Father Christmas came to visit our house in 1994 – but he didn’t get a very warm welcome from me.
Santa’s cool welcome
17 Sunday Dec 2017
Posted Christmas, Finland, Uncategorized
in17 Sunday Dec 2017
Posted Christmas, Finland, Uncategorized
inFather Christmas came to visit our house in 1994 – but he didn’t get a very warm welcome from me.
17 Sunday Dec 2017
Posted Christmas, Finland, Uncategorized
inTags
Arctic Circle, Christmas, christmas in finland, christmas in helsinki, finland, helsinki, Rovaniemi, santa claus, Santapark
Christmas 1994, the first in our house, and the first with two little Finnish stepdaughters who still viewed their new foreign stepfather with more than a little suspicion. What better way to break the ice than buy myself a red gown and some cotton wool and dress up as Santa? Pity my wife didn’t tell me she had ordered a similarly attired visitor who rang the door bell before I had time to change into my festive kit. The little girls were happy, but I am annually reminded that, if looks could have killed, the Father Christmas who delivered the presents in our lounge that day wouldn’t be delivering presents anywhere else ever again. Thanks, Santa, for stealing my thunder.
Nothing else this time, just a taste of Christmas in Finland:
Father Christmas’ one true home is in Lapland on the Arctic Circle near the Finnish city of Rovaniemi. The ferocity with which Finns defend their faith in this truth is almost scary. Woe betide anyone who dares to suggest that the old fella comes from Norway or Sweden or Greenland.
Christmas porridge in Helsinki’s Senate Square. Find an almond in your porridge and you’ll soon find a spouse, if you haven’t already got one. Really.
Woolen socks and mittens at the Three Smiths Square Christmas market in Helsinki.
‘Elves’ choir lets off steam on the steps of the Lutheran Cathedral in Helsinki.
Women’s Christmas Market, Vanha Satama, Helsinki.
Helsinki’s Esplanade Park in snow and Christmas lights.
Above: Christmas in Helsinki, quickly.
Have a good one, everyone.
05 Tuesday Dec 2017
Posted celebration, Finland, Independence
inTags
celebrations, centenary, centennial, December 6, finland, Finnish Independence, flagwaving, helsinki, Independence Day, sauna, tradition
December 6 is Independence Day in Finland and this time around it marks a century of independence, snatched from Russia in 1917 while that country was distracted with the small matter of a revolution. Usually the occasion is marked with a sedate and rather tedious queue of dignitaries at the President’s Palace in Helsinki and the lighting of candles in windows. I’m hoping that this time things might get a little wilder, in view of the significance of the event.
This is what Finns do when they win the Ice Hockey World Championships.
It dawned on me today that I have been living in Finland for more than a third of its independent existence, having arrived laden down with luggage, a wide-eyed and innocent 26-year-old, on the Viking Line ship from Stockholm in late August 1982.
Fitting, then, that I’m writing this on the Viking Line ship from Tallinn, not quite so wide-eyed or innocent. Narrow-eyed, in fact, after a trip through the Baltics that included one or two samples of various national beverages.
Guaranteed to break the ice: the state-of-the-art Polaris icebreaker went into service in 2017, adorned with the Finland 100 logo.
Like all expats, and in spite of having lived here for my entire adult life (which didn’t really start until about 1990 and which some might say has still to get going) I moan about Finland. I moan about the price of beer. I moan about how Finns, in spite of the price of beer and other drinks, go out of their way to get legless. I moan about the endless roadworks and construction sites, about how nobody says ‘thanks’ when I hold the door open for them. I moan about the length of the winter and how the guys with the snow ploughs pile up the snow in front of my gate. Probably unfair these days, since the guys with the ploughs are quite likely to be Estonian. About how the neighbours pile on the peer pressure by cutting their hedges immaculately while I let mine grow ragged. Nothing to do with the fact that they are Finnish, of course, and more to do with the fact that I am lazy.
The Finnish winter – beautiful, but on the long side. A view from Lapland.
Since I have also spent a large part of my professional life singing Finland’s praises in books and articles and radio interviews, I feel entitled to have a go at it sometimes. Of course, if this Brexit nonsense goes through I might have to think about being a Finn myself before too long. In which case, I suppose I’ll have to review my moaning strategy.
A typically healthy blue-and-white Finnish complexion.
But this week Finns are rightly taking the opportunity to celebrate all the good things about their country, and I have to own up to the fact that Finland has been pretty good to me when all is said and done. It lets me speak English most of the time for one thing. So I’m adding my voice to the chorus of congratulatory celebrations.
The Finnish sauna. Had to be mentioned.
