“What are you staring at?!?”

56th Valokuvatorstai photo challenge, “Uni”, which can either mean sleep or dream. Half ostrich, half Bambi, she came to me in a dream. Yes, the picture is photoshopped (gimpped, to be more precise).

Uni – tällainen unikuva syntyi tänä aamuna.

[1200px] – [3008px]

55th Valokuvatorstai photo challenge, “Kas kummaa”, probably best translated as “WTF?”. I took this pic at Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki. This creature is an axolotl, a neotenic mole salamander, arguably the weirdest creature on our planet. Looks like an alien from outer space, a monster from a bad science fiction novel. Perhaps this is an unfinished prototype or a cruel joke from God? A genetic experiment gone horribly wrong? Creepy.

Aksolotlihan se siinä. Kas kummaa kerrakseen!

Funny how all these stories have a picture of a Eastern Grey Squirrel although the most common squirrel in Finland is the Red Squirrel. Perhaps the grey squirrel most resembles a global stereotype of a squirrel and is therefore better for a news story. Who cares what color squirrels are in Finland anyway?!?

In more disturbing wildlife news, a camel kills wild ass at Helsinki Zoo. Tempting, but I’m not going to photoshop that chain of events.

[humongous size pic]

Somebody (or something – which is a much more frightening thought) had stepped on this poor little Viviparous lizard at our kesämökki and left it dying on the porch. The viviparous lizard, which we call sisilisko, is the world’s most northern lizard and the only lizard native to Finland. It isn’t poisonous and it doesn’t bite. Don’t try to capture one though, because it is a protected species in Finland. If you harass one, it might drop it’s tail, altough I never saw that happen when I used to catch these as a child. These guys are über-cute and are crawling all over our kesämökki

Large size | Ludicrous size

48th Valokuvatorstai photo challenge, “One”.

“1″ on aiheena melko haastava. Tietysti voisi räpsäistä kuvan mistä tahansa yhdestä kohteesta ja väittää että kuva nyt symboloi yhtä. Tyylilleni uskollinen ratkaisu olisi ollut kuvata kaksi tai kolme kohdetta rinnan, ja vääntää siitä sitten jokin hauska vitsi

Tällä kertaa kuvassa kuitenkin jököttää vain yksi surkea ja onneton naurulokki. Kuvan sommittelu on enemmän kuin lakoninen. Sävyt ovat miellyttävän tasaiset ja kuvassa on rauhallinen ja tyyni tunnelma. Tätä olen taustakuvana tuijotellut nyt jo kokonaisen kuukauden, enkä ole vieläkään kyllästynyt.

Naurulokki on by the way suomalaisista lokeista ehdottomasti sympaattisin ja ystävällisin. Kannattaa tutustua. Samaa ei todellakaan voi sanoa Suomen vittumaisimmasta linnusta, eli siis häijysilmäisestä ja koukkunokkaisesta harmaalokista. Juokse pakoon ja lujaa, jos kohtaat harmaalokin yksin ulkona liikkuessasi.

The theme for Valokuvatorstai 47th photo challenge is the poem “Le Port” from Le Spleen de Paris by Charles Baudelaire from 1869. Here’s the translation from Babelfish:

A port is a charming stay for a tired heart of the fights of the life. The width of the sky, the mobile architecture of the clouds, colourings changeantes of the sea, the flutter of the headlights, are a prism marvelously suitable to amuse the eyes without never wearying them. The slim shapes of the ships, for gréement complicated, to which the swell prints harmonious oscillations, are used to maintain in the heart the taste the rate/rhythm and the beauty. And then, especially, there is kind of a mysterious and aristocratic pleasure for that which has neither curiosity any more nor ambition, to contemplate, lying in the view-point or accoudé on the mole, all these movements of those which leave and those which return, of those which have still the force to want, the desire to travel or to grow rich.

I love the sea and I love the harbour. This picture was taken at a marina near where I live. Yeah, it’s awesome just to watch other people work, come and go…

Almost 50 40 (?) Ferraris gathered in Helsinki today. More pictures from the Senate square in my gallery, or in my Flickr set. If I find Flickr useful enough I might get rid of my Coppermine powered “Scenes from a memory” gallery.

Another contribution to Valokuvatorstai photo challenge. This week’s topic was “No”.

Valokuvatorstai 44. haaste “Ei”.

Ei saa polttaa. Ei.

Large image

My contribution to valokuvatorstai / mikrokosmos.

Seems like a typical dutch scene? Look closer… More pictures from Madurodam in my gallery. Comments are welcome in English or Finnish, no Klingon this time please, unless you are Jyrki Kasvi.

Hollantilaista maisemaa. Tämän lähemmäksi mikrokosmosta, eli siis pienoismaailmaa, en halpis digipokkarilla ole vielä päässyt…

I didn’t want to take a picture of the survivor, because I’m not friggin paparazzi and because the guy probably wasn’t a celebrity.

More pics in my gallery.