Random pictures from the net – for a soft start of the weekend
Open Shutter Experiment
This image was shot on a cold winter evening in Stockholm in December, almost a year ago. I think it was my third attempt, using my “walking technique with an open shutter”.
The image is taken on the pavement just outside Casino Cosmopol in Stockholm. If you look carefully you’ll discover a person moving against me.
Is this one of the best duels ever?
Yesterday I came across this old clip of two famous Swedish Table Tennis players. This is a big sport world-wide, especially in China and when you see this video it’s hard to argue against their amazing skill.
A year from now you will wish you had started today
Some quotes for the weekend
“Remembering you are going to die, is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” -Steve Jobs
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” –Elbert Hubbard
Spotify link: REO Speedwagon – Roll With The Changes
Happy weekend!
Great elevator prank
“4th episode of the speech controlled elevator. Hidden camera from a norwegian talk show hosted by artist brothers Bård & Vegard Ylvisåker, known as YLVIS. Click CC to turn on/off english subtitles.”
Busy woodcutter
This little story was sent to me by a friend of mine. I think it’s a really telling story of how things can turn out when you just go ahead with something, and never stops for a minute to reflect, train or think.
The photo is taken in a national park just outside Stockholm. This photo suffers a bit from Chromatic Aberration (look at the purple around the edges) which I will soon make a new blog post about, and how you can clean it up. Other than that I think the framing and composition in the photo went pretty well.
I hope you will have a good day
Busy
Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter ask for a job in a timber merchant, and he got it. The paid was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best.
His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work.
The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees
“Congratulations,” the boss said. “Go on that way!”
Very motivated for the boss’ words, the woodcutter try harder the next day, but he only could bring 15 trees. The third day he try even harder, but he only could bring 10 trees.Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.
“I must be losing my strength”, the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.
“When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” the boss asked.
“Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees…”
– Stephen Covey
Quote
If you can’t get someone out
of your head, maybe they are
supposed to be there
Autumn – Thomas Hood
I saw an old Autumn in the misty morn
Stand shadow less like silence, listening
To silence.
– Thomas Hood
First glimpses of Austin F1 track and future Formula E (supported by FIA)
Last weekends race was one of the best I’ve ever seen. Vettel’s impressive drive, Raikkonens impressive win for Lotus, Hamilton flying in the front before retiring, Rosberg flying over Karthikeyan, Kimi snapping off his second race engineer, Grosjean driving rally (as always) and so on, and so on.
So I guess there are many out there that are as excited as me moving on to the next race, Austin Texas. The first time there. I watched a few videos about the track and it feels like it can get exciting. High speed straights and really technical corners. Can be a lot of fun!
On-board simulator drive
Flying over the track
and while we’re talking about future things…
From their site:
Initially expected in 2013, this championship will begin in 2014 in Rio de Janeiro
About the electric open-wheelers, they must be approved by the FIA to participate in the championship, therefore, Formula E will be open to other teams but the Formulec EF01 is the referent vehicle, 10 teams and 20 drivers will compete for the championship in the world’s major cities.
Open Shutter – one way to create “arty” images
During the last year I’ve experienced quite a lot with using an open shutter while walking with the camera hand-held. To be honest I’ve created many many bad photos while experimenting, but a few of them I’ve really enjoyed and for every day I learn a bit more when to use this technique, and when I shouldn’t.
One of the things I’ve learned is that composition will be even more important because I won’t be able to use depth of field as I would do on a normal photo. I think it’s also important to remember the lines, and where the eye will move along the photo when you’re using blurry techniques.
For those of you that aren’t so into the technical parts of photography, the shutter functionality is to open and let the light into the camera lens, and then close again. This will then create the image. For obvious reasons; the longer the shutter is open, the more light there will be on the camera lens.
With an open shutter in this case, I mean when the shutter is open many seconds.
If you’re using your iPhone for this purpose, I can recommend the app “SlowShutter”
This is an image I created last week while walking in the forest, that I think turned out pretty well. The shutter speed in this case was 3 seconds. What I really enjoy with these types of photos is that they can keep your imagination busy for a longer time than a normal photo. In short, I think they last a little bit longer.