This is a country that still has a fantastic health service which has come to the rescue of myself, my family and my friends on many occasions, at little cost, for example. It seems like a much more confident and outward-looking country than it was when I first came here. Not always as perfect as it would like to think, in spite of all those world surveys that say it’s best at everything. But pretty good when you compare it to various other countries. And anyway, any country that really was perfect would have to be pretty boring.
So happy birthday, Finland, and thanks for all the opportunities you’ve put my way. And talking of opportunities, before the next century is up, just try to get the hang of the difference between opportunity and possibility.
New Year’s Eve at midnight, December 31, 2016 – celebrations marked the beginning of the centenary year
Onneksi olkoon, Suomi, ja kippis!
03 Tuesday Oct 2017
Posted Central America, Costa Rica, Finland, India, Mexico, namibia, nature, photography, Travel, travel photography, Uncategorized, wildlife
inTags
animals, Bandhavgarh, brown bears, conservation, Costa Rica, crocodiles, finland, India, kuhmo, Mexico, Monarch butterflies, namibia, natural environment, whales, wildlife, world animals' day
Who knew it? October 4 is World Animals’ Day! Time to feel the beast in you.
The official World Animal Day website states its aim as “To raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe. Building the celebration of World Animals’ Day unites the animal welfare movement, mobilising it into a global force to make the world a better place for all animals. It’s celebrated in different ways in every country, irrespective of nationality, religion, faith or political ideology. Through increased awareness and education we can create a world where animals are always recognised as sentient beings and full regard is always paid to their welfare.”
It seems like an event worth marking in photo form, so here are six photos from some of the unforgettable close encounters I’ve had with various wildlife in recent years. I’m not a wildlife photographer as such – I probably don’t have the required patience – but I have still been lucky enough to photograph animals in many special locations.
More observant readers will notice that there are in fact seven images here, not six. Sorry about that. It might happen again.
Brown bears sound each other out in a summer storm in eastern Finland. There are a number of hides along the border between Finland and Russia where you can watch brown bears through the summer night. This time I was hosted by the Boreal Wildlife Centre near Kuhmo in Kainuu, right up on the northeast of Finland.
Crocodiles, Costa Rica. This shot is from a famous bridge on one of the main highways crossing the country and spanning the Tarcoles River. Like much wildlife in Costa Rica, the crocs are easy to spot, sometimes dozens of them, basking in the mud beneath the bridge.
Monarch butterflies, El Rosario, Angangueo, Mexico. This reserve is in the hills above the otherwise unexciting town of Angangueo, about four hours from Mexico City, to which millions of Monarch butterflies make their way each winter, migrating from the mountains of northwest America. I got to the forest before anyone else early in the morning and watched the wings of the insects warm and open as the sun rose. Truly extraordinary.
Grey whale, Baja California, Mexico. I timed my trip to Mexico to be able to see both the butterflies (above) and the grey whales that congregate here to mate before heading back north. I can still barely believe that I saw these enormous animals. Rather than breaching, grey whales pop their heads above water and rotate their heads like periscopes. They are very curious and once they realised that myself and my two companions in a small boat were not a threat, they started to emerge, dozens of them in all directions. It was hard to know which way to look.
Cape fur seal, Cape Cross seal colony, Namibia. I left the group of journalists I was with for half a day to take a private trip up to Cape Cross, and I could smell the vast colony and hear their calls before I saw them, hundreds of them, spread across the rocks and spilling into the South Atlantic. The saddest thing was spotting the pups separated from their mothers and being instructed by the warden that it was against the rules to try to pair them up – nature must take its own course.
A green lizard, Tortuguero swamps, Costa Rica. Tortuguero is on a waterway running parallel to the Caribbean coast. All sorts of wildlife, including sloths, iguanas, snakes and brightly coloured tree frogs can be spotted on early morning boat ‘safaris’. A magical place.
A mother tiger and cubs, Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India. This little family, minus father, came strolling along the forest track by surprise, obligingly passing my jeep within just a couple of metres. My pulse shoots up when I look at these photos. My base was the very accommodating, friendly and knowledgeable Jungle Mantra Resort – recommended.
These images are the tip of my photographic iceberg, much of it stored on my website at www.timbirdphotography.com. Watch out for my Instagrams at @tim_bird_photo, Tweets at https://twitter.com/BirdTimothy and Facebook stuff at https://www.facebook.com/timbirdtravelphoto/
Thanks for dropping in. Please share and do visit again!
04 Sunday Jun 2017
Posted Finland, photography, travel photography
inThere are still places available on all three of my summer photo workshops on Suomenlinna, Helsinki’s fabulous Baltic sea fortress, the top highlight of Finland’s capital. Workshops are on July 8, July 29 and August 19.
