"Mirage Man" - Interesting video on Amazon Prime

I found the guy was obsessed . . . maybe even had a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

If I recall correctly, he said he had 30-40 categories of atmospheric phenomena he was interested in, and (putting the pieces together from different parts of the documentary), that he wanted to capture the best shot for each category for each year. That seems extreme. The documentary never mentioned how, or if, he made a living. No mention of his photography expenses, either. The documentary was made in 2008, and he was shooting film. His daughter was interviewed, but no mention of a wife.

It was interesting that he had figured out the conditions that would likely predict the appearance of a mirage. His videos of mirage and green flash were intriguing.

I have a passion for photographing the epic grandeur of the sky, but I really, really don't want to be that guy.

Still, I'm glad I saw the documentary.

Cheers, Jock
 
Here's his original site where he used to post his works though it looks like it has not been updated in several years. The documentary is from 2008 and the site was last updated late 2011.

The documentary is less about what he's photographing and more about a view of obsession, in this case it just happens to be a specific subject for photography & videography.

I would've like to have heard a bit more about life before the obsession took over, back to when he was (is?) a lecturer in mathematics at Turku University and had a family. His father being stern was mentioned a few time and was given as the reason why Pekka started his interested in astronomy, that it allowed him to be outside at night after his father's imposed curfew time. I also would have liked to have heard a bit of his life outside of the realm of just the mirages since he also photographs other subjects like time lapse star trails and meteorological conditions (with organizations like NASA using his images).
 
Here's his original site where he used to post his works though it looks like it has not been updated in several years. The documentary is from 2008 and the site was last updated late 2011.

The documentary is less about what he's photographing and more about a view of obsession, in this case it just happens to be a specific subject for photography & videography.

I would've like to have heard a bit more about life before the obsession took over, back to when he was (is?) a lecturer in mathematics at Turku University and had a family. His father being stern was mentioned a few time and was given as the reason why Pekka started his interested in astronomy, that it allowed him to be outside at night after his father's imposed curfew time. I also would have liked to have heard a bit of his life outside of the realm of just the mirages since he also photographs other subjects like time lapse star trails and meteorological conditions (with organizations like NASA using his images).

Thanks for posting that. I started poking around . . . one thing led to another . . . and I went down some very interesting rabbit holes.



You've been warned -- don't come crying to me because you've lost some hours of your life looking at some truly amazing stuff.:D

Cheers, Jock
 
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