This is a story that, as it was happening, I knew I would hesitate to tell once I’d arrived back home. I think I’ve managed to only tell it just once so far, and to a large group. So if you, like myself, enjoy laughing at the misfortune of others & love a good travel story, go get yourself a cup of tea, change into your jimjams & grab a blanket because it’s a touch long – but I promise to keep it as short winded as I can.

Travel route: Helsinki-Stockholm-Helsinki-New York-Los Angeles-Seattle-Vancouver Total travel time: 48 hours. (Not including time zones)

Those of you who have been following my travels know I paid nearly $400 out of the blue for an additional flight just hours before I needed it (Stockholm-Helsinki R/T) on my way overseas. So it’s the night before I call Finnair and ask very nicely if it’s possible instead of travelling all the way from Helsinki-Stockholm to come back to Helsinki for my flight to New York, if it would be possible for me to just skip the first two flights & get on in Helsinki for my flight to New York. “No, sorry, if you do not show up for a prior leg in your reservation – your remaining flights are canceled.” Fine. So instead getting a good nights sleep & leaving at 3pm, I sleep for 2.5 hours and leave at 6am.

After threatening with an all nighter, I reluctantly lay my face to rest one last time on the floor of Anna’s Helsinki apartment and set my alarm for 4:45am. I stumble out the door with my 50.2lb backpack on my shoulders and flag down the bus for Helsinki Vantaa airport. It’s packed, but I manage a seat anyway. I get to the airport, and get off at the second bus stop for international. Finland-Sweden is inter-nations isn’t it? Apparently not. After walking a further 5 minutes in the wrong direction, I stop and ask someone – Yeah, I’m in the wrong terminal. Blue1, my airline, is a 15 minute walk that way. Excellent, we’re now down to 55 minutes before departure. I get into the back of the extraordinarily long line at check-in and watch minutes tick off the clock still. Thankfully, one of their employees shouts for any more passengers travelling to Stockholm at 8am to please come forward… Yeah, that’s me, thanks, folks!

Made my flight. It’s scheduled to be just over an hour, which would have us arriving at shortly after 8am local time. We’re 15 minutes early, so I’ve actually gone back in time now and it’s 7:50am when I get off the plane. So, lets fast forward five hours of sitting, standing, stretching, eating, and walking in Stockholm’s Arlanda airport. Check-in with Finnair for my flight back to Helsinki now – another uneventful hour goes by in the air, and we touch down well early again. I know Anna is flying out to Iceland in less than twenty minutes, I make a dash for her gate to see if I can catch her. Briskly walking, someone taps me on the shoulder from behind – CUTE – Anna found me somehow among the masses at HEL.

So… 12 hours down, 36 more to go. Seriously? It had gotten to the point where I just really couldn’t see or feel the end anywhere within reach, pretty discouraging when all I want is to be tucked into a warm, comfy bed surrounded with love. Back to reality, as I created it. I get into my window seat, and was already one of the last ones to board… the one seat next to me is still empty. Thinking softly to myself – wouldn’t it be nice if I caught a break here & it was empty for the 8 hours & 10 minutes to JFK. She must’ve been the last person boarded – makes a b-line down the aisle and stops beside me. I hear her talking to herself, or to her 4 carry on bags she’s trying to jam into the full overhead bins without much success. I turn my head and press my face against the window because the last thing I want is to talk to this lady who clearly needed a little attention in more ways than one. She finally crashes into her seat, I feel her turn to me… “And how are you today?”. Before I could answer she’s neck deep in conversation about where she’s come from & how tired she is… Ohh, you don’t know the half of it, lady. 8 hours later, we’re about to land and she’s now cursing to herself about the (quiet) people behind us, and how they’re kicking her seat. Really? Ohh, this is after she’s pressed the call button three times accidentally on her armrest.

Arrival at New York’s JFK. It’s just past 7pm local time, I know my flight with Virgin to Los Angeles isn’t until the next morning but maybe if I hurry to check-in, I could go stand-by for their last flight tonight! Wouldn’t that be great! Spend the night travelling instead of on the floor at JFK. Anyway, rush for customs & get made fun of (lovingly) for writing on my form that I’d be staying ‘Inside JFK’ as my accommodation while visiting the US, and get told not even he would attempt to spend the night in the airport here – I carry on, collect my bags, find my way to the Airtrain to eventually take me to Terminal 4 where Virgin America check-in is and… pitch black. No one at check-in, all signs taken down, lights off… I was going to be spending the next 13 hours waiting to come back here tomorrow morning.

Any of you who have travelled through JFK Terminal 4 know there is NO seating pre-security. None. Maybe 2 benches wrapped around a pole in the middle of the shops downstairs. How the hell am I going to spend the night here? Did I mention there are automated announcements booming through the terminal every 4 minutes for Air Inda, Qatar, El El… the list goes on. So upstairs, away from the check-in counters near employee access points – I find a darker corner with a power socket for my laptop. It’ll do, for now. I plug in the laptop, ohh, and I’ve broke the power cord so it’s really touchy and every time I move, the battery starts wearing down and I’ve done this so many times now that the battery life on here is now about… 15 minutes. It’s like a time bomb before the computer dies. So here I am, lying on the concrete floor at JFK with my laptop out & my backpack supporting my head against some disgusting old wall paying $8.95 for 24 hours of WIFI. After about an hour of this & my belt digging into my hip, and even a little bead of sweat running down my forehead because it’s so hot I decide ENOUGH! Maybe. Get the backpack back onto my baggage cart, and ask a couple of police officers for their advise on staying the night in here… “Ohh man, you’re not serious? Chain your stuff to ya man, or people will steal it for sure. Go get a hotel, just spend the money.” I’ve been travelling for 24 something hours… “Okay, you’re right.” $181 later, I find myself on the Airtrain again headed outside the terminals to some dark parking lot where this shuttle bus will pick me up. There are about 75 other people waiting – I didn’t think much of it. Only a few get on my hotels bus, but I decide to get on last so I can be the first one off and just waltz straight up to reception, check-in, get to my room & slumber away for the night.

