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!
A quick shout out on Bike Polo Cup 2010 and its top 3 teams!
Yesterday I was playing this wonderful game again and at the same time witnessing a historical moment when this year’s cup finals were played here in Helsinki.
Here are the finalists!
The winning team in the middle wearing black t-shirts: IHB!
Second place went to the team on left hand side: Nopsat koukut!
The team positioned third is on the right hand side: Mallets of Doom!
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I bet everyone has been aware of the increasing number of single speed bicycles everywhere. But while visiting different cities around Europe I noticed that there were new, even more creative ways to commute around the big metropolises.
Some of them are even landing to the shores of our Northern country.
A unicyclist in Basel, Switzerland
Unicycles
One may think it’s just one of those extreme sports which belong to circus. But when you actually think about it, a unicycle is almost as small as a pogo stick, it gets you around faster than walking and is a great way to improve your balance.
It’s definitely a great way to get more socialized plus fixed gear enthusiasts love you for it too!
A unicycle spotted in a metro in Helsinki!
Even my good ol’ pa decided to give it a try and has started practicing the unicycle. Here’s me packing his unicycle into my courier bag:
Kick scooters and roller skates
These are the devices I loved to ride in my childhood – but then they just disappeared! Luckily they’re now making a comeback a little by little.
The funny thing is though that not just the kids are riding them to school as back then but again, working citizens use them as transportation from home to the market or to work…
Older woman took a stop with her kick scooter in Hamburg
And of course
Single speed bikes with Bianchi bodies in a flea market in Berlin
As I mentioned already the single speed cycles and fixed gear bikes have taken over the streets once and for all. I’ll be writing about it more in depth later though, as the phenomenon is worth an article of its own. 
Fixie riders in Paris
I visited the annual the Night of the Arts held here in Helsinki but for me it was a bit lame. Ok, I arrived there a bit late but still, it can’t be called the _night_ of whatever if almost all of the program is over by 10 p.m… The thousands of drunk youngsters are not worth promoting either.
So here’s the deal.
Zetod is one of the hottest names in Estonia right now. They’re four just about twenty years old guys, very talented musicians and “selling more records than U2 or Madonna in Estonia”, as they said – and I don’t doubt it even for a sec!
I saw them that evening in the Tennispalatsi’s Kulttuurimuseo for my second time. Their gig went so well they made people almost fall off their chairs – even when playing acoustic only.
If you’re into folk rock at all, be sure you’re there in the front row when they drop by at your place!
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On the August 23rd I at last got to know with a sport which has fascinated me since a friend of mine told me about it many months ago in the army. He too is into fixed gear bikes and in addition has worked as a bike messenger in Helsinki back in the days. (Note: I actually photographed him a while ago riding a busy street on his fixie in Helsinki. See the photo in the end of this post!)
Bicycle Polo is a team sport similar to traditional polo, except that bicycles are used instead of horses. There is 3 players on each team and you may not touch the ground with your feet or you must go and “tap out” by riding to the mid-court and hitting either side of the court with your mallet.
We were playing in a court right next to the centre of Helsinki, in Hietaniemi. There was about 30 persons playing and watching the games in total.
View Helsinki Fixed in a larger map
The fixed gear bikes are ideal for this type of playing by the way, as with them it is very easy to “track stand” in a single position for example. When you’re totally in control of your bike with your feet only it’s a lot easier to concentrate on steering and waving the mallet with your hands.
Jump on this article to see the rest of the huge photos I took that sunny afternoon! (+ the photo of my friend Toni Aikasalo riding his badass fixie) Bike polo photos are taken using a Canon EOS 5D camera and objectives ranging from 50mm to 135mm.
Oh, and if you’re in one of the photos, feel free to share it on your Facebook profile for example, but be sure that the undersign is visible or add a caption “Julius Koivistoinen photograhy – http://juliusphoto.yhet.net” to the image. And don’t forget to comment or at least hit the Facebook’s like button at the top of this article. Thanks!
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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!
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