I went to photograph a newborn girl in the center of Helsinki. There was no place to park the car on the street where my customers lived, so I called them and asked the husband to come and please help me carry all the stuff. It’s crazy actually, the smaller baby, the more stuff a photographer carries with. The other day I was bugging my hubby to buy a van soon so I could fit all props and stuff for a newborn shoot.

Anyways, I took all the stuff out of the car and displayed it neatly on the side-walk for everyone to see… heh. Customer-husband is a professional hockey player, so I was expecting someone of professional hockey player’s looks. Ah, there he is, I sighed with relief. “Jani?” I asked. He said: “Yeah, that’s me.” So I show him all the boxes and the beanbag and bags with blankets and I tell him: “This is my stuff, can you help me?” “Sure, no problem.”

So each of us grabs something and off he leads me to Tavastia night club. I am thinking – what a weird access to someone’s home, hmm, well to everyone’s taste, right? And then he asks:

“What are you doing here again?”

And I, the good-natured always-must-be-funny Niki, answered the same line what I usually tell all my newborn customers when they see all the stuff: “I am moving in with you.”

He didn’t even blink.

He is a little dense, but then again he is a professional hockey player (no offence, just prejudices ), I thought and continued: “I am here to photograph your daughter, didn’t your wife tell you?”

“No, my daughter is in the daycare,” a swift answer came.

IT WAS A WRONG GUY AGAIN. So tell me what are the chances that at the exact minute when someone is supposed to turn up, a doppleganger comes and even has the same name? It’s a little weird, don’t you think… Whoever is playing these jokes on me, stop now!

Anyways, I asked him nicely to carry all my stuff out of the dance club again, thank you very much. And surely, my real customer showed up 2 mins later and he was looking like a professional hockey player and he was very nice and kind and not, not in one bit, dense. Here is a photo of your beautiful daughter. Your gallery will be ready this week, thank you for being patient.