Autumn – Harbor Winter Closing
Yesterday, our small harbor had its closing time for the year which means that the club is closing down and start to prepare for the winter. Since the seasons in Sweden are pretty sharp, in the sense that we really have them all, this also comes with a meaning, that the winter is soon here.
While cleaning up I took a few pictures.
I hope you all have a great start of your working week
© Pedro Hansson – Flower along the canal – Nikon D7000
Photos of irony :-)
A while back I received an e-mail from a good friend with some pictures of irony that’s gone viral. I guess they all speak for themselves.
Best wishes for the weekend
To reach port, we must sail
Great article that “shatter-your-image-of-historical-people”
This is a great collection of a total of photos that tries to show other sides of 14 historical people The photo of the Clintons is priceless. : – )
3,3 seconds for 5 new wheels; 4 rubber, and 1 steering wheel
I nearly never misses an F1-race unless I’m not completely out of possibilities so last weekend was no exception from that, when F1 visited India. The race itself was good (as always), but not one of the best I’ve seen. Even though the race in itself was average one sequence was really amazing.
In my work we’re helping other companies to be more efficient and to make them achieve good processes, and I think this is as good as it gets when it comes to that.
During the beginning of the race Lewis Hamilton complained about not being able to hear the pit so good. If that was the reason for what was about to happen during the first pit-stop, I don’t know, but I think these 3.3 seconds really shows what this team sport is all about, perfection!
Two seeds lay side by side in the fertile spring soil
Every day there are so many stories posted on Facebook, and I thought that I might share a few of those on this blog. Unfortunately I don’t know the origin of this story but I think it’s a great one. I hope you have a great Wednesday
Two seeds lay side by side in the fertile spring soil. The first seed said, “I want to grow! I want to send my roots deep into the soil beneath me, and thrust my sprouts through the earth’s crust above me . . .
I want to unfurl my tender buds like banners to announce the arrival of spring . . . I want to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the blessing of the morning dew on my petals!”
And so she grew.
The second seed said, “I am afraid. If I send my roots into the ground below, I don’t know what I will encounter in the dark. If I push my way through the hard soil above me I may damage my delicate sprouts . . . what if I let my buds open and a snail tries to eat them? And if I were to open my blossoms, a small child may pull me from the ground. No, it is much better for me to wait until it is safe.”
And so she waited.
A yard hen scratching around in the early spring ground for food found the waiting seed and promptly ate it.
Moral Of The Story. Those of us who refuse to risk and grow get swallowed up by life.
Music for Tuesday
Playlist in Spotify: Tuesday
Songs at Youtube:
Autumn, late autumn in Sweden
Yesterday I made a short trip to Ekerö, a small island west of Stockholm City. On my way back I made a stop at the royal castle Drottningholm, which is typically amazing this time of the year.
As the readers of this blog might know from last year, I truly enjoy this season of the year; the Autumn.
Hurricane Sandy – follow the progress via NASA and Twitter
If you want to get a feeling of the size of Hurricane Sandy, Nasa is sharing satellite images. I’m not sure how often these images are updated but the current ones are from 20 hours ago.
I wish all New Yorkers, and the geographic places around NY the best of luck.
Best wishes! Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Sandy will be in her best mood when entering land.
Linked image from Nasa Goddard – http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/8131382839/in/set-72157631853940024/
Twitter-accounts to follow:
@NHC_Atlantic – National Hurricane Center
@WSJweather – Wall Street Journal
@breakingstorm – Weather updates
@capitalweather – Focus on DC weather
@weatherchannel – Weather updates
@NASA – Showing satellite pictures from the storm
@fema – The official Federal Emergency Management Agency
@twc_hurricane – The Weather Channel
@alroker – Al Roker, meteorologist of NBC’s Today Show
@cnnbrk – Breaking news from CNN, including storm updates
@wunderground – Following weather from around the world
Worries, decisions and letting go
Last week I had to make a decision about a matter that I spent much time worrying about a while back, but suddenly, out of the blue the final question was asked and a decision needed to be made. Should it be yes, and continue like before; or no to make that final decision and move on in another direction? Suddenly it wasn’t a decision anymore!? Of course I should move on and let go of the worries, and the thoughts that kept me so occupied for a long time a while back. Suddenly it was clear.
