When dear hubby came from work, I was already waiting at the door, handed over kids, a quick kiss and out I was heading to the session. Well in time and luckily so, as there was a major car crash on Kehä I with 3 police cars and 2 fire trucks. I came in time and what a heavenly transformation I underwent from one stressed tired mama to a relaxed photographer as I was stepping into their house. I love the effect my job has on me. It makes me a better person. And there they were – a family of 5, full of smiles and good mood and absolutely, professionally ready for the shoot. Kids were almost adults, so I tried my luck:

“Everyone speaks English?”

“German,” the answer came. Now what you should know about me is that I am from a little town in the Czech republic, located mere 5 km from the border with Germany. We all speak German there. I have been working in Germany. My German is was fluent. Back then. Now I can understand pretty much everything, but if I try to speak it, my brain sadly switches to English after about the third word. Without me even knowing about it. Well, so that was not going to work. But they all also spoke English. Lucky Niki.

I really like the interaction among all of you. Rarely you can see so much understanding between parents and their teenage kids. You were great and there is a plenty of other beautiful pictures coming your way soon.

They can be summed up by words of Barbara Bush: “To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there.”

I am pleased to notice that none of my blog readers, who left a comment, voted for the traditional yo-kuva (a rose, a glass of champange and a stiff posing). But unfortunately only one of you could be the winner of a free yo-kuvaus with me… Without further ado, I went off and used a random number generator, did hard job programming the machine to randomly choose a number between 1 and 14 (since the last of 15 comments was not really a yo-kuva seeker) and hit the “generate” button.

scrolling in the original post, scrolling in the original post and the winner is …..

….. TIINA (or actually her brother!).

Congratulations! Looking forward to working with you.

“Hi! So you are a typical Finn, silent and all?”

“Mhmm.”

“So sorry for you, I usually have Bridget’s verbal diarhea. You are going to die tonight…”

Needless to say, Max is still alive and kicking and as he claims, it was even fun! Disappointed from the non-existence of our grafitti location we took off to the Hakaniemi bridge and in the last rays of rapidly setting sun photographed perhaps little unusual yo-kuvat. Max, this was fun for me too. You were great, very patient and not a bit distracted by a photographer turned climbing monkey. I hope you will like your photos…

it was hard to choose, but this must be my favorite…

There is still time to book a yo-kuva session with me or participate in the “win a free yo-kuvaus” competition!

You would not believe it, but May is knocking on our door. Ok, maybe not just yet, but we will hardly breath-in, breath-out (twice) and it will be time to take this year’s high school graduates’ photos.

Become part of my yo-lakki kuvaus campaign.

I am looking for 3 girls and 3 guys who will graduate from high school this spring and want to participate on my campaign. You can get involved on several levels. Everything is free and at some stages you can actually make money. For start, however, I would take your portraits. There is only one condition, you and your parents must sign a model release allowing me to use your photos during the campaign. Oh, and English is an advantage, but not a must. Kyllä puhumme suomeakin.

You will receive your free portraits, min. 5 photos, in digital format on CD (value of 500€).

This offer expires as soon as I have my 6 models, so don’t wait up. Hora ruit. (Time runs.) Call or email me latest on Feb, the 14th.

0400-358990 or niki@nikistrbian.com

Finally at the destination it was not so bad, but we all longed hot tea and sauna after 10 minutes, and the little princess perhaps even a bit sooner. Despite the less than ideal circumstances, we were able to capture the beauty of Finnish winter and the Christmas spirit. Oh what a heaven for a photographer, three sets of big blue eyes and a sunrise that happens at a sane hour for a change Thank you, you made it really easy even in such extreme conditions. I hope you will enjoy your sneak peek, more coming your way real soon.

Oh and of course you recognize Wia and Lucas, the giggling couple that caught my eye on Aleksanterinkatu during our photoclub’s outing. For obvious reasons (like the fact that they are absolutely fantastic and natural in front of the camera, clearly in love, stylish, defined, fun, sexy and I can go on and on!), I couldn’t have let them escape more photography exercise with Niki. This time we had a liiiiiittle more than half a minute to snap some pics. You like them? I am drooling over this gorgeous couple. Aren’t you?

Thank you guys, you are absolute rockstars!

Oh, we didn’t go anywhere far, just in case our little angles wake up and would want us, but being in the historical center of a small Italian town dating back to 15th century, we had a plenty of choices. Walked few minutes down a steep hill and we hit the first bar. A terrace, in fact. It was about 22:30. A waitress asked if we were going to eat. No. So sorry, she replied, the terrace is open exclusively for dining until 23:30, then we could come for a drink. Or we could sit on the wall (surrounding the terrace) on a fluffy pillow, have a drink and enjoy watching the passers-by. And that’s just what we did.

Gaia was a bar-tender in this place. I liked the little devils in her eyes since the first moment I saw her and I knew I had to photograph her. And guess what? That’s just what we did

But look what we found during our last visit – this beautiful young lady. We agreed to meet up for some picture taking and where else would we photograph than on Suomenlinna again. And not only was this missy beautiful but also kind and funny. I had a great time with you, thank you for the lovely early evening!

PS: Want to become one of the faces on my blog or web? Check out the fresh faces campaign!

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