A long drive for a swamp

This morning I got up before five and about five thirty I started a two and half hour drive west. I was going to take a look at a swamp. Yes, I know, there is something really seriously wrong with me. Little over 200 km drive to walk around a swamp and then the same drive back again to get home doesn't seem very smart. Especially if it involves getting up early in the morning. I don't think even I would have done it, if I wouldn't have had a meeting set up at a lean-to at the edge of the national park containing the swamp in question.

Now, the meet in question was a special one. I belong to a number of Finnish photoforums, but for the last year or so, have mainly been active in only one of them. It's not much like the others, there are only a few members and all of us have at one point or another just had enough of the other forums. They really are packed with one or all of the following: the techweenies arguing over which camera has the best qualities, (eventhough they never really utilize more than 10% of what their gear could do), the "you gave my picture favourable comments, so I'll say your picture is brilliant" -crowd, "bad reactions to critique" -bunch or "according to this or that book your picture stinks because it doesn't go by the accepted rules of a "good" picture" -comments. Our little group got together on the net and we focus on throwing comments at each other that most people would consider insults, but we all know it's done only because of a twisted sense of humor, with no real insult intended. We also believe that "going by the book" or focusing too much on technical issues takes the fun out of our beloved hobby, photography. There is really no other common factor to our photography other than it has to be fun. Most of the others are not into nature pics the same way I am and I have no interest in taking glampics of models or going to the circuit to take motorsport pictures for example. I knew a couple of this bunch pretty well and we had met up many times, but there were also a couple of actives that I had never met in person, only traded ideas and comments over the net. So, when a meet was set up and I time off from work, I felt that I just had to go.

We met up at the lean-to just after eight in the morning and after having a cup of coffee, we headed down the trail that went around the swamp. We stopped every now and then to take pictures, talked about this and that as we walked along. After our about 10km trek was over, we were back at the lean-to, got a fire going, grilled some sauseges and chatted some more. Then it was time to start the long drive home. Yes, 5 hours driving in one day is not much fun, but I am glad I went. It was fun to meet the chaps behind the nicknames in person and to discover that after all this time, it was like meeting up with old friends. I had a really great day and I hope our plans for another meet sometime in the near future will go as planned.

Here are some of the pictures I took along our little walk-about: