a year on .arabianranta
(Helsinki, Finland)
I’ve lived in quite a few places in a number of countries on 3 continents. But one of my favourite places remains the corner apartment on the 4th floor in Helsinki’s Arabianranta. We had a huge balcony running along two sides of the apartment. We lived there for only just over a year, but I shot from that balcony in four seasons. Everything from rain, snow, hail, lightning storms, fog, obviously sunsets and sunrises and… the occasional rainbow. I needed only to put up the tripod, camera on top and I was good to go.
February 2013
I remember the winter of 2013 to be one of the harsher ones after a number of years of very soft winters. Snow came fairly late, but staid for quite long and it was minus twentysomething degrees Celsius for quite some time during daytime. And there were a fair amount of snow storms as well.
I was camped on the balcony for almost 2 hours already, when shooting this image, and was about to call it a day, when I saw this couple enter the frame. It made for an interesting addition to an otherwise fairly boring scene.
The kite surfers were a couple of days later on the field right below our balcony. That made for an interesting series as well.
Note that apart from some contrast additions, the first image has not been altered, or converted to black and white.
April 2013
Following that cold winter, we got a soft spring, with lots of great sunrises. The sun would rise right behind Vanhakaupunkilahti and always gave a stunning display of colours. It did require some early risings.
The first image is from April 22nd, at 4:11am, the second image is from April 26th, at 4:26am.
Both images are a stitch of three landscape photos.
May 2013
Nearing the end of spring, the transition to summer was wet and overcast. But did make for some great photography.
July 2013
And, as always, confirming that Dutch proverb: Sunshine follows after rain.
I’m wondering if the cyclist ever realized that she was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
September 2013
The summer had been fairly hot for Finnish standards. And it extended all the way into September. Which gave really nice evenings where the earth would sometimes appear to be smoking when the temperature dropped quicker than the surroundings could cool down.
It made for nice “foggy” images in the evening.
January 2014
Our last winter in this apartment. The last winter sunrises from this balcony. With pain in our hearts we left here. But where we went after this, had its own beautiful views and beautiful sunrises and sunsets: from the beach on a remote tropical island.
