The I Inside

BehindMyBlueEyes on Etsy

2012-01-19T12:08:00.002+02:00

Selling prints of my photos. Check them out here:

Special offer: 4 prints for the price of 1 (same size)!

byVellamo on Etsy

2011-11-08T09:30:00.000+02:00

After some browsing around and some thinking, I have joined an online community called Etsy.

If you haven't heard of it, it is a community where people buy and sell handmade, vintage and supplies products. For sellers, it charges $0.2 for each listing which will last for 4 months and 3.5% of the sale price.

I have browsed some shops there and the artwork looks really nice and the prices are really good too. And the fact that you can pay with Paypal only makes it better. So for buyers it is really easy. Check it out.

If you have heard of it, I would love to hear about your experiences and what you think about it.

This small shop which I set up will be completely separate from byVellamo and the items I will sell there will be exclusive and one-of-a-kind or limited editions designed and handmade by myself and of course available to be shipped anywhere in the world. I will add some of my own designs to byVellamo, but in that case they will not be available on Etsy.

You can check it out and tell me what you think:

Daylight Saving

2011-11-03T15:27:00.000+02:00

Sure. Why does it get dark at 4pm then? Where is that saving going?

About Stock Photography - Part 2: other websites

2011-11-02T09:10:00.000+02:00

As I started talking about stock photography and royalty free websites, I realized including all of them in one post will result in a too long article.

I mentioned the highest earning sites in the previous blog entry, so now I will focus on low earners and new websites which I can't yet evaluate.

123RF: a pretty slow earning website, but I like their very easy upload interface, it really doesn't take almost any time to submit images. The payout system is slow but automatic.
BigStockPhoto: also one of the slowest earning websites, but it is also pretty easy to submit your content here. Not as easy as 123rf, you have to pick categories for each image. Sales happen rarely and the earnings are on hold for like 2 weeks, but if you check the website rarely, it is nice to cash out every now and then.
CanStockPhoto: pretty much similar to BigStock, extremely slow sales, but they do happen.
Crestock: not the site I would recommend to spend time with. Sales are close to zero. I uploaded some images a few years ago and then pretty much gave up on it. Reviewers are from my experience very harsh, refusing images which are top sellers for me on all other websites.
MostPhotos: they don't seem to have any review system of what I can tell, you can upload as much as you want. They don't even check that you have model releases for your photos containing people. I don't think that is very good for them, they have kazillions of images. So of course sales happen like once a year. The do sell for Euros though.
ColourBox: listing ColourBox last because I am new there and I am not sure how well images sell. After my first uploaded batch I got a few downloads pretty fast, but only time will tell. The quality of the images on their website seems quite high.

There are of course many, many other stock photo websites out there, but none of them come to my mind now. I have accounts on a few others as well, like Featurepics or DepositPhotos, but it is really not worth going into the details of them here.

One more thing worth mentioning: the TAX FORMS. All of these websites will require you to fill out a tax form before you get your payout. You have to do this for sites based in USA so that you won't pay a percentage of your incomes (which are already small enough). It's usually pretty easy to fill out, and they all have instructions on how to do it.

About Stock Photography - Part 1: Biggest Earners

2011-10-31T11:08:00.000+02:00

Since the first time I picked up a digital camera in 2005, until now, I have signed up to quite many websites selling stock photos. I will try to list them here and write a few words about each of them from my experience.

Shutterstock: it is by far the best earning website for myself. I have now over 3300 images there. Over the past couple of years sales have dropped significantly though. In 2008 I was making from $150 to $250 a month, but right after the first waves of the now famous economic crisis hit, the sales dropped exponentially. Nowadays it is getting more and more difficult to get in as a contributor and they seem to like studio type photos the most on this website. The payout per download varies from 0,25c to $28 and there is no exclusivity program. My most downloaded image:

Dreamstime: amongst my top earners, Dreamstime is not that difficult site to get in, but the number of downloads I get there is much smaller than on Shutterstock. The payouts vary from 0,22c to around $20. There is an exclusivity program here, but I have not tried it (I think that if you have a very high number of images, submitting to more than one agency is the way to go and it would be too much work to keep track of what is exclusive where). They take a bit longer time to deliver your money (around 2 weeks usually), but you will get it. Clients seem to prefer nature and travel type pictures here. My most popular image:

Fotolia: in close competition with Dreamstime when it comes to earnings for me, Fotolia has a good interface for submitting, and is reasonably easy to join. Reviewers seem to be moderately harsh and they seem to not have a certain preference for either studio or nature/travel type images. The payouts range from 0,25c to around $15. My most popular image:

Istockphoto: it is by far the stock agency with the harshest reviewing system. I have to say that their uploading interface seems to be designed only to make contributors' lives as difficult as possible. For each keyword you have, you have to go through a long list and pick what you actually meant. You can only upload a certain number of images per week. I guess they try to keep their numbers under control like this. From the point of view of a purchaser, it is a very good website, although you can have surprises with the images costs. Exclusive images tend to be very expensive. As a contributor, I don't know much about their exclusivity program, so if anyone reading this does, please share the information :) As for earnings, they range from as low as 0,13c to a few $ per image. It does take them a few weeks to send you the payouts, but I have had no problems so far. My most popular image:

One of the most useful tools is the free online keywording tool on Yuri Arcurs' website. Yuri Arcurs is probably the most famous stock photographer, the one "who made it big". His images are top sellers and he owns a big studio in Denmark. For me personally, stock photography was very useful to improve the quality of my photos. Thanks to the harsh reviewers on various websites, I have learned a lot over the years.

I currently have close to 20.000 photos on all the websites combined. If you want to learn more about these websites and opportunities, click my links or read further on the Microstock group website.

A few thoughts about photography for photographers

2011-10-28T01:51:00.000+03:00

I don't know if these thoughts might be of any use to any photographers out there, just beginning their journey. But they are some things and some types of people I have come across in the years I have been a professional so far.

Yes, the competition in this field is huge. There is always someone new, someone doing it differently and above all there is ABSOLUTELY ALWAYS someone with a better equipment than yours. And you will always find one of the following:

The "I'm a photographer too" syndrome: I'm sure you've met them. "What camera do you have? oh really? I have the same (or, in some cases, a much better model). I am a photographer too. You really used that camera to take these pictures? They must be photoshopped. No, I won't believe it looked like that". And the list of comments goes on and on. I am still a firm believer that it is not always about the camera, but how you can use it. And yes, sometimes that sunset IS that red. I still sell lots of photos taken with my first entry-level DSLR camera. And on the other hand, I am also a ferm believer that a pro camera in pro hands WILL create amazing results. But, if they are only shooting the typical sunset, the kids at all ages, times of day and colors of clothing and family pets, of course doing this while shooting always in full auto mode, I kindly advise it is not worth investing thousands over thousands of euros in gear. For the photographer, my advice is: have confidence in your work. And know your camera.

The "Who is cheaper" contest for a shoot: I don't know how many of you have come across these types of job offers. Personally, I received a few by email. Come to think of it, all from the same town. Maybe they have so much competitive spirit up there. They all started out promising enough, with a long description of what the shoot will be and where it will be. And at the end of the email, the "client" asks for a quote and then tells you clearly that they did send this identical offer to several photographers in the area and they will pick the one with most convenient price. Translated: we will pick the cheapest one. Ehh... am I the only one thinking this is a bit off? We are not talking about beer here. We are also not talking about painting the walls of your house in a fresh color or changing the plumbing in the bathroom. When you ask a photographer for a quote, I am guessing you did go through the website and got some idea of the quality of his/her work and for some reason, decided you like the style and want to ask them how much it would cost to shoot for you. If you think that price is too high, you politely decline and find somebody else.

