Rainy days

There's something about cloudy and rainy days that I like... I've thought about it many a time, but I never really seem to get a definitive answer as to why I enjoy so called "sad weather" so much. I'll go further into that in a bit. Today, however, instead of just going for a simple walk, I took my camera with me. I probably wouldn't have, if it wasn't for the fact that I managed to get RAW files to work with Photoshop.


I played around a bit with the settings and seemed to get the hang of it, though I yet haven't viewed any professional tutorials, as I probably should. That reminds me, I got a book on digital photography as a graduation gift from my uncle which I've yet to even skim. Yes, I graduated from high school last saturday. I would've blogged, but I realised that it might've been really annoying to read through.


But back to the subject at hand... Rainy days. I've always liked rain, even when I was a kid. I remember being the only kid in the school who would go out for reccess even when it rained. People gave me weird looks, but I didn't care. People still give me strange looks when I say I love walking in the rain. I don't know why people hate it so much. I mean, sure, you may get a bit wet, but with the proper clothing you won't get cold.


My music choice for today was the Deus Ex Machina album by Shaolin Temple of BooM. Fit the day rather nicely, most of the songs were somewhat melancholy, but hey, that's the way I like my alternative industrial rock. Anyway, I made my way downtown and much to my surprise, there was quite a lot of activity for it being a rainy day. Usually people stay inside when it rains, heh, one of the reasons I like walking in the rain is the fact that no one else will.


Another fact is probably that while rain does kind of feel sad and melancholy, it is very inspirational in that way. It gives me ideas for artwork, scenes and stories. It really enforces the mood of solitude and loneliness. When you see someone walking in the rain with their head down, you do get the feeling that the person is having a bad day. Makes you want to go cheer them up. I myself always look happier when it rains, but that's beside the point.


Another fact I love about rain is the sound of it. It's constant, yet random, but not to the point of distraction. It smells great and healthy. Even all the bugs are hiding! How great is that? Water looks pretty when it streams down the streets and hills, and if the sun happens to peek out a little, all the wetness in the ground will light up and shine nicely.


When the rain ceases, you may in some cases be left with a nice cover of clouds in the sky. I like overcast, it's not too bright or hot, and it makes everything look less saturated, also another sign of what people refer to as "depressing weather". Personally, I find cloudy weather to be more interesting than sunny weather. I guess melancholy weather really suits me, huh? Well, I'm a fan of all weather, except for long durations of cloudless skies and heat.


Another possible reason as to why I like cloudy and rainy days may be the fact that others don't. Maybe I want to be more unique, or strange. Hey, if people call me strange or a freak, it's fine by me. I know better than to deny that truth! I know some people who like rain as well, but I think we are still a minority. I kinda hope it stays that way, I don't want the streets all crowded when I want to take a lone walk in the rain.


The last reason I can think about is the fact that rain is often linked to stormy weather, and if you know anything about me, you know that I practically get orgasms over storms. Storms are a discussion for a different blog entry, but I will say that I love them because of the sheer natural strenght, force and power of a storm is linked to it's absolute sensorical beauty. There's the clouds, the lightning, the rain and the winds to prove you just how small and weak you really are. And rain kind of reminds me of that.


All in all, today was a good day! I got my RAW exntension working, got to walk in the rain and caught some sweet photos. The rain and cloudy weather are supposed to continue tomorrow, which I hope they do. That's all from me tonight, stay tuned for more!

-S::K

Overgrown ideas

I haven't really managed to take any decent photos in a while, and most of the photos I have taken are merely reference material or textures. But today I decided to go check out one of my old favourite photography spots: The old ruins behind the church.


The area where the ruins are located is the edge of the forest, with a few very fancy houses nearby. I have no real knowledge as to how old this ruined structure is, but I'd bet it was constructed some time around the first World War. As you can see from the photo above, the place isn't exactly the safest spot to hang around. There's sharp rocks, metal pipes and all kinds of dirty and pointy things laying around. The place is also a hot spot for vandalism, which is why there now is a sign outside claiming the ruins as private property. Ironically, said sign has been vandalized as badly as the ruins.


This place can be real creepy at night. When I was a kid, I was scared of this place, especially during the winter when it got dark fast. We used to sled on the nearby slopes, but left as soon as it started to get dark. Nowadays, I've been there many times after dark. With a torch, of course. Fumbling around blind will just get you killed.


Most of the place has crumbled down, with the latest being two edges of the main area last year and the year before. If they don't demolish the place, I'd wager it's gonna stand for about ten to fifteen years until there's nothing but the base left. After that, it's all gonna crumble down to dust.


Most of the outside section is covered by trees and thorn bushes, so it's kind of difficult to move there. The rest of it is dead leaves, left from last autumn. That reminds me, I gotta go back there next autumn, the place looks really nice with all the dusky leaves. Not to mention the forests all around looks absolutely beautiful.


Got all kinds of nasty, nice textures out of that place. The walls are real gritty and wasted from all the things dropped on it. The inside areas are wet for some reason... Even in the drought of summer.


The back-end area is the most wasted. It's full of large pieces of the walls, rocks and I think I even saw a little hidden stash of used spray paint cans. One of the trees is apparently very stern about claiming the area back.


The edge of the forest opens up into farmland. Not very interesting. You can easily climb on the wall here. I think I've once walked the full lenght of the wall when I was younger. Back when it was fully in tact. Now it's kind of difficult and ten times as dangerous.