Not. So. Much. I round the corner for the entrance and what should appear to my exhausted little eyes? About 300 bags piled high between all the doors, and a reception/lobby/restaurant area full of about.. Ohh, 100 people? All waiting to be checked into a room. Every. Single. One. It’s 10 o’clock in the evening. I have to be up in 8 hours for my flight tomorrow morning, and now I have to climb through suitcases & people to find the back of the line? Do I ever. Get to the back of the line – backpack down, tripod down, shoulder bag down. I ask the lady ahead of me what’s going on… “Ohh, you didn’t know? There was bad weather all day today at JFK, hardly any flights left & hundreds were canceled…” Mhmm. This is perfect. 1 hour & 45 minutes goes by, I’m now at the reception desk and am given my room, which I paid full price for – not spoiled with an airline voucher. Room 314. Elevator up, and at last I can just put my head to rest on a nice bed. I see my door… Hmm, there’s a do not disturb sign on my door, that’s a little odd – but maybe housekeeping just did it to keep the room for me – who knows. Put the key in the lock, unlocks – I turn the handle, and CLANK – the door is locked with that silly bar thing. Clearly, there are other people already in this room. Loovvvely. Backpack on one more time. I return downstairs, stand patiently first in line once again & ask for a room without other people in it this time. “I’m sorry about that sir, and all we have left now is a smoking room…” Fine, I don’t care… just… a room without other people in it, please. Room 354 this time. Upstairs I go, key in the lock – unlocked. Ever been knocked off your feet by a smell before? No? An overpowering smell of cigarette smoke in a hotel room ought to do it – believe me. Whatever, I open all the windows and within 15 minutes crawl into my sticky smoke infested sheets and cut the lights. Good night.

7:00am. My alarm calls me once again. Turn on the laptop to make sure my flight is on time – ohh, no WIFI in this fine hotel. Whatever. Get to the airport very uneventfully & check-in for my flight to Seattle via Los Angeles. After spending no less than an hour waiting in the security line up, I get to my gate – flight is delayed an hour. Really? Seriously? I could’ve slept another hour this morning instead of spending it waiting in line at security? Thanks. Not to mention that it’s still fairly early to departure so our plane could be… god knows where. Thankfully, it’s only a crew rest issue because of the weather yesterday and it will go just the hour late. Okay, fine. Breakfast… there is ONE place open inside Terminal 4 that has food – Wayne’s Coffee. The line up is about 20 people long. I get to the front of the line, pay my $9 for a cookie & a chai latte and what’s that off in the distance I hear? My flight is boarding. Apparently I spent 40 minutes in line at Wayne’s Coffee.

JFK-LAX – the most pleasant of my flying experiences on the way home. Nice people sitting all around me, gorgeous scenery out the window, good service & a little turbulence (which I love!). Arrive LAX – exactly three hours to kill before flight to Seattle. There’s nothing to do. Nothing. The terminal is like a fishbowl and I walked around the edge of the fishbowl maybe a dozen times. And it’s dirty, like worse than JFK. Time comes to board – get on my last flight – LAX-SEA. Again, uneventful & pleasant. Arrive Seattle – my brother is supposed to pick me up at 6:45pm. It’s now 7:15 and he texts.. “Yeah, I’m stuck in heavy traffic… just starting to see signs for the airport now.” Excellent. Just what I wanted – a little more waiting around before the three hour drive back to Vancouver to complete the journey. He arrives, I get in the car – and proceed to tell him this exact story.

If you actually read through all that, I don’t believe you. Just kidding, I love you all the more for it if you have, and if you haven’t – I don’t really blame you. How many cups of tea & coffee did you need to get through that anyway? Seriously, thanks for reading & thank you for all the blog love you’ve been leaving for me throughout the entire trip. Sure does feel good! Ohh, and we arrived home around 10:45pm after making stops for dinner, candy, gas etc. and I left the next afternoon for a six hour drive into the interior of British Columbia for a wedding! Pffft, jet lag is overblown anyway.

I asked a pilot about this phenomenon, and he explained it perfectly to me but I can’t remember how to relay that now. It’s something about the way the sun hits the aircraft at a certain angle, and you can actually see the aircraft in the circle! How cool is that!

Travelling isn’t a vacation, it isn’t just easily leaving everything behind at home to go lie on a beach with your biggest worry getting sun burnt, or what type of drink to order from the poolside bar. Travelling, to me, has always been about exploration and gaining all the experience in the world that working a day job, or sitting in a classroom will never teach or gain you.

And while posh hotels, fancy cuisine, and walking cities are all great things… Being invited into locals homes in the countryside for visits is much more rich an experience than any of that will ever be to me. Seeing the smile on their faces while filling three buckets full of berries from their fields is something I’ll never forget, along with having a meal that was made literally from just what grows in their garden, or exploring the museum upstairs that has been there for the past sixty years. These are the payoffs that make leaving the comforts of home to sleep on a best friends floor for a month entirely worthwhile. And as long as those trade-offs still feel more like a payoff than a sacrifice, I’ll know that life on the road remains my calling.

On my last evening in Helsinki, Anna & I decided to really make it memorable and celebrate an enormously successful trip overseas by finding the most posh restaurant in the city centre and spending an evening dining on the patio overlooking the white Lutheran Cathedral, which I’m sure you remember from my previous posts.

The past month and a little bit was a remarkable time spent exploring, discovering, and rendezvousing with all the right places, circumstances & people imaginable, so… thank you. Thank you, Anna.  And thank you to each person I had a magnificent rendezvous with!