The "Do this for me cheap now and I will get you so much work" lies: Oh I am sure you have met this type. I seem to have a magnet for them. Let me tell it right away: they are lies. They just don't want to pay more than what they had in mind, they talk a lot and then they promise you big fat deals and clients because of course they are famous and have oh-so-many contacts and they are so busy and work so much and they can highly recommend you to everyone and you will soon not even be able to handle the amount of work everybody will throw at you. Yeah.. Don't buy it. If you need the money, do the shoot. If you don't think it's worth it, walk away. Clients are out there.

The "free professionals" plague: This is a bit tricky one. At one point or another, in the beginning, all photographers did free shoots. If they did them to build portfolios, or just keep good contacts or gain prospective clients or just to learn how to handle a camera, they all did it at some point. The question is: when to stop? Free work is a deep hole to climb out of. And of course there are always photographers out there taking the work from real professionals by shooting for free, because they already have a paying day job. Again my advice would be: keep the quality of your work always high, value your work and look for professional clients. Not the ones who would rather hire a student with a compact to shoot some event or some business portraits over a professional with a studio. Real professional clients will need and will value professional work.

and of course, the happy-with-your-work, will-pay-your-bill-right-away client who never pays: this is also a bit tricky to tackle. You don't want to burn bridges, you don't want to anger your clients and you do not want to lose clients. But, it is unprofessional to leave unpaid bills behind. ALWAYS be sure you have some sort of messages, emails, anything written to confirm the shoot and the bill and its amount. It happens very rarely, but it does happen. It can be a small bill or a bill worth thousands. Sometimes, they actually might be in financial difficulty. That is not your fault. You can be understanding, of course, talk to them if you can and try to sort things out. But with clients who stop replying and still not pay after weeks and keep the silence going, you really just waste time and obviously money. And there is a solution: contact a collecting company. They will take over for you and get most or all of your money paid.

It is a hard business and the obstacles are many. These are just a few I bumped into more or less recently or frequently. What you can do? Well, my honest advice: try to avoid the last 4 of these categories, value your own work and then other people will value it in return and do NOT shoot commercial work for free. Art is a different story, since it depends on you as an artist and your vision,therefore you can do whatever you want.

And keep on shooting.

Fresh new website!!!

2011-09-19T07:43:00.000+03:00

It was about time for a change. I have been using deviantART's portfolio for couple of years. I liked the simple layout with no unnecessary info, but since my subscription is about to expire, I thought it might be time for a change. Not sure if I want to renew the subscription, lately I found myself doing most of my photo browsing on 500px and even made an account there.

Check out my new website and tell me what you think!

Thank you Petrus! I love the new look!

On another note, I have opened a web shop - byvellamo.com - selling jewelry. All the items are 925 silver. It contains bracelets, pendants, ear-rings, rings, necklaces, with Swarovski crystals, Murano glass and gemstones. For now, it is for Finland only, but it will soon be available for the rest of EU as well.
Special offer: a 10€ voucher for one of our fans on the byvellamo facebook page, every month! You can use the voucher for one purchase on the website.

Web shop!

2011-09-03T02:34:00.000+03:00

I have opened a web shop, http://byvellamo.com selling jewelry. All the items are 925 silver. It contains bracelets, pendants, ear-rings, rings, necklaces, with Swarovski crystals, Murano glass and gemstones.

Murano glass is a famous product of the Venetian island of Murano. Located off the shore of Venice, Italy, Murano has been a commercial port as far back as the 7th century. By the 10th century, the city had become well known for its glassmakers, who created unique Murano glass. The glass contains a thin filigree layer of silver or gold inside, giving it a beautiful shine.

To create crystal glass that lets light refract in a rainbow spectrum, Swarovski coats some of its products with special metallic chemical coatings. Aurora Borealis, or "AB", is one of the most popular coatings, and gives the surface a rainbow appearance.Other coatings are named by the company, Crystal Transmission, Volcano, Aurum, and Dorado. Coatings may be applied to only part of an object; others are coated twice, and thus are designated AB 2X, Dorado 2X etc.

Marinated Tomatoes Recipe

2011-09-01T02:23:00.000+03:00

I found this in a magazine and I must say it is absolutely delicious. And very easy to make. You do need a bit o patience though.

Ingredients (for 3 jars):

1,5kg of cherry tomatoes (or small tomatoes)
3 dl olive oil
1 tbsp of mashed garlic
1 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp mediterranean herbs (pretty much a mix of things, like basil, rosemary, mint, oregano etc)

You cut the tomatoes in slices. I added paprika to the tomatoes, mostly because I had it lying around, but it does taste good in the mix. You put the vegetables in the preheated oven, 125°C for about 3h. I left mine for 3h and I think it would be good to maybe leave them for 3,5 or 4 hours. I guess you can sundry them, if you live in a hot climate :)

In the meantime you mix the olive oil with the spices and prepare 3 or 4 jars.

When the vegetables are done, take them out and put them in the jars. Then just add the marinate and close the jars.

For the best flavour, wait a few days before tasting. Of course I waited two whole days :) and almost finished one jar in one day. But... enjoy!!!

Milk

2011-06-16T22:53:00.000+03:00

I was playing around with water and milk the other day. Yes it is indeed a bit messy operation. It is best to have a glass table or something you can wipe easily :) But I really wanted to practice high speed shots of liquid.

I used two flashes and I controlled one of them with a radio trigger. I set the power on both flashes to 1/16, which means they fire quite fast, like 1/4000 of a second. The flashes were pretty much facing each other and I poured the milk in a plate, in between them.

The camera settings don't matter much, as long as you have no other light in the image other than from the flashes. And make sure you have a small aperture, somewhere around f/11 or 14 to have as much of the picture sharp as you can. My settings were: shutter speed 1/30, f/14. The tricky thing is to pour the liquid and press the shutter at the time it hits the surface :)

Like my page on facebook to keep track of more of my work and other photography tips I come across. Also, if there is something you want to know about photography, please ask.

Samba!

2011-06-11T19:02:00.000+03:00

Today was the Samba Carnival in Helsinki. Many samba schools from Finland gathered in the center. It was a beautiful parade of colourful costumes and music. For more photos, you can check my Facebook page.

Underwear photo retouching

2011-06-09T11:54:00.000+03:00

You see these kinds of photos in every beauty magazine and not only. Here is a small tutorial of how you can edit a glamour, beauty or portrait photo.
The only light source I used here was a softbox with a Canon flash, on the left side of the image to give a soft light.
You can use Adobe Photoshop Elements for instance, since the license for that software is not that expensive. I got mine for free when purchasing a wacom tablet.
Let's start from the original RAW file, which looks like this:

I wanted to make this image black and white, so I did that in the RAW editing. I increased contrast, I applied an orange filter effect and reduced some of the highlights. I did this in Canon's Digital Photo Professional software and then converted the image to jpg.

The first thing I usually do is look at the levels and see where the important information in the image is, and drag the sliders to give it more contrast. You can see that the blacks are on the left side and the whites are on the right. I also adjusted the mid-tones a bit, because the image was too bright.

After the level adjustment, what I usually do is create a new layer and start correcting the skin's imperfections. You want to do this zoomed in to 100% and use the healing brush. The clone brush is useful if you have some edges to correct, straight lines or sometimes if you want to make eyelashes look more dense. You need to be careful and sample the healing brush from near where you are applying it, to avoid making the effect look artificial. The brush size needs to be quite small to work on the small details. This process takes a while and you need to be patient to get the best results.

After you have healed all the minor imperfections on the skin, you can emphasize some features with the help of dodge and burn brush. What I did here was paint a few faint shadows and highlights on the chest and stomach. The changes are subtle but they give a more 3D look.

It is pretty simple process on an image like this, it gets more time consuming on a beauty shot where you have a face as well. Of course you can use a blur tool on the skin, but be careful not to lose the skin texture's details. On this particular image, I chose not to use the blur tool.
Here is my final image:

Learning

2011-05-16T23:02:00.001+03:00

I have started to study some manipulations techniques. I am only at the beginning but it is a very interesting field to explore. I will try to create some tutorials if I come across something interesting.

