Introducing Year of the Alpha – 365 Days of Sony Alpha

[sury]

That was a good one on the Summer solstice Toni. Two years ago I was in Alaska on a midnight sun tour
crossing arctic circle. At 2am in the morning, the Sun dips about 10% into horizon (that too over hills) and
few minutes later it is rising again. Absolutely mind blowing experience. Your image came in as a jarring shock.
I was watching a series of Aura and suddenly this fire shows up and shook me up. Thanks for the following
image which as usual was soothing and calming and beautiful Aura putting smile on my face.

Sury

[Kalainen]

That was a good one on the Summer solstice Toni. Two years ago I was in Alaska on a midnight sun tour
crossing arctic circle. At 2am in the morning, the Sun dips about 10% into horizon (that too over hills) and
few minutes later it is rising again. Absolutely mind blowing experience. Your image came in as a jarring shock.
I was watching a series of Aura and suddenly this fire shows up and shook me up. Thanks for the following
image which as usual was soothing and calming and beautiful Aura putting smile on my face.

You know, even if I live in Finland I've never went to north to cross the arctic circle - well I have once but it didn't include the 'nightless night' expedition. I really should, but for some strange reason most of finnish people tend to travel south to Europe. As for those trips, the europe is getting uninteresting and too familiar, so maybe I should next time head for the north instead. I would love to experience that same thing you talk about - at least once in my life. In northern Finland the sun doesn't set at all for approximately 60 days (and again doesn't come up 60 days in winter). It sure is an interesting experience.

-Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[Kalainen]

Season of Summer Light
Week 26, Saturday - Warm darkness
"In the middle of the summer night, far away from a noisy world and surrounded only by the forest, me and my brother sit in a pitch black sauna with approximately 90 degrees of Celsius (190 degrees at Fahrenheit scale). It's so dark we can hardly see our faces and the only light we have is reflection of a sunset that comes from the lake and through the window. There are no distracting noises, only a smooth buzz that comes from the stove while it heats up the room. This sauna is now serving the third generation and there is no modern conveniences like electric light in it. And while there is an electric sauna in almost every home in Finland, it's not easy to find sauna like this; old and in its original form with all odd details from yesteryears. To find it, you need to depart from beaten paths and find your way through to trails that are not marked in any maps. [...]"

Read full post at my blog: http://www.yearofthealpha.com

Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[sury]

Toni,
That shot is as close as it gets to one of those Renaissance painters. Just love it, though I am curious
what are you doing with a camera in such hot/humid clime?

[Birma]

Very well put by Sury; superb lighting and composition of the two subjects

[Greg Beetham]

That last is a good mood shot Toni.
Greg
90C? wow that's not far off the boiling point of water, too hot for this kid.

[Kalainen]

Toni,
That shot is as close as it gets to one of those Renaissance painters. Just love it, though I am curious
what are you doing with a camera in such hot/humid clime?

Thanks for the kind words Sury. I too was worried about the hot and humid air of Sauna. Because of that I put my camera there before we started heating it. When it was ready I took the pictures before we threw any water on a stove. So it was just hot and dry. When done I took my camera outside and finally started to enjoy 'löyly' (heat caused by water).

-Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[Kalainen]

That last is a good mood shot Toni.
Greg
90C? wow that's not far off the boiling point of water, too hot for this kid.

Thanks for the kind words, Greg. You know, I would love to exaggerate the warmth of Sauna to anyone who hasn't experienced it, but to stick to the truth I have to say it's not as hot as it sounds. It's quite pleasing actually and can be extended even higher if one likes it that way (70-120 is a common range). It's humid air so because of that it doesn't feel too hot..

-Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[Kalainen]

Season of Summer Light
Week 27, Wednesday - Rainy days
"It's been cold and rainy weather for couple of days and not like typical summer weather. In Finland this means temperatures from 10 to 15 Celsius (50-60 on a Fahrenheit scale) and couple of millimeters of water on an average rainy day. It's too cold and wet to go outside, so we need to stay in and find something else to do. So because of weather we went to local market square and got some peas to Aura. [...]"

Read full post at my blog: http://www.yearofthealpha.com

Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[the_hefay]

Interesting shot Toni. Well done.

[Kalainen]

Interesting shot Toni. Well done.

Thanks Hefay!

-Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[Birma]

Love the shot Toni. There is a great story in the peas and pods. (I kind of miss the hat .)

[Kalainen]

Love the shot Toni. There is a great story in the peas and pods. (I kind of miss the hat .)

Thanks for the kind words! The hat you are referring to is called, by Aura's words, a 'sunhat', which means we'll often use it in a strong sunlight just to make sure she doesn't get sunstroke. Let's hope we'll have some use for it until the summer is over.

-Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[Kalainen]

Season of Summer Light
Week 27, Saturday - Watching the clouds go by
"For couple of recent days the weather has been same as before, which means we are waiting for summer to come back. Luckily it doesn't affect Aura in any way and she is as eager as always for small trips. Couple of days ago we all together went the lake shore just to hang around and see if water is still cold. It's a pretty big lake which means it warms up quite slowly - a fact that we verified by reading +15 degrees of Celsius (60 degrees at Fahrenheit scale) from the water temperature sign. [...]"

Read full post at my blog: http://www.yearofthealpha.com

Toni

--
Toni Ahvenainen (1976)
Year of the Alpha - 52 Weeks of Sony Alpha Photography: http://www.yearofthealpha.com
Flickr-account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/109262328@N06/

[sury]

Nice composition. Did you put the camera on tripod and used remote trigger or it is someone
else with Aura?

Sury