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.
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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://www.julious.fi” 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! 
Update 20.2.2010: The article is now visible on my portfolio (link)
Just a week ago I arrived back from Sweden, Härnösand. There I was working for Softaaja magazine (or Airsoft Soldier as known internationally) on the photo reportage of the biggest airsoft event I have ever attended in.
This event, a four-day-long scenario game called Berget 7, was a very interesting one to cover. I was playing the role of an in-game photographer meaning that I was all the time – day and night – keeping close to others on my side (Separatist Reform Party i.e. SRP, while the other parties were NATO, Milo’s Tigers, Yuri Orlov’s Mercenaries and Civilians) who were mostly Finns too.
And not only did I have to capture some interesting photographs, my mission was to create an in-depth story of the whole trip so that everyone reading the reportage could get the image of being there. Thus staying focused on stories developing around me and writing captions for my photos on the fly were key elements to me.
The game itself was a great success. Our SRP forces outsmarted the others right from the beginning and we got a firm grip on the leading position. In the end SRP and its new allies crushed NATO and escaped to safety.
As I came back home with the huge pile of photos I was thinking to myself: “What a great experience!”, and then: “How in the World can all these photos be packed into a single article?!”
The thing is, I recall being told beforehand that the reportage had six pages reserved from the final magazine issue. Then we at the editorial negotiated afterwards on 10 to 12 pages, and finally, my photo story got overwhelming 14 pages! Seems like I did quite an impression on the people above me.
The photo reportage will be published in the 5th issue of Softaaja and probably in the 5th issue of Airsoft Soldier also so stay tuned and go get them when you can!
“The photo above is one of many images from my today’s trip to the central Helsinki. (Read: A photo gallery containing these shots is under construction.) I restrained myself to use my EOS 350D DSLR and one lens, the new one, only… And oh boy what a combination it was!”
-Autumn is coming
New gallery is up. Enjoy! [Link]
To give you some idea how I managed to keep shooting for approximately two and a half hours in constant rain I posted some pictures of the DIY rain cover I did. See them under the link below. (Fun fact about those pics: Because I don’t have a second camera body the photos are taken through two mirrors.)
View slideshow
DIY rain cover of a plastic bag:
Eilen 5.9. jo 11. kerran järjestetty Nelosen ilotulitus, joka on samalla ilotulituksen Suomen mestaruuskilpailu, keräsi yli 100 000 katsojaa Töölönlahden liepeille Helsingissä. Kilpailuun osallistuivat Ilotulitus Oy, SkyStar, Tulitemestarit, JoHo Pyro ja Tähtiraketti, joista voittajaksi selvisi JoHo Pyro näyttävällä värishow’llaan. Kilpailijat esiintyivät samaisessa järjestyksessä.
Tässä ottamiani valokuvia kyseisestä tapahtumasta:
Canon EOS 350D, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, EF 135mm f/2L USM, 430EX, ST-E2
The photo above is one of many images from my today’s trip to the central Helsinki. (Read: A photo gallery containing these shots is under construction.) I restrained myself to use my EOS 350D DSLR and one lens, the new one, only… And oh boy what a combination it was!
Still not sure what lens it might be?
May I present you, Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM!
See the setup here – 3 strobes @ 1/8 power. CTO and CTB gels used on the flashes behind lenses.
In other news
I attended to Finnish version of the global Nike+ Human Race event which was a really fun experience even though the number of participants was nothing compared to other countries’.
I ran the distance of 10 kilometers in 54 minutes and could have easily continued further. I’m confident of myself being ready for the next year’s half maraton.
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