You were fun.
Beautiful.
Young!
And so so so much in love.

This is just the first part, more coming later, because there are too many good ones. Can’t wait for you to see them all.

My favorite question is: What would you do if your wife/husband was about to leave for 3 years to a place where is no internet connection, no phones, no connection whatsoever? Milla is my winner so far. Angelina Jolie would be proud of such acting. Unless Milla meant it, of course.

Luckily the anger part quickly turned into (if spicy) luuuurve…

I take bets on what Samuli is thinking in this shot. “I am the luckiest guy in the world.” Perhaps?

Yes, they are now officially unavailable. Congrats!

Satu likes lime…

Ville likes rock music…

Satu loves Ville.

Ville loves Satu.

They love their little princess.

Congratulations!! … We had fun, didn’t we? Loved meeting you… More pics any day, come back soon! And leave a comment or two for the lovebirds and wish them happiness forever and ever.

About two weeks ago my friend photographer Derek Latham asked me if I would like to take portraits of him and his colleague, Anna Jarske. Sure, any time, I answered. As it turned out, any time was not good enough, it had to be soon and on a specific day as well. But I love demanding people and was happy to sail my whole family over to the island of Suomenlinna to take portraits of Anna and Derek, two great wedding photograhers. I left my hubby bewildered since I was selling it to him as a “family trip and quality time together” and suddenly I was leaving him with our two angels to do daddy magic and hopped and skipped away with a camera around my neck. Not a good sign for the family trip, as he knows all too well.

After we finished shooting, Derek and Anna were kind enough to return the favore and took awesome photos of me and my family. I have NO photos of me and my kids. So it made me all teary and sentimental. But of course, them shooting us went well, because kids and hubby were all thrilled to have me back so we looked like a fairly happy family. But as it is with photographers, neither Derek nor Anna felt really home in front of a camera and I didn’t feel myself either, because I think they are really good photographers. I have to admit, I was quite nervous. Judge the results yourselves…

Derek is supposed to have a mild arachnophobia… too bad I made him lay in the grass. For a long time too… I am a bad bad girl…

I am a member of a few photography forums, dedicated to portrait photography and children portraiture. Jesh’s lecture has been discussed there more than once and people raved about it. I am the type who doesn’t go to see a movie if everyone raves about it. I am the type who doesn’t believe in mass happiness. (Yet I am a potterologist and avatarlogist. Go figure!) I missed the lecture anyway. One evening, after having a rather difficult day with my little angels (sometimes it happens even in the best of families), I was editing photos and thought to myself that I will give it a try. I listened to the recording of the lecture and it

CHANGED. MY. LIFE.

My life as a photographer. My life as a person. As a human being.

I knew instantly that I wanted to become a part of this movement. BELOVED movement. And one day a package arrived. The BELOVED field guide. Which changed my life still more. Ok, I know you want to know now what this photography voodoo is about. Bear with me a little longer.

Imagine that you decide to have your photos taken. Any given occasion will do. You got engaged. Married. Secretly married. Your wife is pregnant. You have a newborn baby. You have a family. You celebrate your wedding’s 50th anniversary. Any occasion will do. Even one as simple as: “it’s a beautiful day”. So what is it that you want to have captured?

Poses.

OR

Feelings. Laughter. Deep gazes into each other’s eyes. Hugs. And … do we dare … kisses.

I bet it’s the second one. And it damn well should be! BELOVED photography will empower just that. Through a number of small tasks (for a lack of a better word), you will experience real feelings in front of the camera. You will BE LOVED. And if you let me, I will capture the feelings in a timeless manner. Resulting in a true celebration of your relationship.

Oh common. Say it out loud! This is unheard of in Finland. This will never work with the Finnish nature. Finnish culture. Finnish personalities.

Really? Try me! Book your Beloved session now. (It’s also a perfect gift.)

Oh and not that it’s the most important thing. But I am officially qualified for the Experiential Photography. You can also find me listed as a photographer of the Beloved movement. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Your Beloved photographer,  Niki

PSHHH: The first three Beloved sessions will receive a special gift from me.

BANG! BANG BANG!!!

A door opens somewhere, you look through it and find out that not only you are so not awesome, but you are less than mediocre. All you are left with is your charming quality to metamorphose the “down feelings” into positive energy. I call it discovering inspiration.

I found an unreal couple of wedding photographers today, check out Heather’s and Jon’s great One Love Photo blog. Of course, I have an excuse. They’ve got the power of two. I, on the other hand, am all alone – with a scientist geek hitting the keyboard next to me

Will I photograph her wedding, a beautiful female voice asked.

No, I am so sorry but I don’t photograph weddings. But I can refer my colleagues who do and are very good at wedding photography.

It took about 2 weeks to hear that honey-smelling voice again. Will I please photograph her wedding? Because it’s meant to be that way and because … (insert loads of compliments here).

Can I refuse after hearing loads of compliments from a beautiful voice? NO. And so I photographed the wedding.  And I found out why is the wedding photography rightly compared to the job of air traffic dispatchers (minus the responsibility for thousands of lives, of course). It’s just so much STRESS. Nevermind me losing 5 kilos that day, here we go. La la lala, la la lala, la la lalaaaaaa laaaaa …. Congratulations W and N on your wedding, you are going to have the most amazing live together! And thanx to you I am now an officially established wedding photographer. Anybody wants to hire me? Give me a call on 0400-358990 and let’s see if I can fit your big day into my busy schedule.