Grey sky, a little rain, wind and close to zero temperature…not exactly the dream spring day. But that did not bother Ode today. He was really enjoying himself on the bike. Doing some water splashing, riding some stairs (with his tongue out),
…and doing some jumps
Rest of the shots in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-21%20Ode%20biking/?action=slideshow
and in folder mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-21%20Ode%20biking/
The above shot is a result of shooting almost 600 frames at a local swimming hall. We tried to get a photograph that would be used for a canvas print.
The swimmer had an idea to get a shot of her swimming butterfly. From the first shots we had to alter the swimming technique a little. Normally her face would be facing the water when the hands are in the highest position. She altered her technique so that she would keep her face out of the water for a little longer. In the end I was pretty satisfied with the results we got.
A few more shots from the session in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-12%20Swimming/?action=slideshow
…and in folder view: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-04-12%20Swimming/
For tech geeks
The light was very weak inside the swimming hall. I had to use the Sigma 120-300/2.8 lens wide open with ISO800. With the narrow depth of field the lens was not able to keep the focus on the swimmer coming straight at me. In the above shot the focus is on the shoulder level, leaving the face out of focus. This something I have noticed earlier also when shooting other things that are coming straight at me.
Due to the fact that the swimming hall was open to public, we had to restrict our shooting to a single lane. Due to this, we were not able to get side shots or any other angles.
Sunshine and -1C, what else could you dream of for a morning of snowboarding at the end of March? I believe this was the last session with the kids at Peuramaa this year.
On top of snowboarding, the kids got to ride snowmobiles:
This really was a perfect way to end the winter season!!
Rest of the photos are in folder mode:http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-31%20Snowboarding%20at%20Peuramaa/
…and in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-31%20Snowboarding%20at%20Peuramaa/?action=slideshow
The second race of the 2012 Winter Downhill Cup was held on the icy slopes of Antikkala, Kuopio. Sometimes I (and my wife) really question my sanity for doing stuff like this. It was a 6:00 AM start and about 9 hours of sitting in the car just to ride down a hill on a bike in the winter…
The track was excellent, it was rolling, fast and … ICY! My race day ended when a tree was harder than my hand. As a result I had a bruised shoulder and a swollen hand, but nothing broken 🙂 This was a very good excuse to get the camera out and get some shots.
Race results from Vauhtijaosto: http://mountainbike.fi/vauhtijaosto/raportit-kisoista/292-jarno-lyytinen-antikkalan-ykkoenen
Photos in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-24%20Antikkala%20Talvi%20DH/?action=slideshow
Photos in folder mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-24%20Antikkala%20Talvi%20DH/
This year’s winter downhill cup started on Saturday in Mustavuori, Tampere. There were about 60 people racing. The track was amazing, all hard packed ice. The locals had really done a great job in cleaning up the track from snow!! A big hand to the Tampere crew!!
I managed to get some photos after my second race run. The whole set is at: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-10%20Mustavuori%20Talvi%20DH/ or if you prefer the slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-10%20Mustavuori%20Talvi%20DH/?action=slideshow.
Our active neighborhood organized the first traditional “laskiainen” this year. The weather was …well… very full of snow 🙂 Despite the massive snow fall, kids and adults had great fun.
The rest of the photos are at: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-02-19%20Laskiainen/
For tech geeks:
I had my camera in a OP/Tech rainsleeve to protect it from some of the snow. I used two speedlights to liven up the photos. The speedlights were put inside plastic bags. All of the equipment survived the weather.
I had an idea to capture the snowfall in the pictures. I tried to use the speedlights to light the snowfall and bring that out. I am pretty happy with some of the results. Here is one example:
Before last Sunday I had about four weeks without being able to ride my bike at all. Despite the massive amounts of snow and soft, lousy trails, we decided to head to the local hill to get some photos and hopefully some riding done. As expected neither was that good. It was almost impossible to ride on the trails and because of that, shooting any action photos was almost impossible.
I really hope that we get some warmer days so that the trails would get harder and we could ride them again.
The rest of the shots from the session are at: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-02-12%20mountainbiking%20in%20snow/
To get to the spirit, some shots from a successful photo shoot from last year: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2011-01-30+Bikepoli+talvifillarointia/
And some from the 4x competition in Sappee: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2011-03-21+Sappee+4x/
Kaukopartiohiihto is a traditional skiing event held at Utti. The biggest difference to normal ski events is that you are using Finnish Army skis. They offer distances 75km, 150km and 300km. Last year we targeted for the 75km and 12 hours. We ended up skiing over 80km and almost 15 hours. This year we will be wiser (hopefully..) and try to aim again for 75km and 12hours. If you are interested in finding more about the event, please check out the organizers web site: http://www.kouvu.fi/index.php?page=kutsu
For this event we had our first training session yesterday in Nuuksio, Espoo. It was amazing weather and no technicals…so a very nice 1,5 hours of skiing in the magnificent winter wonderland where we saw more deer poop than people.
A link to a slideshow of the photos: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-01-29%20Kaukopartiotreeni/?action=slideshow
For tech geeks:
I had a D70 frame with the Sigma 18-50/2.8 lens along, because I wanted the combo to be able to fit into my small back pack.
Last week we got enough snow to start the winter for real. Today we were at a friends’ place for a play date. The kids were really enjoying the snow!
http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-01-22%20Snow%20fun/
Oona really loves her new gymnastics outfit. She would like to wear it everyday, everywhere. Yesterday we took some ballerina shots with Oona.
Oona decided to get a leaflet (she got from the ballet last year) to check out the latest moves. It was sometimes a little more difficult than it seems at first hand… 🙂
Rest of the ballerina shots: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-01-07%20Ballerina%20Oona/?action=slideshow