Like I said in an earlier post, that autumn was the start of something. Since I noticed the old car dealership being demolished, I had done two large explorations, one in the Capital region and one to another town. I had once again after a long time taken hundreds of photos in one location, I had once again started to enjoy urban exploration.
This story is basically all about the chain of events, which led to me starting Deserted Finland back in the autumn of 2020.
And it begins with this.
This is The Dancing Ghost Of The School, The Working Class Girl and The Worker Gal, my friend of many, many years. As you can see, she is pregnant. (I don’t have anything to do with this.) Not too long after my visit to the Teininkallio school, she gave me a call and asked me to photograph her just before giving birth.
I told her I hadn’t really photographed in years. I couldn’t guarantee that my photos would be of any quality, but she said it doesn’t matter. As the camera of my latest iPhone was way better than my old DSLR, I didn’t even care to take my camera with me. We spent a wonderful two hours in a forest by the seaside and had a cup of coffee afterwards.
When I came home and looked through the photos, I was surprised by them. I was especially impressed by the beautiful, soft light, something, which I hadn’t really been very good at capturing.
This encouraged me to open my archives for the first time ever. The photos weren’t of world class quality, but I realized that I was the only one expecting them to be that. If only I’d be better at photo editing, maybe I’d publish them one day, I thought to myself.
I was in the middle of massive changes in my life. After six years of working with the same group of people, I had finally managed to secure a permanent position elsewhere. My roommate was moving in with her boyfrend and I would be living on my own in the Capital region for the first time. The night after this photo shoot I was trying to get some sleep in the middle of cardboard boxes, when suddenly an idea crossed my mind.
I would start an urbex photoblog. I would start right from where it started and write it as a diary. But first I would learn how to properly use Photoshop.
A few days later I matched my old colleague on Tinder. I usually swipe my friends to the right as a joke, and she did the same to me. We really weren’t serious about going on a date, but as we started talking, we decided to go have a beer anyway. That was when I told about my idea to this graphic designer friend of mine.
“Photoshop? Why would you do things the hard way? Why don’t you use Lightroom instead?”
The answer was that we were taught Photoshop at school. Nobody mentioned Lightroom. I came home, downloaded a trial and started a blog. It was only a blog. But things soon got out of hand and I spent one night awake building a whole website. Things always tend to get out of hand when I’m involved.
My long time friend gave birth to a perfect little baby, I gave birth to Deserted Finland as a result of that, and I’m forever thankful to her for accidentally bumping me the right way.
This morning, my wife and I opened up WordPress reader to see this beautiful, yet obviously pregnant woman featured on your blog. We collectively came to the same conclusion that you were somehow involved, yet our assumptions were dashed when you said that she was just an old friend whom you met up with.
I have two things to say on the matter; first, she is absolutely stunning and beautiful. And second, your photograph of her looks absolutely professional! I too have been contracted to take maternity photographs, and I photographed a wedding once. Of all the contracts I’ve completed, weddings are something that I will never consider ever again. Mock weddings, such as for stock photography will be the only exception for me. 🙂
https://www.tomslatin.com/standing-at-the-waters-edge/
I was aware of the possibility of misunderstandings. That’s why I added the parentheses 😉
Thank you! These photos provided me with another opportunity, which provided me with another opportunity and so on. I think I’ve done some five or six pregnancy photoshoots, one wedding, one-year-old birthday photography and a family’s Christmas cards after this one. A local organization even hired me to photograph the promo pictures of their ballroom for their website. It’s slowly becoming a side hustle.
What a cool photo!
My website, which I started in 1996, became my side hustle. Unfortunately, working a full-time job in public safety in the United States often requires an additional part-time job that is totally unrelated in order to pay the bills. Sadly, I knew people who were making more money than me by working at McDonald’s than I did as an officer in charge of a fire brigade. The United States has their priorities all out of order. 🙁
I am very impressed with the photo of your friend, especially given the fact that it was taken with an iPhone.
Also, thank you for the feedback on my photography. Feel free to comment on my blog and drop a few plugs for your blog. 🙂
That really doesn’t sound fair, neither does it sound sensible. I am sorry. for that.
Thank you once again! I haven’t yet managed to take my time to explore your blog deeper than just scratching the surface. But I will!