OR a larger format. For instance a 50mm lens on a FullFrame camera has a pupil diameter that's about 25mm at f2 ... while the pupil diameter of a 25mm lens on a 43rds camera (capturing the same view from the same spot)  will be 12mm. Meaning less DoF

So I thought that (not having a full frame or a good 50mm f1.4 lens handy) that using my 45mm f1.7 would do the job at imaging my favourte tree if I stitched together an array of 4 shots (as it would approximate a 50mm on a full frame single frame grab).

Here that is:

Seems that while its better than my earlier attempt with the 20f1.7 (single shot with m43) it looks like its not really doing what I want ... a pixel peep (or a big print) shows that it does indeed have better DoF popping it out of the background, but not as much as my 4x5 had (standing pretty much in the same spot).

Well its better and shows more "separation" from the background.

So, I was right but there was a lesson to be learned

On a larger (again) format (like what is called Large Format) a "normal lens" (like the 50mm) is a 180mm lens and (my f5.6) lens yeilds 32mm at "wide open".

Perhaps a Full Frame with a 50mm @ f1.8 (using a 1.4 lens so as to not get too much corner darkness) would do it. However when one is using even 100ISO full sunlight will require super short shutters (or a ND filter) if you're using f1.8 ... Then there is the highlight clipping to deal with...

I still keep my 4x5 camera and some chemistry around for just this sort of specalised thing (and its cheaper than a Sony A7).

Vappu - off to a shaky start

So, this weekend I was off with some friends out in the beautiful nature of Finland enjoying Vappu. (Vappu for folks who don't know what it is)

It was off to a shaky start (in fine Finnish spring tradition) with some iffy weather. Starting out with sunshine and warmth the day before and ending the 30th with something less fun:

We didn't let that put us off, and instead worked on fixing the pontoon for the jetty out in the sleet.

Perkele himself rewarded our Suomen Sisu with beautiful weather the next day.

Which led to some really fine sunset

and (as looking along the length of the jetty from the house is looking North) a glimpse of the coming "Midnight Sun" in a few months

with "sunset" moving along the sky line till it reached this minimum before "dawning" again.

Our accomodations were humble but entirely delightful.

Gotta love "The North"

my favourite tree

This little guy is on the side of a road and from the first time I saw it (travelling from Joensuu to Kouvola) I wanted to take a shot. On this occasion (just 2 days ago) I had with me my Panasonic G series (GH1 and GF1) cameras and picked the 20mm f1.7 lens to attempt to get the best background diffusion.

Which is still futile to my mind. That isn't the best shot from the day, I'd pick this one for that:

But as you see its just not standing out from the background. I've tried many lighting situations (well natural lighting) and the combination of its size the required distances make it a tough shot.

I have found that in many ways its the classic photographers conundrum. It looks like its a matter of just getting in there but it really isn't.

On driving past you focus on the tree, but the brain picks it out like a telephoto lens while the fact that you're looking out the window of a moving car makes the background and foreground vanish (thanks to the brain) and you see just the tree.

In practice a telephoto won't work because being in a car on the road is higher than the surrounds (and its a highway) and as well there are many obstacles which your brain filters out (like foreground trees).

I've been back in many seasons and many years to try my luck. So far the hardest work produced the best results. Anita and I skied in from the other side (through the forest behind it) and I waddled around that rocky area (which has parts over 2 meters deep when covered by snow) and found this angle.

For this I took my 4x5 camera and shot with a 180mm lens (which is about normal or equivalent to a 50mm) but having a huge pupil (remember DoF is what puts backgound out of focus and its pupil diameter not simply F stop) was helpful in making the background a bit more out of focus. The film was ADOX 50ISO which is an old formulation emulsion.

I think its the best result when you look at a large print and yields the best detail of anything I've used as well as the best background isolation.

The funny thing is that each time I walk around there I seem to settle on the same location each time without having any record of it with me. This is the first shot I ever took of that tree, with my Nikon Coolpix 5000 camera. I took it using NEF (which is RAW) and just reprocessed this again now with Snapseed ... its not the sharpest but its also not bad.

I pondered this shot for some months after I took it in 2008, and felt that not only was more detail needed (the resolution of the digital was not good enough) but more background isolation too.

So this one of those thing where the only thing which really has improved the image is going back to 1940's technology (and 4x5)

Light Pillars

One of the things about walking around the place all the time is you happen across more things. Lastnight on the way back from the shops I observed that it was starting to sprinkle very lightly delicate ice crystals which would be what I'd call "dew" if it wasn't freezing. Looking around me I could see evidence of light pillar formations.

So I headed for the river and found this as the best shot:

 Sadly I only happened to have my phone not my "proper camera" and thus was only able to get this image. Still, better than none :-)

This is something which I've read about but never (till now) witnessed ... fantastic.

down by the lake

I was out visiting relatives yesterday to see how their new house by the lake is going. While there I wandered down to the shore to see what it looked like. I knew that we had not had enough low temperatures yet to allow skiing on the lake yet, but wanted to see the progress. The house is looking fantastic, but the scale of what they are doing is enormous.

We have had some heavy snow falls. Normally lots of snow slows down the process of freezing the water (acting as an insulator) and its interesting to see how rocks can act to break the water stratification layers and bring warmth from lower up to the surface (preventing freezing).

I took that with my GF and the 20f1.7 lens (as RAW) ... moved it over to the phone to have a go with Snapseed. I kind of like this "brash" retune of the image, and like the way its emphasised textures in the hills on the other shore and exaggerated the clouds.

