Laura’s and Nuutti’s wedding was held in Hämeenlinna, in beautiful venue Vanajanlinna. Preparations were quite massive as there were Finland’s most renowned florists decorating reception site Juhlapaviljonki, hairdressers and make-up artist in three separate rooms working with family members.

Every wedding has different challenges and on this wedding I had to be very careful with the schedule as there were constantly some action going on different parts of the venue. Then every time I moved to different location I had to analyze every aspect of the scene (light, geometry, moment and composition) to get perfect shots.

Also light, which primarily dictates how I visualize the shot, was quite challenging as we got all possible variations throughout the day. During the preparation and ceremony I was faced with strong sunshine and later during the reception there was mix of artificial light and sunlight. Finally in the evening there was hard spot lights and ambient light level so dim that I had to shoot ISO 6400 and lenses wide open, f1.2-1.4.

Weather has been great on this summer and this wedding was no exception. Wedding was held in city of Porvoo, where ceremony was held in Porvoon tuomikirkko and reception was in beautiful estate of Kiialan kartano. It’s always refreshing to work in unfamiliar places where you can’t rely from previous experiences. This suits well for my working style as I never plan anything in advance but instead I just go with the flow and work with the schedule, environment and weather I’m fronting with.

From photographers point of view, this time I was primarily working with primes and good weather doesn’t mean that you have enough light to work with zoom lenses. There are always bit of changes with the equipment I decide to work and nowadays I tend to use zoom lenses as much as possible, year ago I was pretty much only working with primes.

Normally in my work 25-35% of the photos are in color but on this wedding all are b&w by couple’s request. Thought major part of the photos on my blog and portfolio are in b&w as I tend to like from b&w more.

Here are my faves from the day.

Sini & Ben were from US like many of their guests. Wedding was held in Tuomarinkylän ravintola and ceremony was held in Vanha kirkko. Unfortunately Sini’s parents couldn’t travel to Finland but they were still with us, celebrating wedding other side of the world with video broadcast.

As I promised on my last post, I’ll post more photos from the weddings and I think I have never posted so many photos from the single wedding. Here are my faves and for a photographers, almost whole wedding was photographed with single zoom lens (24-70mm 2.8L).

My summer season started with Linda’s and Jani’s lovely wedding in Tenalji von Fersen in Suomenlinna, ceremony was held in Suomenlinnan kirkko. It was pleasure working around familiar people as I had shot best man’s wedding early in my career and I had met many of the guests on other weddings where I have worked quite many times.

Despite I haven’t basically touched the camera for couple months, it was awesome feeling to get back on something I just love to do. As I’m working on very limited amount of weddings during this and next year, I’ll post bit more images from the weddings than before from now on and these are my faves from the day.

Latest results came from the ISPWP & WPJA Q4 contests, and my images were awarded 5 times. In the last few years my photos have been awarded a total of 14 times.

Personally I think brides & grooms should not be the only thing that weighs when choosing the winning photographer, as wedding photography is not about a single award winning picture but about the whole story which unfolds from the series of photos in the album.

These are the award winning photos from early 2008 when I started to participate in these competitions.

I was not supposed to work on any wedding before the summer, and our family life was busy with the newborn and all, but I made an exception for my close friends.

Aino and Niko were married in Vanha kirkko, and despite the sleepless nights of the previous week, I had great time working on their awesome wedding. They made my work pretty easy as they had a blast and their wedding was an absolute joy to capture.

These are my faves from the day.

About a week ago we had a great moment as we welcomed our first child into our family. My wife gave birth in Haikaranpesä and with the wonderful staff and the cozy family room it was a smooth landing to becoming parents. It’s funny how at first the idea of responsibility and everything else that comes with children sounds overwhelming, but when you have your own child in your arms for the first time, you don’t feel like ever complaining about short nights or smelly diapers.

The biggest bridal fair in Finland was held last weekend. I had a booth with Klaus K. I was not marketing my presence much, as this year I’m going to work only on few selected weddings. I spent more time talking with colleagues over a glass of champagne than standing at my booth.

As last year, Klaus K is arranging Hääkenraali event in their venue Rake Sali, where they have some special program and guests have the opportunity to explore their venues and suites.

RSVP 26.1.2011 sales@klaushotel.com.

I don’t know exactly how I should begin on this, as in the last three years of my life, my dreams have come true. When I started my photography business late 2007 I didn’t think all this would be possible in Finland. Now I could do wedding photography as a full time job, and I have frequently worked internationally, which were all the goals that I set when I started my business. Last year I had also the great experience to see a glimpse of New York’s elite wedding photography when I had the opportunity to work with Ira Lippke.

Readers from the US and other major wedding business markets may find this a bit odd, as working internationally or being a full time wedding photographer isn’t that rare in some places. But in  Finland it was groundbreaking, since there was not a single full time wedding photographer when I started, and the average price of wedding photography was below 1,000e while 1,500e was seen as “high-end”.

In these three years business has changed drastically in Finland, in both good and bad ways. As a result of emerging new photographers, the level and variety of wedding photography has improved, and full time pros who did wedding photography as a side business have lost the market.

The negative effect on business side is that too many of these newcomers don’t have good and appropriate business practices, too many of them don’t pay taxes, and some undercut the market with such aggressive pricing that full time professional photographers can’t do it while paying all the taxes and other fees and costs required to run the business.

The most annoying things are the attacks and dirty tricks by competitors; last year I was targeted by three different photographers using dirty tactics, and I had to complain to the Finnish consumer agency twice.

Last year I got married, and we’re going to have a new family member early this year if everything goes as planned. As a result, I’m going to do only a few weddings this year, and I’m currently not taking any bookings to 2012, as we’re then planning to move to the US. I’m going to pursue my wedding photography career over there, but in pace with our first child. (That is the reason why my work aboard was focused on weddings in New York; I was making some first plans).

It kills me to practically leave photography for a while, especially when things have gone so extremely well, but I’m also very thrilled with all the changes that will come very soon, and in the end, family matters more than the business.

Although I’m going to take this leap year, I’m attending to Mennään Naimisiin! Bridal Fair where you can see my latest work.

Happy holidays and very warm thanks to all of my clients for everything!

Thank You!
Oka

My last wedding of this year’s summer season was Jieun’s and Stuart’s, and what an ending it was! Jieun and Stuart were from Dubai, and they decided to have their wedding in Santorini, where they had invited guests from all over the world. The ceremony was held in Rocabella, where there was a stunning Caldera view, and the reception was held at the best beach of the island, Perivolos, in Anemos Beach Lounge.

Santorini weather was two-folded, as we had great weather during the rehearsal dinner but high winds and mist during the wedding day. Despite the challenges with the weather, everything went smoothly as the guests had a great time in a very special Santorini atmosphere. Later that evening I was a bit worried about my equipment, as the air was so humid that if I just left my camera down for a while, it was all wet! Fortunately everything worked without a hitch.

“We’ve just had a quick look through the photos – they look INCREDIBLE!!! We will treasure these photos forever!  Absolutely can’t wait to frame them and share them with our families! A Huge THANK YOU for capturing one of the most important days of our lives!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!”

-Jieun

These are my personal faves from the day.