Thanks/Спасибо/Aitäh/Danke schön & photos

Hey everyone!

This "blog" has been actively in use for a year now (in blogger, in tumblr it's 2 years) and over the course of that time I could see that people didn't really care for my photos. According to blog stats, that is.

To be perfectly honest, it has brought me down a bit in the past.
Why I needed (at least) some re-assurance that somebody somewhere occasionally did look at my photos? Why would that have to matter even the slightest? That's hard to say, my best guess is that I just wanted to know that I was doing something right and becoming better at my hobby.
Sounds really vain, I guess. 

The truth is, leaving active membership on deviantART had a huge part in going unnoticed and I knew it perfectly well. I have been a member there since 2005, and there have been times of complete devotion to this site on my part. For years I was inspired to take better photos and build a larger group of devious friends.

About 1.5-2 years ago it felt like I couldn't handle the site anymore. It was taking up too much of my time and it wasn't about art anymore. It was becoming too "you :+fav: me, I'll :+fav: you" - granted, I've never actually been part of such a deal per se but I did feel it was an unwritten rule in *some* cases.

I felt it was necessary to turn my back on praise that might've been dishonest. And now I'm here, complaining about not getting enough attention :D
Well, the thing is...at this very moment I'm not upset about it anymore ("...it has brought me down a bit in the past").
If anything, it made me realize that I'm just not that good.
Yup, there, I said it. It's not something I'd like to admit but it's the truth. I always knew it, even acknowledged it to myself, but simply chose to ignore that little voice in my head.

My harsh reality is that I don't take spectacular photos, sometimes they're completely against every rule in the book.
Sometimes I fall in love with a scene and want to translate it to a photo, but I. just. can't. make. it. work.
Although I do shoot in manual, my settings were/are somewhat questionable at times.
Oh, I could go on and on with the list.
And therefore I can't blame people for not visiting this place (other than photoshop/lightroom downloads). Hell, I wouldn't bookmark it myself.

Recently, I've tried having a more open mind in taking photos. I still have a long way to go, but at least I've made some progress.
As said before, I got quite used to posting mainly for myself, so I didn't notice that I had received some feedback on couple of my recent posts. It felt nice to see that somebody liked my stuff and actually took the time to comment (I am guilty of not doing it sometimes).

Huge thanks, the feedback was very appreciated and it really means a lot to me!

Kalevi Keskstaadion/stadium of Kalev. A huge flea market was held there
that day. The fog was really quite thick and low, the city looked absolutely
beautiful.

A mushroom, Macrolepiota procera I believe.
Taken in Metsakalmistu (a cemetery) near the grave of my
grandfather. It was quite strange, I had never seen them growing there
before (plus, they were enormous).

Tallinn Music High School. A hallway that connected two houses once. I have no idea what happened. My grandmother
used to work there as a maths teacher in the 90s and I sometimes went to work with her, so I know this hallway lead
to the cafeteria (I still remember the smells! It was wonderful, great memories) and I'm guessing it was the part of the
school. I showed this photo to my granny and she confirmed the cafeteria part, but added that she knew the other wing
(in a very poor shape, more photos to come) was actually for a music academy? There isn't much info, so everything is
kind of hazy to me. The main building of the school was nice and renovated, though. I am really hoping they don't
demolish this building. Fingers crossed!

Laitse railway crossing and platform (built in 2009-2010, making it the new one. Old/better platform was destroyed the same year).

Some photos from this spring. Between Mustamäe and Õismäe.

In Laitse.
Clouds, clear area in the shape of an arrow. Never seen anything like that
before. It was like somebody had wiped through the clouds with a clean
towel.

And again, near the Laitse railway crossing. The sunset was beautiful.