unikuva.net blog

Or more like oh crawfish! Or something like that :D I shot these on Monday when crawfish season officially started here in Finland. Nasty looking creatures! But still I feel sorry for them because they’re going to be cooked alive. The thought makes me shiver. Still I’m sure all the things that are done in regular butcheries everyday would make me lose my appetite too.. Shooting these shots were nice though. I wasn’t stressed or anything :)

The hardest part was to find someone who catches those thingies and is willing to be shot. No one closer to Pori agreed so I drove to Säkylä were some pro or semi pro fishermen weren’t so secretive about their doings. Not that I found about the spots they put those catching thingies, but I figured it’s not as important to be secretive about your crawfishing around a big lake full of crawfish than in small creeks that are known to only few people. But what do I know! Might be some other reasons too :D

The first shot got into the paper. I like it too :) Even my boss at Kankaanpää liked it :O Anyway, it’s late - again. I should go to bed, it’s another Kankaanpää day tomorrow. I wonder when I’ll have my next SK day. I hope it’s soon :)

I shot these for Iltalehti on 25th of June. The building-a-house extra came out on Saturday. Part of the extra were five (or something like that) short stories of different well known people who are building a house right now. I shot Toni Vilander (drives a car fast enough) with his girlfriend Erja Jynkkäri at their construction site after my regular job. They were both nice and and it went rather smoothly and quickly. The second pic got chosen for publication (with the blueprints of their house). I kind of like the first one too, and not just because of the dog. Or maybe just because of the dog. It brings life to the situation and the image is more dynamic me thinks.

I know all these images are a little stiff.. I’m still learning how to make people really relaxed while shooting when they aren’t actually doing anything. I’m not sure if it’s something that can be learned, but I’m keeping my thumbs up :) It’s so much easier to shoot a happening, or just something were people are doing something. But there’s lots and lots of situations in regular newspaper work where there’s just that person you shoot and nothing really happens. You just need to make a picture (and be fast about it!). If you get a good idea it may work but if not than it’s going to be one of those stiffies. Don’t get me wrong, stiffies can be good too, if done right. But as I said I’m still learning here! If I’ve got time anytime soon I’m going to post a collection of stiffies I’ve taken so far for SK :D

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Today I was going to go downtown but when the time came to go I didn’t feel like it. So here I am.. It’s been a long week I guess. After work today I finally went to grocery store. We were out of almost everything! After hauling everything I bought inside I cooked some good food for Miikka (and myself too, of course). We had something nice for desert too. Miikka is at work now, but I tried to make the hour we had before he had to leave a nice one because it’s his birthday today! So once more: Happy Birthday Baby! (he’s gonna love me for that! LOL!)

I bought the cutest little cat bag on Wednesday. Straight from the person who makes them. It’s handprinted and all. There were lots of cute stuff on her stand. I would have loved to have some of her t-shirts too. The belts are from the market at Kankaanpää. Thursdays are market days there and I was there little early yesterday so I bought them before going to work :)

I bought a new calendar on Wednesday. I’m still in the student calendar buying rhythm.. that means getting a new calendar in July or August. I’ve had the same kind of calendar for two years now. Very good layout for me. This year my fav calendar had really ugly covers and I just didn’t feel like bying it. I’m giving a chance to a different design. Let’s hope it works as well as the old one.

There’s something fascinating about new calendars. How clean they are.. no markings, no have-to-dos.. just empty pages with lots of possibilities. Of course that changes when it’s put to use and all the pre-arrenged stuff gets written to it. But for a while it looks like total freedom :D Still I sometimes do like to flip through old calendars too. It brings back stuff I have already forgotten. Nice mundane things. I guess this blog does that too.. but with a calendar it’s a little different :)

My parents came for a visit in the morning. We went downtown to check out the jazz street. We did some shopping too, but more about that later. It was nice, just to hang around :) Miikka had a one long gig in the morning and after he came back we all went to eat together. We tried a new place (at least new to us) and it was ok. Food was good and the place looked a little different. And now I’m so very tired that writing doesn’t feel like a smart thing to do. Bare with me, I’m just a small-brained little photographer! And for a photographer I have to say that I took some pretty bad snapshots with my old G2 - and even if that wasn’t enough I do look awful in the first pic. But that’s life :D

Anyway.. after getting our bellies filled we biked home and got together some warm clothes for the evening. The weather was really windy and there were some dark clouds seen almost in all directions at that moment. However when we got back to town it had all changed.. the sun was shining on almost cloudless sky. It was soooooo nice. We headed straight for Kirjurinluoto. The city arranged a big free concert to celebrate it’s 450th birthday. There were lots of artists performing during the four hour concert. And all of them (artists) were originally (or still) from Pori. There were something for everyone. Very good cocktail of different music styles from jazz to rock and back again. And most artist were backed up by the symphony orchestra of Pori. Pretty nice stuff. All artist played two songs so if you didn’t like one it didn’t take too long for him/her to stop :D

We sat there on the lawn and enjoyed the music and sun and it was wonderful. There were over 30 000 people there. Carlos Santana has gig on the same stage on Friday (PoriJazz festival) and all 30 000 tickets are sold out.. so the arena was pretty full! But everything happened surprisingly smoothly. I guess the sun and free music put everyone on a good enough mood :) I personally was on a great mood. This is how a day off of work should be spent! Anyway, we were back at home about half past ten and Miikka left for work at midnight. I didn’t get much sleep last night but I was on a really good mood at work too today - at least for the first couple of hours :D

I’m just posting some pics that I took when I was driving around on June 21st. Or 22nd. It was such a beautiful evening/night. I love the light during this time of the year and day. So very pretty. And all the greens are still so fresh and new.

