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Archive 2022 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

rob_ww
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p.6 #1 · p.6 #1 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

Really love this series. I would encourage anyone who has not yet done it to follow the link to the full blog post, read and reflect.

Oct 29, 2022 at 04:16 AM

zoomo
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p.6 #2 · p.6 #2 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

Kalainen wrote:
Carrots
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Sony A7III & ZEISS Batis 2/25 - ISO640, f/2, 1/40sec

"It's dark and damp outside, as always in autumn. Instead of going out, Aura decided to sew some carrots out of felt for her and Meri's shared stick horses. Carrots are not only healthy food for horses, but also a good opportunity to learn how to use a sewing machine. And while the horses are sleeping in Aura’s room, we don’t have to go out and get wet. So, I think it’s a good compromise for all.

As my Batis story is coming one step closer to an end, I feel the

Read the whole blog post here: www.batisstory.com...Show more →

Please no hurry to come to the end. This series is just wonderful, stories and pictures. I love the way you play with light and dark

Oct 29, 2022 at 11:53 AM

Kalainen
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p.6 #3 · p.6 #3 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

rob_ww wrote:
Really love this series. I would encourage anyone who has not yet done it to follow the link to the full blog post, read and reflect.

Thanks for the push up, Rob! Actually I feel my small blog project has gotten a good supporting reaction from FM (and quite a bit of traffic too). Considering my blog is 'small personal photography' that happens far away from the any real photography circles, I can only be grateful for all the kind words and say that it all means a lot for me.

Beyond that there's also another aspect here. I feel that anyone who feels inspired by pictures has an important skill with them: to be successful one needs to have an ability to be inspired by the pictures. It takes eye and enthusiasm, and can be put to work for one's own photography. What I want to say is that having this skill is a great asset and you should utilize it in your own photography by letting your inner inspiration to guide you - and maybe you are already doing that. So, it's not about my pictures, it's about your enthusiasm that makes the difference.

Oct 30, 2022 at 03:28 PM

Kalainen
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p.6 #4 · p.6 #4 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

zoomo wrote:
Please no hurry to come to the end. This series is just wonderful, stories and pictures. I love the way you play with light and dark

Thanks for the kind words Zoomo! Unfortunately I have to admit that keeping the flow up, however passionate I'm feeling, also eats up my batteries a lot. Working on updates at middle of the night when rest of the family is sleeping might give me a blue screen at some point. And I'll be first one to admit that now in autumn when light is so different from the summer, making 'good enough' frames is definitely harder. So, all this points to end at some point, and I'm afraid that it's probably coming sooner than later. But I think I still have strength left to work on some ideas I've had in my mind..

Oct 30, 2022 at 03:37 PM

rob_ww
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p.6 #5 · p.6 #5 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

Kalainen wrote
Beyond that there's also another aspect here. I feel that anyone who feels inspired by pictures has an important skill with them: to be successful one needs to have an ability to be inspired by the pictures. It takes eye and enthusiasm, and can be put to work for one's own photography. What I want to say is that having this skill is a great asset and you should utilize it in your own photography by letting your inner inspiration to guide you - and maybe you are already doing that. So, it's not about my pictures, it's about your...Show more →

Wise words and a useful encouragement to us all. Many thanks!

Oct 31, 2022 at 09:13 AM

Kalainen
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p.6 #6 · p.6 #6 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

Lakeshore
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Sony A7III & ZEISS Batis 2/40 CF - ISO100, f/5.6, 1/160sec

"Autumn is the time when I make many trips to nearby rocks and forests with the girls. We don't necessarily have any specific goals on these trips, we just go to look at familiar landscapes and look for things to do. At the lakeshore girls always find something by themselves and often it involves some kind of play by the water. The lake is windy at this time of year and we have to be well dressed. When I took today’s picture Aura was lying there on the rock between their plays..."

Read the whole blog post here: www.batisstory.com

Nov 01, 2022 at 04:27 PM

rob_ww
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p.6 #7 · p.6 #7 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

Another excellent post. Love this series.

In particular, it's great to have someone talking about the creative process of taking photos. So much of the forum is about gear -- currently with the A7R5 release of course -- and not enough about the creative use of what you have purchased.

I shared the link on the Leica forum as well, where many members have enjoyed reading it.

Thanks to you, Kaleinen. Do keep going.

Robert

Nov 03, 2022 at 11:08 AM

Kalainen
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p.6 #8 · p.6 #8 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

rob_ww wrote:
Another excellent post. Love this series.

