While visiting Japan recently, I had the pleasure to follow a tea ceremony lesson. The teacher had over 60 years of experience but described herself as "a beginner." This is the Japanese way! 

A few shots taken during a business trip to Japan in September 2014.

I woke up at four o'clock in the morning and witnessed the sunrise. The lake looked exceptionally beautiful, so I grabbed my camera and recorded the view.

Helsinki, Finland, is a lovely summer city. Well, I actually love Helsinki in all seasons (with the possible exception of November). In any case, here are a few city views in summer 2014.

Summer holiday is a great opportunity to look at miniature worlds offered by Finnish nature. 

Here is a crab spider's (female Misumena vatia) lunch break:

In May 2014 I attended the SIAM Imaging Science Conference in Hong Kong. While the meeting was extremely busy, I could find some spare time for photography. Here are some picks for you.

One night there was a thunderstorm. I placed the camera steadily on the hotel room table and took countless 30 second exposures. Some of the pictures then featured lightnings:

Thunderstorm in Hong Kong. Photo by Samuli Siltanen

My day job is Professor of Industrial Mathematics at University of Helsinki, Finland. My constant wish is to combine photography and applied mathematics in a cool way. 

I think it would be interesting to develop image enhancement filters tailored to certain kind of photographs. For example, digital sharpening of a misfocused image could make use of knowing if the picture is a portrait, a landscape shot or a city street view. 

Developing filters for specific image types requires training material. My first set of sample images feature randomly arranged matches. Between each photo the matches are rearranged (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKmXhBxuLk0), so every photo is different but similar.

Here is one of the several match photos:

I had the honor and pleasure to be the official photographer in my brother's wedding. Here are a few shots from that beautiful occasion.

Sunny May day in Helsinki, Finland. Here a view of the Hietalahti market square:

Hietalahti market square, Helsinki, Finland. Photo by Samuli Siltanen

I spotted a pair of swans in the coast of Helsinki today.

Couple of swans in Helsinki, Finland. Photography by Samuli Siltanen