Of course I was excited, never done anything quite like this before – photography-wise. We hopped on a Cessna aeroplane with some volunteer pilots who flew over Lapland during the worst wildfire hazards to seek out smokes from the horizon. Before the flight Jarkko gave me some very welcome technical tips which I’m very grateful of. However, I might have got too hung-up on the techincalities in the beginning and forgot to think about what I’m actually taking photos of. Luckily the flight took over 2 hours, so I had time to adjust my priorities.

Lapland from above is suprisingly beautiful. The graphical human-made marks take turns with very similiar natural forms. Every once in awhile a swamp area is painted light green by the sun, providing scenes you’d expect to see in National Geographics, shot somewhere exotic and far away.

And then a bonus photo. Imagine Aerosmith’s song I don’t want to miss a thing playing on the background of this photo:

Posted by Konsta
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I shall continue the story-like describing on the backgrounds of the photos:

On 1st of July the whole editorial staff was standing in the office and staring at the TV, as the Finnish parliament dedicated on building new nuclear plants. It was the most important news of the day nation wide, but of special importance to Pohjolan Sanomat because Simo is one of the possible - and may I say likely – places for the other plant. On the same minute as the MPs voted their JAA’s, me and the reporter took off to Karsikkoniemi where the plant is to be built. It also a very popular summer cottage area for the people of southern Lapland. We were supposed to find people whose life the plant would drastically affect. And boy, did we find them. There’s few.

The atmosphere was depressing, even devastated. Some people who live nearby had gathered to this fishing harbour to mourn. The two young fisherman told us that after the plant there would be no use fishing anymore. They would certainly lose their income. The man in the first photo, Lauri Tarvainen agreed to take us to his cottage by his boat. The plant would be 100 meters from his yard.

When we returned, the things got interesting. The main architect of the whole “Nuclear power to Simo”  -movement Esko Tavia arrived to the harbour and you could cut the tension with a knife. He didn’t stay inside very long, but preferred to wander outside.

Posted by Konsta
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Last weekend I got an opportunity to see many of my favorite bands (NOFX, Flogging Molly, Rise Against and Anti-Flag just to name a few.. and yes, I’m into punk rock) in Ruisrock. I was there to take photos for Aamulehti, but I already knew they would mostly just need the artist photos for the printed paper. The weather was hot (as it is right now) for Finnish standards and people were sweating in more than +30 celsius for three days. In the end, I decided to leave all the artist shots out from my post as these faces tell about the atmosphere better. Stage lights are always more or less the same.

Yep, photographing rock festivals is nothing new and especially not in Finland. But for me, this was the best festival assignment this far. Hands down. So allow me to show you couple of these frames, even though the subjects are probably quite familiar to everyone.

Posted by Tatu
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If there ever happens to be a change to publish an original Partakuva.com calendar with steaming dudes, maybe these shots taken of Tatu are the ones to start with.

After doing layouts for 1,5 months it is time for me to grab the camera, starting from next week. I’ve enjoyed working with layouts and surely that experience will come handy at some point. But now it is time to do the thing I love.  And being a nikonian, one of the many good things is that I’ll be shooting with Nikon D3. So stay tuned, as we strode to the summer’s end.

Posted by Jarkko
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You know how it goes. The reporter interviews - say she’s interviewing a legendary Finnish heavy metal musician Timo Kotipelto – and the photographer waits for his or her turn. Maybe the photographer tries to find a perfect spot somewhere nearby and takes a few test shots so everything will be ready when the time comes. Then out of nowhere some guy walks up in the middle of the interview and hits a three liter box of red wine on Kotipelto’s chest. You manage to press the button once before the whole thing is over. Mouth open, you stare at the photo saved on your memory card.

When the interview was over, I had from little to none-at-all interest on shooting those generic heavy metal poses we’ve all seen millions of.

I did it, of course, but only for the sake of doing so. The upper photo appeared on the paper the next morning.

Posted by Konsta
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When they say: Konsta, we’re doing a profile on this artists, I immediately see beforehand this photo of some deep and dark and brooding figure with too much insights on world for one individual to bare. And that’s the photo I set my head on and go after.

A good photographer would probably first see what the artist is actually like and then formulate the photo in his or her head.

This time it actually fitted. While photographer and painter Elina Juopperi was actually very talkative and delightful in person, she also felt deeply for her subjects. She recently finished a set of portraits on Sami-people, a study on a disappearing language.

In the upper photo she is actually reaching her telephone or something, not just being anxious and torn before her photos. But I got the shot I wanted.

Posted by Konsta
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