• 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!

    Bicycle polo in Hietaniemi

    • August 27, 2010 6:28 pm

    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! :)

    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!

    Working on a cover

    • June 16, 2009 2:47 pm

    Few weeks ago I was photographing the collerctor’s cover photo for a Finnish airsoft magazine Softaaja. Our models Stefan (on left) and Janne were dressed up as post-apocalyptic scavangers inspired by the Mad Max movies and the Fallout game series. Stefan likes to describe himself as a cat hunter and Janne is a sand warrior.

    Post-nuclear war themed photo shoot from Julius Koivistoinen on Vimeo.

    Keeping the light simple was a good idea this time as the models were interesting enough in my opinion. One big light source comes with a very natural look while it’s still very pleasing to the eye also.

    Even though we shot these in the afternoon it still was quite bright outside. That is why I chose to use a silver reflective umbrella as it’s the most efficient light modificator when used with my small 430EX strobe units. In addition I like the little rougher light coming out of the reflective umbrella compared to a shoot-through brolly as the light doesn’t scatter as much. I had two strobes instead of just one pointing in one umbrella so that I could turn their power a bit down to gain a faster recycling time.

    The photo is taken with a Canon EOS 5D camera and a EF 17-40mm f/4L lens which is a combo I love. The strobes were triggered wirelessly using a ST-E2 transmitter.

    Here’s three details from the image seen above:

    The equipment those guys are wearing is epic. Self-made armor based on a hockey harness, real ammunition boxes and the outsoles of shoes, leather clothing, vintage sunglasses from the 50′s, laser protective goggles,  self-made shoulder guard with chainmail and a steel plate protecting the heart (I made that, actually!), self-made pistol holster and the list goes on.

    Underneath are two examples on the images that were used as reference while building up those layouts. Just to give you a clue what I’m talking about.

    Screenshots from the early episodes of Fallout game series

    Photo from the movie Max Max 2: Road Warrior starring Mel Gibson

    The following photos are random snapshots from the same photo shoot. Just a neat little bonus to all of you hungry for backstage imagery. :)

    Final results

    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

    Valokuvauksen ennakkotehtäväni

    • May 3, 2009 1:19 am

    Briefly in english:

    High school is almost over for me so it’s time to head to college as in Finland it’s not so easy to make a breaking entry to photography industry without further education as Chase Jarvis and Joey Lawrence did for example. In this post you may see my preliminary assignments for further education. The themes were the following: 1) The people of today, 2) A real story (My one is about recession btw), 3) A small study on nature/environment and 4) My best work so far.

    Päivitys 8.7.2009: Sain tietää, että pääsin sisään!

    Lukion ollessa nyt loppusuoralla ja lakin ollessa oikeastaan jo taskussa on aika ajatella eteenpäin.

    Omalla kohdallani tämä merkitsi jatkokoulutukseen pyrkimistä, mitä edelsi linjan valinta ja räpeltäminen ennakkotehtävien parissa. Tietysti on olemassa muutamia konkreettisia esimerkkejä valokuvauksenkin saralla toteutuneista amerikkalaisista unelmista, joissa eräät kouluttamattomat valokuvaajat ovat onnistuneet murtautumaan ammattilaistasolle (esim. Chase Jarvis www.chasejarvis.com ja Joey Lawrence www.joeyl.com), mutta itse koen Suomessa tilanteen olevan enemmän ajatuksen vastainen: paperit on oltava tai töitä ei tipu. Siksi ei muuta kuin nokka kohti koulua.

    Lisäksi koulutus varmasti edistäisi kykyäni hahmottaa ammatin asemaa nykyään eli vastaisi kysymyksiin: “Mitä töitä voi tehdä? Miten? Missä? Entä miten töitä voi eksyä tekemään ylipäätänsä?” Parhaimmillaan se jopa myös toimisi mainiona ponnahduslautana maailmalle.

    Hain Lahden muotoiluinstituuttiin valokuvauslinjalle jokseenkin riskeeraten: en pyrkinyt muille koulutusohjelmille tai edes toiseen kouluun. Toisaalta täysin syystäkin, sillä valokuvaamisen janoni ohjaa minua tähtäämään ainoastaan huipulle, mutta ymmärtääkseni Taideteollisessa korkeakoulussa tarjottava koulutus onkin liian teoreettinen minulle. Siksi Lahti – varoituksista huolimatta.