Remember I said my previous post was my favourite in a long time? I think I lied, big time. Scrolling through these, and taking a look at some of what I have to come for my blog sitting in Lightroom right now… I love my photography, and it’s been a while since I’ve said that and felt it so it feels good, indeed! I have a lot of cathedral photography from Helsinki, and wanted to save, what turned up to be only some of them, for a separate post because I really feel they all click well with one another here, and I’ve narrowed them down quite a bit – hence all the collages, because there’s so much!

Helsinki Public Library… What are you kidding me?! A library?!

Okei, so Helsinki Extreme Day may not have been that extreme, but I was just really cuing up for this post because it’s probably one of my favourites in some time. While Helsinki may not get the midnight sun, it really wasn’t far from it and I wasn’t even there during the longest days of the year. The sun sort of set, well it set, but the sky never darkened because the sun never sat too far below the horizon which made for some of the most phenomenal twilight skies I’ve witnessed, and compared greatly to my Winters in Norway – except on the opposite side of the scale, and instead of the sun never rising – it nearly never set here. So a lot of these photos vary from 22:30 into the wee hours of the morning!

Here’s just a little sample of how easy it is to stay charged all through the night with unbounding energy because everytime I looked out the window, the sky just became more and more beautiful filling with every deep blue & purple imaginable all through til the morning sun! The image on the left was taken at 02:58, and the right image at 00:03 both on 21st July!

All three of my upcoming posts are going to be a little photo heavy, a lot Helsinki heavy, and probably a little extreme. There’s more than enough in this old Northern capital to keep things fresh, vibrant & exciting while living here for the better part of July & August and the challenge lies in keeping it exactly that through the eye of a camera lens. So to build off a little helsinki extreme laundry, get set & go!

Never in my life have I felt more single, but in the complete vibe of love than when I spent the day with Mark & Lori up in the interior of British Columbia. Just being around them, you can feel it, you can feel how in love they are, and there isn’t the slightest doubt about it. Their wedding was gorgeous, and Mark decided last minute to keep the ceremony outside in a light drizzle and so naturally, it was the most beautiful ceremony I have witnessed. It was a wonderful weekend too, I felt right up at home in the cabin and really was treated just as part of the family – so a huge thank you to Mark, Lori & the Werklunds for such a great time!

Sometimes life on the road can be… well, not far from that – life on the road. Living from a backpack, as cliche as it now sounds, doesn’t always feel so luxurious, but there’s nothing like a backpack full of clean clothes. One of my favourite quotes on travel is something like this… “Some days the shine of the travellers life isn’t so obvious, and you just need a clean pair of knickers & a good cup of tea. And since you can’t always rely on getting a proper cup of tea, decent underwear is critical.” So what better way to spend a day in Helsinki than watching the washing machine go round, and round, and round…

Kudos to some strange Finnish girl with a camera for braving flying underpants to capture many of these images.

I was sitting editing Saturdays wedding at about 3:30 this afternoon when it hit me – “Bollocks, we have an engagement shoot in like two hours don’t we?!” I frolicked into the shower, made a stop at McDonalds for dinner & met Jaana & Pekka on Suomenlinna for their sesh!

I’m not entirely sure what it was, but once again, I was pretty much blown away with the connection we established together from the moment we met. Jaana & Pekka are just those down to Earth, genuinely pleasant & warmly loving type of people that can make you glow within moments! The light on Suomenlinna was stunning all evening long & our couple so adoring that it wasn’t possible to go wrong! I wish I was here to shoot their wedding in early October, but I know it’ll be incredible regardless! Enjoy, guys & kiitos!

When we met with Anna & Pete a few weeks ago down in Tampere, I think Anna & I both knew we were in for a bit of a treat with these two.  They had so many adorable little touches/surprises/charms worked out for their wedding day and it all turned out quite perfect.  Except for the getting to the church part where we very nearly missed & took the wrong exit twice, and Anna’s blood curdling scream both times had my heart jump a little more than I would’ve liked but we all made it, alive and well.

My time on the road here has just about expired before I head back home for… not very long anyway, so what lies ahead are a couple weddings – one very special one to our family on 3 September, some more travel, and a lot of photography upcoming to the blog, as ever!  Thanks for all the blog love lately, guys & gals!

This was super cute!  Myself, Anna & the bridal party were the only ones expecting this – a little surprise salsa as their first dance!  Anna headed discreetly away to get changed not long before, and shortly after Pete followed & came back in to casually sit down again.  Then, out of no where – walked right up to meet Anna on the dance floor and take the room by storm!  They were both brilliant & have been practicing for weeks!

I just don’t heart the ferry ride over to Tallinn, at all.  It was perhaps the most uncomfortable total of six and a half hours I’ve spent on a ferry in my life.  What kind of company buys a people & car ferry… without seats and an air conditioning system that made it feel like I was back in the ice hotel!  Kudos to the Eckerö Line though, I did very much enjoy the €10 buffet breakfast (at 7:20am) on the way over, and stuffed my face silly with all sorts of delicious fruits & foods I haven’t been up early enough for in months.

Tallinn was really enjoyable, and I’ll gladly say I fell willingly into the tourist cycle of really staying within the old town for the half day there.  Organic old buildings still boasting vibrant colours & rugged brick, gorgeous orthox cathedrals standing tall on hills over the city… it’s about as picturesque as I could’ve been able to imagine.  The only thing that could’ve made it better is the sun making an earlier appearance in the day, but we enjoy it as the afternoon carried on.

What an absolute gem of a cafe this is.  There was no one else in here, and the exposed brick on the inside with wonderfully comfortable chairs lining the walls of the cafe was perfect!  If not for heading inside there while it was cloudy, and about ten minutes later the sun poking through – I could’ve spent the remainder of the day there without a doubt.  Right on the main square in Tallinn too, and it was just the most peaceful little Oasis.  Ferry ride back – how could I resist a little lip syncing to Jump For My Love by the Pointer Sisters?!  I mean, come on!  Thanks to Anna for wanting to embarrass me with these photos, but I’m afraid that doesn’t happen!  She does have a video though, if you dare ask.

