An anniversary shoot in Villa Rulludd

   I was asked to make a few pics for Katharinas and Peters twentieth anniversary (Congrats for them!). The weather wasn't maybe the best on the day we were about to shoot. It was cloudy and even if it wasn't maybe the coldest day of the winter, it definitely was on the freezing side. For this shoot Villa Rulludd in Espoo was the chosen location. With some old buildings, nature an the sea around this would be a perfect spot for photoshoot no matter what time of the year. We had some fun, my models survived the cold weather (even though I think we all had fingers or toes a bit frozen) and we pulled out some very nice frames from this shoot. All in all it was a shoot I really enjoyed. Here's some pics...

 

Some family photo fun! (How precious are memories?)

  Family or couple photos, - when did you last time have yours taken? Why should you invest time and money in a photo shoot as a family, as a couple, with your kids, with your parents? As an answer to the first question, I’d guess never. Most people have their family photographed most likely when there is a big family event, and that’s usually exclusively a wedding, but after that... never! But why should you consider hiring a photographer to make a few photos of your family and loved ones? Because of memories! Of course we take lots of photos of our close ones with our smart phones, but what happens usually with those images? They end up forgotten on a hard drive or they are stored in the cloud and we hardly see them anymore. Just one failure in tech, and they are gone! Memories gone with the wind! So how about a photographer concentrating on you and your family for an hour or two? Lots of fun and some unforgettable memories? How much fun it will be to look at the pictures later when time passes, when we get older, our kids grow up, see how everybody have changed... precious memories on paper, something you can touch, look again and again, or show to other people, and feel a bit proud! There's just something in those photos showcased on paper. Yes, I know, it is luxury to hire a photographer, and even if the one making the images wouldn't take any money for hes / her services, you still need to find that time for the shoot from other important things, and time is precious. But then how precious are your memories? A small investment for something that will be priceless after awhile... I'd say it has to be worth something!
  From the "memories worth something" -talk, to the shoot we had this past Monday. Close friends of mine wanted their family to be photographed, and to be honest, it was one of the best shots I've ever been involved in. It was lots of fun, they were relaxed and I think they enjoyed the shoot just as much I did. The scene for the shoot was a sculpture park near the town of Labin in Istria, Croatia. Even if I had speedlights and a stand with me, in the end I just went with natural light, and mainly one fast 85mm lens. As I got the images transferred on my computer and started editing them, I still could feel the relaxed, fun and loving atmosphere, and I pretty much had a smile on my face from the start to finish when editing the images. I guess that's for me a sign of good photo shoot. Here's a few images...

Photo shoot in Ripenda

  Keeping your eyes open as a photographer is a must. It's not allways maybe possible to haul around your camera, but when you see a nice place which perfectly would stand as a nice backdrop for a shoot, you can allways go back there for a shoot later, you just have to remember where that perfect spot is. A while ago I saw this nice piece of road, hidden inside an arch of trees or maybe I should call them bushes. Who knows? Just so perfect for a shoot! Of course the spot would be a perfect place for landscape only, but cos I love landscapes with people, I thought it would be nice to take a model there and just make it a portrait session.
  A simple setup with flash through a softbox, a little of ambient light and there you go. Just take a few props with you and you are ready to go. Of course you don't need flash always, and just before leaving the place we stumbled across this small field and a gate. The sun was shining through not too heavy clouds, maybe I would call it haze, and my flashgun and softbox was already packed in so I thought we'll go natural. Here's a few shots.

Sunflower field

  Yesterday evening we had promised to a friend of ours to drive her to water her garden plot just a little outside of the town. Just a perfect place for a little photo shoot, so I asked my wife if she could wear something else than the regular shorts and neon red sports t-shirt. Grabbed my gear and so we hit the road. While our friend was taking care of here vegetables, we moved a little further the road and found this tiny small crossroad kind of a place, from were a sunflower field started. At this point of the summer the sunflowers have seen their best days, but with the setting sun, and a few clouds they just made the perfect backdrop. Placed my lighting, made a few test shots and so we started. I wish we could have continued for a little longer, but due to an attack of some strange tiny and stingy insects I just decided to quit the shoot. Thanks to my models patience we still managed to make quite a few images. Here's a few...

A photo shoot in an abandoned military base

  Abandoned buildings and portraits, that's a cool combination. Yesterday a friend asked me if I would like to make a few images with him in them. When someone want's to be photographed and asks me to do it, I'm more than happy to help. So, where to go, is always a good question. I didn't need to think too long, because lately I've been visiting an abandoned army base quite often. A peaceful place for walking the dogs, but works as a scene for photos too. So there we went. My buddy wanted to have a guitar in the pics, so we took one with us. For the images I mostly used a speedlight with a DIY grid attached on, plus one extra flash to get some extra light on the background or as a fill.

                                     
                            

The midwinter sun

   Dark days during December, so an additional light or two might be a good thing. One speedlight can do a lot for an image. A little snow might have been helpful, I mean it's winter anyway, but it seems that the climate exchange is doing its job so no natural reflector from the all white ground. What's cool, is that the weather was sunny, actually almost springlike. So, here's a few photos from a short and healthy walk accompanied by one Yongnuo YN-560 speedlight and Nikon D300s + my lovely wife as a model...