About a boat on a meadow | Beloved
04/01/2012
All laughed at him and he did it anyways and he did good.
I was not as fortunate as to find remains of Noah’s Ark, but I still consider myself lucky to have found an old and shattered boat in the middle of a meadow (and that meadow right next to Turunväylä!). This is a difficult task even in such a boat country as Finland. But the boat was really there, noone seemed to live near it, own it or care for it, so all I had to do was to wait for warmer weather, because the boat was full of slippery ice after the winter and so rather dangerous with all the rusty nails sticking to every direction possible.
On the day of our shoot the sun was shining and the love was radiant between my friends. He is an accomplished jazz musician, she is our every year’s Christmas porridge chef (can’t get enough of it!) and they both are some of the loveliest people that have been walking hand in hand on this planet since the times of … well, Noah’s Ark. At least. 
And imagine, the boat has been demolished and a rummage removed only one week after our visit. Our setting disappeared, but their love stays.
My dear friends, thank you for giving me the opportunity to capture your special relationship. Despite our turbo lives, I hope to see you much more often. ♥♥♥
You might remember the photos I took in the same location after visiting The Crazy Glasses shop.
Oh, I know that this should be a Happy New Year post. But everyone keeps writing about it, so I decided to skip it for now. What do you think, would the end of January be still a good time for a Happy-New-Year post? We could at least recapitulate the already failed New Year resolutions. 
My resolution for 2012 is to deliver photos of my friends within a shorter time window. And by shorter I mean shorter than 1 year.
Ok, ok then! (In a very small voice) To all my friends, customers, potential customers, suppliers and everyone who has ever supported me or thought of me in a good (or bad) way … and most of all to my family – Happy New Year. All of you – be as brave as Noah – go and build ships on top of mountains … against all better judgement! Because you might become a laughing stock or just as well the only survivor. (This already sounds like an Oscar thank you speech …. blaaaaaah!) 
It rained happiness … | Kihlajaiskuvaus
13/12/2011
The title of my today’s post happens to be a beautiful Czech proverb. “It rains happiness…” people say every time when there is a happy occassion and when the weather Gods get drunk on ambrosia and don’t cooperate. I searched for a similar proverb in other languages, but it is hard to find one that would not be negative.
My top three rain proverb with bad attitude are:
No. 3 – A deaf man may not have heard the thunder but he surely will see the rain. ~ Malian Proverb
No. 2 – If it were ever to rain soup, the poor would only have forks. ~ Brazilian Proverb
And the winner for today – A banker is a man who lends you an umbrella when the weather is fair, and takes it away from you when it rains. ~ Traditional Proverb
But some of them were not all that bad, here my favorites with a positive attitude:
No. 3 – An old friend met in a far country is like rain after drought. ~ Chinese Proverb
No. 2 – Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. ~ Roger Miller
And my favorite by far … Two lovers in the rain have no need of an umbrella. ~ Japanese Proverb
On a Sunday two weeks ago it was clear that it rained happiness for these two lovebirds. They got engaged the night before and nothing could have stopped them from drowning in each other’s eyes (and smiles). They did, proverbially, forget their umbrella at home (and so did I). We got completely soaked! But we didn’t mind – not the wind, not the too low temperatures, not the standing under a waterfall feeling… Nada! Photographing in the rain is actually quite wonderful – rain makes the colors stand out so much. And the light is beautiful. And the atmosphere is divine. I think my clients shared my enthusiasm – though there was a moment of hesitation when I told him to open up his jacket so that she can warm up her hands. His comment was spot on: “You must feel so bad that I still have dry layers of clothes.”
One of these images is likely my most favorite Beloved image of 2011. Do you know which one it is? And which is your favorite? ♥♥♥
“Should we put a little make up on you too?” I suggested. And I didn’t mean to even out his skin. Moment of hesitation. I quickly searched for a photo of Viggo Mortensen on my iPhone to prove what a touch of eye-liner can do for a drama. If Aragorn can pull this off, so can I, was the conclusion and the stylists were already on it.
This was my first couple boudoir session and I LOVED it!!!! (add more exclamation marks depending on how much extrovert you are)
We only had one trouble, the beautiful lady not being able to give the camera a serious face. There were fontains of giggle, rainbows of laughter and then after all that colorful sparkling bubbling stream of smiles, she released the tiger in her and the boudoir party started.
