winter purity Photo

Photographer’s Note

I was born in a country further up North than most on this planet.
Where the Arctic Circle holds a grip on more than a third of the country and where reindeers are believed to take Santa up into the skies for Christmas.

This is a land where the verb have doesn't exist (beyond the clear-cut translated omistaa, which is to own in English); where the leader of the church is an Atheist, the chief of the army is a pacifist, and the president a woman.

And the further up North, the more exotic it gets.
If you happen to rent a car from Rovaniemi's airport, you will find its engine running in an unattended car park as it waits for your arrival. You will also find famous people's birthdays listed next to the school's weekly canteen menu in the local newspaper, as well as large and clear road signs for even the smallest forest path.

I'd never been so far up North.
We made it past the Arctic Circle to Pallas and then even further, to Enontekiö (where we checked out the best-kept seemingly deserted airport I'd seen in my life!), and on the way passed smooth arctic hills and countless lakes, like the one you are looking at here.

For four days (only!) I had the chance to finally see more of my birth-country.
We took the car from Rovaniemi and drove past the famous Levi skiing centre that seems to be exploding with tourism, to find peace and traditional quiet in the Pallas centre, in the middle of a Natural Reserve.

Alone with my father, we enjoyed the silence this country loves so.
And together with my father, we smiled and enjoyed the strange ways our fellow Finns have crafted for themselves in the past centuries, lost in these wintery landscapes...

After all, I know of no other country where cars drive precisely by the official speed-limit, no matter the weather. Come rain, hail, thunder, arctic snowstorm or sunshine, that number by the road is the speed to use. That's sisu for you... ;D

Floydian, Galeota, dkeus31, ktanska, luisafonso, sarju, IgorDeleze, terminus, Merline, woozbman has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Floydian (30970) 2007-05-03 13:24

Hi Julia,
Long time since we spoke ;-)
I saw a documentary from David Attenborough and he showed the area above the polar circle...and that was awesome. Excellent place for taken landscapes, but also a very lonesome and desolate place.
Your picture...well it's white ;-) But seeing were you placed the tree line, the soft sky above with that tiny bit of extra light just above the mountains, i can only say well done, because i know how difficult it can be to photography such a harsh and abandon place.
Take care, Henk

dkeus31 (26527) 2007-05-03 13:43

Bonsoir Julia,
Ben, pour moi, c'est franchement blanc, meme un peu trop je dirais, je ne vois pas de détails dans cette neige.
Par contre je vois que cela a été pris avec un D2Xs! Trop simple le D200? LOL
amicalement
didier

Galeota (10334) 2007-05-03 15:00

Hello Julia, I like the minimalism of your photograph, but what really made me drop a line was your note, which I loved to read. There is an image, and a story to go along with it, a story about your country and about yourself, to the point we wonder if you're not ONE, both of you. Thank you for sharing these memories with us.

guillaumejm (34) 2007-05-03 17:42

Bonsoir Julia,
J'ai eu l'occasion de visiter ce pays une fois dans le cadre de mon travail. hélas je n'y suis par resté longtemps et je n'ai ramené qu'une seule photo d'ailleurs postée sur le site : tampere.
Cette photo est eblouissnate, au sens propre. cette composition est à la manière d'une peinture.
Amicalement
JMarc

ktanska (16759) 2007-05-04 2:19

Hei Julia,
This is a real eye opener. I've lived next to such sceneries all of my life, but never got anything like that out of it. No sunlight, no snow on the trees. And still you nailed it. (Pure snow reveals that I should clean my screen.)
Also notes are interesting, I've never thought about 'have' verb. I guess it requires somebody between insider and outsider to see things such a way.
Kari

cobraphil8 (11652) 2007-05-04 3:17

Salut Julia,
merci pour cette belle présentation de la Finlande, c'est une approche très personnelle et c'est cela qui est intéressant...
Au niveau de la photo, ce côté minimaliste me plait beaucoup, et le manque de détails dans la neige ne me dérange pas au contraire, cela renforce encore cette impression de simplicité.
Ce voyage avec ton papa devait être très sympa.
Bon WE à toi
Philippe

