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.
Oh dear how long has it been since the last time I wrote to my blog. My website has been dead-quiet for such a long time you might even think I’ve stopped taking pictures. Well that is not the case – it’s quite the opposite actually!
I have been handling so many irons in fire for the last few months that even updating my portfolio has had to wait – and it still does. Working on magazine covers, editorial assignments, on field…Preliminary assignments for (hopefully) my further photography education in college, school exams (I’m graduating from high school this spring), travelling (New York!!!)… Even my future military service has recently been a lot in my thoughts – and for a reason.
Last year I decided to apply for Finnish airborne (paratrooper) forces. After sending my medical papers and other certifications in I got an invitation to tryouts in Utti consisting of various physical and psychological tests. There they made us run, jump, crawl, swim, ski, fill in answer sheets containing hundreds and hundreds of questions etc.
It seems that the months of intensive training were definitely worth it though as I actually received an approval to the paratrooper school just a few days ago! There were 265 applicants in total and only 51 of us got through and managed to claim an invitation to ourselves. My one-year-long training in Utti Jaeger Regiment begins in July 13th.
But enough of this babbling. Here are a couple of teasers on coming updates on my portfolio (I’ll try and actually write about some of my recent photo shoots in my blog so stay tuned.):
Yup. It’s that time of the year again.
I’m actually just stopping by to brag about some of the christmas presents I got and post few images so I’ll keep it short. The list goes something like this:
Before even reading the book I want to point out some interesting things about it by the way. First of all the Finnish version is hard covered and the size of the pages is much smaller compared to the pages of the soft covered English version of the book. Correct me if I’m wrong of course. The title is translated from English into Finnish in quite a silly way too. The Moment it Clicks became The Secrets of Photography (Yawn!).
(Kukaan englannin kieltä vieroksuva haluaisi vaihtaa tämän suomenkielisen Valokuvauksen salaisuudet -kirjan englantilaiseen vastaavaan?)
I turned 18! Yahoo! Here are two little photos from our little evening gathering. After that we went to visit few bars in central Helsinki with my dad and I got a free drink or two but no more of that. Below following two pictures there’s three more of my mum burning those candles away few days later. You may click those thumbs to view the photos in their full size.
Sain kyseisen kameran lainaksi lehtikuvausta varten Softaajaan ja oih, kuinka ihastuinkaan siihen! Kameran täysikokoisen 35mm kennonsa ansiosta sillä valokuvaaminen on kuin aivan eri ulottuvuudesta. Huomattavimmat erot olivat ensin tietysti laajempi kuva-ala (1,0x kerroin) ja suurikokoinen etsin, mutta erityisesti kuvanlaatu on ilmiömäinen aikaisempaan kokemaani verrattuna. Kameran kyky hallita suuriakin ISO-herkkyyksiä ja sen tuottama bokeh olivat tiputtaa minut tuoliltani.
Itse Softaajan valokuvat tulossa kesäkuun alussa. Stay tuned.
Briefly in English: I got to borrow the Canon’s EOS 5D for photo shoots for Softaaja and the performance of it made me almost drop from my chair! The actual photos for Softaaja are coming in the beginning of July so stay tuned.
Canon EOS 5D, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM: 1/160 sec f/4 ISO 3200. See 100% crops from the photo beneath after the jump.