@ Pedro Hansson – Birds on a red light. Not a good picture photo wise. Taken from an open roof top bus in Barcelona. Without the house in the background it may have been ok. But I think the image reflects the topic well – Go, or no go?
I was really surprised that the decision was so easy to make because this has been a long process for me, but then I realized one thing I heard a few years back.
When you can make a decision without any regrets, you tried everything, you’ve been truly honest to everyone involved and all that’s left is just worrying AND the most important part, you can let go with a smile and wish everyone the best; then you’re finally ready.
At the same time, it’s important to remember, if you need time and don’t make a decision – that’s also a decision…
Tihi – Princessan Madeleine / Princess Madeleine, feat Avicii
In Sweden there is a lot of jokes about Princess Madeleine, and her boyfriends video where they announced their proposal. At the end of the video the princess goes Tihi.. This is currently the biggest “talk of the town” in Sweden and many creative videos are starting to pop up around this.
I hope you all have a great weekend!
You can find the original here:
Where your mind goes, your energy flows…
Isn’t it strange that sometimes the most ridiculously small task can feel like moving a mountain, but another really heavy one just feels like a swift? Some years back I had a CEO that always told me the quote in the subject of this post, because he was so sure, that if you’re not really enjoy your work you can’t be really good at it.
Of course there are many degrees of that saying, but I think it actually makes a lot of sense. This quote (in the picture) is almost the same one. But I think this quote is more focused on actually finding what we believe in, and through that find interest and energy, both in our professional life, as in our private dito.
I hope you all have a great Wednesday, a day that’s sometimes called “little Saturday”in Sweden.
Soundtracking for Spotify, iOS and Android – new app to share and discover music, with your Instagram pics attached
I’ve just logged in to the app Soundtracking on my Spotify account, right after I’ve got the news about this new music and image sharing app. I think the idea behind the app is really good; to instantly and easy share your music among your friends straight from your mobile or from within Spotify and add your own Instagram pics attached to your suggestions.
My user name in the app is (of course 🙂 ) saarimner; so if you wan’t to find your first friend there just add me.
As you might have discovered in the screen capture above I didn’t figure out that I should have deleted the first image from my first choice 🙂
If you’re using Spotify you’ll find the app under the app finder on the left hand side. It’s currently down on 28:th place in the app list, but as it’s featured in the app suggestions so I guess that may change rapidly.
For me it sounded a bit strange at first to mix your music suggestions with your images, but the more I think about it, I guess it’s all about creativity and I think they’ll actually fit quite well together.
In the iOS app you find all the functionality you’re searching for easy accesible. If you’re used to use apps like Shazaam for capturing music around you, you’ll find a way to that as well in the app. On the downside, if you don’t have a Spotify account you’ll just have the possibility to listen to previous or buy the songs from iTunes. Other than that I really think that this will be an app that I use quite often to discover and share new music and fitting pics to it.
If you currently are a user, or you try it out for the first time it would be great to hear you thoughts around it.
Take care
Being upright – a way to a more successful living?
As I’ve written in the Photography section I’ve just arrived back home after a few days abroad together with a colleague of mine. On these journeys there is always an opportunity to talk about things that there otherwise isn’t time to talk about (during normal work weeks). On this journey I think the main topic was being upright, and why people so often choose the opposite.
First of all, I really need to point out that no one is perfect, and there are certainly times when I don’t live up to this myself; and of course sometimes you don’t have the possibility to tell everyone everything due to keeping a secret for a friend/family, directions from the board or there are just plain simple business secrets that prevent you from being as upright as you wish.
BUT, those things aside I strongly believe that being upright will make a person (all others aspects alike) more successful, in their lives. When you experience the opposite – people that doesn’t speak up for their opinions, I sometimes wonder why they aren’t.