Tonight the weather was really nice too. I even almost dug out my rollerskates. Almost. No wind, warm but not too hot and very pretty clouds and light. But than lazyness won. I’ve been a little tired this week. I’ve got only myself to blame for that since I haven’t gone to bed early even though I’ve been tired and even though I have known that I should go to bed early and that I’m going to be really really tired if I don’t sleep. Somehow sometimes going to bed just isn’t so easy. I just end up doing something totally unnecessary and stupid and get more and more tired. Ummm… I think I’m doing it again! Right now! :D

Luckily I don’t have to wake up too early tomorrow. I have a day off from work and Mom and dad are coming for a visit. I’m sure they won’t be here too early. I think we’ll hang out on the jazz street a little and when Miikka comes from work we’ll go eat something together. And in the evening there’s a big free concert at Kirjuri. It’s one of the events that Pori arranges to celebrate it’s 450th year. Should be interesting and nice if the weather’s good!

I sure hope it’s gonna be good because I turned two newspapers down just to spent a nice day with my family. Situations like these are great for checking priorities. Family wins over a job - even a nice job. That’s good, and just how it should be too. Of course it’s not always possible to choose, but now when I had already arranged everything and it was possible I didn’t hesitate. It was surprisingly easy to say no to those job offers. Even thought they were exactly what I want to do. Saying no because of my regular job is a lot harder.

Finally a Saturday off from work! The plan was to spent the day at Tampere, shopping a little and than going to see two bands. Miikka got a “nice” surprise from his boss, and had to work the night before Satuday so we got to Tampere a little later than I had thought. The shopping part of the day got really short but otherwise it was all good. We went to see some free gigs at the Vanhan kirjastotalon puisto. The bands were ok, even good and the weather was just perfect. Not too cold but not too hot either, just plain good.

The gigs we really went there for were at Tullikamari. I bought the tickets ages ago and before I started at Kankaanpää I said that I won’t come if I can’t be away on the 12th of June :D Anyway, two bands played there: YUP and CMX. I like YUP too, but CMX is something really special to me. I don’t really know how or why it has become so important to me but it has. Everyone has some crazyness and mine is their music. I’ve been going to their gigs since 1996 (or 1995, I’m not sure) and I don’t see why I wouldn’t go for another +10 years. I just hope that they have it in them to continue doing music and gigs as long as possible.

The gig was really good, the only thing that made it less than perfect was two idiots who were trying to force themselves forward with violence. I hate people like that. They’re too fucking lazy to come there in time for good places and than they drink too much and decide that no one else matters and come forward with force. No matter who they trample or hurt on the way. I really felt like kicking they’re asses last night. I’m not usually violent but I so much wished to hit the guy full in the face :D I’m glad that I didn’t though. Miikka did a big job keeping that retarded fucker off my face.

The shots in the simple viewer plugin are old, from the 2005 Pidot -tour. The same tour as the shot of A. W. Yrjänä in the beginning of this post, but different venue. The image quality of the series sucks because I didn’t find the original ones this fast, only these poor files.. Anyway, these were taken at Finlandia Club, Lahti and the top one was at Tavastia Club, Helsinki. On those gigs I experimented with some really fast b&w film. Iso 3200 Ilford Delta that was. Very very grainy but I don’t mind that. Fast film, lots of grain and rock’n'roll goes together all right. Though I have to admit that printing these in the darkroom was a pain :D

Can’t believe it’s Sunday night, again! And tomorrow is another work day, it just doesn’t feel fair or right! I’ve got a day off on Wednesday, my mom and dad are coming for a visit. I hope the weather is good, because it would be nice to go downtown to check out the Jazz street at all :)

I worked at SK on Monday, these shots are from the second gig of that day. Rock photographer Ville Juurikkala is having an exhibition with his mother director and artist Kaija Juurikkala at Galleria Vanha Savu (Merikarvia).

In the second shot Ville is shooting a local band called Crimson Memories. The shot will be in the exhibition too. I hope that I have a chance to go see how the image came out. The exhibition is open until 3rd of August so there’s still time :)

The second shot was on the front page of SK on Tuesday. That was nice :) The ones of them alone didn’t get published since the writer wanted something where both mother and son are in the same shot. I like the one I took of Ville alone so I’m publishing it here :D

When I got the brief for the gig in the morning it felt a little strange.. you know, to go and shoot a well known photographer, but it turned out to be one of the nicest and most relaxed gigs I’ve done so far. Nice :)

The other gig I did that day wasn’t that easy.. the story isn’t out yet so I’m keeping the images to myself - at least for now. I had trouble in getting ideas because things weren’t like we (the writer and me) thought they’d be before hand. Not at all. But I did my best. Let’s hope it’s enough!