Like my page on facebook to keep track of more of my work and other photography tips I come across. Also, if there is something you want to know about photography, please ask.

These are the results of my first lessons:

Life is... [3]

2011-04-30T07:43:00.000+03:00

You feel alive when you step outside and smell the fresh rain. When you see the fresh green grass. It's never as beautiful as the first grass of each year.

You feel alive close to people you love.

It's been too long since the last entry. Once again. And now it's spring.New spring, new start. It will be a great summer.

Game of Thrones by HBO

2011-04-25T23:15:00.000+03:00

And it's finally out. The long awaited series, made by HBO, made after the novel by George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire.

In my opinion, a very good start. The series has been officially renewed for a second season on HBO after the release of the first episode.

Two episodes out and the pace is quite fast. Which is probably a good thing. Keeps the audience interested. I don't know how well the small adjacent stories and details are shown to the viewers who have no knowledge of the books, but so far it looks good. The story is true to the book and I can't wait to see the next episodes.

The actors seem to be more than suited for the characters they are portraying. Ned Stark couldn't have been acted out by a better actor than Sean Bean. And I totally agree with John Hodgman when he says that "Tyrion Lannister is the best character in fiction". Peter Dinklage looks perfect for the part. On the other hand, I would have liked to see Cat Stark looking a bit stronger, because her character in the book was a very strong woman. And maybe a bit more about the wolves.

Before wrapping this up, a big congratulations to George R. R. Martin for making The Times top 100 list 2011.

Changes

2011-02-03T20:07:00.006+02:00

We all need a change once in a while. It's a new year, we put so much hope in it, every year. We promise things to ourselves, make lists of things to do. Resolutions, they call them. But will we stick to them? Will the things we plan for, happen?

In the meantime, make small changes. Change your clothes, change your shoes. Change the way you walk in the street. Smile more often. Look people in the eye and don't look away. Listen to more music. Louder. Spend more time with people who care for you. And less time in the company of those who don't. Go out. Go skiing. Go skating. Go a bit crazy once in a while.

Go red.

Staffpoint and Idols

2010-11-29T08:44:00.000+02:00

I am working with a previous client this month. As part of that project, I am taking photos at the Idols competition, and then photoshopping them to other images. In the summer, they were funny career images, this time they are funny superstar images.

The first stage was in Kuopio, on 19.11 and the second stage was in Rovaniemi on 26.11.

Coffee Egg-punch

2010-11-28T19:13:00.003+02:00

I bought a coffee based recipe book the other day and I tried something out from it today. It is absolutely delicious and I warmly recommend it.

Ingredients (for 2 or 3 cups):

4 egg yolks
1,5 dl sugar
5 dl hot freshly made coffee

Mix the egg yolks with the sugar until it turns into a foam. The place the foam into a small pot and add 3 spoons of coffee. Heat it up and mix, adding the rest of the coffee as well. Keep it on low heat and mix continuously until the composition thickens.

Serve hot and enjoy!

Only in Finland

2010-11-19T17:51:00.003+02:00

Only in Finland can you order a taxi by SMS... and it actually gets there faster than if you would call.

Diwali

2010-11-08T16:04:00.005+02:00

On Saturday my mother and I were invited to a party. The occasion was Diwali, an Indian celebration of light.
We had a very good time, made very nice new friends, learned new things about new cultures and had new good culinary experiences. It is amazing to be able to learn new things about cultures coming from literally all corners of the Earth. The food was great, quite spicy (for my taste, although for our hosts it was very mild) but very tasty.

Thank you very much!

Bread recipe

2010-11-07T10:07:00.000+02:00

Here is a new recipe, for delicious small breads. I haven't bought bread more than maybe a few times this year, since I started making these.

Ingredients:

3dl milk (or water)
15g yeast
1 tsp salt
2-3 sp oil
7 dl of flour (half grain, but any type works)
optional: 1 egg
optional: sesame seeds

Warm up the milk or water and dissolve the yeast in it.

In a big bowl mix the flour with the salt, then add the oil and the milk or water with dissolved yeast.

Mix well and knead the dough until the ingredients are mixed well. Then cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and leave to grow for one hour.

After it has grown, cut the dough into small pieces. For this amount of ingredients, around 16 pieces will be fine.

Put the small pieces of dough on baking paper on a tray or oven grill and cover with the towel for another 10 minutes. In the meantime, heat the oven up to 225°C.

Smear the egg on the breads and spread some sesame seeds on top.

Tip: You can add sun-dried tomatoes. Take about a handful and cut them to small pieces and mix in the dough.

Business Photoshoot 9.11.2010

2010-11-05T10:55:00.002+02:00

Missing a good photo for CV or website?

Come to the last Entrepreneur Tuesday to get one. I will be there with the studio set up.

The price will be 20 Euros per person.

Limited spots available.

Register here: Business photoshoot 9.11.2010

Time: 9.11.2010, 18-20

Place: Active Life Village, Metsänpojankuja 3, 02130 Espoo, Finland.

Autumn feeling

2010-10-21T14:19:00.003+03:00

After a few weeks of amazing colours, winter seems to be well on its way. After a few blizzards of gold leaves, a short snow blizzard last weekend left no traces of snow a few hours later.

Shorter days, longer nights.

Fireworks competition, Helsinki

2010-09-14T12:37:00.000+03:00

Last week there was an annual event, the like of which I haven't seen until now: a fireworks competition. It was a very good opportunity to take new kind of photos, since I have never tried to take photos of fireworks before.

I followed the instruction of a tutorial I found on Deviantart.

I used a tripod and a remote.
I set the focus of the lens to manual and to infinity.
I used manual settings, an f of 6.3-8 and bulb for exposure, so I can control it from the remote.
I took all the photos in RAW and I took care that the composition is enough to fit the portion of the sky where the fireworks will shoot. Better to have to crop the image than ruin it by not having the whole show in the frame.

The rest was just about pressing the remote button, while looking at the sky. After the first few photos which were either under or over-exposed, I started to get the hang of it. Around 2-4seconds for the bright fireworks and up to 6-8seconds for the less bright ones.

End of Road Trip

2010-09-13T12:15:00.003+03:00

The last stages of the road trip were quite fast, there was a lot of driving to get home.

From Copenhagen we drove to Berlin and the next morning we set off for Timisoara. We arrived in the evening.

Total km count: around 8000km for my parents, around 6000km from Helsinki. Quite a trip :-)

Road trip: Stockholm - Copenhagen

2010-08-21T00:30:00.002+03:00

It was a longish drive, and the promised rain for the day before, happened on that day... Luckily though, when we got to Copenhagen, the clouds were cleared and we had a very nice and warm sunny evening in Copenhagen.

We walked around the centre, near Tivoli (I so have to visit it inside someday too...), the small streets leading to the canals in the centre and near the royal castle, towards the shore to see the symbol of the Danish capital, the Little Mermaid... Surprise surprise... she wasn't there. She's in China! It was quite funny, you have a live webcam of her on display in Shanghai. Of course you could see that from anywhere in the world, you don't have to go to Copenhagen for it.

But the city is beautiful. The city hall, the small shopping streets, the water canals, the parks and the sea shore... the opera building.

Large size:

Road trip: Stockholm

2010-08-19T08:37:00.000+03:00

It was a full day of visiting Stockholm. It is a beautiful city, one of the most beautiful cities I have seen. I loved the feel of the place too. We also saw glimpses of a cavalry parade. It is slightly funny, those guards, like the one in my photo below, were women. Even the few which I spotted to be men, were quite small in size and a bit feminine looking...

Looooots of tourists... not too fond of that particular breed of humans, but with music playing in your headphones, you can ignore a lot of things and enjoy the surroundings.

