The art of being lost

In a world where roads, sign and people are everywhere I can't get lost.

For most of the year I live in a structured society and my little niche is well defined, I am just a small cog in a massive machine and there is very little wiggle room.

I never have to really think how to find a place even if I have never been there before. My car or my phone can talk to me and tell me where I am or how to get where I want.... there is never any guessing.

F.Zuiko 32mm f1.7  1/5000sec

Once I year I have the luxury to be off grid where I can exercise the opportunity of being lost.

I paddle out in my kayak away from houses and roads and I just wonder around, not really too concerned with where I will end up in the evening. After all, I have right with me what is needed for a least a few days, food and shelter are guaranteed.

Canon TV-16 50mm f1.4  1/320sec

I generally take the direction that looks prettiest to me and I wiggle my way through the islands trying to not go around in circles, but if I do that's fine too. I have given up on "destination anxiety" and I no longer set myself with a goal of so many miles per day. I rather spend some time on a particularly interesting island and explore its shore to spend some time photographing.

Lumix G Vario 12-32mm f3.5-5.6  1/100sec

I have no desire to find out and then go to "good campsites", the "must see spots" and I never plot a course beforehand and follow it. I much prefer to travel spontaneously to suit my mood and interest as the day goes by.

I don't carry a GPS as I don't want a machine to tell me how I am doing, how fast I am going and how far I have to go. What is the point of getting away from it all to then create yet another unnecessary constraint?

I have a basic map with me that helps me find a place that might have supplies for the next few days and I consult it when time comes.

And in between those necessary stops I feel free to think and I am present in the moment, absorb my surrounding and allow myself to be off-line, not answering to any calls or not slave to this screen.

Lumix G Vario 12-32mm f3.5-5.6  1/500sec

.

Little green frogs

For years I thought green frogs were some kind of myth since I could never spot one.
Then one day somebody told me that if I looked carefully in the pond I would probably spot some.
And I did.


adapted Kodak Ektanon 102mm f2.7  1/200sec

Not larger than 3 cm most of them are very shy and hide under leaves or hop away if approached.
It took some patience and steady hands with my favorite Kodak Cine lenses to finally capture them.


adapted Kodak Ektanon 102mm f2.7  1/500sec



adapted Kodak Ektanon 102mm f2.7  1/400sec



adapted Kodak Ektanon 102mm f2.7  1/100sec


.

Invasion of blue aliens

At low tide an army emerges from the sand and invades the edges of the shallow ponds.

Kodak Cine Anastigmat 63mm f2.7 1/1250sec

In their impeccable blue uniforms for a few hours they work hard at making "cannon balls".

Kodak Cine Anastigmat 63mm f2.7  1/800sec

But as the tide floods again their conquered beach they retreat underground once more.

The relentless life of a soldier crab.

Kodak Anastigmat 63mm f2.7  1/1600

.

Same place: 3 different moods

I was hoping for a fiery sunset that evening.
All week long the sky has been turning spectacular with powerful red skies; but I was stuck in the city.
Now it was Saturday and I headed to the beach: it was going to be low tide at sunset.
But one thing it's sure with outdoor photography: I can't control the light.
What I thought was going to happen didn't: there was no fiery sky, no dramatic clouds.
The sun lowered to the horizon and then it met low dark clouds. The light went from soft warm to steel cold and flat.

I had a few vintage lenses with me, none of them really designed for my camera. One was a slide projection lens from a Kodak Carousel that I mounted on some macro bellows to be able to focus and certainly the hardest lens to use. Very low contrast, not very sharp and rendering highlights with a glow.


Kodak Ektanar C 102mm f2.8 slide projector lens  1/4000sec

As the light quickly changed I suddenly was faced with a very blue light that robbed all the typical colors of a beach at sunset. What it gave me instead is the opportunity to create a different look, of a more somber and pensive style.


adapter lens from miniature SLR system Pentax-110: 70mm f2.8 (fixed aperture)  1/640sec

Eventually the light faded away and just as I was heading back I notice the mangrove tree silhouetted against the sky.


adapter lens from miniature SLR system Pentax-110: 18mm f2.8 (fixed aperture)  1/200sec


.

Beach dream ride

The mesmerizing feeling of riding your horse on an empty beach at low tide; like in a dream.
Horse or horse-power; to each their own.


