Ryan Hellyer

Photos of me

Apparently I don’t post enough pictures of myself, so here’s a couple of random ones which don’t fit into any other posts 🙂

Me on the way back from øyungen.

Thanks to Nora for the photos 🙂

I’ve always had a fascination with how things worked in the Soviet Union. The massive attempts of economies of scale attempted by the Soviet Union are something rarely seen in the western world. I recently had the privilege of seeing inside an old school stereotypical Soviet era apartment block in Cluj-Napoca. There wasn’t much to see beyond a drab interior stairwell and an equally uninteresting building front. It did made me feel a little like being inside the old Soviet buildings in the Pripyat sections of “Call of Duty 4” though.

Unlike their western counterparts, the Soviets had less need to impress with their architectural skills and so this style of housing made a lot of sense. Cheap, well built accommodation which will last. Of course, the interior can be as nice as you want to make it,

Bush Flying Basics

I am now famous in the area of “plane landing in dodgy places photography”. The following snapshots are from a DVD called “Bush Flying Basics“, an instructional video for teaching pilots how to land in places where they probably shouldn’t be trying. They used a photo from here on my blog of Poolburn reservoir as an example of smooth ice you can land on. If you happen to have the DVD, you can see it at the 28 mins and 50 second mark 🙂

Skjærsjøen

Some photos of the beautiful Skjærsjøen lake near Oslo, Norway. I took these whilst on a cycling tour with Live, Ingvild and Nora.

Axe throwing

I tried my hand at axe throwing whilst at the Râșnov Citadel. Apparently I can neither aim, nor throw very well. I did manage to at least partially lodge the axe into the wood on my second attempt, but my first one hit the ground in a rather pitiful manner.