Oh yeah, one thing Sweden could definitely improve: get some free freaking public toilets. The street corners and alleys might smell less of urine if people wouldn't have to pay 10SEK (equivalent of around 1€) just to take a leak.

Large size:

Road trip: Uppsala - Stockholm

2010-08-18T20:27:00.002+03:00

The drive from Uppsala to Stockholm was as short as drinking a cup of coffee. The weather was a bit bad when we got there and then in the afternoon it started pouring down. Even so, we walked around the old town and got some photos.

Large size:

Road trip: Kiruna - Sundsvall - Uppsala

2010-08-17T10:35:00.003+03:00

From Kiruna to Stockholm there are 1240km. So we decided to drive as far as we can in one day. That proved to be over 800km and we stayed in Sundsvall.
The next day we came to Uppsala, which is pretty close, but since we didn't find any hotel with even remotely reasonable price for the day, we stayed in Uppsala for one day.

Large photo for stock:

Road trip: Nordkapp - Kiruna

2010-08-16T17:23:00.003+03:00

The morning when leaving from Nordkapp was really nice and sunny. The weather got worse until it ended up in a heavy rain which felt like washing the car off the road, just before Narvik.

Either way, the country is breathtaking in any weather. If anything, maybe I am glad it was overcast, since photos turn out nice no matter where the sun is aligned. In sunshine, if it's behind a mountain, the photos might prove tricky to take.

Large size for stock:

Kiruna at night:

Road trip: Honningsvåg, Nordkapp

2010-08-13T23:47:00.000+03:00

Today was spent at Nordkapp, mostly taking it easy after so long driving.
The sun was out briefly, to give me a chance to take a few good photos and I also am quite happy to have harassed and chased a few reindeer around to get a few good shots :)

Large size for stock:

Road trip: Rovaniemi - Nordkapp

2010-08-13T05:14:00.005+03:00

The road from Rovaniemi to Nordkapp was absolutely beautiful. We saw Santa's village in the morning. Lots and lots and lots of souvenir shops. But the place is very nice. They have very cool postal services.

After that we crossed Lapland, through Ivalo and Inari and crossed into Norway. The weather was really good and we reached Nordkapp at around 10-11pm. We stayed up late to go see the sunrise at the North Cape point. So at around 2 we went up, and we were welcomed by a nice fresh breeze (read that "strong gusts of wind") and 9degrees C.

Now, a few hours of sleep and the next day will be spent around here... mostly sleeping :-)

Right... and before I forget. In a previous blog I complained about the cost of going to see the North Cape. Tip: if you ask for a ticket only to enter the cape area, not the museums and stuff, you will save quite a deal of money. Of course they will not tell you that you can do that, so you really kinda have to know. Thanks to the lady at the reception of our hostel, we knew...

Large size image for stock:

Road trip: Helsinki - Rovaniemi

2010-08-12T12:14:00.004+03:00

My parents came to Helsinki to visit me and we started on a long road trip. Our first day was from Helsinki to Roavaniemi. 800km.
Since I have not updated the stock photo project this month yet, I will upload photos hopefully every day from the trip (or as often as I have internet available) and make them available in large resolution as stock photos for you to download and use. I am in travel mode and I have no stock photos available so I decided to take some along the way and share ten of those images with you.

Large size:

Chocolate cake with walnuts

2010-07-19T11:38:00.000+03:00

Here is a new recipe, a delicious chocolate cake with walnuts with creamy chocolate topping.

Ingredients:

55g soft butter
115g baking chocolate, grated
85g wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
55g grated walnuts
175g sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp coffee

Topping:

115g baking chocolate
1,5 dl soft cream

Mix the eggs with the sugar and the chocolate, then add the melted butter and coffee. Then mix in the salt and the walnuts. Add the flour and baking powder. Place the mix on a buttered round cake baking plate. Put in the oven and let it bake for 20-25min in 180°C. After you take it out, let it cool.

Topping: Melt the chocolate in a small sauce pot, then add the cream and mix well. Take it off the heat and keep mixing until all the sugar has melted. Let it cool a bit or keep mixing until the topping becomes creamy and can be spread on the cake. Then put the cake on another plate and spread the topping carefully and as equally as you can.

Enjoy!

1 dl flour = approx 70g flour
1 dl sugar = approx 90g sugar

Chocolate cake with white chocolate topping

2010-07-15T11:14:00.004+03:00

Here is a new recipe, a delicious chocolate cake with creamy white chocolate topping.

Ingredients:

225g soft butter
225g wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 tbsp cocoa powder
225g sugar
4 eggs
3 tbsp coffee

Topping:

115g white baking chocolate
55g soft butter
3 tbsp milk
175g powder sugar

Mix the eggs with the sugar and the cocoa flour, then add the butter and coffee. Add the flour and baking powder. Place the mix on a buttered round cake baking plate. Put in the oven and let it bake for 35-40min in 180°C. After you take it out, let it cool.

Topping: Melt the chocolate and butter in a small sauce pot, add the milk and the powder sugar and mix well. Take it off the heat and keep mixing until all the sugar has melted. Let it cool a bit or keep mixing until the topping becomes creamy and can be spread on the cake. Then put the cake on another plate and spread the topping carefully and as equally as you can. You can powder some cocoa on it when you are done, for decoration.

This one is really good! Enjoy!

1 dl flour = approx 70g flour
1 dl sugar = approx 90g sugar

"Stock Photos Giveaway" Project - July

2010-07-05T16:15:00.005+03:00

A bit late in the month, I have been really busy and I failed to activate the photos on time, on the 1st.

But here they are now, and this month I have chosen animals as the theme:

How to take good photographs

2010-07-03T18:42:00.004+03:00

The following tutorial is inspired from real live tourists I have seen this summer and not only. No relation whatsoever with people I know, so do not be offended.

Method 1: This cannot fail. Use your cellphone; at all times.

Method 2: Use your small compact camera which has a flash function you cannot disable to take great sunset, sunrise or night scapes, particularly photos of the full moon.

Method 3 (can be combined with method 2): Here's how you do it: you take your small shiny compact camera, you hold it in both hands, stretch the arms out almost to full length while looking at the LCD display, tilt your head back, and open your mouth. One of the most common methods I have seen out there. Remember, it does not work with mouth closed.

Method 4 (otherwise know as professional camera owner method): Scenario is a family trip to some famous place where it happens to rain quite heavily. What you do is light a cigarette (self-rolled of course, they are cheaper) and then take the professional DSLR camera in the same hand as the cigarette and spend a few seconds trying to frame your kid (a sad and tired looking kid with a huge jacket and even bigger hood on; oh, did I mention, also very wet kid with big watery eyes?) on the edge of the site, where you can see as much of the fence as possible and as little of the landscape as you can. And then take the photo.

I will not get into the "how-do-I-look-sexier" methods, it would be too long a post. Examples of those, you can find on Pitzipoanca.org.

To Nordkapp and back

2010-06-26T19:43:00.004+03:00

It was my first landscape photography job on commission. I went to Nordkapp on a minibus trip last weekend.
Helsinki-Oulu-Kilpisjärvi-Alta-Hammerfest-NordKapp-Karasjok-Inari-Rovaniemi-Oulu-Helsinki in pretty much 3 days. Left Helsinki on Thursday evening and returned to Helsinki on Monday early morning.
The weather unfortunately was quite rainy, up from Kilpisjärvi, up to a bit before Rovaniemi on Sunday. So we didn't really get to see the actual midnight sun up in Nordkapp, but we did get a short glimpse of it, just before arriving.
Nordkapp is an amazingly beautiful location, with sea and mountains joining together on a small island. There is an undersea tunnel of around 7km which cost us around 60€ one way and then there was a surprising charge at the entry in the Nordkapp area, of around 30€ per person! just to get to the actual edge of the most Northern point in Europe. If you ever go there, you can save some money by leaving the car in the last parking area before that toll gate and hiking the rest of the way. That way, the ticket price will drop to almost half.
If you want to know anything else, drop me a comment.
Some photos from the trip:

Travels

2010-06-22T16:20:00.004+03:00

After the long trips I have taken throughout Finland this month, I have thought to make a small map comparison of what I have seen of Finland vs what I have seen of Romania... The results are in the images below.
This is just for my personal reference.