In particular, it's great to have someone talking about the creative process of taking photos. So much of the forum is about gear -- currently with the A7R5 release of course -- and not enough about the creative use of what you have purchased.

I shared the link on the Leica forum as well, where many members have enjoyed reading it.

Thanks to you, Kaleinen. Do keep going.

Robert

Thanks for the kind words, Rob!

Since you mentions the creative process I thought I might as well share some of my own ideas about it. When I was younger I tended to think that everything related visuality or aesthetics (ie. photography, painting, etc.) is creative work. While this is how most of the people think about it, I've come to contemplate it bit differently at older age. I think creativity is something where one *creates something new* - something that hasn't existed yet. And actually this is really hard. For example, most of the photography I see is not creative by this definition. The common photography is more about the circulating the known image-types, tropes and similar. The pictures of fountains, birds, fashion models, etc. etc. hardly create anything new even though they might be technically very skillful and 'creative' in that simple sense - and can certainly be admired.

Then there are photographers that make us see things in a new light - this is something I consider creative. Like I've already mentioned Sally Mann, who's photography creates very different perspective to childhood (and she was almost convicted because of it). Or Stephen Gill's pillar which portraits birds in a totally different way that we are used to (read the story behind the link to understand it better). I think these sort of works are creative because they make us think/see differently of their subject. Most often the creative work has some sort of concept behind it and I think this is often a useful way of differentiating creative work from the usual photography.

Now I'll be the first one to admit that my photographs are not that creative either, considering the tight definition. It's just that hard. The first part of blog, The Island, is kind of 'a sketch' where I've tried to approach the childhood from a different perspective throwing in existential philosophy, psychoanalysis merging death and childhood into similar frames, etc. But it's still a sketch and I get that it's also a bit difficult to follow/understand because it differs from what the childhood photography usually is. It's also a much harder/stressed to work on, that's why I needed to shift to much more ordinary pictures for rest of the blog. So, yeah it's kind of difficult make creative pictures..

Nov 04, 2022 at 04:22 PM

rob_ww
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p.6 #9 · p.6 #9 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

" ... creativity is something where one *creates something new* - something that hasn't existed yet. And actually this is really hard."

Creativity is still relative, of course. Visual, verbal or musical, creation must use a language that a community recognises and responds to, and that 'language' itself has been created by predecessors. Therefore it must contain elements of what went before.

Where your work challenges me, is to be more reflective about what I am responding to -- trusting my intuition more and shedding preconceptions. This morning I saw an image of a humble clover flower, the only object sharply in focus in a broad landscape. It has stayed with me all day -- a reminder of the dignity of a small living thing. My aim is to create pictures like that.

Nov 06, 2022 at 10:29 AM

Kalainen
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p.6 #10 · p.6 #10 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

In the forest
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Sony A7III & ZEISS Batis 1.8/85 - ISO6400, f/1.8, 1/8sec

"On dark autumn evenings, I take the girls out to adventures. We take the bikes and ride deep into the forests armed with only small flashlights and a proper amount of courage. We are adventuring in familiar landscapes that have now become unfamiliar due to the darkness. On these types of trips, I often hope that the girls will have memories of them. For that, I often pack warm berry juice and a few buns.."

Read the whole blog post here: www.batisstory.com

Nov 08, 2022 at 04:09 PM

Kalainen
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p.6 #11 · p.6 #11 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

rob_ww wrote:
Creativity is still relative, of course. Visual, verbal or musical, creation must use a language that a community recognises and responds to, and that 'language' itself has been created by predecessors. Therefore it must contain elements of what went before.

Where your work challenges me, is to be more reflective about what I am responding to -- trusting my intuition more and shedding preconceptions. This morning I saw an image of a humble clover flower, the only object sharply in focus in a broad landscape. It has stayed with me all day -- a reminder of the dignity of a small...Show more →

Sorry for late reply, Rob. I've been meaning to get on this, but I've been really busy/stressed with the work lately.

I wanted to say that I'm grateful for your comment and I rarely get any deep feedback of my work. If I've inspired you to shoot differently then I would say my blog project has fulfilled its mission on some level. Making photography personal is definitely something I would recommend to anyone - and I believe for most it is just that. Still I think there's a kind of two sides in it. Either one makes the photography work for the life, or life work for the photography. For example, a 13 years old teenage girl taking selfies with her phone might think she making very personal photographs, when she is actually fitting her life and experiences into this certain picture type. The other way is, for example, to have inner feelings of life and then trying to find photographic approach that convoys these feelings, like visual metaphors etc. Or to put one more way; one can learn the discourses of photography and use them and alter them to create new meanings about his/her subjects.