Snapseed has a much more "rough and tumble" approach to its HDR, and so that can go for or against it in specific situations and outcome wishes. For instance below is the image I made using my old favourite Photomatix (a far more delicate tool)

far more photographic in appearance and without the brightness artifacts around the grasses. Still better than the Out Of Camera JPG though

I guess it depends on what you're seeking ... myself I think that the above image would get more comments when printed by my desk than the lower one.

After all ... people love Rock and Roll ;-)

Autumn in Finland

Well not much profound to say today, just been wandering around the local area and taking images as they appeal to me.

Doing a lot of walking lately, which I feel good about. Just 10Km today. Out to the mouth of the river here in Joensuu, past the boats being stored for winter:

I got out to the end of the river (on the town side of the bank)

I'm finding that working with the phone and processing on the phone (this is written on the PC and the images transferred to the PC from the phone) is quite liberating ... as I can process in the field and see which ones I like ... makes it somehow more "right" to see and check against what's there.

Winter is surely on its way ...

The Panasonic GF1 has been my other camera for when I see something which I want the more "normal" angle lens and shallower DoF (and greater dynamic range)...

Its nice to watch the first things start to freeze ... and the delicate edges of the ice advance

The Cycles

It seems to me that so much that's nice fails to be preserved because growth expands outwards and the inner city areas are developed into behives for the swarms so that growth can be satisfied.

Myself I think there is space for a bit of mixture.

I first came to Joensuu (Finland) in 2006 and was very pleased to see a nice balance of medium density amid the historical large homes built back in the formation of the town. One such place I liked was this one:

Perched on a large block when the area (just 3 blocks from the center of town) was largely rural

it had a what must have been in its day a grand entrance

which ironically is about the size of the smallest of apartments in town now ...

This is the first time I've seen it empty, and the owners have allowed it to run down, which means to me that its not far off demolition. I suspect that in a not too distant future there will be someone who wishes that it was still there, and they would pay handsomely for a patch of real estate within walking distance to the University which had the character and class of this place.

Well ... I guess that's progress

the old mill again

A few years back (when I was last living in Joensuu) I took this shot of my favourite old subject here the old sawmill by the river (featured in this blog post)

I was out walking around yesterday and took this shot with my phone (and snapseeded it from RAW)

Slightly different vantage point and a more "impressionist" style was chosen. I like both, but clearly the telephoto provides a "compression" of the scene that a phone can't bring. Equally I like the wide view to put it in perspective visually within the landscape.

I happen to like both, but wouldn't be without the telephoto. So the m43rds camera with the 20mm or the 45mm lenses (both really compact) as well as the phone seems to be where I'm headed.

I wonder if this means that my wide angle lens is now an endangered species?

Settling in

with my self arrived with my bags and opened up the door to an empty place I have started the task of sorting my stuff and settling in.

I got the opportunity to go for a quick jaunt with a mate out (not far) into the countryside and so I though I'd put up a snap of an old abandoned (I assume) shed or barn.

It feels funny saying things to people about "my place" back in Australia, as the habit of calling that house my home is still strong.

I wonder how that will go?

I'm sure (from chats to my neighbours) that the new owners have wasted no time in settling in either, and have seemingly started to make renovations happen.

Hopefully it will change sufficiently that I don't actually want to go back. Either way for now the only place I can call home is here in Finland.

New Years thoughts

Ten years ago I was in a new relationship with the woman who would become my wife. We were in China and celebrating the new year

Starting 2006 on a frozen river seemed like a totally new direction was happening in my life. It was and I found a permanent bond with a new land.

We lived and loved and in the three years since she has gone I still feel the gifts of her love.

I do wish that she was still here.

Time is short my friends, live life , plan for a good future but do not waste the present; all too soon it may become the past.

I wish you Peace

Cultural Differences

Around this time last year I was back living in Finland. One of the many things I like in Finland is the different (dare I say it more natural) attitude towards many things. One such topic is women, and while I will not say Finland is without gender discrimination I will say that they don't regard women to be pissweak dolls to dress up like hookers and be unable to get down and do work.

So on this topic I was walking through town and noticed an ad for an upcoming sporting event (which sadly had crap snow that year) which would seem to most Americans (and sadly increasingly large numbers of Australians) to be incongruous.

So having a history of skiing and shooting, biathlons are common sporting events in Scandinavia and of course Finland too.

Seeing a bunch of fit and strong women who can ski well and shoot straight is to me one of the things which sets Finns as being still humans and the American Dream to be more like Aldus Huxleys warnings of the brave new world.

I like Finland, and I hope to be back there again soon

a walk on the lake

yesterday was a lovely day out on the lake ... as an Australian I never quite loose the magic feeling (and slight apprehension) of walking straight off the shore and over to an island.

This was taken with my FD200 which was a wee bit too telephoto, so to get the angle I wanted I stitched 2 images together and voilla ... higher res version of what I'd get with a 100mm lens.

Oh, and the ice was thick and movement (combined with lack of snow) is showing the cracks too.

:-)

breaking the winter ice

There has been a little creek frozen over not far from my home. With the rising temperatures (and the draining of water too it seems) the ice cover collapsed the other day and showed me what was beneath.

the entire underside was filled with hanging curtains of ice ribbons. Up close they were quite beautiful.

I could theorize about how it formed (probably grew from when the water was closer to the ice) but that doesn't make it any less beautiful.

sticking my camera under the ice to look around shows it to be quite a delicate exquisite palace for a mouse.

Just thought I'd share some of the beauty which normally goes unseen.