It's a close call, but I think Finland wins.

Road Show Photographer last stop: Oulu

2010-06-11T12:06:00.002+03:00

And the final stop of Uralinko tour: Oulu. We are parked in the marketplace, on the sea-shore. It is quite crowded today.

I haven't been here for a year. The weather chose a nice and warm welcome, surprisingly enough with zero wind. Feels nice to see this city again. I will spend this day and half of tomorrow here. Hoping to see some friends and maybe take some sunset photos on the beach around midnight :-)

Road Show Photographer stage 11

2010-06-10T10:31:00.004+03:00

Arrived in Kuopio last evening. And it is now officially proven fact that women can be as cranky as men when hungry... and another fact: nothing really woks out when you are grumpy with hunger.

So today we are in Kuopio, harbour area, until 6pm.

The sun came out, looks like it will be a nice day.

Road Show Photographer stage 10

2010-06-09T11:35:00.004+03:00

The Voyager (Chrysler Voyager) and I have passed our first 1000km together yesterday. We're getting along quite fine, although it's quite a thirsty car.

9.6.2010: Jyväskylä

Looks like a quite beautiful city. And the road here was quite hilly and had lakes and rivers like every few kilometers.

Road Show Photographer stage 9

2010-06-08T13:14:00.004+03:00

8.6.2010: Seinäjoki. And this is the first cloudy and rainy day of the tour so far. Quite cold as well..

Road Show Photographer stage 8

2010-06-07T15:27:00.003+03:00

And it's Monday, 7.6.2010: Vaasa. More busy and good looking town.

And like usual Mondays, it started off badly... I have some computer issues and I can't use my laptop, so the work will just pile up these days until it starts to work again... I will try to update this as often as I can, but since I am not using my own computer, it will be a bit tricky.

Road Show Photographer stage 7

2010-06-06T11:17:00.003+03:00

It was a very quiet day yesterday. We did have a group of girls carrying large canisters of what I suppose was cider or some other alcoholic beverage, but they weren't really interested in looking for a job.

6.6.2010: Kokkola. Chances are that most people in the right age range will be sleeping or having a hang over today... But let's see.

Road Show Photographer stage 6

2010-06-05T10:33:00.002+03:00

5.6: Pori

We are in the market place in the centre or Pori. Seems like a smaller, more quiet town than the previous ones. Could be because it is graduation day today for high schools.

Road Show Photographer stage 5

2010-06-04T11:42:00.003+03:00

Stage 5 of Uralinko Road Show: Tampere

"Stock Photos Giveaway" Project - June

2010-06-03T11:26:00.011+03:00

Since I am traveling through 12 cities of Finland this month, I picked stock photos from different European cities for the month of June. The cities in the images are: Dresden, Dresden, Dresden, Dresden, Lübeck, Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Suomenlinna, Helsinki, Helsinki.

Stock giveaway design and hosting by Alexander Berglund, a very good web designer with a very nice, tidy and classy style. You should visit his website and take a look at his great work.

Remember, if you are looking for more stock images, you can find them in my gallery on Shutterstock

(click on the image you want to download and follow the instructions there.)

Road Show Photographer stage 4

2010-06-03T11:13:00.004+03:00

3.6.2010: Turku

From what I have seen last evening during a short walk and this morning, this is a beautiful city. Reminds me a lot of home, Timisoara. We are parked on the river bank, in the centre of the city.

So what is Uralinko? Uralinko is Staffpoint's campaign to provide jobs for young people aged 18-25. Alongside with the job campaign, there is also a photo campaign, consisting in photographing people and photomanipulating their faces into funny photos depicting different careers. A few examples of the photos below.

Road Show Photographer stage 3

2010-06-02T11:23:00.002+03:00

Today: Hämeenlinna.

Got here after a few surprises in the morning: the Staffpoint car I was supposed to drive here had no gear stick. Took a bit to learn how to start it and put it to reverse and drive mode. But it is really easy. American cars... I still prefer a gear shift though. The card for fuel was expired like 2 days ago. And there were no registration papers in the car. What would life be without small surprises before 9am?

Road Show Photographer

2010-06-01T12:30:00.003+03:00

For the following two weeks, I will be touring Finland. 12 days, 12 cities. I am the photographer for Uralinko Road Show. So if you are 18-25 years old and you are looking for a job in Finland, check their site and also www.staffpoint.fi

The first day was in Helsinki, near Kamppi shopping centre. We were a bit cramped by a garbage art exhibition thing.

Day two: Lahti, about 100km from Helsinki. Beautiful weather, beautiful market square.

I will try to keep this blog as updated as possible during the trip. I am looking forward to seeing the major Finnish cities.
I have not forgotten the Stock Photo Giveaway project, I will upload 10 new photos as soon as possible.

Silk and spring

2010-05-12T21:06:00.001+03:00

Spring is still late here in Finland... I wonder, does the volcano delay that too?
Days are quite overcast most of the time, rainy and cold. But longer, sun rises after 4am already and it gets dark after 10pm.

While waiting for spring, here is a collection of warm feeling photos from Romania. I have a good range of those scarfs for sale, just message me if you are interested.

Models are Lina and Olimpia.
Makeup by Ana Preda.
Styling and photos by me.

Limited Edition prints!

2010-05-10T21:20:00.002+03:00

I have uploaded 8 new abstract photos to RedBubble and have made them available as art prints, cards, canvas prints, posters etc. Attention, as they are limited edition only! I will only sell 20 copies of each!
Check them out on my RedBubble gallery

"Stock Photos Giveaway" Project - May

2010-05-01T13:51:00.005+03:00

For May, here is a collection of summer and celebration photos, since it is a month of graduations but as well as a month of preparation for summer and mid-summer celebrations.

Stock giveaway design and hosting by Alexander Berglund, a very good web designer with a very nice, tidy and classy style. You should visit his website and take a look at his great work.

Remember, if you are looking for more stock images, you can find them in my gallery on Shutterstock

(click on the image you want to download and follow the instructions there.)

Sping, volcano, flight delay, back to work

2010-04-24T12:11:00.004+03:00

I am back in Helsinki with a few days delay, because of the volcano which started erupting. Strange how nature makes fun of us... volcano coughs, all planes in Europe are grounded, people get stuck between connecting flights, deliveries are put on hold, car companies stop working because of lack of parts, which will most likely lead to more expensive cars :p

Spring looks like it's late up here... everything is still brown and dull, rain easily turns to snowflakes. Luckily it is too warm and the snow melts before it reaches the ground. Down in Romania there is sunshine and flowers, grass and leaves, short rain showers followed by sunshine, seaside hotels booked for 1st of may.

I have had a break from computer work for the time I have been away, so now I have 9GB of RAW files to catch up on and a few clients on my list as well. Back to work.

I leave off with one of the photos I took, as part of a fashion editorial around spring flowers:

Does anyone read this blog?

2010-04-14T03:02:00.001+03:00

I am at home in Timisoara for a little over two weeks. The city is full of blooming trees and flowers. Green grass, a bit of contrast to the still-snowy Helsinki. Feels nice to get some warm sunshine.
I had a fashion shoot with blooming trees, with sunshine, cloudy sky and rain all-in-one shoot.

"Stock Photos Giveaway" Project - April

2010-04-01T11:06:00.008+03:00

For the month of April I chose ten photos with the theme travel and locations; the images are from Corfu, Northern Norway and Finland. Here is water in most its natural forms: lake, river, sea, fjord.

