In the Archipelago

I spent a weekend in Finnish archipelago at Kökar island which is 64 square kilometres or 24 square miles of size. It is a quite big island in Finnish archipelago situated in the most eastern part of Åland, which is located between Finnish mainland and Sweden. There are all together 6757 islands in the whole Åland county. 

In the year 2010 happened a very interesting event in Åland. Divers found from 55 meters (180 feet ) depth a shipwreck which was loaded with 170 bottles of champagne. The ship was from 1820s and all the bottles were unbroken and they were sold in an auction with prices as high as 15000-30000€ per bottle!

My ferry from mainland to Kökar departed at 10 am and I had to drive 235 kilometres from home to Galtby harbour. There were two twenty minutes ferry trips before my destination so I reserved four hours for driving and I started my journey at 6 am. The previous day the weather was terrible with heavy snowfall and gusty winds, temperatures just below freezing point. On my departure morning it was raining and the roads were only wet so the driving wasn´t too bad.

I parked my car near the Galtby pier, took my gears and boarded the ship. The sailing was very pleasant with mild winds and easygoing atmosphere on board. I spent time enjoying a cup of coffee with a tasty sandwich and magnificent archipelago scenery. We arrived at half past noon to Kökar and I had a short break before packing all the necessary photo gears and made a long walk along the shore. The terrain was heavy with lots of ups and downs and dense bushes which were hard to go through. At about 3 pm I found a nice spot to photoshoot the shore and open see in twilight. At 4.20 pm when the sun set, it was cloudy so the darkness fell fast and I focused to use long exposure times. That kind of technique makes pictures look atmospheric with blurry water surface and extra softness.

Next morning I was up well before sunrise and had a good breakfast before I went to find a new spot to take more landscape photos in slight light. The weather was still cloudy but the cloud base had various colours, lighter and darker, which made a threatening impression to the pictures.

 

And finally in the afternoon the weather was partly cloudy which gave wanted change into photographing. At sun set in the horizon there was a narrow, almost clear zone. I tried to capture the feeling and light of that particular moment.  

Next day the ferry departed at noon so I had plenty of time to make a hike in the neighbourhood. I found some very lively birds, siskins and one robin to photoshoot. A flock of siskins had occupied an old alder and the robin was jigging in the bushes around me. I was enjoying watching them and that morning they all were very thankful objects to photoshoot.

Olli