I was already looking forward to Finland’s National Scouting Jamboree in 2022 (in which I will be taking up to 3 of my own youth) but one of this past summer’s highlights will hopefully become a focal point of the next trip.

You see, in July of 2016 my son and I spent 16 days in Finland and the trip changed my life. It was not just an amazing travel destination but the things I learned in scouting affected me to my core.  One of the truly memorable parts of the trip was the amazing people I met.

I could go on all day with the list of people that I met and worked with but a couple really struck a chord and I look forward to meeting them again if not before 2022, hopefully back at FinJamb-2022.

Joel Forsman: One of Finland’s premier photographers.

One of these people was one of Finland’s premier photographers. That is an observation and not necessarily a fact, I mean who could say if Joel Forsman isn’t actually the best photographer in all of Finland?  I couldn’t. I don’t know a whole lot of Finnish photographers so what do I know… Maybe Joel can toot his own horn in the comments. *smile*

Joel showed be some tricks with my camera that blew my mind. I mean truly. I learned more in a couple late nights in Finland than I did in a decade of using a camera. Even though the sun barely set in July’s Finnish landscape, I spent some time at 2am with Joel learning how to change my camera settings to catch amazing shots of the night sky and objects in complete darkness without a flash. Keep in mind that “complete darkness” is a figurative usage in July in Finland.

My Virago at 2am on a dark country road.

I have taken some of his advice and played a little (see my motorcycle above) but winter came fast and I am not a fan of the cold. I know, it’s an odd position for a Canadian but I am odd.

Well now the night skies are proposing to give my camera an event of a lifetime, truly the event of everyone’s lifetime. The night skies in Northern Europe, in the summer of 2022, might hold the opportunity to photograph the collision of two stars.

You heard me right, scientists are predicting that two suns collided almost 1800 years ago and from what they are seeing they are proposing that the collision might be visible to the naked eye for up to 6 months during the summer of 2022 and the night sky over Finland will be a great place to view this event (theoretically).

© Joel Forsman

Now these are scientists guessing, I mean delivering “settled” science, but if you think we know nothing about how the earth heats and cools we are much farther from understanding how to estimate the collisions of stars… but here I sit, crossing my fingers.

© 2016 Joel Forsman

I plan on publishing several posts about “things I learned in Finland” and they include everything from scouting tips and tricks to coming to terms with the fact that Finland is so far technologically advanced from North America that I kinda feel like I live in an igloo.

© Joel Forsman

Until then, enjoy some of the images from Joel’s site… I would love to see him write more because his images of the amazing dogs in Alaska really helped me catch a bug for photography again… and I just found out that he is back in Alaska right now training those puppies on his site. Time to go convince him to swing by Alberta on his way home…

© Joel Forsman

© Joel Forsman

© Joel Forsman