We had a view of Helsinki center from the hotel window, it was raining hard and we photographed and photographed and enjoyed the creative process to the maximum.
I loved it. ♥♥♥
PS: Now tell me, boudoir sessions for couples – yes or no?
just images today…
or
not?
Ok, I give you a small reading exercise too.
Pipsa and Tommi got married a year ago. They are from a small town in Finland, about 2 hours drive from the capital. They called me to ask if I wanted to do a beloved session with them, because they don’t have one useable portrait from their wedding. Of course, I was happy to say yes. I also do not have any portraits from my wedding that I would proudly display, so it was way easy to relate to their situation.
Pipsa and Tommi are two sweet people who were so much in love. It was clear from our first meeting that Tommi would bring the blue back from the sky for Pipsa. And she followed him everywhere with that love-filled gaze that makes you remember your own first date(s). No wonder the beloved session with them felt like dancing in sunlight. And the session had a big fat bonus on top – as parents of two small children, Pipsa and Tommi rarely get any time for themselves (another experience easy to relate to, isn’t it?). And a trip or two to Helsinki might just do the trick.
If I could summarize their beloved session, I would say: happiness, deep connection and loads of kissing.
I hope we will stay friends. ♥♥♥
PS: Tommi is also a talented portrait photographer. Check out his work.
there was a cupid once
who wanted warm each heart
he chose his target carefully
and aimed at it skillfully
and shot with all his art
but sometimes he
missed
or not?
Happy Valentine’s! May your loved ones keep you close today… ♥♥♥
PS: All sentiments aside, I interviewed this lil romantic messenger of love and I found out there is a serious competition going on among cupids on Valentine’s Day. The most successful one gets the fattest bonuses. Clearly the fact that there is a serious research on the contraproductivity of awards and punishments has not reached the heaven yet. (Or wherever cupids are from.)
PS2: Where are, in your opinion, cupids from? I am kind of lost, actually.
PS3: The last picture contains legend to the whole story.
All you need is love | Beloved kuvaus
27/01/2011
And in my case it’s love for photography. I clearly have serious feelings for it, no light matter, because it made me go and create portraits in -16. And it was windy. And grey. But the couple was great.
And not just because Tanja and Antti made excellent pizza just for me. They also
- Wore nice outfits.
- Were ready for crazy ideas.
- Carried their mirror to the middle of nowhere.
- Loved each other A LOT.
And as a bonus Antti taught me how to get life back to my deep frozen fingers even in wind and -16. There’s a trick I wouldn’t know if the Finnish army didn’t exist. Thank you (and a little bow). I hope you enjoy your prize. ♥♥♥
As promised some time ago under the joy that Evita printed a small article about me and my BELOVED photography, those of you who left a comment on this blog post entered into a competition to get 7 free winter BELOVED photos from me. Winter still lasts and from the aplenty of comments (haha, you lazy people, your loss!) I had to choose Tanja Mikkola as the winner. Congratulations, Tanja! Loved your comment, thank you so much for all the lovely things you said. I will be in touch and let’s get some beLOVEd done. ♥♥♥
No blog post is quite complete without a photo so… some love action by Milla and Johannes from our early autumn TTD session.
Oh and don’t forget to stop by tomorrow, there is something new ready for you guys. You are going to love it. I promise!
And just because I really loved Tanja’s comment, here a short excerpt from it:
Dear Niki!
I’m big fan of u! By accident i found ur webpage and since then i have admired ur talent and photos. My dream has been that when I and my boyfriend will have wedding we would have session with u then and take our wedding pictures. But when i spotted this amazing competition I realized that i could take a chance and try – why should i wait. We would love to be your models!
Tanja
7 Comments
I like the last one and the 6th photo. All are very lovely and you really hit the nail on the head by Japanese proverb. What’s your Beloved 2011 favorite Niki?
Wowowowowowowo! My favourite is number 2. They are all beautiful…i loooove the rain photoshoot, sooooo different. Whats your favourite, Niki?
These are georgeous!! your favourite must be n:o 2, (right?), because that’s all what beloved-sessions are all about. You can feel the emotion right there. Number 6 is 2nd best.
Wow…that’s a lot of rain! #2 is my fav. I am such a fan of your work. Beautiful Niki!!
My little sister <3 …..and all the pictures are beautiful <3 <3
Hands down it has to be Image 7 – a real moment there…so much fun
LOVE the red tones!!
I love 3 and 5 screens. But they are all great!