Ikaria in photos

I’ve been seeing so many lists of 50/100 breathtaking, amazing, beautiful, awesome, insertwhatever thisandthat photos that I thought I might give it a go myself. It seems an interesting exercise in photo editing which of course means you probably won’t agree with my selection, at least not entirely.

I thought I’d start with the Aegean island of Ikaria where I spent a few months last year and it’s still on my mind a lot. And I should probably point out that most photos featured here were found in the very active Ikaria – Ικαρία group on Flickr.

so here goes in no particular order…

Ed Webb
Ed Webb
Ed WEbb 2
Ed WEbb 3
Ed wEbb 4


Christos Malahias

Frozen Selini in January
the footpath from Rahes to Manganitis in autumn

jelgajelga
in the pines

megaonbeirne
705 stairway
901 shaddows

onirorama
Shades 2

Paul Lewis
evdilos
Nas
cave

T@asos
trans ikarian
Ikaria no 20

Thanos Anthopoulos
Mesakti, Ikaria

Jo&Joli
Greece: Relaxing Life 2

angeloska
The trail is ready!
Mountains, plateaus, deserts of the west
Ikaria-west-1993

Metroindian
Kanella...shows the way

IRDKETAS
shutter speed 1min
enjoying my own company

‘Lele(awol)
Ikaria easter 2008

Geoponos
church

Ray Cunningham
Ikaria Greece Communist Graffiti

Stelios Kiousis
none

fliegender
unk
ukn
ukn

Tragopodaros
iDIGiCARia
Pezi

streunerin
ukn

Ikariancenter
Kampos

mamanian
Μεσακτή!!!

adespotos79
Armenistis
Halari
Xalaris Face

Yann!s
calmnes

Pez Luna
Church and Fournoi

isl_gr
Ikaria 245
Ikaria 058

cheeseontaoist
stormy day - Ikaria
Armenistis with Lomo afterglow

I cannot finish without at least mentioning some other photographers whose photos I absolutely adored but they chose not to share their photos outside Flickr. I’ve been toying with the idea of hosting them on my server but that would be crossing the line…

very honorable mentions:

And should you still wish to see more, my photos from Ikaria are divided into Part 1, the goat interviews, and finally Part 2

Vanity Fair 09

bulldog

Another year another dog show weekend for CACIB Ljubljana & CACIB Tromostovje 2009. From the start there needs to be a clarification. I largely agree with Jure on the subject of dog shows. Most dogs there are very cool, many people aren’t. It may sound harsh but I never understood how anyone could possibly care how much time and effort has been put into grooming, trimming, spraying, waxing, polishing, powdering, whitening etc. of dogs hair, nails, teeth and whatever else they can come up with.

Things like this shouldn’t happen:
naked poodle
Identity of the poor dog intentionally left unknown. This is one of three FCI approved show trims for a poodle.

Unfortunately though, dog shows are an inevitable part of breeding. Entirely understandable from the perspective of keeping a breed within desired parameters. I just don’t get how hair acrobatics is a part of those parameters.

Moving on…

Hanibal observing
Hanibal observing the procedure of the show & judge Satu Ylä-Mononen

This year we tricked Hanibal into his very first dog show appearance (came with his first proper shower as well) and although he did well he didn’t do really well. He just doesn’t feel comfortable being shown off for the judges. Oh well, I guess he’s not obsessing over it. Neither are we :)

weimaraner & pointer
weimaraner & pointer

Altogether Hanibal got himself the titles of SKVPM club champion, 3x CAC* SLO & 2x CACIB**

Dina only got to show her stuff on Saturday and she got SKVPM club champion, CAC SLO & BOB*** which means she walked out as the winner of the mother vs. son showdown for the best of breed title in the club special.


CAC = Certificate d´Aptitude au Championat
CACIB = Certificate d´Aptitude au Championat International de Beaute
BOB = best of breed

Judge’s comments for Hanibal

Otto Schimpf(AUT) breeder of Dogo Argentino

  • Nice dog
  • good head
  • good colors
  • doesn’t have ring training
  • good front
  • good line of the body
  • correct type
  • eye color acceptable depending on the hair color

Excellent grade

Béla Siklósi (HUN) breeder of Newfoundlands

  • 1.5 years old
  • elegant type
  • correct size, bones
  • nice head
  • correct white
  • correct front
  • strong topline
  • need more angulation behind
  • nice movement

Excellent grade

Judge’s comments for Dina

Béla Siklósi (HUN)

  • 5 years old
  • correct size, bones
  • little too long
  • nice head
  • correct
  • little soft topline
  • correct angulation
  • correct movement

Excellent grade

Satu Ylä-Mononen (FIN), breeder of Berner Sennenhunde, only gave verbal comments at the club special. Since I didn’t hear them in person I can only report she had praise for both of them. Dina won over Hanibal because of her more relaxed character.

rubber duck

This year I took a slightly different approach to photographing dogs at the show. In previous visits I mostly used wide angle lenses to show the dogs interacting with their owners/handlers. Sometimes it came out well, sometimes it didn’t. Somehow people feel like they need to present the dog as if I was a judge. The problem is that I couldn’t care less about all the show poses it can do. I see them as beautiful and entertaining dogs, not as fashion accessories and beauty objects. So this year I switched tactics a little bit.

Using a borrowed 50/1.8 lens I could simply isolate the dog from its immediate surrounding and focus on expression. I didn’t forget to include the owners whenever there was an opportunity though.

dachshund
dachshund (?)

afghan hound
afghan hound

many more photos in the gallery

In the name of ice

Tukkiniemi
Tukkiniemi, Tervajärvi lake, Repovesi NP

Spend a winter in Finland and you’ll get in touch with ice. Lots of it. Whether the contact is painful or fun really depends on you and what you’re doing on it. I was either on a bike or on foot learning how to handle a kite. Others went fishing, or kite boarding, or skating. Some managed to fall through into freezing water below, misjudging the time it takes to thicken enough. But everyone definitely heard the impressive moans and cracks as the ice moved and expanded. And it sure was fun if sometimes scary when you’re hundreds of meters away from shore and the ice is sometime so clear and transparent you have to think twice if you’re walking on water or ice, hoping it really is thick enough to carry you.

Selkäsaari
Selkäsaari

Kariniemi
Kariniemi, Lahti

Kiteboarding
Kite boarding on Vesijärvi, Lahti

more photos of Finnish and Estonian winter in the gallery.

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