We started talking about this when we had a discussion about a customer project, and we’ve always felt that this company is so easy to work with because they are always telling their opinion, and when we know their stand point it’s really easy for us to decide whether we have the possibility to be a good supplier or not. The company in mind is a really successful one, and I think one of the reasons is actually that they are “hard” in many peoples minds because they always speak up their mind, but I think the opposite.
Over the years when I’ve been in the fortunate position of being a customer I must say that I’m sometimes surprised how many sellers/business men react when they’re meeting an upright opinion about their product, their services and so on.
In my personal life I think this is as important as in the business life, BUT of course when you speak about personal matters (which might as well be personal matters in your professional life) there are so many aspects that needs to be addressed that it’s often harder to just being upright. If you don’t pay respect to the other parties person, you might end up on a difficult route.
I think I could write about this for pages, but as this is just a thought so far, I’m leaving the subject here. This is more of a moral, and actually business compass for myself. When we’re choosing and working with our partners, suppliers and customers (yes we’re choosing customers as well to make sure that both parties can achieve success) this is one of the key components.
What’s your opinion on this matter?
I hope you all have a great start of the week.
The image we didn’t get to see from Baumgartners jump
There has been some debate whether Baumgartner did break the sound barrier or not, but yesterday we got the proof that we wanted. Chuck Norris told the press that he passed Baumgartner on his way down and he has made assure that everything was correct. So now we know that the speed record is legitimate.
Interview with Mark Zuckerberg at Startup School in 2011
This is an interview with Mark Zuckerberg that I think almost everyone should watch. The interview is made at Startup School in 2011 and he’s talking about risk taking, entrepreneurship, culture, how to grow your business, how you can achieve things as a group and so on.
It’s quite long but I think you might as well just listen to it along side any other things.
Barcelona – Morning expedition – Woman at 6 AM
Almost every time I visit other towns I choose one day to get up really early in the morning to experience that particular town waking up.
Last week I was in Barcelona for work and I decided to try to portrait two areas that felt extra important in these hard economic times for Spain; people that we might not see otherwise during our hectic days, those that live their lives in the dark and have nowhere to go. The other topic was to show the town getting ready for a new day.
The first photo is from the first category. This is a woman I came about while walking over Plaça de Catalunya, and I really felt for her. A woman, without almost anything besides her stroller; but still she quietly stood there and shared her bread with the birds.
The moment really did have a mix of emotions. Sadness for her situation, compassion for her willing to give but also calmness since she, a few moments after this pic was taken carefully smiled at me and then continued to feed the birds. But most of all she made think of how she ended up there.
I couldn’t imagine how it must be, to have a life like that, and moments like this always brings perspective of the differences in the world. I’m really thankful of how Sweden have tackled this recession that has hit southern Europe so badly (even though there are things that also can and must be improved in Sweden as well).
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
– Marian Wright Edelman
Swedish Music / Blacknuss – Titiyo
This is a Swedish Music colletive called Blacknuss. The group had it’s major period a decade ago but I think many of their songs still are great, as this one.
iPhone Photo App Review – 645 PRO
At the moment I’m in Barcelona for work. While being here I’ve tried out a new photo app – 645 Pro. This is quite different iPhone photo app than many others due to it’s layout, and ambition to be a “close to professional” iPhone app.
I really like the graphical layout and the feeling in the app, but sometimes the adjustments are a little bit tricky due to it’s tiny buttons. On the other hand I wouldn’t (like one of the comments indicated in App Store) like to have a smaller preview screen either so I guess it’s just a matter of priority.
At the moment I’ve just used it for essentially B&W-photos which I think are really good. I especially like the feeling the B&W pics get. On the other hand I think that one of the best strengths is the quality and control factor (like the focus handling and live preview solution), but I haven’t explored all the possibilities yet. I can comment on that in a later post.
This is an app that I think I personally will use more and more often because there are continuously things to explore within the app, and sometimes – as other things in life – the best things are the one’s where you don’t see it all on your first look.
Follow Felix Baumgartner live on his world record attempt
The world’s first person, Felix Baumgartner, is on his way. This will be the first time in history when a man will go supersonic with just a parachute, without any kind of machine. You can follow his attemt here.
Just click on the Youtube-window down here to watch it live.
Saarimner.com 