Year of the Dog

On frozen lake Näsijärvi. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A4sij%C3%A4rvi

Several server issues noticed on May 22, but now mostly fixed What went wrong: - Uploaded images keep on getting disconnected (object not found). - Comments disappearing as well because the object (image) keep on disappearing. - PicMonkey also keep on loosing the object and therefore not working either. All this happens because "object" (the target image) keep on getting disconnected. When you try to comment or give a star, the connection may become lost to the object. For example writing this is pain in the ass, and I have to copy what I write in case the connection has lost meanwhile. More here: www.ipernity.com/blog/team/4700736/comment/54290120#comment54290120

Soundtrack 'No Return' by Stray Theories: soundcloud.com/straytheories/no-return Inspired by Swedish Beck movie intro: youtu.be/bjezxCrQc58 Some technical yada yada ... When taking the shot, I did a mistake of not taking account the narrowing perspective when pointing up with wide angle lens. But then on editor I thought it is a cool idea to give a little surreal touch, and "widen" the reflection instead of trying to correct the perspective on original first. That way I also manage to keep the nice attic window on top right corner within the frame. The continuity of straight lines and perspective are not perfect, but I decided not to be too perfectionist. That way the image title "nightfall" gets also a double meaning. It now hopefully and intentionally looks like the block of houses on right are little skewed, like falling to water. Also the whole landscape looks like sinking towards the far end of the street. There is also a small mismatch in the middle, where the vertical poles does not meet precisely. But I was lazy, and decided to leave it that way to make the image look like there is "an error in the matrix" (referring to the movie Matrix). Moreover, I copied the idea from the very first scene on the Beck movie intro, and placed the horizon (mirror axis) on one third instead of leaving it in the middle of the image. Finally I added some darkening gradient on the bottom part to make the "water" look darker, like it often looks on water surface reflections seen in nature. The whole thing was done on GIMP editor, except some fine tuning of exposure done on PicMonkey, which I added after the upload. P.S. I strongly recommend viewing that Beck movie intro for several times. There are number of very clever tricks. For example a building reflecting from a water, which looks right way up when the bottom part of the image gets mirrored to top. And then the mismatch film sequence on the corridor scene, which also could be done on still image, by taking two images on different locations and then combine the halves.

I will be quitting some more groups again. This is only because I have no time to be an active group member. More on this topic, in case you have not noticed these articles of mine before: ➽ Reality check ➽ Observations on ipernity groups ➽ More observations on ipernity groups ➽ What it takes to administrate a good group?

For centuries (1600-1900) Finland (at that time the name of the area under Swedish and Russian rule) was a major tar producer and exporter. Tar was distilled by burning huge wood piles called as tar kilns. Then the tar was hauled in barrels to harbor towns like Christinestad (Krisitiinankaupunki), and shipped abroad and used to protect wooden sailing vessels against rot. Because there was not much else to ship back, except salt and some luxury items, the ships transporting tar had to be ballasted with something on their journey back home. The ships were then balanced with sand and stones hauled from the shores of destination countries like Denmark and England. Then the ballast got emptied on the shores of Finnish towns, and finally got used as a fill material for roads and buildings. Along with the ballast came also all kinds of plant seeds. Therefore around the harbor towns there can be found flowers that are not usually growing in Finland. Nowadays one can find round and smooth "ballast pebbles" all around the Finnish harbor towns. These in the picture are collected from Christinestad. The size of the stones vary from 1 to 2 centimeter. More to read • Tar, what it is and how it is made? - www.puuvene.net/phuhta/artikkelit/tar.html • Ballast: Loads with history - cas.oslo.no/read/ballast-loads-with-history-article2238-1167.html • Finland under Swedish rule - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland_under_Swedish_rule • Grand Duchy of Finland - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Finland Camera details Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ60 Exposure: 1/6 sec. Aperture: f/8.0 ISO: 400 Focal Length: 9.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 52.0 mm) Editing: Straight out of the camera, except frames added on PicMonkey. Setting

Soundtrack Shadow Of Sorrow by Lego Boy: soundcloud.com/lego-boy/lego-boy-shadow-of-sorrow And if you don't know Mr Nobody yet, have a look here ;-) www.ipernity.com/tag/serola/keyword/41875

... on crinkled aluminium foil. Contribution for the Macro Dreams challenge s: Shimmer and Sparkle Camera details Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ60 Exposure: 1/40 sec. Aperture: f/4.1 ISO: 400 Focal Length: 9.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 52.0 mm) Editing: GIMP and Snapseed.

Soundtrack by Stray Theories (Micah Templeton-Wolfe): soundcloud.com/straytheories/exposure