andthennothing.net

There are a few things I don’t like about the autumn, like the humidity, darkness, and temperature. But the colors, and to some degree, the smells are great.

Yesterday was one of those wonderful autumn days with a clear blue sky and reasonable temperature. And since my plans for the weekend didn’t materialize I took my bike out for a spin—it was great biking on small roads through the woods. Since I started quite early I had the time to go for a long ride. There are not a whole lot of attention grabbers out in the middle of nowhere which makes all small things stick out—like all the litter (beer cans, a pizza box, a gas tank cap etc) or the boy trying to impress by skidding all over the lawn with his ATV. After 40 km I finally found a nice little lake with a landing stage where I could eat my sandwiches and take a break. As time passed by it got darker and eventually all I could see were things lit up by my bike’s front light. When I got home I was tired and happy after a 72 km long ride (the longest so far). A good way to spend a Saturday!

It feels like the summer is over so each day when it’s nice weather it feels like the last hours of sun and it’s a shame to not take the opportunity when it’s given. So today I left work early (or at least earlier than usual) and went for a bike ride. I’ve checked out most places within 10-20 km so it takes a while before I get to see something new. Today’s ride became a little longer than expected, 55 km, and a bit chilly at the end. And I’ll surely think it was a bad idea tomorrow during the ju-jitsu, but in two months when it’s all dark I’ll think differently.

The weather has been really, really nice the last few weeks. Summer, for sure. But I have unfortunately not spent that much time outdoors during the days, you know work and all that. So I try to get out on my bike at least a few times a week. Today I was out for a good three and a half hours and enjoyed every minute of it.

I live in a really small town so there’s just a 15 minute bike ride until I reach the Baltic Sea and the country side. I usually just ride along and explore a bunch of small roads. I have taken the car a few times but it doesn’t have AC, you miss out a lot of the experience, and you can’t stop that easily wherever you want. And taking short stops all over the place, to check them out and perhaps shoot some photos, is a major part. (Oh, and I must have my MP3-player with me with some good music and podcasts, but that’s besides the point.)

I just noticed that I’ve taken over thousand photos in about two months. There are of course a lot of crappy photos, but that’s a good thing. Most is nature photography which makes them somewhat boring perhaps, but I don’t feel comfortable putting photos of friends and stuff online, just as I don’t feel comfortable blogging about those kind of things.

There are other ways in which photography relates to writing (or at least blogging). When I started blogging I sometimes did things in order to have something to write about. It can be a good thing using blogging/writing as an excuse to do things, but I didn’t like it too much so I unlearned that urge rather quickly. Photography can also be a driving force to do stuff. But at least for now I’m perfectly fine with that. I’m not quite sure why, but perhaps since when I’m photographing it enhances the experience and it’s done as soon as the button is pushed, whereas when I’m about to blog/write something I get somewhat disconnected since I’m formulating sentences in the back of my head and the actual writing takes place later on. I’m not sure if this makes any sense to anyone else, but I think that’s how I work.

Anyhow, I do think I understand a bit of how it is to be a journalist or a photographer. For a journalist every situation is a story, and for a photographer every situation is a photo. Or at least, that’s how I think it works, but I’m just rambling well past bedtime.

I left work early today since I worked ridiculously late yesterday. Fortunately today was the first spring day for a long time, which was good since I switched tires from winter (it got illegal to use them this Sunday) to summer tires. And I did it manually, on my own, for the first time. And it really went well, besides taking a lot of time (but that wasn’t a problem in the pleasant weather), and besides me almost dropping the whole panzerwagen (I have an old Mercedez). I thought it made some funny noises when I jacked the rear right of the car, but it makes noises all the time. But when I had removed all the nuts and was about to remove the tire I noticed that the jack was very tilted. So the entire weight of the car rested on the loose tire. So I rewound the jack while pressing the tire with both of my feet, repositioned the jack, and jacked the rear end again, this time tilting to the other direction. On the third try, however, I managed to jack the car and switch the last tire as well. I’m such a klutz when it comes to practical things. But I think I learned the lesson for the day, thus next time will be a cake walk. :-)

When I was done I took the car (had to make sure I didn’t mess up) down to the sea, and took some photos. Spring is great!