On Tuesday I took my first shots (passport pics don’t count) at Kankaanpää too. I stressed over the shoot a lot before hand. Not because of the customers or the actual shoot but because I was sure that no matter how well I’d do my boss wouldn’t be satisfied. She almost never is.. And I’m not used to making people get into weird poses. The ones my boss likes are a bit too much for me, most oridinary people don’t feel natural in them. Some do and than it works but most don’t. Especially young teenagers that are still getting to know their growing bodies tend to look awkward in them.

Aaanywayyy… the shoot went well. I did some mistakes, but at least I noticed them myself too. And I got some very pretty images too. The girl I shot wanted to have her dog in some of the pics too. It was the sweetest little dog ever! A five months old chi hua hua baby. It really was soooo cute that I wouldn’t have minded taking it home with me. I was totally sold! Maybe we’ll have a dog like that someday. My allergies haven’t been bothering me at Miikka’s parents’ at all and they have a chi hua hua. But the history of having to give up a loved pet cat as a kid because of allergy makes me really really careful in such things. Oh well.. I hope they like the shots - at least I do. Too bad that I can’t put them up here.. that would be the cutest entry ever!

I guess this is one of those updates that are posted to say that I’m still alive and kicking :P I have wanted to update on several nights but there just hasn’t been time. I’ve actually felt bad about not updating.. I’ve been on the updating mood for some time now but haven’t been able to do it. I should be getting in to bed right now.. I haven’t slept enough this week and I’m really tired. The above shots of me were taken by Miikka. Just to show my haircolor :) Maybe tomorrow I’ll post some pics that are taken by me.. should be more interesting than my face - at least I hope so :D

What a horrible day! I’ve felt SO miserable today that it’s hard to believe it, even though I still feel some of those emotions in a distant kind of way. I’m not getting into that now, it’s too personal and “raw” to talk about in public (even though this is read only by a hand full of people it’s still out there you know).

Oh well. Life goes on! But instead of looking forward, we’re looking back now. To Friday! On Friday I worked at SK again. It was the busiest day I’ve had there so far. I drove around Pori and even to Eurajoki. These shots are from there. I know they’re very very yellow/red, but I didn’t want to correct the colors, because it better describes the happening and mood etc.

I didn’t have a reporter with me and didn’t really know what to expect when I went there. I only got a short brief that said that there’s lots of veterans there that are given a good meal. Something we call rosvopaisti. It’s sheep meat that is cooked underground for a long time. That explanation sounded crazy.. I don’t know if pit-roasted is the right translation? Anyone? :D Aaaanyway.. Finnair was one of the sponsors of the event and there were flight attendants that served to food to the tables of over thousand war veterans and their wives. I heard there were meat of about hundred sheep.. that’s pretty wild. There were some other stuff going on too, like speeches and singing and music, but I didn’t have much time.. I just drove there, took some shots and left. It would have been nice to be there a little longer. I think that a good reportage would have been possible if I’d had more time.

I had some ice cream on the balcony just a while ago. Sun was shining and I thought that it would be nice and warm to sit there but it was rather cold instead - the ice cream didn’t make me feel any warmer either :D

I had a shooting gig today after work. I don’t know what I was thinking (probably nothing) when shooting! I really didn’t have my brains with me there. I got some that I like myself, but I’m not sure if they’re what the paper is looking for. It’s harder to take shots when you don’t have the reporter with you and you can’t hear him/her talking to the person in the story or read the actual story. Or even meet the reporter. Anyway, I think that there were lots of image opportunities that I just didn’t take. Stupid stupid me. But it’s no use crying about it now.. and I do believe I’ve got enough for the story.

Choosing images is pretty hard too. Well sometimes you just know which are the ones to send to the paper, but when going out there alone with minimum knowledge of the actual story or the people or anything it’s really hard. Now for example I’ve got two images from this spot with the same people. The one I like more is actually a pretty good picture, and it has all the key elements I think there should be (gathered from my very short worded brief), and a surprise element that hides part of one of the key elements. It’s a nice picture, somehow alive. The other shot shows one of the key elements a lot better but is otherwise more boring and not really alive. Might be a tad confusing explanation, but I don’t know how to say it better right now. My brains are still missing I guess!

I know I could send both of the images, but I’m afraid that they’d be stupid and use the boring one. Some photographers have said to me not to give forward those shots you don’t like yourself because they always pick the wrong ones to be published. I don’t know if I buy that entirely, but the mag I shot for today isn’t exactly the hottest star in the photojournalism sky :D Oh well, I don’t have to make the decision today.. Actually I don’t have to do anything today - except brush my teeth and go to bed!