Japan or bust...

Me, husband plus 3 more couples are planning to go to Japan in May.  Yesterday, I met sweet neighbour Ylva (one part of the planned couples) and went to Ulriksdals handelsträdgård.  Lovely place - with lovely cats:

The IRIX 15MM Blackstone lens on the K-1

The IRIX blackstone 15 mm manual has arrived...!

Looks impressive, does it not?

THIS MORNING in STOCKHOLM,

IRIX Blackstone, 15 mm, 1/60th and ISO3200 on the K-1

Photography

“It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.” – David Bailey

Pentax K-1 POWER

Why I do not like yoga, McMindfulness and the like...

The aim of far too many teachings these days is to make people “feel good,” and even some Buddhist masters are beginning to sound like New Age apostles. Their talks are entirely devoted to validating the manifestation of ego and endorsing the “rightness” of our feelings, neither of which have anything to do with the teachings we find in the pith instructions. 

So, if you are only concerned about feeling good, you are far better off having a full body massage or listening to some uplifting or life-affirming music than receiving dharma teachings, which were definitely not designed to cheer you up. 

On the contrary, the dharma was devised specifically to expose your failings and make you feel awful.

~ Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche

Pentax K-1

Ok I am a convert.  Got the Pentax K-1.

Especially I like the motto on the carton:

OUR PROMISE

Wish to be a companion to form important moments in your life. 

Alway with you.

Thank you for choosing Ricoh Imaging. 

Immediately got myself a nifty fifty.  

Which produces very very sharp and beautiful images:

Then later I chanced it - and got my self a "glugg" (lens) that almost cost as much as the camera, the 24-70, 2.8:

Which also produces extremely sweet and sharp images.

What I am most impressed with is really the handling. The camera house is appropriate for someone with tiny hands (I have glove size 6.5!).  I do not care so much about weight. 

 What is now missing is a nice wide-angle, an 85 mm and perhaps a macro of some sort, a couple of flashes and ... phew... a "självutlösare", whatever that is in English.

Photography is a ... PRYLSPORT...

Today's fatso

Twinkle Twinkle Indian Desi Styles

Ho ho ho

Thousands of years ago, Shakyamuni Buddha taught a self-help path to Enlightenment, which included many parallels to modern scientific method. As recorded in the Kalama Sutta, Buddha said: “it is proper that you have doubt… do not be led by reports, or tradition or hearsay.” Scientific method, clearly.

MAN ÄR VUXEN VID 60!

Min mamma hade rätt!  Jag känner mig VUXEN för första ggn i mitt liv - nu vid 61.
Kommer ihåg att en Hindu vän en gång talade om för mig att man/han firade extra mycket vid 60 OCH 61 för då börjar det spirituella livet. Sökandet efter VERKLIG mening. Man har klarat skola, arbete och familj - och är FRI att söka.
Tyvärr är det väl så att vi i väst får fortsätta med arbete - iom taskig pension och föränderlig värld, men i stora drag har min hindu vän rätt.

Dagens TantTaiko! Fanken vi är BRA! only beginners!

Snap

There are photographers and then there are photographers...

Starting to understand this profession a bit.
Unless you look at commercial photos - for a client, there seems to be two kinds of photo-people: the ones who take photos that reflect their perception of self, or the ones that photograph what the eye-sense sees.  I hope I belong to the latter kind.
Happy birthday to this Bag of Skin with Some Innards in It!

My First Book - i.e. my Photos

http://www.adlibris.com/se/bok/autoimmun-kokbok-lakande-paleokost-9789163902888

Photographic Journal of a Photographer-wanna-be - part I

Photographs in the Cold

Cold - not too, but around minus 4.
Tips:

1. wear enough clothes
2. got glasses? If you have contacts - wear them
3. bring tissue to wipe your nose
4. have extra mittens with insulation to warm your fingers between shots
5. catch day light (not easy in Sweden this time of year - we had about 2-3 hrs of ok day light)
6. bring bread or some other food for swans (they got really disappointed).

HUNDGÄNGET!

My First BIG Photo Competition

OJ - jag har just fått ett HEDERSOMNÄMNANDE i grand-prix tävlingen i tidningen Kamera & Bild (nr 10) med den här bilden:
WOW - I just received a HONORABLE MENTION for this picture, in the Swedish Photographic journal Kamera & Bild, nr. 10:

Re-re-re-relaxed

Nice. Relaxed.  Almost started what I should have started today - haha. Not very worried about anyhting right now.  Equanimity.  A small reminder of when Shamarpa visited us... Do miss him a lot.

my sweet old dogs...

Lucifer och Amy - sommaren 2012

Summer of '15

1.) visit from Khandro-la:

2.) then visit from Ignacio!

Resulting in lots of excursions: