Happy first day of school!

Yep, you better get ready for school!

Jaan Muna

They say that every place has their clown. I guess Tartu's in Jaan Muna. He is born on 30th of April, 1942. He doesn't call himself anything, but he is know as an activist of Tartu. He is always present at different events, he gaves speeches there and presents to the organizers. He has been called also the avatar of Tartu ghost. He is always on the photos and there have been many articles written about him.

I have met him during the many events I have been taking photos. He always acts friendly, shares his comments and is very friendly. On these photos you can see him enjoying the opening of a traffic collector in Tartu. Check out his bling-bling ;)

Willow warbler?

I guess this is Willow warbler?

Estonian fields

Peak of the summer.

Girls from shelter

I once visited a small shelter for young children. I had some stuff to give away to the institution. They asked me to join their Christmas party in few weeks. I agreed to come and said to take photos. I met them at the shelter. I was able to visit few rooms of few girls and take photos there. These two stood out the most.

Calm vol. 55

Fall.

Hallway

Some modern architecture in Pärnu.

AI

DJ Sketso

I went to DJ-school for a very short time. I came across some wonderfully skilled children and teens there. Few really stood out from the crowd. One of them was DJ Sketso, who was into hip-hop, r&b, soul etc. It was all great, because I was into those genres as well. He was a very quiet young man, but since he liked the same stuff I did, I talked him quite often.

Few years ago I was at Estonian Hip-Hop Festival and he was backing some MC as a DJ. This is where I took this shot. It shows his seriousness, dedication and youth. I was trying to find more information to promote his skills, but I didn't find much, so I am not sure he is still using his stage name DJ Sketso.

Common chaffinch

I consider this almost one of the best Common chaffinch photos I have taken. I just like the early buds of the new leaves, the old remainders from the fall, the deep blue sky and the pose of the bird. Read more of a beautiful bird HERE.

Gramineae

Hahhaa, my favorite Gramineae and something else.

Happy Birthday freedom of Estonia!

In 24 years we have built Estonia into a prosperous, successful, strong small country, but the minds of the people are still very closed, pensions and wages are quite low, medical help is not at its best and there is not enough work for youngsters....but we are still building, evolving, learning. Happy re-independence Estonia!

Calm vol. 54

New Year's Day!

Ceiling of National Museum of Finland

Yeah, I was testing out the HDR again, this time indoors on a wonderful ceiling I came across at National Museum of Finland. What an exquisite ceiling painting and a dome it has! Surreal filter adds so much to it. The ceiling frescoes are in the national epic Kalevala theme, painted by Akseli Gallén-Kallela, which can be seen by the way without an entrance fee. The frescoes, painted in 1928, are based on the frescoes painted by Gallén-Kallela in the Finnish Pavilion of the Paris World Fair in 1900.

Two girls

Jeffrey and his sons

Though on this photo Jeffrey himself is the blurriest, the tall guy on the background, he is the leader of this photo, as the father of those two boys, who are both playing basketball. He is from US, but married a Russian woman and they are currently living in Saint Petersburg. They came to play basketball in Tartu, so they asked me to take photos of their games.

Tuusmaster is not ossikükk

I am defending my Tuusmaster blog, as just today I found out that what is tuus for me in Estonian is actually ossikükk, basically in English it would be like a...oh, it is impossible to translate...ugh! Hick crouch? It is nothing nice, but tuus is. I just realized that people have been putting lots of their tuus photos online, so I should start grabbing their photos for my blog! :)

NB! Remember always, tuusmaster never smiles ;)

Saadjärve

Saadjärve is located in Jõgeva county. I have been spending some time there in past ten years, recently I went there with few of my photography class students in July. That is when this photo was snapped. I have been playing around with HDR a little. Not much, but I am testing it. I seem to like the surreal theme the most, as this one pictured.

Oh by the way, Saadjärve was definitely the coldest water body I have swum in so far.

In and out

By the way there is a wonderful movie called exactly the same- "In & Out". An old flick from 1997, starring wonderful Kevin Kline. The dance he does there by I will survive is not to be missed! YouTube IN & OUT - KEVIN KLINE - I WILL SURVIVE. At 2:42 it is on! :)

Calm vol. 53

Wood pile

In a way, I think a simple wood pile may be a great architectural sample. Depends which angle to look at, right?

Rosario Dawson

I just realized that I haven't taken recently any screenshots. I mean I have taken them, but not published them. While watching movies I have came across wonderful faces, scenes and moments, so here is a recent one of a wonderful chocolate actress Rosario Dawson. I think the first movie to watch with her is R.E.N.T. There you will get the flavor of her to continue with many of her other recent movies such as Seven Pounds, Sin City, Grindhouse, The Captive, Trance etc.

Margus

I do not know Margus personally. I approached him at the mall with a wish to take photos of him for the street fashion section at Femme.ee He was very nice and gladly posed for me. I mean, he was actually a natural. I love the mix of his gray and red clothes. His beard was a cherry on a top for his style!

Mallard chicks

We found these hungry mallard chicks having a feast in a water meadow. I love the deep darkness of the water and the mild reflection on it.

Streetlight

My favorite "sticks".

Four moments

Four different interpretations of fireworks in Tallinn dark sky.

Calm vol. 52

Mmm, what an amazing summer treat - cinnabon, smoothie and an amazing cake. That is Elva Kohvikute Päev - Elva Cafe Day - a supreme calm moment.

Finlandia house

Ugh, I am a sucker for weird and huge (white) buildings. Buildings that really stand out or which are famous for different design, a la Farnsworth House, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Flatiron Building etc. Maybe not many people know that in Finland there is a great building called Finlandia-talo in English Finlandia Hall. I finally got there to take photos of the building. Yes, I went pretty crazy.

I tried to capture the many details the building and its surroundings are offering. I especially like the wooden addition on the doors and interesting lamp shades.

The building is a congress amd event venue in the centre of Helsinki. This impressum was designed by Alvar Aalto, which is not a surprise, as my favorite building in Tartu, my home town Villa Tammekann was designed also by the famous Finn! Anyway while observing the Finlandia Hall, you could tell that this is from the 70's, this is correct, as it was opened in 1971! The versatile and flexible meeting, exhibition, festival and concert facilities of the Finlandia Hall offer a setting for both large international congresses and small-scale meetings, and for various entertainment and public events.

Read more about the Finlandia Hall HERE.