Korpijaakko

A friend of mine wished that on the autumn hike of our wilderness guide course we would have walked less to be better able to really learn about the nature surrounding us. Instead I hoped that we would have covered a longer distance to get a good overview of the wilderness area. What we did was somewhere in-between these two: We didn’t really cross huge wilderness areas but neither did we focus on chosen places. I’d say that we hiked in somewhat typical and traditional manner. This is just to highlight the obvious: You can hike and travel in many different styles. It came to my mind that the hiking styles are somewhat comparable to focal lengths of lenses used for photography.

In photography the focal length of a lens affects the field of view and depth of field. Lenses differ also in other properties but let’s leave that aside for a while. Regarding focal lengths lenses are often divided into four groups: ultra wide angles, wide angles, normal lenses and telephoto lenses. In addition there is a bunch of specialized lenses like fish-eye lenses with huge but distorted field of view and macro lenses that can focus really close and produce pictures of the near-microscopic details.

The normal lens produces a field of view that somewhat corresponds the view you would see with naked eye thus it’s called “normal”. The field of view might not be especially unique but you can play with the other properties like the depth of field to take distinct pictures. The main reason why I have a normal lens is that even quality normal lenses can be very cheap. I think that normal lenses and “normal hiking” are quite comparable: They are “normal” and secure options and can produce quality outcome with decent price tag and effort. But to create something really unique with a normal lens, or on a normal hike, requires an original idea, skills and maybe a very special object.

Wide-angle lenses enable a very wide field of view and also good depth of field because of short focal length: You can capture the essence of a large area without much blur but you do miss the details. In my opinion that is an acceptable trade-off. And with ultra wide angles this gets high-lightened even more. The wide-angles are usually more expensive than normal lenses and to capture more than a flat horizon line wide-angle photography requires an extra thought before pressing the shutter button. I think the same applies for hiking long distances: It takes more time and money, requires more planning and skills but when properly carried out it can produce stunning results.

A telephoto lens enables a clear view of targets that are really far away. A telephoto lens with relatively short focal length is very useful for many uses but the huge bird-scoping lenses are highly specialized tools  best suited for certain limited activities. Long focal lengths can also produce very thin depth of view with only the target being clear. This can be very useful but also problematic in some cases. I’d say telephoto lenses are comparable to doing longer hikes not necessarily for the journey itself but for some specific distant target like a mountain top or a geographical pole.

Then there are the special lenses like macro-lenses and fish-eyes. These enable seeing the world in a untypical way. The use of these lenses is somewhat limited but with them you can do things otherwise impossible. You can capture details too small for naked eye or you can see the world from a perspective that would be impossible without the special tools. The macro photography is like the hiking my friend would have wished to do: To see more by traveling less. To spent long time at one place to really get familiar with it: the plants, the animals, the surroundings. And I’d say the fish-eye lenses, tilt-shift lenses and similar specialized tools are like very unique and special wilderness travels: Combining means of travel, going to weird places and seeing things from an unusual perspective to create something completely new.

If you really think about it, it seems that about any style of wilderness travel can be compared to use of certain lens in photography or at least compared to certain style of photography.

As normal is “normal” by definition the most interesting perspectives are often found at the ends of the spectrum of focal lengths. The wide-angle shots can show stunning landscapes and with long telephoto lenses you can reach out far for interesting objects. It’s the same with hiking. For me the most interesting journeys and trips, be it done by myself or by others, are the big ones covering long distances or reaching distant targets or maybe finding a completely new perspective on something. But most of our trips happen on the area around the “normal” just like I take most of my photos with a quality zoom reaching from 24mm to 105mm. It’s a safe and easy area to operate with. And of course great shots can be taken with all focal lengths as in the end it is more about the imagination, idea and skills than about the kit. And that is something worth keeping in mind.

What’s your favourite piece of optic – or preferred style of travel?

Or is there any point for comparisons like this in the first place?

// Warning: This post contains pointless whining and is written while being frustrated. Reading at own risk. 😉 //

Once again it has been quiet here for some time. This is partly because of the Wilderness Guide school keeping me busy: I just spent a week hiking in Muotkatunturit wilderness area in Lapland with the class. But partially the silence is because of the lack of motivation.

Rock Ptarmigans in Muotkatunturit wilderness area.

It seems that I need something big to keep me motivated and excited. I need to have something big on the drawing board that challenges me: How should it be done? Can I put it all together? Can I pull it through? That’s the part that really makes me tingle. And when I’m motivated and excited I also want to share it with other people (That would be you, dear readers) but when there is nothing special going on or coming up and everything goes as planned, I feel that there is not much to write about.

I need more of this stuff! (Picture from Spitsbergen in April 2011.)

Though, of course there would be things to write about!

I just spent a week hiking in really nice and wild area in Lapland but for some reason it doesn’t feel special enough to inspire me to write a trip report. I’ve done quite a lot of one-week hikes in Lapland. There would be also few posts and trip reports still waiting to be finished but that’s not too exciting either. There is the Wilderness Guide school going on but it feels now as business-as-usual for me and thus isn’t too inspiring. And things like going for a walk near home, enjoying the sun and picking a bucket of cranberries from a surprising place doesn’t feel like worth a blog post either… I could also write gear reviews as there is big punch of gear I’ve been using for a long time and have been very satisfied. And some gear that I haven’t used because of the gear either failing or not working as I would have wished. But I have sort of an issue with gear reviews as I feel that they encourage unnecessary consumption… but maybe I should?

Picking wild berries, mushrooms, etc. is a typical weekend activity for me. Nice way to enjoy the nature nearby.

The lack of motivation might also be because of some resent setbacks related to the inspiring stuff I wished to do. I wrote earlier about some speed hiking plans and if things would have gone the way I planned, I would have just finished a 135km trail in three days. But, I unfortunately my mates had to cancel the trip and I’m not too much into solo trips so this is postponed to next spring. The second big thing I had planned was actually lot bigger. In school we have a voluntary internship period in December but instead of working in some company I was planning to do a big skiing trip: Four weeks of skiing in Lapland without seeing the sun! But unfortunately I didn’t find anyone to accompany me on that trip so it is also postponed to distant future…

If things would have gone as planned, this would have been as much Sun as I would have seen during December. (Picture from lake Inari in January 2011.)

Luckily there is also some inspiring stuff coming up… Within two weeks we will have the school’s 24 hour challenge and if everything goes well, I’ll then cover the longest distance I’ve ever covered under my own power within 24 hours. And because of the big, cold and dark skiing trip being cancelled I decided to do some internship stuff instead and I think I will be learning a lot of new things while at it.

This fellows might teach me a thing or two...

There is also some sort of a ski expedition on the drawing board but I’ll have to see how it goes. If I find the company, have the money and can arrange the time, I will definitely let you know!

Blueberry leaves in Muotkatunturit wilderness area last week.

But, the main idea of this post was not only to whine about the lack of motivation but to help me find the lost motivation. So. I wish you would write a comment on this post and tell:

A) How do you keep yourself motivated? (I know there is bunch of great and talented bloggers occasionally visiting here, so this is especially for you!)

B) What kind of content would you like to see on this blog? Trip reports? Gear reviews? More pointless whining?