This kind of thinking, not surrounding for the photographic preconceptions but trying to breed something new from them, is something that I struggle too. But I think that the struggle is a sign that one is somehow getting forward to some direction, and that movement is the journey. With photography there's no goal line or point where one is 'ready', it's more about endlessly weaving together experiences, memories and culture - and experiencing them again through photographs.

Nov 10, 2022 at 04:30 PM

Kalainen
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p.6 #12 · p.6 #12 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

End of story
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Sony A7III & ZEISS Loxia 2/50 - ISO640, f/4, 1/20sec

"This will be the last post for this summer blog, which I’ve already extended well beyond the bright summer light and into the dark nights of autumn. If you have followed my Batis Story before, this will also be the last chapter of that story, merging the past with the present.

When I started this blog at the beginning of August, I wanted to dedicate it to summer photography. Take a break from everyday life and..."

Read the whole blog post here: www.batisstory.com

Nov 12, 2022 at 05:12 AM

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p.6 #13 · p.6 #13 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

This has by far been my favorite thread on the entire forum. You have created a body of work that is meaningful and artistic. It soars so much more than the gear-focused title would suggest, and serves as a powerful reminder that photography can be a medium for expressing emotions and creating reactions beyond just "wow" or "that's pretty" or "look at how sharp that is ". Like Sally Mann, Vermeer, Jessica Todd Harper, Andrew Wyeth, and probably other great artists I'm unaware of, you have managed to create art from the subject of the day to day wonder of the ordinary and familial. Thank you for sharing your project and I hope you'll share more again in time

Nov 13, 2022 at 01:37 PM

Kalainen
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p.6 #14 · p.6 #14 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

StoneCrop wrote:
This has by far been my favorite thread on the entire forum. You have created a body of work that is meaningful and artistic. It soars so much more than the gear-focused title would suggest, and serves as a powerful reminder that photography can be a medium for expressing emotions and creating reactions beyond just "wow" or "that's pretty" or "look at how sharp that is ". Like Sally Mann, Vermeer, Jessica Todd Harper, Andrew Wyeth, and probably other great artists I'm unaware of, you have managed to create art from the subject of the day to day wonder of...Show more →

Thanks for your such a kind words! You know just before when I read this comment, I had sat in front of my computer and thought that I 'hmm.. no comments on me ending the project.. that's fine, maybe it's just difficult to relate in a forum with bunch of strangers or something similar.. yeah, I'm fine, it's ok..'. Then I saw your comment and to honest, felt pretty humble. You know one of biggest obstacles I feel in my photography is that trying to reach the level that would be closer to 'serious and artistic' work of real photographers - shake out that randomness of snapshots and trying to find my own photographic eye. I can't think of my work as real photography, but even when somebody is referring to my pictures in this same discourse/narrative, it means to me that 'someone out there get's it what I'm so desperately trying to solve'. I couldn't imagine a better encouragement, you've just made my day - the whole project really. So, thank you for taking your time and leaving such as heart warming comment. Also, looks like there's a few new names I have to check out as I love the photography culture and try to use it on learning more..

Nov 13, 2022 at 04:40 PM

StoneCrop
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p.6 #15 · p.6 #15 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

Your photos have certainly influenced my way of seeing, and given me permission to remember that what I am doing in photography is making an image, with certain tools, and there are many decisions I can make along the way that will determine if that image conveys meaning or just takes up visual space in an already saturated visual culture.

I too hope to find more artists who use photography to those ends. But I come from a background in oil painting, so most of what I am deeply familiar with in art history is painters. Johannes Vermeer and Andrew Wyeth are both painters, though their realistic approach shares a lot of ground with photography, and Vermeer, like Caravaggio, certainly used photographic processes to inform their seeing and painting (in the camera obscura days). But though the image making process is different, I see an emotional and visual thread linking Vermeer and Wyeth, and to some degree Edward Hopper and Vilhelm Hammershøi, with your images.

Those are some of my favorite painters, and I would love to some day make images like theirs, in whatever media I can. My interest in photography is recent, and I've been looking to find photographers who create images of a similar resonance. So far Jessica Todd Harper and you have been my two favorite new discoveries in this genre. Maybe we can start a thread to try to find more artists who explore similar fronts?

