Guitar in focus

We went to a concert on Thursday. Turku Philharmonic Orchestra was playing a concert named 'Guitar in focus'. I was expecting an interesting evening. Well.. I wouldn't call it that interesting but different for sure. The concerto was made by Risto T.T. Pulkkinen and in our local newspaper it got quite a good review afterwards. I (and my better[?] half) don't seem to understand that kind of artistic output. Such discords that even I who don't play guitar at all could make those. Not necessarily in the right order or rightly timed but anyway.. I was expecting to hear more of a classical guitar playing. This might have been a bit too modern concert to me..

I sort of felt myself stupid sitting there, listening to it and not getting it. Lucky for me, my guitar-playing-better-half said the same during the halftime. Not only was the concerto and guitar playing a disappointment but the time that world famous (From doing what?) guitarist Timo Korhonen spent on stage.. If the concerto is named 'Guitar in focus' I really expect to hear that guitar throughout the concert. But no. Not a chance. But since the dischords, I guess we we're just lucky not to hear it the whole time. The orchestra played actually really well before and after the guitar.

As I said already after the concert to my spouse I might feel a bit (understatement!!) screwed after that concert if I had paid for the ticket. Luckily we didn't pay anything, so it was just a sort of waste of time. And fortunately we've seen plenty of great concerts by the Philharmonic orchestra so this definitely won't be our last visit to the Turku Concert Hall.

Open my eyes

My online photography course enlightened me in many ways. But one of the biggest realizations must have been during the last module. One topic in that module was asking what kind of photographer I am and the module also represented a quote that opened my eyes: "If you find yourself going to the zoo too often, it's because you belong in the zoo in the first place. You're at home there". I understood that I like to photograph people. And even more, people in music. I'm at home in clubs, out in the city, observing people. I also came up with a principle/sentence I want to work with.. Here it comes, are you ready?! 'As a photographer you need to blend in so that your work wouldn't.' I think that being true especially if you're photographing people.

That last module also inspired me to look out for photographers that have inspired or might inspire me. And here I give you a list of them (as well as links to their work).

Nikki Sixx
This is a no brainer.
I love Mötley Crüe and I've read both of Nikki's books (several times, actually).
I absolutely love black and white pictures.
And you just have to respect a person who sees beauty where most people don't.

Ross Halfin
If you don't know who Ross Halfin is, you don't know anything about rockstar photographers.
Just click 'Gallery' and choose 'Bands'..
He had recently an exhibition in Finland (which I unfortunately didn't see).

Matthias Hombauer
He was a Ph.D. student in molecular biology.
He left that promising career.
And then he became a successful rockstar photographer.
Not so long ago.
And he is happily teaching others (those willing to pay) how to do the same.

JoeyL
Robert DeNiro on his landing page? Seriously?
Seriously. And it doesn't stop there. Just check the 'Quick portfolio' and you'll be amazed.
Also, if you're in to photography yourself, you might want to take a look at 'Gear' as well.
I haven't yet had the time to take a look to his tutorials but I'm planning to (that will probably give me something to write about as well).

Chase Jarvis
Shoots various subjects. Can especially well freeze movement in his photos.

Joe McNally
I like especially his 'Environment' and 'Faces' photos.

Reaching for zen

I have a new, old hobby. I started yoga (again) yesterday.

When I was studying in polytechnic I used to go to morning yoga but I haven't done it since (That's not entirely true: I did do yoga couple of times through yoogaia.com but since Mr Right wasn't being supportive for me doing it in our living room so I stopped doing it.). But now I'm into it again (Not at home this time though.).

If nothing else at least I was the youngest participant. :D But however, it was quite alright. Although I think I could do a bit heavier stretching as well.

Forever student

I have always been a reader type of person. You can learn new things from books you read. Studying often requires reading in form or an other.
But for once I wanted to learn something without reading. I've had a lack of motivation lately and just couldn't find the time or energy for reading and through that, learning. My solution was to became a student. Sounds a bit weird but if you bare with me and let me explain..

I started a free online course few weeks ago. I'm not expecting to get any specific degree from it. More than anything I would like to learn new skills. The course is named 'The art of photography' and it is provided by Open2Study, Open universities Australia. (RMIT University to be exact.) And I absolutely love it! The lessons are simple and easy to follow, from 4 to 10 minutes Youtube videos. After every video you answer a little pop quiz and after you've finished learning one module, you'll do an assessment. You can also share your photos in Google+ in Open2Study community. The course is led by Dr Shane Hulbert (http://shane-hulbert.squarespace.com/).

What comes to other stuff.. My August challenge (here: http://hellproduction.blogspot.fi/2014/08/a-is-for.html) was somewhat a disaster.. I didn't draw as much as I hoped for, many days went by when I didn't draw at all. So I'll continue the challenge this month as well, hopefully with better results.