    Tällä kertaa kyseisen linjan ennakkotehtävät koostuivat seuraavasta neljästä tehtävänannosta, joita vastaavat työt tuli palauttaa 9. päivä huhtikuuta mennessä (lähde). Katso omat työni alla.

    1) Aikamme ihmisiä: Ota kolme muotokuvaa, jotka kertovat näkemyksesi tämän ajan ihmisistä.
    2) Tosiasia: Tee viiden valokuvan kuvakertomus sinua koskettavasta yhteiskunnallisesta asiasta.
    3) Pieni tutkielma luonnosta: Ota kolme valokuvaa, joissa tutkit jotakin luontoon ja ympäristöömme liittyvää asiaa.
    4) Parhaat työni: Esittele kymmenen kuvaa, joista vähintään puolet on valokuvia.

    Aikamme ihmisiä



    (Malleina Mari, Jorma, Marja ja Wilhelm)

    Tosiasia

    Kuvasarja koostuu viidestä omakuvasta, jotka esittävät yhtä kokonaista päivää. Arvaatko aiheen kuvien perusteella? Vastaus niiden alla.





    Aiheena on tietysti lama. Menikö oikein?

    Pieni tutkielma luonnosta



    Parhaita töitäni en ala tässä eritellä, koska ne löytyvät suurimmaksi osin portfoliostani. *wink*

    Tältä siis näytti paketti, jonka lähetin matkaan jo aikaa sitten:

    Selvästi yksi eksoottisempikin tapaus – piirustus – onnistui puikkelehtimaan parhaiden töitteni joukkoon. Tässä kyseinen kuva ja yksi toinenkin töherrykseni:


    Saarnaamiseni ei kuitenkaan lopu vielä tähän, vaan nyt haluaisin kuulla teistä, rakas lukijani! Haitko jatkokoulutukseen tänä vuonna? Minne? Entä minkälaisilla ennakkotehtävillä?

    Tarkoitukseni on ylläpitää tässä viestissä listaa kaltaisistani henkilöistä, jotka ovat pyrkineet johonkin korkeamman asteen oppilaitokseen opiskelemaan valokuvausta. Ota siis minuun yhteyttä ja liity joukkoome riemuisaan. Pallo on sinulla!

    1. Lotta Blomberg: Yksinäiset (Aikamme ihmiset)
    2. Juhana Lappalainen: Vaino-Harha
    3. Sonya Mantere: Valokuvauksen ennakkotehtävät

    Kuvataiteen lukiodiplomi

    • March 23, 2009 11:10 pm

    Olette saattaneet nähdä seuraavat kaksi valokuvaa nettisivuillani tai muussa yhteydessä jo aikaisemmin. Harvoin viime aikoina olen kuitenkaan päässyt paljastamaan, mitä kuvien taakse kätkeytyy. Eiväthän ne kuvatkaan tyhjästä ilmesty, vaan välillä niitä saa vääntää hampaat irvessä. Verta tuskin virtaa, mutta hikeä sitäkin enemmän.

    Tässä viestissä kerron näistä jo aiemmin julkaistuista kuvista. Olkoon tämä myös aloitus sarjalle, jossa esittelen töitäni lähempää.

    Kyseinen Addiktioksi nimeämäni työ on kuvataiteen lukiodiplomini, jonka suoritin vuonna 2008 Helsingin yhteislyseon lukiossa abina ollessani. Tehtäviä oli tänä lukuvuonna riippuvuuksista wau-efektiin, arkkitehtuurista valokuvien tulkinnanvaraisuuteen ja kuvakertomuksiin. Lisäksi tehtävänantoon kuuluu kaikille yhteinen omaa kuva-aihetta käsittelevä essee, ja portfolio, jossa käsitellään omaa työskentelyprosessia pohtien siihen sisältyneitä ongelmia sekä niiden ratkaisemista. Kuvataiteen lukiodiplomin tekoon annettiin 38 tuntia, joista itse käytin 31 tuntia.

