Last snowboarding session of the season

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Sunshine and -1C, what else could you dream of for a morning of snowboarding at the end of March? I believe this was the last session with the kids at Peuramaa this year.

On top of snowboarding, the kids got to ride snowmobiles:

This really was a perfect way to end the winter season!!

Rest of the photos are in folder mode:http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-31%20Snowboarding%20at%20Peuramaa/

…and in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-31%20Snowboarding%20at%20Peuramaa/?action=slideshow

Winter Downhill at Antikkala, Kuopio

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The second race of the 2012 Winter Downhill Cup was held on the icy slopes of Antikkala, Kuopio. Sometimes I (and my wife) really question my sanity for doing stuff like this. It was a 6:00 AM start and about 9 hours of sitting in the car just to ride down a hill on a bike in the winter…

The track was excellent, it was rolling, fast and … ICY! My race day ended when a tree was harder than my hand. As a result I had a bruised shoulder and a swollen hand, but nothing broken 🙂 This was a very good excuse to get the camera out and get some shots.

Race results from Vauhtijaosto: http://mountainbike.fi/vauhtijaosto/raportit-kisoista/292-jarno-lyytinen-antikkalan-ykkoenen

Photos in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-24%20Antikkala%20Talvi%20DH/?action=slideshow

Photos in folder mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-24%20Antikkala%20Talvi%20DH/

Mustavuori Winter Downhill

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This year’s winter downhill cup started on Saturday in Mustavuori, Tampere. There were about 60 people racing. The track was amazing, all hard packed ice. The locals had really done a great job in cleaning up the track from snow!! A big hand to the Tampere crew!!

I managed to get some photos after my second race run. The whole set is at: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-10%20Mustavuori%20Talvi%20DH/ or if you prefer the slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-10%20Mustavuori%20Talvi%20DH/?action=slideshow.

Wedding of Miia and Lasse

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I was honored with the duty of taking portraits of Lasse and Miia on their wedding day. They had decided to get married on the 29th of February. From early on we had the plan of shooting the portraits outside. The weather could not have been any better. The day before we had a snow storm to get fresh white snow. The wedding day was warm and sunny. A small selection of the photos: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-02-29%20Wedding%20of%20Lasse%20and%20Miia/ or in slideshow mode: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-02-29%20Wedding%20of%20Lasse%20and%20Miia/?action=slideshow

For tech geeks:

Lasse and Miia had picked the location in Lauttasaari. I arrived there about 1½ hours before they were supposed to arrive. I scouted to locations where I thought we could get the shots done. I shoveled paths to both locations. As there was about ½ meter of snow, I had to put a plywood board on the snow for them to stand on, so that they would not sink in. All this took about an hour. Next job was to get some fill lights setup. I knew that one speedlight would not just give enough light in the bright sun with the snow boosting up the light. I used a double speedlight setup through an umbrella. The by-passers were giving some odd looks as I was running between the camera and the location. I was not mad, I was just trying to get some test shots with the timer 🙂

The inside shots were a little more tricky. I did not have a chance to see the location before we arrived there. Once at the location, we had about 15 min to check the best place. Together with the bride and groom, we decided to shoot in a small hall. The space was so restricted that I had to use my 12-24 lens. I used two speedlights through umbrellas on both sides to give light to the space. I used one gridded speedlight to get some highlights on the bride and groom. In some of the photos where they were not in the middle, I turned it off.

Warm spring day at the local park

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This is the best time of the year: still plenty of snow, but the days are getting longer and warmer. Today was  a really beautiful spring day. It was time to dig out sun glasses for the first time since last summer. We enjoyed the morning in the local park. A couple of more shots at: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-03-03%20Asukaspuistossa/

Tomorrow it is time to go try snowboarding with the kids…

Winter storm and “laskiainen” = great fun!!

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Our active neighborhood organized the first traditional “laskiainen” this year. The weather was …well… very full of snow 🙂 Despite the massive snow fall, kids and adults had great fun.

The rest of the photos are at: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-02-19%20Laskiainen/

For tech geeks:

I had my camera in a OP/Tech rainsleeve to protect it from some of the snow. I used two speedlights to liven up the photos. The speedlights were put inside plastic bags. All of the equipment survived the weather.

I had an idea to capture the snowfall in the pictures. I tried to use the speedlights to light the snowfall and bring that out. I am pretty happy with some of the results. Here is one example:

Riding in snow

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Before last Sunday I had about four weeks without being able to ride my bike at all. Despite the massive amounts of snow and soft, lousy trails, we decided to head to the local hill to get some photos and hopefully some riding done. As expected neither was that good. It was almost impossible to ride on the trails and because of that, shooting any action photos was almost impossible.

I really hope that we get some warmer days so that the trails would get harder and we could ride them again.

The rest of the shots from the session are at: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-02-12%20mountainbiking%20in%20snow/

To get to the spirit, some shots from a successful photo shoot from last year: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2011-01-30+Bikepoli+talvifillarointia/

And some from the 4x competition in Sappee: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2011-03-21+Sappee+4x/

Winter wonderland

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I’m having a little flu that is keeping me from doing any sports. To get some fresh air, I decided to go to Kartanonkoski in Espoo. As it was -26C this morning and sunshine, I was expecting to find a steaming stream and so I did.

Kartanonkoski is located in western Espoo.  I found the place last summer, thanks to my neighbor who kindly showed the place. A google maps link to the place: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=202175199404043962572.0004b837c3c63797a3001&ie=UTF8&ll=60.198609,24.582381&spn=0.020795,0.066047&t=h&z=15&vpsrc=6&iwloc=0004b837c3c9e11446fb2.

Rest of the photos from today are at: http://kansala.kuvat.fi/kuvat/Antti/2012-02-05%20Kartanonkoski/