Remember, if you are looking for more stock images, you can find them in my gallery on Shutterstock

(click on the image you want to download and follow the instructions there.)

Chocolate Orange Muffins Recipe

2010-03-30T17:37:00.005+03:00

Here is a new recipe, half from my muffin book, half made up by me. The mix of flavours is really good. Chocolate dough with orange flavour is one of the best, definitely.

Chocolate Orange Muffins:

150g soft butter
1,5 dl sugar
grinded peel from an orange
4 dl of wheat flour
1 tsp vanilla sugar
3 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
3-4 tbsp cocoa flour
the juice from one orange
2 tbsp milk

Put 12 muffin paper-cups in the muffin pan. Mix the butter with the sugar, add the orange peel, juice and the eggs. This is the best time to add the cocoa flour too, so that there will be no lumps in the dough. Mix well. Then add the flour, the vanilla sugar, the milk and the baking powder. Add the dough to the paper-cups, as equally as you can.

Put the muffin pan in the preheated oven, 200°C for 15-20min. Then take it out and enjoy!

1 dl flour = approx 70g flour
1 dl sugar = approx 90g sugar

Model Shoot - Lighting

2010-03-23T12:50:00.010+02:00

Here is a lighting diagram I used to take a few model photos. I took the photos in my room. Not too much space, but I had enough to zoom in to 50mm on the model. A white wall and 3 lights was all I needed. I used a large softbox shaped as an umbrella above the model to her left, one rectangular softbox under the umbrella to put light on her body and one strong light to burn the wall.

I used a Tamron 17-50mm lens, on 50mm, ISO 100, f/6.3, 1/100s. I used dodge tool in Photoshop to burn the wall to a pure white.

Model: Deivi
Styling and accessories: Me
Makeup: Deivi and me

A Song of Ice and Fire

2010-03-19T16:47:00.000+02:00

I have been reading an amazingly good book recently. It is written by George R.R. Martin and it is a fantasy saga, entitled "A Song of Ice and Fire". I have finished the first part, "A Game of Thrones" and am now reading through Book II, "A Clash of Kings".

The first impression was that I can't keep up with the army of characters; each chapter introduces a new character and this goes on for quite a while in the beginning. But after a while, after I started to know them, and the plot became more clear, I realized it is a very intricate and good story.

I love the way the author writes, the language is sharp and sarcastic, descriptive and with good humor.

I actually had to re-read a few of the chapters, including the prologue before finishing the first book, to have a better understanding of everything.

I understand that HBO is producing a series based on the novel, I wonder what it will be like and when it will come out.

But for now I can't seem to be able to put the book down, it is really a captivating read. I used to think that starting out to read a saga of several books will turn out to be boring and confusing, but this is nothing like that. I really recommend it.
Here is some fan art work I found on the internet:

Website redesigned

2010-03-17T10:34:00.000+02:00

For quite a while I have been planning to redesign my website. Now, thanks to deviantART, I have a new redesigned website.

After a successful transfer to a new website domain registrar, I finally changed the layout of my website with the one offered by the dA portfolio feature.

I had never done a domain transfer before and I didn't know that transferring would last for several days, so my website was down for a few days. Also because of the address and country of residence change, I had to trade the domain from me in Romania to me in Finland :)

The portfolio is a subscriber feature that lets you create your own portfolio and use your own domain name to point to it. Other than that, it is extremely easy and convenient to update with new photos. And the limit of 18 images per gallery is also a good thing, it forces the artist to keep things simple and not have 177 photos in one gallery.

But now it's up and running and I believe it is a great improvement from my old website.

See the comparison between my old website and my new redesigned website

Model Shoot

2010-03-16T21:04:00.004+02:00

I had a short model photo shoot in my place a few days ago. The lack of space forced cropped images and no full body shots, but I think the results were quite good. I hope she will like the images as well.
Here are two from that day:

Chocolate chip muffins recipe

2010-03-14T21:57:00.003+02:00

Here is a new recipe, half from my muffin book, half made up by me today from the ingredients I had lying around. It turned out really delicious, so I decided to share it.

Chocolate Chip Muffins:

100g soft butter
115g sugar
grinded peel from half a lemon
70g of wheat flour
70g half grain wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
about 100g of cooking chocolate
3 spoons of milk

Put 12 muffin paper-cups in the muffin pan. Grind the chocolate. I personally cut it into small bits. Mix the butter with the sugar, add the lemon peel and the eggs. Mix well. Then add the flour, the chocolate, the milk and the baking powder. Add the dough to the paper-cups, as equally as you can.

Put the muffin pan in the preheated oven, 200°C for 15-20min. Then take it out and enjoy!

Newborn baby

2010-03-07T17:06:00.003+02:00

My website is currently undergoing some changes, as well as a domain transfer from one registrar to another. That seems to take some time, and it is currently offline. I don't know how soon it will be back online, I hope soon.
Until then, I can post some photos I took of a newborn baby. She was only one week old and so very small, her feet barely the size of my thumb.

Stylish (fashion shoot - part II)

2010-03-03T15:08:00.001+02:00

Model: Monica Menniti
Makeup: Noora Hautakangas
Styling: Maiju Siekkinen
Stylist assistant: Heidi Hiltunen

Fashion Shoot - Part I

2010-03-03T14:35:00.005+02:00

On Sunday I had the best fashion photo shoot I have had so far. It was team work, we were 9 people in an office building, garage and warehouse: 3 photographers, 3 models, a stylist, a makeup artist and an assistant.
Models: Sini Tarkkinen, Monica Menniti, Henna Mäkinen
Makeup: Noora Hautakangas
Styling: Maiju Siekkinen
Photographers: Sandra Rugina, Jussi Lopperi, Janne Mäki
Stylist assistant: Heidi Hiltunen

Here are the first shots from the session, we started off with nude makeup.

"Stock Photos Giveaway" Project - March

2010-03-01T00:01:00.002+02:00

Although Helsinki is still buried (as Nick cave would say) under 15 feet of pure white snow, somewhere in the world spring is starting; or if it isn't, many people wish it would.

So here is the batch of free stock images for March, under the theme of spring (and Easter).

If you are looking for more stock images, you can find them in my gallery on Shutterstock

(click on the image you want to download and follow the instructions there.)

Fashion

2010-02-20T13:00:00.000+02:00

Model is Tia: http://highstyles.blogspot.com/

Call for models, 28.2!

2010-02-15T14:13:00.003+02:00

We are three photographers, Janne Mäki, Jussi Lopperi and myself.

We are going to have a fashion and beauty photo shoot on 28.2. The location will be an office building, and its garage. There is also a very old Ford in the garage (from 20s-30s), which we will use in the photo shoot. The length of the shoot will probably be around half a day or so, that is to be decided.

We are looking for models, so please send me an email (also with a photo of you) if you are interested: sandruta@gmail.com before 22.2.

EDIT: date changed from 27.2 to 28.2, we might have a stylist and a makeup artist available on Sunday, 28.2!

Finnish second-hand shop

2010-02-15T13:45:00.001+02:00

I visited a second-hand shop the other day and found some - let's call it - interesting stuff on the shelves there. I was looking for old board games, but what I found was quite a big variety of items.

the usual clothing, pants, jackets, shirts etc
skis, skates, snowboards and boots ranging from about 1€ to maybe 20€
old worn out bent shoes
a nice box with "diamonds are a girl's best friend" print containing old pencils and half used wax crayons
used slippers and flip-flops
wine, champagne, water glasses, some of which had deep lip prints on the sides
used pots and pans (complete with burn marks and traces of ancient oven made potatoes inside)
half empty shampoo and conditioner bottles
half empty body lotions (even a Chanel no.5 for 2€, but still opened and used)
maybe one of the most surprising elements was this Nivea roll-on deo for men, old looking and I am pretty sure half-empty (though I did not dare touch the thing)
one almost empty spray deodorant
bras, socks, lingerie (!!!)
oh, and empty aluminum casings which at some point in their lives contained whiskey bottles (are they for decoration???)