I left the ruins after I was sure I had got all the photos I wanted. I decided to take a detour and snap a few more on the way. At this point the sunshine became quite hot, and like an idiot I was wearing a jacket. It was a bit easier on the fields, since it was windy, but walking in covered areas was quite annoying.

I like the road that heads to the larger farmland area, it's all small and homey, even though I haven't really lived on a farm. Over all the trip was quite nice, except for the searing sunshine. It was raining earlier that day, so I figured the air might still be cold. What a mistake, oh man. But, I did learn that I can still squeeze out decent photos at locations I thought I had already mastered. Stay tuned until next time!

-S::K

Walkin' the night

Tonight I went out for a walk to get some photos of the night sky. It had been a while since I was last outside alone at such a late hour. I used to do it all the time, and I will probably do it more once the weather warms up for summer.
Tonight was a little different, though. Tonight made me think a bit who I am. Or rather, what kind of a person I am and where I fit in. Not as into what group of people I fit into, but in a more general sense. But I'll focus on that more in a bit.


The night started slightly cloudy and chilly, but moved towards a clear sky and cold air. I had my Zen MP3-player looping MDB's Beautiful Voices mix #27, which was the first thing that was a little different from my previous nightly walks. Usually, I had something dark and industrial playing when I take off into the darkness, but most often I leave the player at home to keep all my senses clear.
I realised that never before had I had beautiful chillout tracks playing during night walks. Being a very music-oriented person, this made me look at the dark midnight world in a different way, along with how I fit into it. I felt that I was completely alone, moreso than before, and if you know me, you know that I like being alone.


There's something about beautiful music that makes me feel sad at times. But sad in a good way, if that makes any sense. I noticed this when I was walking a road in between two dark forests. I also noticed how well it fit into who I am. I mean, there I was, walking alone in the middle of the night with nothing on me, but my clothes, my MP3-player, camera and tripod. In essence, I had everything I needed to be content. And I was.
I'm a loner. I walk around, taking pictures and taking in the world along with the melodies of the music I'm listening to. That's where I fit in. I may feel sad and lonely sometimes, but that's just a part of it, and that's how it should be. And despite feeling a bit blue tonight, I felt like I was myself, which I hadn't felt in a while. And it was amazing.

-S::K

Cutcut

Looks like I'm gonna do it again... Get my hair cut short, that is. Even though I sort of wanted to grow it long, but I guess that's not gonna work out. I used to have long hair. Long hair looks groovy and covers up my damned ears... But, it makes me look too young.
That's really annoying. I mean, I'm gonna be 20 this year and I look like I'm 16 with the long hair. It's something to do with my forehead being covered... Uncanney valley works in really strange ways.
So, that's why I'm gonna get it cut short again. I'm still debating wether or not I should dye it slightly. Not black, but rather a dark brown, because my natural hair colour is just... Arse. I don't like it. But in any case, I'm going back to the short cut.

On an unrelated subject, I will be trench coated again. It's an olive green one this time, military style. Black ones are maybe a bit too eye-catching for my lifestyle. The green one will look like a more tradiional army trench coat, which are a bit more common. Will arrive in the mail a little over week from now.
Anyway, it's almost time for sauna, Maybe afterwards I'll take a trek into the night, there's a nice fog forming outside. Perfect weather for my lame, solitary stoic walk -thing. I'll catch up with y'all later.

-S::K.

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Name confusion

For the TL;DR version, skip the first section.

Sometimes being a furry can be quite confusing. I'm referring to the fact of having a character that has your name, or having other people call you said character's name. In the fandom some refer to such characters as "fursonas". I had one when I first started. He was a blue gryphon.
However, after a while I felt this character didn't suit me as a person, so after hopping from species to species, I settled with a spotted hyena character by the name of Seth Kivi. I had always been called Seth on the 'net, so the last name was the only addendum.
Recently, though, I've noticed that this character is just that; a character. He is in no way related to me as a person. I've also felt that at this point in time, I don't want to portray myself as a furry character, but rather as myself.
You may already see where I'm going here. Since Seth Kivi is just character, it can be very confusing since we share the same name. When I do art of this character, I don't want people to mistake it as my fursona, because I have none. So what's the easiest way around this? Changing said character's name.

So, I've decided to change the name of that hyena to avoid before mentioned confusion. He is no longer known as Seth Kivi, but as Sefu Kébé. See, it's kinda similar and this time an ACTUAL African name instead of semi-African/Finnish name. Sefu alledgedly means "sword" in Egyptian, which is relative to his character. Kébé is just an African surname I found on the web. I picked it because it sounds similar to Kivi, so you can still identify him as the same character.

As for myself, I prefer to be called Seth. Kivi is dropped altogether, except for the initial K. I will from now on sign everything with my artist's signature S::K.
I hope this came as clear enough to everyone. If you have any questions, make sure you let me know so I can enlighten you.

-S::K

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Southbound

Here's one of the photos I took today after trekking for a while in knee-deep snow. It's taken somewhere on the edge of the main section of Mäntsälä. As you can see, the weather was brilliant.

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Let's get started

Here's the first of hopefully many blog posts. I'll be trying one through Pixelpipe in a moment. Hopefully this won't end up dead like my Live Journal. Eh, who knows, maybe it'll be easier if I can manage all fom a single source, such as Pixelpipe.