All Images Copyright by Ida Taavitsainen.
This is my mom, last summer when we were in Glasgow visiting friends. My mom is no longer only a mother, she’s also a grandmother. And I’m an aunt – a double aunt, because last Saturday my big sister gave birth to two healthy and beautiful little boys. I can’t wait to meet them – though I have to, for three more weeks – this is one of the downsides of having your family spread around three different countries.
My big sister got married in September and I had the honour to take the pictures. As you can see from the images below my sister is pregnant (with twins!), so in a couple of weeks I’ll become an auntie for the first time. I can’t wait!
This is a bit like Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window, isn’t it? Vermeer painted simple things, and somehow they still puzzle us (or at least me), even though he painted them over 300 years ago.
Today I had a really good lecture. It was also very clear and simple, but still intellectually stimulating.
So what do we learn? The simplest things are the most beautiful ones. Like waking up to the sun or occasionally even something as everyday as doing the dishes. Sometimes I wonder why I make my life so complicated.
Today I did some cyanotypes of my images from Stockholm. I like old school printing, I’m sure everything was better in the 1800′s. Except maybe hygiene and women’s rights.
I know, it’s been a while, but I’ve been busy…anyway, I’m back in London after christmas in Helsinki and a little holiday in Stockholm. Now it’s just work work work and no play.
A portrait I took of my lovely and talented flatmate Minja was published at the beginning of this year in Kirkkonummen Sanomat. You can read the story here (in Finnish), it’s on page 10. For some reason my images always get cropped when they’re published, so I’ll post the full image here for you to enjoy.
P.S. Check out Minjas cool furniture here!
This year has been a lot about traveling and sitting in trains (which I find, is the best place for thinking and reading for your dissertaion). Apparently Europe is a mess because of the snow, so I’m lucky I came homer early. Only today it has snowed around 20 cm here (like the 70 cm that already is here wouldn’t be enough). I hope that all my friends around the world get home for christmas.
This is from the last shoot I did last spring in our old house in Rochester. The light in Petra’s room was so beautiful (and so is she) and I liked the way her night gown blends in with the wall.
This is a picture I’ve wanted to take for a very long time, and finally succeeded last summer. I love the way the sunbeams shine through her hat and look like freckles. I’ve used sunbeams and hats in my pictures before, but in a much more subtle way (here is a try from the summer before).
Lidia is a fantastic model, as usual.
Some pics from the cruise I went on in August. I should be a tourist in my own city more often. Thanks for the company Sarah & Konrad!
Look at this lion! We’ve only met once, breifly, but I think he liked me. At least I liked him.
