Visa pour l’Image is an international photojournalism festival held annually in Perpignan, France. All the biggest photo agencies and hundreds of photographers gather to a small mediterranean town and there are tens of exhibitions, portfolio reviews, screenings and stuff. I was lucky to be chosen to a group of Finnish press photographers and I have to say the festival is very inspiring. When I saw how amazing projects my colleagues from around the globe had made, I got some very mixed feelings. It’s great to be a part of this world of creativity, but on the other hand it’s scary how talented people there are =) I really have to push harder and get better every day because they are. These three shots were taken in a train from Barcelona, Spain, to Perpignan. Jarkko and Maija are Finnish photographers and my friends. Oh, yeah, you already knew Jarkko.

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EDIT: After returning home it’s time for some thoughts on the photos. First of all, it’s nice to have photogenic friends on your left side and old, catholic churches on your right. Then it’s all about the light. Maybe you already noticed it, but I very rarely use flash. It’s sometimes challenging to find a good light when on a daily news assignment, but I don’t think it’s too hard when you have time to look, maybe walk a little and then look again. Here I wasn’t able to walk that much, but instead the perfect light just hit the train window. It illuminated Jarkko’s face and created that sharp reflection and then gave that beautiful backlight to for me to take Maija’s photo as well. That’s why I love available light, reflections, backlight, the sun and the shade. There’s just so much to observe and when you see  moments like this, it just clicks. Waiting for the right light also teaches me patience and that is always a good thing to learn. Camera data: 50mm f1.4 wide open (i.e. at its maximum aperture value 1.4), aperture priority, Canon raw files converted to jpeg and contrast added in post-processing.

Posted by Tatu
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