First things first… Katja, as darling as she looks, isn’t nearly that (see bottom of post & preceeding text).  Well now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s sort out their story and all the cute little details shall we.  It’s funny sometimes when you meet certain people for the very first time and just know we’re all going to click together.  And when that happens with ‘clients’, and I quote clients because by about the first ten minutes they feel like friends for years, it really is exhilarating, and secretly, between you & me, you just want to raise your arms to the sky and scream “thank you!“.  Anyway, on the way to the supermarket on Suomenlinna (getting groceries for our picnic on the rocks at the ocean – yeah, tough life), Katja & I were talking about their relationship in the early stages and apparently Jarkko hadn’t… invested much into his car just yet, and within the first month of them dating – his car broke down, with her inside it, three times.  How to win a girl’s heart folks – there you have it!  And so ever since those days years ago, they’ve been disgustingly adorable & positively glowing with enthusiasm for one another, and for life!

And now to my beloved ‘text at the bottom of the post preceding the image’.  My parents, very lovingly, gave me a few words of wisdom before I left home on this trip… Dad – “Be safe, have fun!”  Mum – “Be safe, don’t do anyting stupid.”  Hi mum, hi dad!  And so being the caring, genuine & enthusiastic photographer I ever so naturally have flourished into (/end sarcasm?), I was crawling through some of the greenery around the fence & garden in the first photo, and apparently there’s a rather… touchy plant that it isn’t advised to rub up against, and ohh, did I have a nice little meet & greet, howdy-doody with it.  At first it was only a little tingling sensation, and within a few minutes it became an extremely painful throbbing like I had (approximately) seventy-five million needles in my arm.  At our following location, Anna had the helm and I took a moment to look at my arm and it was so incredibly textured & red I couldn’t not take a photograph and apparently I was being watched… Thanks for caring guys!  Haha, only joking!  Jarkko & Katja, you guys rock and I totally can’t wait for the day I see you two again!

When Anna mentioned that Teemu & Tuuli didn’t really have a location in mind for their shoot, I immediately jumped – probably literally too, on the opportunity to push for a downtown Helsinki twilight shoot!  I’ve been walking around the area for the past few weeks noticing that literally every single street could be turned into thousands of unique, stunning photographs by day, or by night.  Ohh, I wish I was a wedding photographer here!  Anna mentioned after that apparently these two were ‘camera shy’, and quite obviously, that translates in English to “We’re extremely gorgeous and are pretty much perfect in front of the camera in every way you can imagine”.  I loved the time we had this evening, I loved the locations and Teemu & Tuuli, I loved your willingness to venture into something a little different!  I do hope you enjoy these, and ohh, how I wish I’d be around for your 2010 wedding!

And on a little side note – tomorrow, or rather, in four hours, I’m off to Estonia!  Ohh, how I’m thrilled for that as well!

Sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and let the day come to you while travelling.  It’s one of my greatest joys while being alone on the road, there are never any must dos or must sees.  It’s what I want it to be, and while there are always dozens of things calling out for attention, for photographs of, it’s nice to just take the time to really appreciate where I am for a moment, and bask in the opportunity I have to do something like this.  I’ve never found it difficult to leave home, for I’ve always felt “life on the road” has been calling me toward it and I’m still unsure as to what degree that really means – but if I have to do this for a month, a year, two years or ten years to follow in order to find that out… I will.  I walked for a few hours around Helsinki today, in search of nothing particularly, through many, many different neighbourhoods and past several differently styled cafes until I reached one that jumped out to me.  Often times previously, I’d spend the better part of days taking time to really absorb the moment through many pages of journals & some very good cups of tea and it just felt like one of those days today.

It was really nice writing about events that have transpired, and circumstances which are beginning to line themselves up and reflect on those things.  Wedding photography is certainly something I enjoy very much, and would love to continue but it’s not all me, and for a while, I thought it was – I thought I found ‘it’.  But things are always expanding, and the perfect timing of this trip is just that… it’s sparked that desire of exploration, and not always being comfortable that I somehow enjoy.  Along with those few things stay photography too.  A lot call it travel photography, but the world is really just one and we are all really just one so it’s just… more less my life photography documenting the expansion that I seek, that’s all.

As often times before, I’ve stumbled upon – and I’m sure it’s no accident, many exceptionally warm & inviting people to share a lot of those… ‘cherished travel moments’ with.  Like above, being invited over to Anna’s great aunts home for a homemade Finnish dinner.  It’s funny how different we all think we are sometimes, when really, beyond communication barriers & cultural differences what we’re all striving for is joy & fulfillment in life.  It doesn’t matter whether that fulfillment is miles away lakeside in a secluded forest cabin, within the country’s capital at a homey apartment, or living from a 75L backpack.  All language barriers are truly broken with just a genuine attempt to immense myself in becoming Finnish for an evening, at the dinner table or in a wooden sauna.  How blessed do I feel to have a home base for these travels here right now, and to be rendezvousing with so many of the right people & circumstances I’ve been hoping for… ohh, far beyond words will express.

There are so many payoffs each and everyday for me living life on the road, and I know that while I have perhaps found a few more of these here than I am used to expecting back home – I know it all had to come from within, and so really… everything we experience comes from within, and that anything will happen anywhere if we’re in alignment of receiving it.  So with some travels behind me, and with many more well ahead of me – we’ll leave this here for now.  I’m sure I’ll have yet another post full of inspired photography in a matter of hours really, and a thank you to my blog readers who keep me full of life with your comments on my far too frequent posts!

Cute couple! They were sitting right in front of me on the ferry over!

Finland is like an entirely different country in the summer than it is during the Winter, which is the only time of year I’ve visited before.  Summer… the weather is gorgeous, the winds are warm, the daylight is forever (literally), and the greenery is astounding.  And so, as much as I love the long, dark, cold Winters here – this is such a nice change!  Just a ten minute ferry ride off the harbour of Helsinki lies Suomenlinna, a fair sized island home to just 700 people.  The weather was thee most perfect it could’ve been for a day of exploration over there, and far better than the just above freezing temperatures with horrendous winds the last time I visited.