Restyling

2010-02-11T13:00:00.001+02:00

I have always been lacking a proper logo for my company and with the start of the new year I have been taking an approach to give my company's graphical profile a face-lift. The first part of that face-lift is getting a new logo.

I have always favoured black and white and simple design (for example in my old business cards), therefore the logo which I liked best came in black and white as well.

The design of the logo came from merging the letters S and R, in a stylish manner.

Concept and design by Alexander Berglund.

Walnut Muffins Recipe

2010-02-08T23:37:00.001+02:00

Here is a new recipe, from my muffin book this time. I made this no less than 4 times already and they are amazingly good!

Walnut Muffins:

Dough:

85g walnuts
4 tbsp soft butter
100g sugar
grinded peel from half a lemon
70g of wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
12 walnut halves

Topping:

4 tbsp soft butter
85g powder sugar
grinded peel from half a lemon
1 tsp of lemon juice

Dough: Put 12 muffin paper-cups in the muffin pan. Fine grind the 85g of walnuts. Mix the butter with the sugar, add the lemon peel and the grinded walnuts. Then add the flour, the eggs and the baking powder. Add the dough to the paper-cups, as equally as you can.

Put the muffin pan in the preheated oven, 200°C for 15-20min. Then take it out and let the muffins cool off.

Topping: Mix the softened butter (I usually melt it) with the powder sugar and add the peel and lemon juice, until it looks creamy.

Spread some topping over each muffin and decorate with the walnut halves.

I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do!

Fruit tarts recipe

2010-02-03T22:10:00.000+02:00

I have done so much baking recently that I decided to write the best of what I've tried in here. I have to start by saying that I am not a professional cook or anything, all I have is a muffin recipe book and an internet connection :)

Fruit tarts:

Dough:

4 dl whole wheat flour
200g of butter (150 works fine too)
1 egg
1 ½ dl of sugar
1 tsp baking powder

Fruit mix:

1 pack frozen blueberries (200g)
2 bananas
1 tsp vanilla sugar
½ dl sugar
2 tbsp corn flour

Mix the sugar with the softened butter and then with the egg. Then add the flour and the baking powder and knead until the dough is even. Put it in a plastic foil in the fridge for about an hour. While the dough "rests" defrost the fruit and mix them with sugar and vanilla sugar, heating them up a bit, then add the corn flour. Set aside.

Put a bit of butter on a 12 pieces muffin pan so that the dough won't stick.

Take one third of the dough aside, for the top part of the tarts. Divide the remaining of the dough into 12 pieces and mold them in the shapes of the muffin pan. Add the fruit mix to each muffin cup in the dough. Then take the remaining dough and make 12 flat rounds to cover the tarts. When you are done, make a small hole in each tart in the middle.

Put in the preheated oven, 200°C for 15-20min.

This is actually the second batch I made, the first one was with raspberries. But the tarts did not make it to be photographed. Even the blueberry ones from today had a dwindling number when I slowed down enough from eating them to snap a photo.

I hope you enjoy and let me know how they were (or if you came up with a better fruit mix than I did, I'd love to know about it :-D ).

Maternity portraits

2010-02-02T14:11:00.005+02:00

I had my first maternity portrait photo shoot. I had never taken photos of a pregnant woman before.

First I tried to search for some really good photos to see what others did. Just to get my mind started and get some idea of how I should do it.

I tried that on deviantART and got really frustrated with their search system. Searching for "most popular of all time" returned some unexpected results. Why doesn't it return deviations with most favourites? I don't know... anyway, the results ranged from very good, good, to awful, dark, grainy, webcam-blue-hue-green-hue white balance snaps, sometimes ridiculous, sometimes just nauseating porn style. ugh!

That lead me to the search on Shutterstock. Thank God for reviewing system.

I went to the lady's house for the shoot, much more easy for a 38-weeks pregnant woman. Belka means "squirrel" in Russian, it's the little girl's nickname.

"Stock Photos Giveaway" Project - February

2010-01-31T17:33:00.008+02:00

Is there any snow in your part of the world?

Up here, Helsinki is buried under over half a meter of snow so, the first collection for the year goes in the signs of winter.

(click on the image you want to download and follow the instructions there. An other thing, the system used for this stock giveaway is still working a few issues out, so if it doesn't work directly - try a bit later)

"Stock Photos Giveaway" Project intro

2010-01-31T16:18:00.004+02:00

I have been neglecting my blog recently and I thought I should change that, so I thought I'd start with a project this year.

I am planning a stock photo giveaway project and which will be running throughout the year. I am going to release 10 stock photos every month which you could use for just about anything. Print, your website, manipulations, you name it!

Each pack of stock photos will be available for download for a limited time only and they will change each month.

Also, aside the project, I want to create more activity for my blog, so I will answer any photography related questions you might have and write a few lighting tutorials. If there is anything in particular you want to know about, just ask!

On Location

2009-11-17T00:55:00.005+02:00

I had a shoot with a gorgeous model inside a very beautiful house, somewhere about 70km away from Helsinki. The house was packed full with antiques and old furniture. We had picked a few outfits for my model, both fitting as well as contrasting to the location.

Lighting was done with two white umbrellas, occasionally only one.

Here are some photos from that shoot:

Life is... [2]

2009-10-10T01:52:00.004+03:00

You realize you are alive when you find yourself sitting on the sea shore hearing nothing else but the waves breaking on the shore. When you realize you have not heard or seen cars in days and didn't even notice their complete absence. Sunny days and warmth...

On commission: Starcrash

2009-10-10T01:33:00.008+03:00

Earlier this year I was commissioned to take the new photos of the band Starcrash: http://www.myspace.com/starcrashband

They were very much fun to work with. We had the photo session in a hired studio. After a not-so-successful rain photo try, we went on with more normal studio photos. We had to improvise props by using some of the objects around the studio and the acoustic guitar the band had brought along.

Here are some of the photos from that day:

Helsinki

2009-10-10T01:19:00.005+03:00

Long time no posting again... Life got in the way.

Anyway, I moved to Helsinki recently. Trying to make my small company work and become an ever better photographer.

Two weeks ago I had the chance to work with Derek Latham, a Canadian photographer and we took photos of two young models in the streets of Helsinki. Some of the photos follow below.

We used two flashes, coloured gels and for my part, a borrowed Canon 450D.

Thank you Anjuska, Monica and Derek.

-20

2009-02-18T09:42:00.006+02:00

It has been a few very cold days up here in Oulu... Ranging from almost -30 in the night to some -18 max during the day even in the strong sunshine. There are huge mounds of snow all over the town and all the trees are white.
The river looks great in this cold. It lets out steam and looks almost surreal.
It is amazing that people were jogging and even more amazing... swimming in the river...

180 degree panorama of Oulu river: 16 photos

Perfume

2009-02-04T13:50:00.004+02:00

Practicing...

Walking in Helsinki - part 2

2008-11-18T16:51:00.005+02:00

Helsinki, part 2. Closeup.

Attitude

2008-11-13T18:47:00.003+02:00

Life is... [1]

2008-11-10T18:11:00.006+02:00

You realize you are alive when you listen to a song and have it fill you so completely that you feel like there is nothing else around, but the sound of the voice and the instruments playing. For a few minutes, you feel that the whole world is only the song.

Life is a song.

