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://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! 
I just fell in love with street photography again. I’ve been photographing the streets of Helsinki and went on a trip to Saint Petersburg where I documented the local people with my camera a lot too.
Or it might just be the camera particularly which is creating such a thrill in me.
For a long time I’ve been drooling after the Canon’s EOS 5D especially due to it’s full frame sencor and the advantages brought with it and the camera’s slim body also. So I finally took the plunge and got that camera body of my dreams!
A comparison between images taken on Canon EOS 350D and on Canon EOS 5D
(Thank you Marja for being such a lovely model as always!)
Some of you might be thinking why didn’t I invest on the new 5D mark II instead, but I just don’t need all the features it has, so it would have been waste of money to me. I’ve been using the old 5D at work for a long time already so I knew what was the perfect choice for me.
One more thing before I let you to jump on the photos taken in St. Petersburg. I want to address my love towards the Canon EOS 5D + 50 mm prime lens combo by showing the following three images of one photograph. The images don’t just come out outstandingly sharp, but the focal length is just right on a full frame sencor. It is not too tight nor too wide, just perfect!
Canon EOS 5D, 50mm f/1.8: 1/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200
The first image is the photo uncropped, the last one is a 100% crop.
Ok, here they are (click the photo below). Please enjoy the gallery and maybe even leave a comment considering them here. Thanks!
Remember how I made that promise of publishing some tasty reenactment film photos way back in this post? Well wait no more because they’re here! Thanks to Väinö for borrowing the camera and lens (which front focuses though as you can see from the photos) and Janne for scanning the original slides into a computer-friendlier format. Enjoy!
View slideshow
“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
Hi all! Long time no see.
For those who care, I apologise for neglecting this blog for such a tremendous amount of time, but let me explain myself…
First of all I’ve been out there living. On my summer holiday I travelled with Marja through the city of London exploring the urban culture and meeting new people for a week. Plus, there’s no London without a portion of fish and chips in an atmospheric pub! (There’s no photo of it though. Sorry!) We also enjoyed amazing local attractions in Saint Peterspurg while visiting my grandparents there and finished the whole package by going to Viljandi Folk Music Festival in the Southern Estonia. We were so dedicated to listening to music and dancing with Marja that we didn’t even take a camera with us. And that’s huge from us!
Here are some of our travelling photos from London and St. Petersburg:
Another reason for me not updating this blog has been work. I’ve been hired as photographer for three different magazines including Softaaja in which my work has been seen already previously. It’s been a wonderful opportunity for me to work in a studio and I have learned a lot! Many shots I have taken there are still waiting for their first publication in the magazines so you folks have to wait for a while for the newest pieces of my work. I’m pretty excited about them already.
Until then here’s some of my work for them:
I was shooting airsoft ages ago but didn’t link to the gallery from my blog. See the gallery from the link below: (Also, see how cool Väinö and his moustages look below.)
View gallery
One more thing. There’s a new gallery of a skateboarding competition (SkateSM 08) coming up in the near future so stay tuned! Here’s few teasers for you:
Oh, and I bought a new lens but I will tell more about it later! You may guess what it is by judging from the following photo. *tease* 
Over and out!
My second magazine cover ever was published in the 5th Softaaja of this year! See the cover itself in the photo below… You can see the original shot under it.
Ruostehauta
Some photos shot by me in a post apocalyptic airsoft game were published in the same issue of Softaaja. See all the 73 photos of Ruostehauta by clicking the link underneath the photo below or click here.
Gear used: Canon EOS 5D, Canon EOS 350D, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, EF 90-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM
View slideshow
31.5.2008 oli monelle ilon päivä. Kyseisenä päivänä lakitettiin kevään 2008 uudet ylioppilaat kaikkialla Suomessa. Itse olin tällöin Helsingin kaupunginteatterissa todistamassa Kallion lukion lakkiaisia, joka oli tapahtumana hyvin onnistunut puheineen ja musiikkiesityksineen.
Katso ottamiani kuvia lakkiaisista alla olevasta linkistä.
Gear used: Canon EOS 350D, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, EF 50mm f/1.8 II, EF 90-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM, 430EX
View slideshow
More options
