Personal

Part of the joy of the Vappu holiday in Finland is being able to dress up and welcome Spring in unique ways.  Summer is now truly around the corner in this part of the world.

The flower fairy

This was a very enjoyable marathon 5 hour shoot north of Helsinki.  The models are wearing authentic antique period clothing and embodied the spirit of the clothing perfectly.  Make up and hair were done by the very talented Lotta Eloranta and I had the pleasure of styling the models.  This was a collaborative shoot with fellow Finnish photographer Marko Saari.

Spring is finally here in Finland and I am booking fast.  As such, I’m having to find time between shooting and processing and only have two images to show for now.  But I look forward to going through and processing the rest of the outfits!

Model Katarina perfectly embodies the spirit of the Guilded Age 1908 era wool travel suit and cotton broderie anglaise petticoat.

A 1922 Soutache-trimmed wool travel suit.

It has been an amazing year for Ajaton Joki.  I am truly grateful to have such a great group of clients who have helped my business grow into an international entity with shoots all over the world.

As a big thank you for all who have supported me, I am giving away a gift certificate for an outdoor session and 10 images (700e value) for one family.  This session is good for anytime in the month of January in the greater Helsinki/Espoo area.

To be entered for the chance to win this gift, email andrea@ajatonjoki.com with your name (so I can contact you if you were chosen as the winner).  One family will be chosen at random and this gift is good for up to a 5 member family.

Thanks again for a great year!

The Autumn holiday for school kids was this Thursday and Friday and I could not resist the chance to go out and shoot in that gorgeous afternoon light.

These images were taken at two locations, each about 30 minutes apart. We left golden sun at the first location only to look up and see the sun permanently disappear behind the clouds at the second location.  This is life in Finland in the Autumn months – when golden haze changes to somber clouds.

These were all taken in the Karkkila area, a beautiful countryside town an hour or so North of Helsinki.  As Winter approaches, how can I resist softly romantic images of the carefree days of Summer.  Here are cousins Emma and Maia.

The sun is finally setting late enough for some sunset portraiture work and it was a sincere pleasure to return to Finland from all the traveling and just shoot the nature here I love.

Here, again, my favorite model being patient with me as always for my personal photography.

They’ve known each other since they were little. And though they each have unique and very different personalities, they still can’t wait to see other and play!

This was their first outing for Summer – can you tell how much they loved that warm golden sun?

I am really loving the depth and profusion of the anenome (valkovuokko) this year!  The weather conditions were perfect and areas have whole fields of these lovely and beautiful little white flowers.  Although a late shoot caused the flowers to be mostly closed, the wonderful light at this time of the year made it all worth it.

The first of the Spring flowers have just bloomed.  I’ve shot in this location every year for 3 years now.  The flowers remain the same but my subjects changes dramatically each year.  Hard to believe this is behind a bus stop across the street from a high school and supermarket.

It is melting fast – these are the last of the Winter pictures now that the snow has just left in the last few days.  Welcome to Spring, Helsinki!