My shot for today is actually a year old. One year old exactly in fact. These Whooper swans passed over the kids and I on March 5, 2012 while we played on the ice in the Gulf of Bothnia next to Vasa, Finland. The Whooper swans (the national bird of Finland) were heading north into [...]
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Ya. Chamonix and All That.
Yesterday I was up in Taos Ski Valley with the kids. We were tubing with my daughter’s school. It was incredibly fun. My little boy, watching the skiers on the slopes around us asked if he could learn how. “Oh no,” was my first thought. I grew up in Colorado and skiing was always part [...]
The Söderfjärden Meteor Crater – Finland
I visited the Söderfjärden on a warm, rainy August morning. The ten kilometers of road south from Vasa were perfectly clear except for two fearless foxes moving from one stand of Red Pine to the other. I had spent the previous several days in Finland’s Kvarken Archipelago and had heard about the 520-560 million year old meteorite impact crater to the [...]
On the Road with: Giuseppe Acerbi
On a chilly afternoon in early April 1799, a group of large horse drawn sledges appeared on the ice off the coast of Oulu in Finland. They had come all the way from Sweden and the horses were tired. Clouds of steam rose from the animal’s flanks. They blew and stomped on ice so clear [...]
My Shot of the Day: Fire Boats House
Here is the last shot from my five weeks in Finland and France. From here on out I will get back to my goal of posting the photo on the day I took it. I spent most of my final day (was that really just the day before yesterday?) on the train from Helsinki to [...]
Early Morning Train South
Morning train south from Vasa. The air is bright and blue and clean. Talitiainen, the Great Tit, sings its squeaky wheelbarrow song. Trumpeter swans bark overhead. The first day of spring (my lovely daughter’s birthday…on the plane home this morning) but the fields are all covered in snow, the hillocks of forest are grey and [...]
My Shot of the Day: The Perfect Ice Fishing Shot
Ice Fishing. The Perfect Shot. It wasn’t the first train of the day but I was on my way from Helsinki to Vasa by 9am yesterday. The journey takes about five hours and is about as comfortable as you can imagine. The Intercity coaches all sport wireless connection the whole way, the seats recline [...]
My Shot of the Day: Helsinki Skyline. Finland.
Helsinki The skyline of Helsinki Finland and the Baltic Sea beyond on March 12, 2012. Taken from the Atelje Bar on top of Hotel Torni just after sunset. ISO 100, f/7.1, 4.0s I spent the day recovering from the last few weeks of the crazy. I took a long walk, visited the old neighborhood, went [...]
My Shot of the Day: Midnight Duck. Helsinki Finland
Tonight I set out to capture the Aurora Borealis from the coast near the Mehlahti section of Helsinki Finland – but that didn’t work out so well. A brief snowstorm appeared from some thick, pink clouds and my exhausted, jet-lagged brain just gave up. As I trudged back to my friend Rasmus’ flat I saw [...]
My Shot of the Day: Ice Fishing. Vasa, Finland
There is plenty of light but not exactly sun here in early spring. The wind is howling off the Gulf of Bothnia stirring up the snow and cutting visibility. All the bulldozers, bobcats and dump trucks are working around the clock to clear the grey, dog-pooped filled ice from the roads and sidewalks. Photo : [...]
Erik Hoffner: Sweden’s Green Veneer Hides Unsustainable Logging Practices
Anyone who regularly reads this blog knows that I am a lover of both Finland and Scandinavia in general. I’ve spent so much time in the north of Europe that it is very much like my second home – my children are Finnish citizens. But for goodness sake, I have never been able to comprehend [...]
Purchase Fine Art Prints and Books by Jim O’Donnell
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Twenty-One Beautiful Birds of Panama – Birdgasm!
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Pictures of Lightning Over Taos, New Mexico – My Shot(s) of the Day – June 14, 2013
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Spring Rainstorm Pictures – My Shot of the Day – April 1, 2013
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Arabian Sea Sunset