Last night, Anna & I travelled an hour North of Helsinki up to Lahti to meet Tea & Mikko for a late evening bridal session.  They were married back in April in front of close friends & family after nearly five years of dating, and just held their reception last weekend.  Lahti is a cute little town of 100,000, and like every single other city in Finland – drive five minutes from the centre of town, and you’re in the thick of the Finnish countryside flipping from dense forest to open wildflower fields.

Anyway, we caught a train just before 18:00 from Helsinki and while it wasn’t nearly as beautiful as the sunset ride back home a few hours later – what stunning scenery along the way!  Hard to focus attention to a shoot when there’s so much beauty along the way just out the window, but regardless!  I had an amazing time with these two, and I know Anna did as well but I’ll let you venture over to her blog in a couple days to get a better feel.  Tea & Mikko were up for anything, and it was so refreshing – I love having that sort of freedom with my photography, it absolutely lets the creativity flow through from inspiration.  Tea went bare foot for our entire session – I seriously don’t know how she did it, but it was adorable!  Thank you two so much for such a wonderful time, I had a blast with you both! Really can’t wait to see you two again and chat & laugh over hockey, bad Estonian drivers & other ridiculous Finnish phrases I’ve since learned.

How fun are these!

Cutest ever!

We found a brilliant industrialish location, and started on the outside until I half accidentally fell through an unlocked door in the fence, and couldn’t resist bringing the shoot into the courtyard!  Here’s to hoping we don’t receive some mysterious trespassing fine in the post over the next year! Hah!

Friday morning Anna & I headed up to her dad’s summer cabin about an hour outside of Tampere (North of Helsinki), and it was going to be a little vacation within these travels for me almost.  Well, it turns out that as we relaxed and lightened up everything still continued to flow into our experience.  About 1am on Saturday morning (Friday night), Anna decides to switch on her mobile and see a missed call from a potential client.  Essentially… “We’d love to have you come photograph our wedding today at 4pm back near Helsinki, and we’ll even cover your travel expenses!”  We had just spent thee most calming day out in the wilderness, and oh, I enjoyed it so much but sometimes you just get that inhibition to go do something and this wedding had it.  We’re both really glad we decided to make the effort to get back in time for the wedding, we had a blast!

The cabin experiance was remarkable, and for about the last 15 minutes of the drive I couldn’t even speak.  Anna, why didn’t you shoot that video?  The countryside turned so quickly from fields of wildflowers into dense, overgrown forest and flipped instantly back to a wheat field.  It was some of the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen in my life, and I’ll say I’m glad I didn’t live it through my camera lens.  When we arrived at the cabin, the weather was looking preeeetty promising aside from the gaile force winds really.  The sunshine was out for the most part, but as the evening drew in so did the clouds & the rain so the dream of taking star trails over a still lake is again on hold.  But who knows, perhaps this trip will prevent an even better opportunity for it.  Enjoy the beautiful Finnish countryside!

The little cabin, hand built by Anna’s dad!  It’s so distinctly Finnish I can’t even tell you.  No running water, just electricity and very naturally, a wooding burning sauna… sow-na.  Sow-na.  Sow-na.  Not saw-na.  We had a little tent set up for me outside just on the edge of the forest out back.  It poured rain all night long, and was deliciously soothing sleeping to it!  For all you camera officianados out there… shot of me is ISO 6400 & light from my itouch!

These two images taken just after 22:30, and it’s heavily cloudy.  It doesn’t get dark, or anywhere close to it and wow, does that do amazing things for my energy level!

Early evening, Anna & I saw how excellent the light was (from a portrait photographers standpoint) and took a little hike up the gravel road for a slight change of pace of walking through cobwebs & ant hills in the forest.  Turns out she’s got a little model in her after all, just don’t ask her to say the word massage…

When I first met Anna & Pete down on the waterfront here in Tampere, a whole eight hours ago (Literally. We met at 18:00 tonight), one of the first things we talked about is how they met, how long they’ve known one another and nearly every other cute little romantic detail to which Anna very promptly replied “1 year, 10 days & 3 hours!”.  Clearly.  These two are so the type to cherish every waking moment together, they love one another and have such enthusiasm for life… you can just feel it around them!  They are so photogenic, and really rocked it for us today in the middle of a very crowded downtown Tampere.  What energy!

Anna & I are shooting their wedding back here in Tampere in just two weeks, and more excited I could not be!  I really feel I got to know these two well today, and we all just clicked & laughed, and made fun of my Finnish & Anna’s pronounciation of the word ‘massage’.  Head over to her blog, leave her a comment, and ask her to record a voice clip of her saying ‘massage’ for you.  Seriously.

Some even more uplifting news for you, I beat Anna Wii Bowling & Wii Golfing this evening… so while you’re over at her site leaving her some blog lovin’, ask her who won playing the Wii tonight!  And for those of you back home in North America – it’s 01:46am here, and I’m sitting out on the balcony typing away under a very twilight sky which appears to be getting brighter already.  Ohh, how I love summer in the North.  More photos of that coming very soon indeed!

Having been in Helsinki for no less than two days, Anna & I had our first portrait shoot booked with a stunning young lady, Päivi.  It’s hard to really plan shooting in gorgeous light here because the sun doesn’t set until past 10:30pm, and twilight is (apparently) lingering right through to sunrise as I’m finding out while writing this.  Nevertheless, we basked on the beach into the late evening and soaked up quite a few delicious rays of that amazing light.  We had a tremendous time together, so kippis to a cracking evening together!