PS: quelles sont tes prochaines destinations? ;)

luisafonso (858) 2007-05-04 4:12

This is surely one of the best posts TE has to offer. Both note and photo are impossible to be fully appreciated without one another. And this strong and beautiful relation only proves that you indeed are a very special member - and person, btw ;) Love your photo. I am a big fan of these minimalists shots. I've been trying to record something like this for my Landscape Calendar but unfortunately we don't have these large "desolated" sceneries here in Portugal. Or at least, I didn't found any till know. Probably just one technical remark that I might have done differently. I would have exposed the row of trees in a way more detail came from it, while throwing the rest to a even more white appearance (specially the sky). But probably you wanted to dark that row to even enhance the minimalism of it. It's so beautiful. I can imagine myself there with large headphones in my head listening to Sigur Ros or Sibelius...

SchwebagMike (1490) 2007-05-07 11:07

Hi Julia,
I'm glad to see a posting from you :) and such a great one! It's true taht it's "only" about white ... but then, no, it's more! First I couldn't believe it actually is a picture. You captured that landscape so artistically, reducing it to the white essence of it ... and equaliy the forest is forming a sole large line. It almost works like a minimalistic painting with a main white surface and some grey-brown horizontal line. Very well done! As to your interesting note, I have never been to your country, so I'm not able to really understand it that way. I was once very briefly up to Spitzbergen in Norway. Unfortuntely not enough time. Still I remember that I was so struck about the, in a sense minimalistic, silence and whiteness. But up there you even had no trees ...
Hughs to you and please don't stop posting pictures like this one from time to time :-))
Mike

sevy (14176) 2007-05-07 13:17

Bonjour Julia,

Le moins que l on puisse dire est que cette photo a un parti pris: tout en blanc et noir. Le choix transcrit bien une sensation de silence, d immensite et de solitude. Je suppose que c etait le but recherche.
Neanmoins, a condition que ce fut possible, j aurais bien aime avoir un peu plus de matiere dans la grande zone blanche qui couvre presque toute la photo. Je me serais senti un peu moins seul dans le silence ;-)

Yves.

sarju (5308) 2007-05-11 23:23

Hey Arctic girl !!!
Nice and lovely ... thats all I can say for this one ... is it my tired eyes or is it a halo behind the trees ... love your exposure settings for this shot ... gives the snow a single pure tone.
Lovely ... makes me want to move to the Canadian north (that seems to be suffering the brunt of climate change)
Good day/night
cheers ...... Sarju
PS: I will come to know by the end of this month if the india thing is happening this year .

IgorDeleze (9247) 2007-05-21 8:55

Hello Julia,
Fantastic composition!
I like the simplicity of this landscape picture.
I this case I don't know if it's still a landscape picture or just a very artistic and graphical painting.
Greetings.
Igor

waseemkhan (1070) 2007-06-08 4:35

Hi Julia,
I like the minimalism of your photograph, but what really made me drop a line was your note, which I loved to read. There is an image, and a story to go along with it, a story about your country and about yourself, to the point we wonder if you're not ONE, both of you..........................
well don.....................
waseem khan

terminus (561) 2007-06-12 11:53

Hi Julia,
So simple and yet so expressive. I Like how you composed the photo and the purity of the white. TFS!
Rafa

Merline (6578) 2007-09-22 12:34

Julia,

ta photo est une merveille de silence, de minimalisme graphique soutenue par cette lumière si particulière...

Je l'ai mise dans mes favoris même avant d'écrire le commentaire, je la regarderai de temps en temps car elle incite à la méditation. J'au un faible pour le grand Nord et je me permets un peu d'émotion en disant que je trouve qu'un peu de ton âme y flotte et c'est beau. Ta note d'accompagnement est pleine de poésie aussi.

Merci pour ce partage
Michèle