    Hetken pohdittuani valitsin työskentelyni kohteeksi aiheen “1) Addiktio – riippuvuus”, johon kuului tehtävä: “Toteuta teos, jossa pohdit kuvataiteen keinoin jotakin nykyihmisen riippuvuutta.” Työn arviointiin vaikuttivat työn puhuttelevuus ja tekninen toteutus. Päätin tehdä kuvista julistemaiset katukuvaan istuvat valokuvapaperivedokset, joissa olisi paljon mielenkiintoisia yksityiskohtia tutkittavaksi. Tykkään myös luoda suorastaan alleviivatun liioiteltuja asetelmia (ja koulussani on suuri energiajuomien kulutus), joten tietokoneriippuvuus tuntui oikealta vaihtoehdolta minulle.

    Olennaisin osa kuvaa on aina sen tukipilarina toimiva idea, mistä eteenpäin kaikki on vain yksityiskohtien hiomista. Luonnollisesti lähdin siis liikkeelle aivotyöstä, jonka purin paperille sanoin ja kuvin. Piirsin luonnoksia ja lisää luonnoksia, kunnes aloin saavuttaa tavoittelemaani lopputulosta. Ajatteluprosessini koostui lukuisista pohdinnoista: “Luonko yhden, kaksi vai useamman kuvan kokonaisuuden?”, “Millainen on hakemani tunnelma?”, “Mitä yritän sanoa kuvillani?”, “Koska syödään?”… Tässä muutamia luonnoksiani sekä inspiraation lähteenä toiminut Rudolf Eichstaedtin maalaus Beethoven työhuoneessaan (1899).

    Luonnostelun ja aivoriihen jälkeen loppuosa työstä onkin enää rutiinia. Raahataan kuvaustarvikkeet ja kerätyt rekvisiitat kuvauspaikalle, heitetään huulta mallin kanssa, rakennetaan lavastusta pystyyn, testataan, viilataan, höylätään ja katsotaan mitä tulee. Useimmiten onkin niin, että suurin osa valokuvaan uhratusta ajasta kuluu valokuvauksen järjestelyyn ja jälkipuintiin. Itse valokuvaus on napin painamista, jonka ohella ehkä vähän mietitään valoja, niiden kovuutta/pehmeyttä, suuntaa ja niin edelleen. Tämänkin saattaa tosin ehtiä ajattelemaan jo etukäteen.

    Seuraavaksi esittelen ensimmäistä kuvauspäivää. Kuvat on otettu koulussa.

    Canon EOS 350D, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, 430EX, ST-E2

    Kuvat ovat kaappauksia kuvataiteen lukiodiplomini portfoliosta, mistä johtuen ne myös sisältävät niitä selventäviä tekstejä. Fiksuimmat osaavatkin oivaltaa, ettei yllä ole kaikkia portfolion kuvia. :)

    Toinen kuvauspäivä:

    Canon EOS 350D, EF 50mm f/1.8 II, 430EX, ST-E2

    Eiköhän se ollut sitten siinä. Arvosanat saatiin sitten vähän myöhemmin. Sain parhaan mahdollisen tuloksen: täydet viisi pistettä viidestä! :)

    Nyt minulta loppui tosin aika kirjoitella tällä kertaa, joten palaillaan taas!

    Kiitokset Mikolle mallina olosta! <3 (Saat sen pizzan vielä joskus… ;) )

    Stepping into the dark side

    • December 10, 2008 2:43 am

    MacBook 13

    For my whole life I’ve been a PC user so you may just guess how frustrated I have been at times while at it. Change-over to any other platform has not been an option to me though as formerly I’ve been very into computer games and still am doing minor programming and stuff like that which in my opinion just aren’t very well supported for example on Mac.

    In the near future I’ll be travelling a lot so I thought a laptop would be a neat thingie to have. Just imagine how much time would it spare if one had the opportunity of browsing through his or her photos while being on the run. Also when I’m on a serious(ish) assignment after that one striking picture it’s important to me to actually see how the work is coming out. Especially after I’ve experienced some catastrophical photo shoots because the photo looked sharp on the camera’s teeny weeny LCD screen.