New York – Helsinki – Stockholm.  I only wanted to go as far as Helsinki, and I would just ask the check-in agents at Finnair to short tag my bag for Helsinki, so it and I would just end our journey there.  Apparently, wanting to save the airline a little money isn’t as generous as it sounds.  The scene at the check-in desk at JFK:  I’m standing there with my 27kg backpack, being assured I need to travel all the way to Stockholm or my return flight would be cancelled.  I don’t have any accommodation there, nor a flight to get back over to Helsinki.  Mmm, very convenient indeed.  So I finish the check-in process and can feel my heart racing a little faster than I ever remember it doing so before.  Another little bit of information for those travelling through JFK – they have no computers with internet access.  I remember I have my iTouch tucked away in my bag – ahh excellent, I’ll just book a flight back over to Helsinki this way – done, taken care of, all is well.  Not quite.  Apparently I forgot to charge it the night before, so as I now go through the 28 step process to get signed up for paying $8.95 for an hour of Wifi – my battery life is flashing red with 20% remaining.  Bollocks.  Scramble over to flysas.com, and find a flight back over to Helsinki from Stockholm – last flight of the night …$327.23 later.  US dollars.  So instead of arriving into Helsinki at 1pm, I arrive into Helsinki at 22:40pm.  The following hour wasn’t my finest, but thankfully the money was there, and things still happened to line up to get me to where I needed to be and sometimes, that’s really all that matters.

A little side story here if you’re still reading, and haven’t skipped ahead to the photos… After I clicked ‘Confirm’ on the SAS website, I felt my body sank into the airport chair knowing I’d just gotten myself to where I wanted to be, but more because I’d just unexpectedly spent $400 Canadian.  I sat with probably the most blank face of anyone in the boarding lounge, and my thoughts seemed to just pause.  I leaned forward in my chair, and just released a quiet thought ‘Universe, I just need a sign… I just need a sign things are well’.  I felt so non-resistant finally.  Thirty seconds later, I picked up my camera bag, picked up my tripod and walked almost automatically toward a nice looking restaurant tucked away near the middle of the corridor called O’Neals.  Seated myself to a booth with a view of the terminal.  I picked up the menu, opened it… French onion soup, closed it.  A waitress spots me, walks slowly over… “You all ready there, sweetie?”  The rest of the story doesn’t really matter, it’s just sometimes when we think we couldn’t be more alone – there’s always something to point us in the right direction.  Ask, and it it given.

I’d planned to end this post here, but this evening I got a little inspired when I saw there were to be thunder-showers in just a few hours time, so I headed on out to a place I plan to go every night for twilight from this day forward.  The sun isn’t setting here until about 10:30 pm now, and twilight lasts well into 1:30 am – it’s incredible.  So the forecast says thunder showers & lightning, and what do I do – keep on my linen shirts & capris.  Walk out the door, the summer wind blows nicely and the rain starts.  Get to the cathedral – rain continues, harder now but not without getting the shots intended of course.  After taking refuge inside the cathedral for a few minutes, literally instantly as we walk out the door – lighting!  Not just a little bit of sheet lighting, but full on sheet & fork lighting panoramically across the entire sky!  Absolutely phenomenal!  And by the time we get back inside by about 1am, my clothes are now glued to my body, it’s like I’ve just taken a shower with my clothes on.  But ohh, I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

Thirty-six hours in New York City, and yet another posh hotel.  I knew New York would carry a certain sort of… energy, but it wasn’t anything like I was expecting.  You see, the beautiful thing about travelling is we create our own experience and there’s no one in the world to tell you what you should be doing.  The most beautiful part of it all is discovering those gems of restaurants hidden behind back side streets, quiet little cafes & the lesser spoken of parks nestled away from every other Canadian tourist living out of a Lonely Planet guide book.  Naturally, taking a walk through Central Park to watch a kick ball game and sitting in the middle of Times Square at twilight have their own particular charms as well.

I am incredibly embarrassed to say that my backpack now weighs a very solid 26.6 – 27 kgs, depending on how gently I set it down on the airport scale at check-in.  I’ve always sworn I’d never be that bastard backpacker with the disgustingly heavy backpack because I know first hand just how ridiculous that is, however, because I went to New York and single handedly helped to end your recession by spending more cash than I’d like to admit down Broadway & 5th Ave within six hours – I’m entirely entitled to how heavy my backpack now weighs.  I told you I had a thing for posh hotels & shopping.  I wasn’t kidding, I don’t just make this stuff up – and now you know for sure.

Goodbye to New York City for now, and while I’ll be back someday, it’s once again time to move on.  Finally that flight overseas awaits me, and not without it’s challenges of an incomplete booking to my final destination and no internet access to book that last leg on but my dying iTouch & expensive airport wi-fi.  I love spontaneity, but this may just be a little to…

Of course I did eventually get outside in the city and strain my poor little body on some of the steepest sidewalks I have ever walked.  Ridiculous!  The previous post was my hotel the first night, and this is Hotel 1000 the second night I was in Seattle.  It felt like the exact same experience at the hotel – incredible staff who were genuine, caring & helpful who upgraded my breathtaking room for me – I had two baths in one night.  Previously, I haven’t had a bath for over five years.  I’m filled with such appreciation for all of these experiences which… don’t seem to ever stop flowing into my experience.

Seattle is definitely a city I’ll look forward to coming back to, especially if the people I met are any indication of who else is out there in that city.  Even the weather seemed to keep it’s best interests in it for me – experienced some more phenomenal thunder showers in the city, and that’s not where they ended either.  But like always now, I must carry on – and so, if you’ve even flown before or seen a boarding pass – you’ll know where I’m headed next!  See ya there!

I could live in hotels.  I love walking in the reception hall and being greeted with genuine smiles.

