I’ve always liked dogs as animals. The evolution of the species goes hand in hand with the development of human societies. It was the first domesticated animal and still acts as a vital part of many houses, neighborhoods and villages. In many parts of the developing world stray dogs keep the local societies clean from garbage and pests like rats and raccoons. In the west (or north) many dogs help people hunt, guard their farms, search for illegal drugs or help the blind to navigate in their surroundings. That’s why dogs were domesticated in the first place. To work and earn their living as an important part of the system. Yes, I’ve always liked dogs.

Still, one thing remains as a mystery to me. Breeding. And the breed shows. As a dog person (but not a show person) I had to go and see how the professionals earn their living and how the owners come and collect their prizes.

Posted by Tatu
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Nature photography has never been easy for me. Take away the dynamics of the active human beings and I’m on thin ice. However, the foggy atmosphere of Utsjoki inspired me to try. The following short nature-reportage was shot a week ago at Utsjoki-reagion and somewhere northern Norway while the rest of the Finland was bathing in the sun. The photoreportage was published in Lapin Kansa, Satakunnan Kansa and  Pohjolan Sanomat.

Posted by Konsta
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Vesa Heilala was a second finn to reserve a spaceflight with Virgin Galactic.  As Vesa puts it, some people dream about having a summer cottage or a sailing boat, but for him it has always been about travelling to space. First commercial spaceflights are due to start in the year 2011.

The photos were taken for our student magazine and from the very beginning I had an idea of doing something slightly surreal, so I ended up making a crappy spacesuit out of cardboard. Thinking about it afterwards I’m not satisified with the choice of location but I think that the photos turned out to be all right. Many thanks to Vesa for playing along!

Vesa Heilala varasi toisena suomalaisena matkan avaruuteen Virgin Galactic –yhtiön Space Ship Two -aluksella. Ensimmäiset kaupalliset lennot aloitetaan todennäköisesti vuonna 2011. Kuviin halusin jotain erilaista, joten päädyin tekemään pahvisen avaruuspuvun ja kuvaamaan tulevan astronautin Helsingin keskustassa. Jälkeenpäin ajateltuna paikanvalinta olisi voinut olla parempi, mutta itse kuvista tuli mielestäni virkistävän erilaisia henkilökuvia. Kiitos Vesalle yhteistyöstä!

Posted by Jarkko
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Party-photography is controversial thing for me. On the other hand, isn’t it easy to shoot pictures when people are happy and drunk and yearn for their photo to be taken? On the other hand, nothings probably more generic than party-photography (and I’m no Merlin Bronques even though that one guy did get naked on the dance floor).

These photos were shot at the Dance Classics -party organized by a DJ collective called Plauge. As I was kind of on assignment there, I was supposed to shoot happy people having good time.. However, over the course of the night I drifted from the original objective into shooting small details and people’s feet (thanks for that, Jussi). I’m not sure if that’s what they wanted.

The whole set can be seen here.

Bileiden kuvaaminen on toisaalta hauskaa, toisaalta supervaikeaa tehdä uudella tai mielenkiintoisella tavalla. Käykää ihmiset Tampereella ollessanne noissa Plaugen bileissä, tanssilattia on täynnä, savukoneet hyrräävät ja värivalot vilkkuu. Plaugen kundit pestaavat nerokkaasti valokuvaajia bileisiinsä, niin ihmiset saavat katsella seuraavina päivinä, että kuinkas hauskaa sitä tulikaan pidettyä.

Posted by Konsta
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After all the talk it feels amazing to finally walk the walk. Jarkko already told the most important things: who are we and what are we doing here. I can only add how excited I am about this blog-like-carnation of our ambitions and love for the sport: photography.

Once again – like so many times before – Jarkko’s photos made me hesitate. How can one continue after such an amazing start? After shivering for a moment I picked myself up from the floor and started posting. “This is not a competition, Konsta”, I reminded myself.

Surely that’s a lie. Of course this is a competition. But luckily (luckily for me) not a quite serious one, and hopefully for the best part I’d be able to compete mainly myself. So I hope all of you people who find yourselves eyeing our blog: hopefully you enjoy watching us doing our thing and come back later too. The photos of this post were shot in Berlin. Have my word: the city is actually much nicer than the photos may have you believe.

Posted by Konsta
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Welcome. This is the first post to our new blog Parta&Linssit. The semi-long story short, Konsta and I had our own photoblogs, but the problem was that no one seemed to be interested in them – besides us anyway. Well, scratching each other’s backs was fun and all but we decided that this beautiful little baby bird needs to fly.  Now, combining our efforts, the three musketeers – Konsta, Tatu and I – we’re trying to create some synergy benefits. And hopefully it will become an active and interesting photoblog. For my part, I hope that we can also share some ideas about our different visual approaches. And our most courteous thank you goes to  Mr. Teemu Kammonen for being the nerdical mastermind and making this site happen.

And for starters just some shots from London. For me walking around with a camera is a great excuse to avoid being on holiday, while on holiday. Do enjoy.

Tervetuloa. Parta&Linssit on valokuvablogi, johon kuvaavat Konsta Leppänen, Jarkko Mikkonen ja Tatu Blomqvist. Emme juurikaan välitä kategorisista rajoitteista, mutta voidaan sanoa että suuri osa kuvaamisestamme liittyy tavalla tai toisella kuvajournalismiin. Toivon, että pystyisimme jotenkin avaamaan omaa kuvallista ajatteluamme myös sanallisesti, sillä liian usein kuvaajat jättävät kaiken vastuun katsojalle.

Alkuun muutamia turistiotoksia Lontoosta. Lomalla kameran kantaminen mukana auttaa kummasti siihen, ettei tarvitse olla oikeasti lomalla.

Posted by Jarkko
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