Lavonardo

Valokuvatorstai celebrates its second birthday with an approriate challenge. This week’s subject is simply 2.

My take is the attached image, of two aging elephants, walking slowly in their large enclosure in the Washington Zoo.

This week’s thursday challenge is pink.

Despite having borne the nickname “Pink” for more than a decade, I didn’t resort to an image of myself. Nope, used a picture of some random flowers of the appropriate colour seen in Pitäjänmäki while walking to work yesterday.

This week’s Macro Day challenge departs from the traditional “one word”-format and commands participants to go on their knees.

I did, and this is what got captured. A plant with a few puddles of water on its leaves (following a raindshower) standing tall in a field of decorative snowcrops.

This week’s photo friday challenge is Beavis‘ favorite subject: fire.

This particular blaze is photographed in front of the Canadian parliament in Ottawa.

This week’s photo thursday challenge pulls participants in to the BlogCatalog’s blogging for hope campaign.

So basically the topic is nothing less and more than human rights. Probably one of the toughest and open-ended assignments thus far. And as shown in the others’ photos, no single universal subject overwhelms the rest on this one.

My take is the attached image, of a long bridge across a turbulent river. Worldwide, it would seem that human rights are always just a step (or seventeen) ahead, but no matter what happens, there’s unfortunately an extra mile to cover.

The star-spangled banner flying on top of the bridge should not be considered as an endorsement of the country’s policies.

This week’s Moody Monday challenge is about something exposed.

My take on the subject is the attached image, of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, heavily stripped of its exterior walls during a major renovation project.

This week’s image in the Macro Day challenge could easily be Embroidrered, the sequel, from last week, so close is the subject to the original.

But it’s not. This week’s topic is cap.

And my take is a detail on a Utah Jazz cap bought a year ago, which is surprisingly still in a pristine condition.

This week’s photo thursday challenge is once again of the “continue the story” type.

The source image is a painting by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, and in my opinion the woman in the painting is perplexed by a cormorant sitting on a piling on the lake.

As usual, the full-sized photograph is available by clicking the attached image.

Action scenes from Halo.

Pretty.

And not just heavily photoshopped screengrabs - at least some of the images feature bona fide plastic models.

This week’s Macro Day challenge is embroidered.

My take on the subject is a close-up on a polo-shirt from Dublin, Ireland - a shirt festooned with a jolly toucan advertising Guinness.

This week’s Thursday Challenge is well-timed, the topic is spring.

My take is the attached image, of a pollen-laden willow bloom, taken late saturday evening against the dusk on Pikkuhuopalahti (not that much is in focus).

This week’s very delayed participation in the Macro Day challenge is about something engraved.

I considered coins, but having used them recently, chose an old vinyl record instead (Master of Puppets, if you insist on knowing).

This week’s thursday challenge is earth.

The selected image takes the viewers to a very specific piece of earth, an ancient rock formation - Uluru in the middle of Australia. The picture was taken on a morning hike around the rock, around 5 am - just when the sun was creeping out behind the stone.

This week’s photo thursday challenge is domestic - something typically finnish.

I’m sure this week’s collection will be filled with images on flags, forests and snow. Among other things. My take is a very common scene in Ostrobothnia, an lush emerald-green field sliced in half by a powerline, topped with a roiling sky. The photograph is taken in Nivala, on the edge of just such a field, and despite appearances it did not rain that day.

Even more typical image would have been one of a lopsided barn, weathered by scores of winters, but in the era of effective agriculture, such buildings are becoming rarer every year.

Today’s Moody Monday photography challenge is incomplete.

I don’t think that there’s anything in my collection that’s more blatantly incomplete than Antoni Gaudi’s Sagrada Família in Barcelona. The church, under construction since 1882, is projected to be completed in 2026 on the 100th anniversary of the architect’s death.

A visit to the church is heavily recommended - the gigantic building is full of odd details, made even more strange by the state of the construction (as evidenced by the flock of cranes surrounding and covering the area). Some parts have been ready for decades and show appropriate weathering, whereas signifcant parts exist only on paper. The crypt of the church has an interesting museum that describes the long history of the construction effort.

As usual, the full-size image is available by clicking the photograph.

This week’s Macro Day challenge is edge.
Took a while to come up with a new subject, but in the end the newest implement of destruction in the kitchen won out - knife’s edge.

This week’s photo friday challenge is cold.

Instead of hunting for ice cream pictures, I take the easy way out - with a wintry landscape. Obviously this is not of this season, we didn’t officially have a termic winter in Helsinki at all.

The picture is of a frozen stream in Pitäjänmäki - during a particularly powerful (yeat brief) cold snap last year the fast flowing water just froze.

This week’s thursday challenge is quick.

And what better way to celebrate the adjective than the fastest land mammal: the cheetah. Picture is taken in Washington Zoo, where the animals were only jogging at best - even their large enclosure wouldn’t have given them the ability to even start accelerating.

This week’s photo thursday challenge is esthetics of degradation.

My take is a gargoyle, perched on a rooftop in Paris. This is a very close crop, and there’s multiple of these critters in the full-sized image (available via a click on the photograph). The weather has not been kind on the stony carving, and the degradation is visible all over the surface.

The gargoyle is one of the coolest concepts of medieval architecture, one that sadly never really made it to Finland. The word has got a really good translation though: räystäspiru - eaves-devil.

This week’s Macroday challenge instructs the participants to go round.

My take on the subject is a selection of coins, definitely in the realm of the round.