    I was actually becoming very keen to the David Tejada’s idea of using an external DVD player as a bigger screen as seen in his blog entry here but eventually was turned down by the lack of all right DVD players’ availability. They were always too good or too bad. Having just a portable screen with me would be a bit restricting too I thought but that’s another story.

    So this year my christmas present came very early to me and oh boy how excited I was. It was the Apple MacBook 13″ 2.4GHz with 2 GB memory and 160 GB hard drive and the reason I was in such a hurry with it was its irresistible price. Less than 900€ – what a bargain! So obviously they were sold out in just a couple of days.

    My first impression on MacBook was totally positive. It’s light, powerful and has a bright, clear screen which is just perfect for my needs. Portability is a must for me and I have a bigger screen at home if needed so the 13″ (33 cm) screen size is just fine. The computer starts up and is ready to use in a blink of an eye compared to anything else in the price range and it stays alive quite a while too as the battery should last at least for 4 hours.

    Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard succeeded to impress me with its simpliness and lightweight which leaves more resources to the programs I’m using and less confusion to me. Using Lightroom is absolutely painless as what goes to the performance. Pointing the cursor using the trackpad only is of course clumsy and takes patience if you’re in the need of accuracy but I’m ok with that as far as I don’t have to carry a mouse with me.

    Have been trying out shooting in tethered mode too, straight into Lightroom by having folder watching function enabled. I had some serious problems using Canon’s CameraWindow with Mac software as it just gave me an error: “Cannot detect camera.” So if you confront this same issue make sure you upgrade into EOS Utilities which is downloadable from Canon’s website. That worked for me and now I’m able to burst away with my camera and watch how my work of art simply pops up onto the vivid screen of this beauty. It can’t get much more simple than this!

    Can't wait to open the box

    My shiny new MacBook straight out of the box

    MacBook

    My workflow has upgraded to a brand new level!

    MacBook 13

    So yeah… So far I’m loving it!

    Me and my brand new MacBook - Photo: Julius Koivistoinen

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    Triple jumping in Eltsu

    • September 27, 2008 3:04 pm

    Olin fanittamassa Mark Turusen kolmiloikkakisoja Eläintarhan eli Eltsun urheilukentällä elokuun 31. päivä. “Satuin” samalla ottamaan mukaani 135 millisen objektiivini testattavaksi, koska paloin halusta päästä kokeilemaan kyseistä putkea urheiluvalokuvaukseen. Otettiin myös pari muutaman minuutin kokovartalopotrettia. Kuvia:

    Canon EOS 350D, EF 135mm f/2L USM, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, 430EX, ST-E2

    Photo by Julius Koivistoinen: Mark Turunen

    Photo by Julius Koivistoinen: Mark Turunen Photo by Julius Koivistoinen: Mark Turunen

    Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Photo by Julius Koivistoinen: Mark Turunen

    Photo by Julius Koivistoinen Photo by Julius Koivistoinen Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Photo by Julius Koivistoinen Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Photo by Julius Koivistoinen Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Photo by Julius Koivistoinen Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

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    Autumn is coming

    • September 2, 2008 11:41 pm

    A girl walking on streets of Helsinki city. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    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!

    Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM is the replacement for my 90-300mm plastic toy. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM and Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM. Photo by Julius Koivistoinen

    See the setup here – 3 strobes @ 1/8 power. CTO and CTB gels used on the flashes behind lenses.

    Me. I just ran 10 kilometers during the global Nike+ Human Race event. Photo by Mark Turunen

    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. :)

    Shooting airsoft

    • April 7, 2008 11:15 pm

    It has been so long since I last time was photographing airsoft so I was very excited about it! Even though there were only Janne, Väinö and I.

    This time I was also really inspired by James Nachtwey’s war photography (link) and I tried really hard to archieve somewhat same feeling to some of my shots as he does. I also got to shoot with Väinö’s old film camera which was very exciting too. Those pics will be avaible later though…

    Oh, and by the way. Piu piu piu is like pow pow pow in English. ;)

    Canon EOS 350D, EF 17-40mm f/4L, 430EX, ST-E2

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