Steinheil Munchen Cintagon 100mm f3.5     @f5.6  1/1250sec

January late afternoon on the beach

While some of my friends are enjoying (or hating?) winter in the Northern hemisphere I get the pleasure to walk barefoot on a sandy beach in Queensland.


Vivitar 135mm f2.8  @f5.6  1/125sec

I never tire of a walk before dark, sometimes I am gifted with a spectacular sunset.


G-Lumix 14mm    f5.6  1/10sec 


Vivitar 135mm f2.8  @f5.6  1/350sec


.

Before the rain

There was rain in those clouds but nothing could get in the way for an evening run on the beach.


M.Zuiko 17mm f1.8  @f5  1/2500sec

.

The orange bag

It sticks out, bright.
Not originally intended as a camera bag, with a custom insert it now serves very well for a kit of a couple of camera bodies and several lenses.
Ah yes, those are Micro Four Thirds cameras, not big monster DSRLs :-)

Around the city:


Vintage manual lens: Nikkor 105mm f2.5 rangefinder  @f5.6  1/500sec

Early morning beach walk on Xmas day.


Nikkor 105mm f2.5 rangefinder  @f2.8   1/3000sec

On the golf course, trying to get a low angle shot.


Industar-61,  50mm f2.8  @f5.6  1/30sec

Moon-rise at the beach, again.


Sigma 60mm f2.8 DN  @f4  1/10sec

The stretchy dress dress and the camera bag seem to live in symbiosis: best combo for outdoor warm weather photography.

.

Rain droplets

Summer's humidity and heat has now engulfed my subtropical city.
The drizzle and cloudy sky allowed me to explore the possibility of a vintage lens adapted to work on my modern camera.


Vivitar (Komine) 28mm f2.0
The close-up capabilities and focusing really please me.

Company

Photography for me can be an almost spiritual experience.
When the light is soft in a calm setting I get to experience a dream.
Looking down on the screen of my camera I create images of moments that later I can relive.


SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4  1/6000sec

I love to have company with me, to share the experience and later recall it.

.

Dragonfly

Standing in the creek laying eggs on a log just under the water's surface.


Meyer Optik Trioplan 50mm f2.9  1/1000sec

Beach puddle

Every tide shapes the beach with new sand waves, renewing the shore to a new texture.


PEN-F Zuiko 38mm f1.8  @f5.6  1/15 sec

Foreshore playground

There is a dog friendly beach that I like to visit at sunset.
Not all dogs like to chase balls and retrieve sticks, some are just happy to stroll or go for a swim.


M.Zuiko 40-150   f11  1/750sec



M.Zuiko 40-150   f5.6  1/1000sec

Ball play

Never tired of chasing that ball.


M.Zuiko 40-150R  f11  1/90sec


M.Zuiko 40-150R  f6.7  1/750sec

Running free

Oh boy, the fun dogs have at the beach...


Meyer Optik Trioplan 50mm f2.9 @f8  1/1000sec

Waking up in nature

I make sure I can leave the city already on a Friday night to then drive for a few hours, West, into the bush.
A short walk in the dark and set up camp, sometimes late.
It's all worth it, for waking up on the weekend one more morning in nature .


Lumix G 14mm  f5.6 1/180sec



SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4 @2.8  1/1500sec

Sheltered camp

Paddling along the Northern outer fringe of the Åland archipelago we always looked for a campsite that would offer shelter from the wind and potentially increasing swell.


M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ    f5.0  1/160sec

Reflection on Saggö ön

We spent 3 days camped in just one location because the granite coast had too much to offer, visually.
Every evening we would wait for the sun to get closer to the horizon before our evening "photographic walk".


M.Zuiko 9-18mm  f5.6  1/160sec
The endless low soft light was a visual feast for me, used to sub tropical abrupt sunsets.
The open spaces, gently curved shapes of the polished granite devoid of visual clutter reminding me vaguely of the American South West sandstone desert.

Ponds on Saggö ön

Away from the immediate shore of polished granite of Åland's North coast low vegetation takes hold in the crevices. Winter storms often dwarf the trees where blueberry and cranberry bushes thrive.


M.Zuiko  9-18mm  f7.1  1/160 sec

Bubbles in the creek

There is a creek that I like to visit on my backpacking trips.
This time I looked closely at the bubbles formed by the cascading waters.


Meyer Optik Görlitz 50mm     f2.9  1/6000sec
 
Glistening in the afternoon sun, small and insignificant while floating by but mesmerizing nevertheless.