Perhaps understand that I write this while I lie in my gorgeous bed here at the Hyatt Olive 8 in Seattle, where I’m comfortably nestled away for the night.  This is perhaps the nicest hotel I remember staying in, though I’ve had a few incredible stays in London as well.  Regardless, as we drove down into Seattle from Vancouver I could feel the butterflies coming back to my stomach because I knew in less than an hour, I was back on my own with just that beautiful new backpack of mine.  I replayed over, and over again in my mind walking into this hotel with great comfort and ease, with the staff more than happy to have me, and genuinely want to offer any help they can.  It was that little reassurance I needed.  I walked in the sliding glass doors and was greeted immediately with smiles asking how I was this evening, it was exactly as I’d imagined in my mind.  I suppose I knew everything was going to be just as perfect as I’d wished it to be when on the drive down we chased the most incredible sunset through lush forest & vast open fields, not to mention the spectacular thunder & lightning storm during twilight.  If that wasn’t my sign of good luck, I don’t know what would’ve been.  And my room here you ask?  Ohh, I would love to let the photographs ease your curiosity…

I’d never have dreamed a better beginning to this little adventure.  Perfection indeed.  More coming so very soon.

This is going to be an extremely quick post because A) It’s 03:01 B) I’m absolutely knackered, and so I am… dropping… life for a while, and exploring some new options as they come forth.  I wont give away all the details here, because naturally I want you to come back and follow some exciting little travels I have juuuust around the corner.  So departure from Vancouver in a little over twelve hours with only the things you see below, and ohh, this is going to be so delicious!

It must be incredible to travel and not be a photographer.  Why does camera equipment weigh so much?

Yeah, I seriously wish this was the case.  Don’t you hate how you can’t pack toilettries until right before you leave because you need them in the morning.  Not to mention the laptop.  And whatever else I’m forgetting.  Ohh, and someone please talk me out of going back to Future Shop tomorrow morning before I leave to pick up a 13in Macbook Pro.  I knew I shouldn’t have gone in there in the first place yesterday.  Granted, it’d be a lot lighter and more portable than this 17in PC.  Stupid computers!

It’s hard to know what to say about Kayleen, because she’s one of the greatest inspirations in my life, and has been for nearly two years now.  Effortlessly, I could write paragraph after paragraph about all the positive aspects of her, but in the interest of this staying a photography blog, we’ll keep the focus around just that.  Kayleen is extraordinarily energetic, full of life, and optimism.  She was rockin’ the flip flops today, and was actually rockin’ them… through ivy forests, blackberry bushes, and wood chunk trails!  She just bought this most amazing bicycle, and couldn’t resist bring it along – thank goodness!  It was like that scene from The Secret when the little boy is given his first red bike – Kayleen was charged with a whole new energy, not that she lacks any to begin with!  You can bet she’ll be back on my blog again soon!

Doesn’t it feel exhilarating to get there and mix it up in the beautiful summer weather?  Flowers in bloom, bicycles on gravel paths, kites being taken around in the wind, the tall grass blowing together in a certain direction and the comfortable warmth of that summer sun on our skin.  It’s a beautiful time indeed.

Kim & Wes are a  blast, these two are so much fun and extremely down to Earth.  I shot their wedding yesterday with Melanie, who was so much fun to work with and really has some great ideas and a lot of talent!  We started the day in West Vancouver at Kim’s place for some details in the early afternoon before heading to a beautiful, secluded little church in the lush forest.  Their day was one of the smoothest and timely flowing wedding days I’ve been a part of yet.  Everything just seemed to work, from times & locations to every little detail they had planned!

I had my strobe cut out on me halfway through the reception, which was a bit of a shame but allowed for some fun ambient light photos!  Thank youuu ISO 3200+!  Don’t even get me started on the new Pocket Wizards though…

Kim & Wes, thank you more than words can say for such a great time, and a lot of laughs all through the day!  Enjoy Mexico!

Catherine is SO much fun!  I’ll never forget meeting her at the airport as I’d come up for my evening bagel & hot chocolate with the guys during the Winter, and she’d always be there happy to comply.  If I recall correctly, I actually deviated from the hot chocolate one night and got a tea and I asked for English Breakfast, and she thought I wanted three lemon or something?  Long story short, I’ve never seen either of us laugh as hard as we did then still to this day.  Regardless, ever since she told me she was pregnant nearly five months ago, she was certain I’d be the one to take some photographs for her – and to a woman as her, how could I ever say no?   

As you read this, don’t feel bad because I laugh as I type this out.  All is well.  Lets go back to Swiftsure weekend one more time yes?  The same weekend I left my tripod on a BC Transit bus.

Beautiful hotel room – one bedroom suite with a pull out bed, we’re spoiled being treated to this suite which includes a full kitchen so we’re enjoying the early evening sunlight with the balcony door open, the breeze blowing gently through with the NHL playoffs on TV in the living room.  We mess about, take a few photos inside our room – the light is nice, we love to play.  Life is good.

For whatever reason, I decide I’m going to take the most awkward route to get to where I want to be on the other side of the room… do a half hop over the bed in the living room, with my camera in my hand – naturally, stub my toe against the bed post, half trip but stay on my feet and in ultra slow motion, watch my 5DII & 85 1.2 depart my hand for the carpet floor with clearly no underlay.  Sly, Sean.  That was good.  I look over at Anna, she doesn’t know whether to laugh until she cries, or just cry.  Just about as slowly as I seemed to drop them, I pick my babies back up off the floor and find my settings reset on the 5D, and a really, solid, handsome dent in the barrel of my $2000 85mm f/1.2. The auto focus?  Just fine.  Manual focus?  Well… a little stiff in certain places really.  But all is well, because with about as much force as it takes to throw your 70lb bag onto an aircraft when you fly – I can still get my lenscap on.  Please don’t ask why I didn’t have the lens hood on.

My poor darling girl.

Ohh, and my toe was fine.  Thank you for asking.  So that’s my two thousand dollar story.

Let your clarity in. It’s beautiful.

One of BC Ferries newest ships in their fleet, the Coastal Celebration.

