Antarctica, Japan, Greenland, Alaska and many other mind blowing destinations. I have had a beautiful opportunity to travel to these very exotic places with my camera.
When I was finishing high school in 1998, I never thought I would live outside the Finland, but a year after completing my army service I decided to spend a season in Verbier, Switzerland. To make it happen I worked really hard as a courier in Helsinki. Long days and overtime finally paid off and I was able to pack my snowboard and Canon EOS 500 camera and make my dream come true.
After the rent my daily budget was 12 euros to buy food and drinks. It doesn’t sound like much but we ate and partied hard for five months thanks to basic cooking skills and the cheap wine in Switzerland. Whenever we went skiing and snowboarding I brought my camera along. After that first season I sold my first photo to a magazine.
The next winter, I returned to Verbier and decided I wanted to be a professional photographer. I took photos with a few professional skiers and snowboarders and suddenly I was getting deals with brands and magazines. In 2011 I had around 1000 of my photos published in magazines.
I live in Volleges a small village 20 minutes from Verbier. I am married and I have two kids. I hardly take any ski or snowboard photos anymore but it will always be a big part of my life. I spend a lot of time with my family, you could say that I am a house dad now. I still take photos but not as extreme as before.
Filming, directing and producing has become part of my job in the past years. I like new challenges and try to bring my creativity and passion into the work I do. Since I was born in East Helsinki 42 years ago a lot has happened to me but the most important thing, I have learnt is to enjoy my life.