Kalainen wrote:
Thanks for your such a kind words! You know just before when I read this comment, I had sat in front of my computer and thought that I 'hmm.. no comments on me ending the project.. that's fine, maybe it's just difficult to relate in a forum with bunch of strangers or something similar.. yeah, I'm fine, it's ok..'. Then I saw your comment and to honest, felt pretty humble. You know one of biggest obstacles I feel in my photography is that trying to reach the level that would be closer to 'serious and artistic' work of real photographers...Show more →

Nov 13, 2022 at 08:12 PM

Kalainen
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p.6 #16 · p.6 #16 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

StoneCrop wrote:
Your photos have certainly influenced my way of seeing, and given me permission to remember that what I am doing in photography is making an image, with certain tools, and there are many decisions I can make along the way that will determine if that image conveys meaning or just takes up visual space in an already saturated visual culture.

I too hope to find more artists who use photography to those ends. But I come from a background in oil painting, so most of what I am deeply familiar with in art history is painters. Johannes Vermeer and Andrew...Show more →

Some of the photographers that I admire are, for example, Kirsten Lewis, Alex Webb, Zalmy Berkowitz, Saul Leiter and Luca Rossini. I think that in some ways they have all affected me, but I don't want to 'copy' them (hah not that I even could), but looking at their photos surely affects the way I look at photo opportunities. I'm pretty sure you'll find interesting work from there.

Looking at paintings it interesting in this context, because I found them much harder to look at the context of photography. Maybe the Hopper is easiest to imagine as photographs, but I found Wyeth the most interesting. I also found myself browsing Jessica Todd Harpers pictures for a long time. I like the idea of framing things like a stage, I certainly had somewhat similar ideas some years ago, now I try to push my photography to more dynamic form.

I don't know how much does an average high end camera owner looks to visual culture and other photographers for an inspiration/cultivation of taste, but I think everyone should, it's so rich repertoire and makes photography much more fulfilling.

Nov 14, 2022 at 01:51 PM

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p.6 #17 · p.6 #17 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

@Kalainen Hey Toni, I have very much enjoyed your blogging - and can very much relate to documenting everyday life as life goes by - are you sharing more of your photos somewhere?

Jan 25, 2023 at 10:43 AM

Kalainen
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p.6 #18 · p.6 #18 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

patotts wrote:
@Kalainen@ Hey Toni, I have very much enjoyed your blogging - and can very much relate to documenting everyday life as life goes by - are you sharing more of your photos somewhere?

Hi patotts, thanks for the kind words and sorry for replying a bit late (I've been really busy with the work, very much to late night hours as well).

To give you a short answer to your question, no I'm not currently sharing my photos online. It's not that I would not have photos, I do and in some ways I would love to share some, but the thing is that I think sharing individual photos without context/story kind of 'violates' of what photography is about. It turns stories into 'disposable snapshots' (IG) and my inspiration with photography has always been to produce something more long lasting. So currently I don't see an outlet online where I should share my photos. Of course a some sort of project would be another thing, like 'a Batis Story' which gave me a platform to develop my storytelling. But I have to say that currently I'm not planning any sort of online project. The reason is quite simple as I'm pretty busy with a newborn baby girl in our family (third one now, borned end of november). In a way I have, again, all the reasons to push my photography, but unfortunately I don't have time/energy to realize any sort of project right now. But I would love to remind anyone working with their photography about Roland Barthes (french semiotics who wrote about photography) that the most important pictures he kept only for himself and never showed them to anyone. This inspires me show much, to create a rich meaningful and fully subjective photography that circles around the metaphysics of life that exists only in your mind - and not moulding your photography to serve the public taste, discourses, etc. To create something that exists only for you. I guess that's currently the thing I'm most inspired about - and unfortunately it kind of doesn't include the sharing part..

Jan 27, 2023 at 03:45 PM

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p.6 #19 · p.6 #19 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

Toni, thanks for the thorough explanation - I do appreciate it.

You put a lot of thought and effort into your storytelling; hence, I appreciate and enjoy it. Finding time for one's hobby/art is very challenging indeed, especially with a new-born (have 4 kids, been there...)

Enjoy the expanded family and thanks for the answer. Happy snaps!

Jan 27, 2023 at 05:28 PM

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p.6 #20 · p.6 #20 · 'a Batis story...' - a photographic sketchbook for the summer 2022

Congrats on kid, Toni! I’m imagining part of your decision to have another one was driven by photography… you’re going to need more subject matter soon.

Jan 27, 2023 at 06:47 PM

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