A coastal celebration indeed.  Indeed.  Spent a couple days in Victoria knocking out some photography for the 2009 Swiftsure International Yacht Race.  Timing was excellent having my first go at sailing photography a week prior during Jamie & Cathy’s wedding day, so I was experienced here – how much, however, is completely irrelevant.  Swiftsure is a pretty huge deal over here on the west coast of North America as far as sailing races go, and the entire city had a buzz to it all weekend long.  My most gracious thanks goes out to Jamie & Alex for getting me involved and having me so well tended to all weekend.

Here I am (front) on my little boat for the day, using a zoom. EWW!

All our photography from Swiftsure 2009 is now available here.

I’m still thrilled Anna decided to join me for the event, she has some spectacular photography of her own from a press boat she was taken out on, and trooper she is – rocked just the 135L on the water.  She also is one of those people who love to deny any sort of talent for being in front of the camera, at all, so I’m on a mission to prove her wrong until she leaves in a week.  Check out the HD video of her on Coastal Celebration rockin’ the west coast.  LOVE IT!  And please, Canon, just release the firmware update for manual video controls already, it’s killing me!

So a couple days after my 2nd ever wedding, I ponder how on Earth to sum up an entire day of pure love, pure positive energy and high emotion in less than a few paragraphs.  That’s not something I’ve figured out just yet, but to take a page from my grade 8 photography teacher – KISS.  Keep it simple, stupid.  I’ll see what I can do here.  Anna was with me for this one, and has graciously thrown in a few of her images as we split in the morning and she has some just stunning work!

By far, was this not only the best day of my ‘working’ life, but probably one of the most joyous days I can ever remember having.  Jamie & Cathy had the most amazing vision for their wedding, and despite Jamie forgetting to submit his vacation bid in time at work for his honeymoon and a few boat arrangements changing last minute making things difficult, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect day for these two and everyone who had the absolute pleasure of being a part it.  They have an amazing passion for the water, and sailing so what could be more perfect than their ceremony out on the Pacific Ocean near Pilots Cove.  (They’re both pilots, so I know – I’m not sure how that happened either!)

Jamie drying off after a little dip in the ocean!

Jamie & Cathy, I feel truly blessed I was able to share your sensational day together and lock some of those memories with you for both your lifetimes.  I hope you’re having an amazing time time down in the Dominican!

Don’t forget, Anna will have her beautifully creative interpretation of their wedding up in a day or two as well!

Ohh, we had a joyous, fun evening out for Mother’s Day dinner tonight.  We found the most beautiful golf course country club restaurant to enjoy some wonderful food, with some of the most amazing window light to top it off.  So certainly in harmony with who I am, at the end of the night I come home with dozens of photos freezing more ever pleasing memories and a great appreciation for such an abundance of such great things in my life.  My mum absolutely one of them, but smaller things like coincidentally bumping into old friends, hard laughter, incredible food, being able to dine out for nice meals as we wish, stunning weather.  I’d happily continue, but presumably you’ve come here for pictures as well at some point.

Tiramisu. Oh. My. God.

Often times I get asked what on Earth I’m doing working on the ramp at Vancouver Intl. Airport, especially without a desire to become a pilot or anything of the likes.  Usually I reply with how it’s just my fun job really, and that I often enjoy the diversity of the airport life with the privilege of being airside.  Everyday, I pack my little Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home with things to take to work, along with my camera &  attached whatever lens I get the feeling for that particular day.

The universe is a magical, powerful & abundant source of everything we ever wanted, do want, and will want.  A week ago I stated an intention of just wishing how amazing it would be to combine romance, and aviation with photography all into one.  I had no idea how it could ever come about, and so I just enjoyed the thought, and imagined what it would be like to do.  I never worried it, and asked why it wasn’t happening – I just released it, and in that I released any resistance to my desire and once I did that – I was in a pure and positive state of allowing, which is the optimum state of creation.  Not one week later, Balazs, one of our First Officers here at CMA came in for his pairing which took him on the Campbell River overnight.  Romantic and gentle as he is, he asked his wife along with him for the trip.  I love spontaneous romance, and so naturally this just warmed my heart completely.  The only problem was – when I left for work today I’d decided to go with my 135mm lens.  So with everything in mind, Balazs and I headed to the aircraft a little early and boarded one very special lady earlier than the rest.  Julie, his wife.  It was one of the sweetest eight or so minutes I’d had all month.  They’re both from Hungary, and whispered to one another in Hungarian, which I think is most romantic, as I ran off a half kilometre to frame the shot from so far back with my 135.  These two have something special for sure.  My warmest thanks to Julie & Balazs here.

How adorable are these two!

Mother Earth is the most abundant source of love & well being I could ever imagine.  It is pure deliciousness.  She never demands our appreciation to continue blooming.  She is there for us always.  She is the most magnificent reminder to us in our connection to Source.  Is this not a heaven experience?  Come to appreciate your senses in this phenomenal physical body, and your eternal connection to all that is joyous & abundant here on Planet Earth and maybe, just maybe, we’ll know all is well.

Just as I stepped out of my bedroom here to go and brush my teeth, I noticed the stove light was on downstairs.  I sighed not wanting to walk down and switch it off, but I thought of the Earth and it hit me – it doesn’t take very much.  So I went back and turned the light off.

Cheers to a dinner of appreciation.  Mum spoke of how proud she felt of her two sons who have come so far in the last year.  It touched me gently because I understood exactly how, and where she was coming from but not only from an inward view, but also viewing outward to others.  There is nothing more pleasing to me than staying in a feeling place of pure and positive peace. Feeling appreciation & gratitude for my current surroundings keep me content.  While imagining & exploring keep me full of feelings that best match exhilaration & joy.  To find feelings of love in every raw moment is why this ‘here’ feels so good.  A rampage of appreciation.

Cheers to family. Skål to friends. Fisehatak to health. Serefe to joy. Zivjelito to love. Vashi to appreciation. Kampai to creating. Noroc to you.