Contact me by email at timothy.bird@kolumbus.fi !
Spend a summer day exploring the limitless visual attractions of Suomenlinna, discovering new views and comparing notes with fellow photo enthusiasts of this beautiful UNESCO World Heritage-listed destination. I’ll be your English-language workshop tutor, not least as photographer and author of “Suomenlinna – Islands of Light” (Docendo 2017), a celebration in photographs and encounters with some of the islands’ most colourful residents.
The emphasis will be on creativity and ways of seeing rather than technical issues, so this is not a “how to use your camera” course, although we’ll discuss and compare techniques where appropriate. Enthusiasm is more important than your knowledge of photography!
Choose a date that suits you best from three separate workshops:
Your tutor – me, i.e. Tim Bird
Workshop fee of €165 includes:
Fee does not include:
You need:
How to guarantee your place at the workshop
25 Sunday Dec 2016
Posted Finland, India, lapland, photography, tourism, Travel, travel photography, Uncategorized
inTags
Assam, Örö, Baltic, finland, India, Japan, kabuki, Kanchenjunga, Kerala, Lapland, Northern Ireland, photography, Stromboli, Theyyam, travel, volcanoes
It’s Christmas Day 2016 and I’m in a generous gift-giving mood, so for my review blog for the year I’m giving you not six, not seven, but EIGHT pictures. Well, that includes the header above, taken one November morning as the sun’s rays spread across the third highest mountain in the world, Kanchenjunga, from the West Bengal hill station of Darjeeling.
It’s been another exciting year with some amazing assignments and adventures. Here are a few highlights – well, seven to be exact:
Reijo Jääskeläinen runs the Levi Husky Park near Levi in Finnish Lapland. In January I visited Lapland to write a story about how this part of Finland is becoming popular with film makers – with animals among the acting casts.
In May I went to the one-time Finnish military island of Örö. It’s a spring tradition for myself and a group of friends to ‘conquer’ a different Baltic island. Because access was limited to the military for many years, Örö’s environment is especially pristine.
My visit to Japan included a tour of the mountainous region north of Nagoya, where I went behind the scenes at a Kabuki theatre.
Northern Kerala in India is the exclusive location of the weird and wonderful Theyyam ritual, a colourful spectacle involving several hours of make-up and an attempt by participants to become inhabited or possessed by the deities they impersonate. Extraordinary.
In the summer I found myself in Belfast in Northern Ireland for the first time, taking a tour in Billy Scott’s black cab around the city. This stop was at the Peace Wall which separates the Republican Falls Road and Loyalist Shankill Road communities.
Capturing this shot of the Stromboli volcano erupting in October was something a ‘bucket list’ moment. I’ve seen volcanoes smoking and steaming in Asia and all over Central America but I’d never seen or shot a full scale eruption before.
I was honoured to attend the wedding of friends Drahkya and Subrata in the town of Nagaon in Assam, India in November. The hospitality of my hosts was overwhelming and the occasion was touching and colourful, and an opportunity to make new friends.
So where next? Lapland again, a voyage on a working icebreaker in the Baltic, and another India adventure are planned so far, but new years always bring new surprises. Watch this space…! And best wishes to all ‘visitors’ for a happy and peaceful Christmas.
21 Sunday Jun 2015
Tags
celebration, festival, finland, fog, Fujifilm XT1, Fujinon f2.8 16-55mm, Juhannus, Keravanjoki, midsummer, Nordic, River Kerava, River Vantaa, summer, traditions, Vantaanjoki
An occasionally regular photo blog showing six latest additions to my photo archives. Visit www.timbirdphotography.com for more.
Midsummer – or the summer solstice if we’re going to be strict about it – is a big event in the Nordic region, where the long days and short, magical light nights are our reward for the rigors of winter. Juhannus, as it’s known in Finland, is a festival of rural traditions, with bonfires, saunas, midnight swims and fishing. I like to take late night bike rides along the River Vantaa close to my Helsinki home. This year the nights of the holiday weekend featured atmospheric fog on either side of the river.
Here are six images from the night before the longest day:
Rapids on the River Kerava in Vantaa, close to where it joins the River Vantaa in Helsinki. Confused?
Rapids on a foggy summer’s night. It if hadn’t been for the fog, this image, taken just after midnight, would have been taken in something close to daylight.
A midsummer tradition in Finland (and probably in Sweden) is for for unmarried girls to gather seven wild flowers and place them under their pillow. The face they see in their dreams is the face of their future spouse.
Technical note for photo nerds: these images were made using my Fujifilm XT1 and the latest addition to my fast expanding lens family, a Fujinon f2.8 16-55mm zoom. This was a good test for the new lens and I’m happy with the results.
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