• Julius Koivistoinen is a young Finnish student passioned about photography. He's mostly self taught but has already been working as a photographer for a couple of magazines published not only in Finland but worldwide, and his photos have reached to become the cover shots of those magazines for plenty of times. In addition to commercial work, he loves to work on personal projects and with smaller clients. Currently he's available for assignments near Helsinki and Lahti.
    Be sure to visit his portfolio and Flickr page!

    Woah, I’m even bigger now!

    • August 24, 2010 9:07 pm

    “I’m even bigger now … A lot!”

    That’s what my blog said today as I upgraded it to support even bigger images. At the mean time it ment a big headache to me, as change means work, and what one hasn’t been doing for a long time means relearning on top of that… But were here to learn anyway, aren’t we?

    This is what the blog looked like before and the same image, which is as small as the former images were, shows from how tiny pictures did one actually have to suffer. And when I just compare it with the capability of this blog today, the huge amount (30 hours+) of work and confusion was definitely worth it!

    Follow the red arrows downwards and maybe you’ll agree with me. :)

    Photo: Kevin Wilbur, of Tucson Balloon Rides supervises the filling of his hot air balloon before a sunrise flight Easter morning Sunday, April 4, 2010 in Tucson. Arizona. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) (link)

    This blog is still powered by WordPress so you may ask: “What is that theme used on this site?”

    In that my answer is that I designed the layout myself, but I indeed had to use some help too. After the design was completed on Photoshop I started searching a WordPress theme which would match with mine. I chose to build my blog on top of a theme called ZenLite by Black Widow.

    The reason for this was its single column design, which is a perfect solution for me. Instead of having a menu for navigation on the side of the page, this way the site supports showing bigger imagery as well as works with every monitor resolution commonly used on websurfers’ (that means You) computers.

    Because this is a brand new and a unique design it of course may also have some bugs, which I haven’t noticed, in it. So please let me know if you come across with any! Thanks

    Sidenote:

    I have upgraded my website before for dozens of times but also have written about it twice. If you’re interested to know more, these articles found from this same blog’s archives may actually be worth a watch:

    Today is 0 days left!!!

    • July 14, 2010 2:05 am

    Hi, folks! Just a quick update on the current happenings.

    First of all … my one-year-long service is finally over (has been for 5 days already, actually) and my friends and I are so glad we made it! I’ve been lucky to have so many new exciting experiences which I may carry with me for the rest of my time.

    Before we were set free though we got to publish our own edition of the annual yearbook. It was great how much did I get to contribute to our publishment alas the portraits of us and other imagery were mostly on my responsibility. I even did some layout and logo designing so there was plenty of stuff to work on. :)
    The book came out amazing and I can’t wait showing tearsheets of it to all of you too!

    Which is even more extraordinary, is our interrail trip through Europe’s biggest cities… Here’s how our plan looks like:

    Wish us luck!

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    Today is 137 days left

    • February 22, 2010 11:24 am

    Greetings from Lapland!

    We at the Finnish paratroopers have an annual two and a half weeks long Winter Camp training in the North Finland which is one of the most exciting moments of our service… And definitely one of the hardest too.

    One day for example we skiid 27 hours in a row and our orienteerers estimated we advanced 55-60 kilometres during that time. It’s no miracle after a week-long military exercise my feet reminded more of two junks of cheese than a pair of feet, I’m telling you. :)

    Well, now the experience is behind us and I gotta say it was everything we wished – and feared for. At times we got to enjoy perfect sunny days but sometimes the nature tried us with freezing cold weather also. I can recall a few nights when we were out training and there was -30°C… One night we saw beautiful northern auroras too.

    Still, never again!

    *****

    Have been studying the bike messenger and fixed gear bike culture quite a lot lately and I have to say it’s swallowing me into itself. Doing what you want the way you want, dedicating fully to it and being aware of everything around you are themes that always rise up when I read books, articles and interviews on the subject. And I have to agree – going fast on two wheels brings a liberating lightening to one’s mind. I just can’t wait for Spring to arrive!

    Anyone who’s even a little familiar with the biking cultures I mentioned know that they’re nowadays very related with style, which brings me to my newest purchase worth mentioning: a messenger bag by Chrome. The model is called the Metropolis and I just love the simplicity and functionality of the whole thing.

    The bag itself is HUGE but surprisingly slim even when fully packed up because it’s like glued to your back. This makes it possible to dump everything I want into it and still be able to move fluently in a crowd and whatnot. Try the same with a Lowepro bag for example and you’ll lose your sanity – I did!

    I have to note that due to the winter still hitting us in our faces I haven’t been using the bag on a bike yet (doh!). But it already made an impact on me which has to be a good thing as I’ve heard it just then gets to its full potential.

    It’s true a messenger bag like the Metropolis isn’t the best carrying option if you’re on foot only as it really might stress one’s shoulder. When I went for a portrait photo shoot for an evening with the gear seen above it already felt little uncomfy at times because the bag didn’t rest on my back like when on a bike. And this is from a fellow who’s been regularly carrying backpacks weighting 30-40 kilograms for days.

    Overall I’m highly satisfied with the Chrome’s courier bag as it sets me free from having to carry one or more separate bags because I couldn’t get everything (the gear seen above for example) to fit into just one! My thumbs are up.

    *****

    Hopefully you’re now thinking: “To what photo shoot he might had went?”, because I just thought of revealing it.

    Me and Wilhelm Blomberg use to take photos of t-shirts for Threadless.com for fun and free tees… But mainly for fun. Sooo, here are some photos, please eyeball them. Thanks!

    Today is 195 days left

    • December 27, 2009 1:06 am

    Still alive and kickin’, bros!

    Here’s something I’ve been anxious to put together for over a half a year because I haven’t had time for it until now. I hope you like it! :)

    Doing this for my country from Julius Koivistoinen on Vimeo.

    A stop motion video of a haircut done in summer 2009 just before my departure to army for a year.

    Thanks to Marja Milistver and my mum and dad for helping me out with the shooting! Vampire Weekend is guilty for the amazing music.

    Me and – my brother in arms – Touko
    This is what you get when you become bored while being on duty

    An old doodle of myself. Drawn using a mirror … I’m putting this here to motivate myself to draw more often

    Today is 312 days left

    • August 31, 2009 3:44 pm

    My website has been dead quiet for the past six weeks because I’ve been serving in the army of our lovely little country. Unfortunately there won’t be any updates on my portfolio for a while either simply because I don’t have time for that.

    Here’s a little snack for you all though. I hope it will keep you satisfied for a while… Maybe even lightens up a little what I’m currently going through. :)

    I’m in the center of the following image. Photo by Jorma Koivistoinen.