• 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!

    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 57 days left

    • May 13, 2010 12:58 pm

    Yay! Our one year service is soon over I’ll be starting my education on photography in Lahti. Just can’t wait.

    Here’s an old video I came by in the internets and think everyone should watch through… With a thought!

    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 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.

    I was a first timer

    • June 13, 2009 8:49 am

    In addition to airsoft guns I’ve been handling real deals for quite a while at work already but just now I got the chance to test out shooting with one.

    During this week we were at a shooting range in Helsinki with Jarkko Koskinen from Rekyyli. The firearm I was practicing with was a 9mm pistol CZ-999. The model is used by the Serbian army.

    Besides shooting from a standing position from the distances of 5, 10 and 15 meters, my accuracy was put on a test from a distance as great as 25 meters (27 yards) too. Those shots I fired the gun supported as seen in the video below. I shot five to six bullets at a time and I’m prertty proud of my best result: the pattern of six shots could be fitted in my fist.

    Here’s some images from the shooting range photographed by Jarkko. The lights were set by me though.

    Note: The following image is staged. The gun seen in the photograph was safely unloaded before taking the photo. Pointing towards someone with even an unarmed gun is strictly forbidden.

    Strobist info: Bare 430EX strobe unit attached to the wall on my right side and another one far back in the shooting range lighting up the target. The strobes were triggered wirelessly using a ST-E2 transmitter.

    Luckily Jarkko was carrying a video camera with him too. Here’s a short clip from the shooting range. The title is: “Julius uses his head”… :)

    In other news…

    I figured out that the photos of me and my bike I uploaded two weeks ago were so very lousy for not showing the beautiful bicycle in its full potential. So here’s an another try!

    Kona Paddy Wagon and me shot with Canon EOS 5D and EF 135mm f/2L

    Kona Paddy Wagon Julius Koivistoinen