Old and new

Recently, I got interested in trying to take pictures in a more traditional way; the many advantages of the digital photography age can leave you with quite a big room for mistakes. There's correction for everything these days, be it colours, blur or underexposure.

I wanted to try something simpler, and decided to give my Ricoh KR-10 another try. It's an analogue mirror lens camera with surprisingly many controls. Because of the obvious simpleness of using a digital camera, it was quite a stretch to do this experiment. I work at a photography shop which provided me with a free roll of unsold film. They even gave me a Kiron macro objective for free, which was fun to try out.

Here's a selection of shots using my Ricoh KR-10:

Today, I got a job to take a panorama picture of the Porvoo Old Town for a customer, who wanted to have it printed out on a canvas. It was quite challenging, since so many trees were blocking my efforts! However, after switching angles several times I got something usable (may however have to do a re-take tomorrow).

 I also played around with the camera some more (a Sony DSC-HX200V):

Met this british painter during my panorama escapade. The cider-enjoying artist said he had been working since 5 in the morning in order to have enough paintings for his upcoming exhibition. 

Clarissa.

Photo gear (all cameras are mine except for the Sony one).

28.5.2013

Weekend

 

 

Friday beer tasting

The last few weeks have been very hectic for me; battling a nasty fever, moving and a pile of school work have prevented me from blogging. This week, I have been working at a photography company in Porvoo as a part of my school's mandatory work practice. It's been an intensive but stimulating experience; learning new things and seeing happy customers can be very satisfying.

Today, to celebrate the start of the weekend, I decided to buy myself a new kind of beer. After discovering this particular brand at another blog, I decided to purchase a can for myself too.

This brand, called "Grillimaisteri" (finnish for barbeque master) is made by German company Lidl. Owning this brand, they have made several Grillimaisteri products for this summer.

The first thing that struck me was the strong taste of hops. This fact is also being advertised on the can itself ("Voimakkaasti humaloitu" means "Strong taste of hops" roughly). I really enjoyed the slightly bitter aroma, that was a nice change from the usual weak taste of the cheaper brands. It was a surprisingly complex beer too, with a pleasant carbonation topping everything off.

I would recommend this beer for anyone wanting to try something different from the regular "bulk" lagers that are sold at every supermarket. It's a very refreshing summer beer too, when enjoyed cold. The packaging can be slightly confusing though, with the "Grillimaisteri" logo and color profile being mostly associated with sausages and barbeque products.

Until next time.

Hangover pizza

After having a few quite uneventful days, I decided to join my class for a end of the school year celebration, in which alcohol was involved. That can only mean one thing the next morning: hangover. It was quite an eventful night out, and now I need to charge my batteries for the weekend.

Agagagga aahh aahhh aahhh iiiihhh... Yeah! 

Too tired to go to school or really care about anything, I decided to do something that always helps after a heavy night: pizza. Using whatever ingredients I happened to have in the fridge, I made a quick dough which
formed the basis for my Pizza Hellognese ©. 

Not having a rolling pin can lead you to get creative in the kitchen!


Making a pizza can sometimes be hard, especially if the dough sticks to your fingers. I recommend using plenty of flour to battle this problem. 

Preparing the meat together with the tomato sauce.

I really like plenty of stuff on my pizza, but with a thin dough crust. If it's too thick, it reminds me too much of a pan pizza. 

Cherry tomatoes.

I usually bake my pizzas on about 200 degrees celcius in the oven because I want all ingredients to be thoroughly cooked together.

It's out of my hands now..

Quite delicious. A real Pizza Hellognese.

Have a great day everyone, and don't drink too much!

Moon photography

18.1.2013

14.4.2013

About bacon

I have always been a big fan of bacon. It's salty, slightly smoky aroma compliment eggs or bread well. I only allow myself this meat product a few times every month, since it's not exactly the healthiest snack available.

Usually, I buy the regular pre-packed bacon because it's cheaper than the side pork cuts that you can get from the meat counter.

HK "American Bacon". Most popular bacon in Finland. 

There are quite big quality differences between different brands of bacon. For example, the one that's available for purchase in Lidl has a quite distinct taste (of preservatives according to some). HK's variety, pictured above, is probably my favourite pre-packed kind. It has a balanced flavour with just the right amount of salt and a relatively high meat content. 

When frying bacon, I put very little flavouring on it as the meat taste itself is quite delicious. Usually, the only thing required (or not required, depending on personal preferences) is a hint of oregano and thyme. These two herbs both have a very subtle flavour, that compliments the meat taste well without overshadowing it.

¨

Today, I decided to celebrate the weekend by purchasing premium side cuts of meat. I went to the local meat disk and asked for "sidfläsk" (swedish for side cut) and got 4 fine pieces of it for about 1 euro. That's a perfect amount to put on a regular finnish rye bread sandwich.

I combined the fried side cuts (flavoured with a hint of black pepper and salt) with goat cheese and sliced tomatoes. Under it all, I used a fresh cheese called Viola (with blue cheese flavouring). I was quite satisfied with this afternoon snack, especially since I hadn't made such a combination before.

Have a great weekend everyone!