Walking in Helsinki - part 1

2008-11-06T13:47:00.009+02:00

I visited Helsinki yesterday. I spent around 8hours walking around.
The city itself is built on pure rock, which shows in many parts of it. There are parks on top of rocky mounds, churches on top of stony hills. But the most interesting of all were the underground car parkings built in rock. See the Parliament's parking for example:
The multitude of shops and malls is also maybe overwhelming in the very centre. Maybe, but not for me though :)Talk about not overcrowding your window:I went there expecting not too much, to be honest. Being only used to the practical thinking and simplicity which Finns seem to prefer, I expected a larger scale Oulu kind of town. Very simple architecture, mostly modern looking metal buildings. A few old wooden buildings in the centre.
But what I found was much more like something in between Vienna and Budapest, rather than Oulu.
I say Vienna because of the large boulevards and old baroque buildings in very very good shape. Also because of the big number of malls and shops.
And I say Budapest, because some of its winding streets climbing and descending hills remind me of the spaghetti layout of the streets of the Buda part of Budapest.
I am totally charmed by it :)
But maybe you can judge by yourself:

UNICEF event, 11-12.10.2008

2008-11-03T11:32:00.006+02:00

I was commissioned to take photos of a UNICEF event by the City of Oulu. The event took place during 11 and 12.10.2008 at the main swimming hall in Oulu, in Raksila. It was a 24hour event, organized by the City of Oulu. The money gathered during that day, from donations, souvenirs and ticket sales was donated to UNICEF.
There were multiple events during that day, in each of the 6 different pools of the water sports centre: band concert, water jumping, water gymnastics, water dancing and disco, water walking, candle-light swimming during the night.
Here are some photos from the event:

Home

2008-10-31T19:57:00.005+02:00

I have the ticket now. I am flying home on 26.11. Landing on Timisoara airport late in the evening. I'll be home for a bit over a month, until 5th of January. And it feels good. I really miss home.

Days are getting so short here, now. Today we had the first snow. Snow, as in freaking heavy blizzard. The kind I was used to see in the mountains. Must be like over 10cm of snow now out there. It felt like the whole town went to slow motion. Someone up there just pressed a button and everything started moving at half speed. The cars on the road, the silhouettes of the people walking. Even in the full light of the supermarkets, people were moving very slow. Even the few people with bikes that I saw, were walking near them.
Winter is coming.

First I was planning to make a list of (quite many) photos in this entry, with the people from home whom I really miss. But you know what? See you all there:

Fog in the city

2008-10-31T11:58:00.006+02:00

Tamron vs Canon vs CANON

2008-10-31T11:12:00.009+02:00

Four test photos, three lenses:

All taken in RAW, camera hand held. Raw processing included only auto white balance and some noise reduction for the high ISO.

1. Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8

Details:
Shutter: 1/20s
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 640
Focal length: 50mm

2. Canon 50mm f/1.8 II

Details:
Shutter: 1/30s
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO: 400
Focal length: 50mm

3. Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

Details:
Shutter: 1/20s
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 640
Focal length: 200mm
IS ON

Details:
Shutter: 1/20s
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 640
Focal length: 200mm
IS OFF

And the monster:

Ceata

2008-10-30T21:12:00.003+02:00

O patura groasa difuza s-a intins peste tot. Soarele e undeva departe, spre apus. Aerul e greu, umed, alb. Podul lung dintre insule parca pluteste in aer. Nu se vede cer deasupra, nu se vede apa dedesubt. Siluete indepartate pe biciclete se petrec prin atmosfera alba.

Undeva departe, soarele a apus. Dar a uitat in urma cateva raze ratacite, care se refracta la nesfarsit in patura groasa. Pare sa absoarba nu doar intunericul, dar si zgomotele. Masinile trec aproape in liniste pe langa mine, cu ochi mari, rotunzi si difuzi.

Particule mici si reci se lovesc de ochii mei care privesc spre apa. Parca singurul zgomot care razbate pana in mine e cel al apei, care se ridica incet, urca tot mai mult, pentru ca apoi sa cada brusc.

Oameni vin si se duc pe drumul invelit in negura alba. Sunt umbre singuratice care se pierd trecand pe sub luminile mari si difuze de pe stalpii aliniati de-a lungul malului.

Sunt Umbre care dispar inainte sa ajunga departe. Sunt Umbrele din visele mele...

March 1st

2008-02-20T19:38:00.002+02:00

March 1st is considered to be the first day of spring in Romania. We have a few traditions for that date and some Romanians living here in Oulu decided to organize a cultural afternoon, in order to make a presentation about Romania.

Here is the poster for the event, designed by Isabela Ion:

There will also be a photo exhibition in which some of my landscapes from Romania will be present.

Finland

2008-02-06T11:08:00.002+02:00

Hopefully some skiing photos soon...

HDR

2007-11-27T10:51:00.000+02:00

Three exposures:

HDR result:

Location: Oulu centre, Finland

Wake up

2007-11-06T17:42:00.001+02:00

Thank you Enni :)

Prietenii

2007-10-04T22:31:00.000+03:00

Prietenii ii vreau in jurul meu
M-am saturat de vorbe goale
Si de sanul tau
Prietenii ii vreau, nimic mai mult
Sa stam seara muti si beti,
Ca-ntr-un imens sarut.

Nu-mi pasa de nimic, de nimic
Sunt fericit, nu-mi pasa de nimic...

Nu-mi pasa ca iubita m-a inselat
Nu-mi pasa ca iubitul ei acum nu-i un barbat
Prietenii si vodca sunt aici, ti-am spus
Restul nu conteaza
Stam si plangem un apus

Nu-mi pasa de nimic, de nimic
Sunt fericit, nu-mi pasa de nimic...

Soarele se scurge-ncet in mare
Timpul s-a oprit
Si viata nu ma mai doare
Nu ma intereseaza cine, cum si ce
Totul se darama-n jur si noï nu ne-ntrebam de ce

Nu-mi pasa de nimic, de nimic
Sunt fericit, nu-mi pasa de nimic...

Weddings by Sandra Rugina

2007-09-12T01:13:00.002+03:00

Through the Glass

2006-11-29T11:39:00.000+02:00

What does life look like through a glassful of water?

Can you turn it and twist it round and round?

Can you radically change your point of view?

Can you see only what you want through it?

I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
Oh God it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home
Sitting all alone inside your head

Solaris

2006-08-24T15:30:00.000+03:00

Have you ever

laid on your back in a grassy field and just watch the clouds float by?
picked up as many dry autumn leaves as you can and thrown them up in the air?

danced in the rain?
laid in bed at night, not really awake, but not really asleep either, and wondered why?

written a letter to Santa? :)
looked at the sunset in freezing cold weather, but couldn't possibly care less about that?
thrown yourself in a big pile of snow?

burst out laughing while walking in the street, without any particular reason?
stopped the car suddenly in the first possible place, just to get out and take a photograph?

Where one sun sets, the other rises...
and in a moment like no other
when it all becomes so clear
that hope shall never fade,
may love be never lost
and you fall in love with life...

Have you ever...

2006-05-04T23:36:00.000+03:00

stopped and stared at the sunset on your way home after a long day, thinking of nothing but its unrivalled beauty
realized that all the strangers walking by you in the street have their own dreams, worries, happiness, bitterness
felt that you are living life in fast forward
tried to stop and lose yourself in a moment
looked in the mirror to see the face of a stranger staring back, wondering who you are, or what you are doing there. Has your life ever seemed like someone else's, not known to you at all
wondered if the people in your life that are closest to you really know you or if they would want to and accept you if they did
lain in bed late at night wondering why you are still awake

woken up from a dream and wished you could just tie it up and drag it into your real life
realized that every moment that comes, goes away, never to come back again
wanted the impossible and devised plans to make it possible
had a secret, one of your own, hidden deep deep down in the vaults of your heart and mind
thought about how your life would be, without you
felt someone to be so close, no matter how far; or maybe so far, no matter how close
talked to a stranger, or someone you don't really know that well and felt like you've known that person for ages

wanted to break away, to a far-off place, where no one knows your name and face
cried with joy and laughed with sorrow
had the feeling that you have talked too much, and yet still haven't said enough