Day Ten

March 16, 2016

Girl overlooking the ocean by Studio Metsä Photography

All things must come to an end.

And so does this trip of ours.

I can speak for both Veronika and I when I say we did not want to leave.

DAY TEN: LAST MOMENTS IN ÅLESUND

AT LYSPUNKTET CAFE

Bye bye Ålesund!

We had an incredible trip.

Thank you Noora, Mirjam, Emilia and Kaytlin for sharing your space with us! You are all amazing girls and I am so lucky to have met you. I’m already looking forward to seeing you girls some time in the future again!

Thank you everyone for following along and liking, commenting and sharing. It means the world to me to have the support of such lovely people!

Until next time lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Travel Diaries: Norway // Day Nine

March 15, 2016

Last full day in Norway! And we made the most of it.

Remember I told you earlier about our plan to visit the nearby islands (but then fate got in the way and directed us elsewhere)? Well, today we made it happen.

Our first stop was an island called Godoya.

Alnes is a small town/village in one end of the island with a beautiful lighthouse.

DAY NINE: NEARBY ISLANDS

It soon began to rain so we drove to another island called Giske to take some cover and have something to eat.

And Veronika made a few portraits of me. She saw the colours and said I look like I belong there. She’s got good eye, doesn’t she?

Once we left the restaurant, we came across this beach which looked amazing.

The water was still and the waves small, but they made a much more powerful sound than what you would expect.

The day before we met a couple that was staying in Alnes and they were kind enough to invite us over for tea. We had a great time – thanks for hosting us Sarah and Graham!

Turns out Sarah was born in Vancouver and studied in Victoria on Vancouver Island at the same time I was studying in Vancouver :) Small world!

Anyway, after the lovely afternoon tea, we wanted to hike the mountain that was just behind their house and luckily were guided on a path that would take us up there.

And boy, oh boy, was it ever so glorious.

Another WHAAATTTT moment for me.

You’ll see.

“WHAAATTT?!?!?!!”

We were told there was a lake up on the mountain but HOLY SMOKES I had never seen anything like this!

Mesmerizing.

Breathtaking.

And so silent.

I joked to Veronika that we should build a summer cottage up there!

Then I realized the clouds started rolling in…

SO HAPPY

WHAT an experience!

I was completely high on life.

Again.

(Or still.)

Wow.

Another amazing day in Norway.

We are so blessed to have been able to experience all of this.

Tomorrow will be the last day,

until then lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Travel Diaries: Norway // Day Eight

March 14, 2016

On day eight, I woke up feeling immensely grateful for being in Norway and being able to experience all of these amazing things. I was very aware of the blessings that were being handed to me.

Following such a high from the day before, Veronika and I decided to take it easy and explore some more areas of Ålesund we hadn’t yet seen.

DAY EIGHT: NOOKS AND CRANNIES OF ÅLESUND

Thank you for joining us on another journey in Norway! It means the world to me to have all of your amazing support.

Two days left!

Until tomorrow lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Travel Diaries: Norway // Day Seven

March 13, 2016

Us girls enjoying the Norwegian landscape

Following the greatness of Veronika’s 30th birthday celebration, we embarked on another incredible journey in Norway.

We set out to visit the nearby islands because it only takes a mere 30-40mins to drive there allowing us more time outside. However, you can only get there through one route and that’s through a tunnel. As we were about the enter the first tunnel, we were stopped by a line of cars. Soon enough we saw police cars and fire trucks entering the tunnel. This is when we decided not to risk it and rather go along with our original plan of driving to the nearby fjords.

I’ll tell you this: it was meant to be.

It was the best decision we could have made.

From the first glimpses of the incredible landscape all the way to the end of us driving in the darkness, I was on the edge of my seat screaming from the top of my lungs “WHAAATTTT?!?!” and “THIS IS SO AMAZING!!!”… and “HOW CAN THIS BE?!?!?!”. But mostly I just screamed out “WHAAATTTTTTTTT” accompanied by shrieks of excitement and laughter.

I was high on life.

Entirely high. on. life.

DAY SEVEN: VALLDAL AND THE DRIVE THERE

As you can see, I wasn’t exaggerating about the level of excitement I felt ;)

In the middle of the drive, in search of a better view of the mountains, we drove to the end of a road only to find the most beautiful house in the most beautiful landscape. Imagine waking up to this view every morning!

From a house like this:

With the eyes of my soul, I saw stories upon stories of wonderful Christmases spent in this house with the entire extended family, curling up by the fireplace singing Christmas carols and drinking hot chocolate. Then during the daytime, go out for some hikes and snow fights with the laughter and screams echoing in the vast landscape.

Ahh.

I hope my dreams somewhat reflect the truth.

—

Next we stopped at a campground that was silent, foggy and windy.

It was really nice to be travelling there this time of year because we saw no other tourists. I can imagine how different our experience would have been in the summertime when all the nooks and crannies are filled with foreigners, such as ourselves, from a variety of countries dying from the same excitement we did.

Luckily we got to experience the purity of the country which I, for one, loved.

And then our quite random turn took us here:

“WHAAAATTTT??!!?!?”

Another reason for a lot of excitement.

And a few magic dance moves.

Can you imagine what it feels like to stand there looking at this?

By now insatiable, we needed more so we decided to keep going down this road and see what we find.

It was the end of the road and a ferry took off from there to a place called Stranda.

We decided that was not the trip we wanted to take so we drove back up and continued down the road we had planned.

Honestly, I was so happy.

And I hope you will feel even a fraction of the heart-expanding happiness I felt when looking at these photographs.

—

Next we drove through a small town by the name of Stordal and spotted a beautiful old church we wanted to visit.

All the main doors were closed but since there was a car parked on the parking lot, we figured someone had to be inside. We went to look for other entrances and found one smaller door to be open.

Score!

In we went and ran into a man there. We politely asked him if we could take a look around the church and he politely agreed. We ended up having a really nice conversation with this man.

His name is Olav.

We had a great time talking to Olav and the two photographs of the shadows of the benches are all the photos I managed to make inside!

Our new friend Olav:

Such a nice man!

In fact, every Norwegian we had the pleasure of randomly meeting were incredibly friendly. Ole specifically had really good English and his vocabulary was astounding!

We finally arrived to Valldal (or Valldalen) and had we had more hours of daylight, would have continued all the way down to Geiranger which is one of the most visited fjords in Norway. But we were more than happy to be where we were and with what we had seen.

Valldal turned out to be a small town with next to no restaurants to eat at. The only place we found that was still open and served food was a bowling alley called Kulå. They made us some sandwiches and we flushed them down with sodas! Mmm, healthy!

By the time we got out of Kulå, the sun had already fully set and it was dark.

At one point we were driving in the middle of nowhere and I saw this house. This perfect house with lights on each window, sitting there in the middle of darkness, lighting its immediate surroundings. I had to stop the car and photograph it.

It was so picture perfect.

Here concludes our day seven.

Man, it was a glorious day.

We returned back to our lodging exhausted but deliriously happy.

—

Until tomorrow lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Travel Diaries: Norway // Day Six: Celebration

March 12, 2016

Day Six and it just so happens that on that day my lovely travel companion Veronika turned 30.

The big 3-0.

There couldn’t have been a better place to celebrate this special day than the gorgeousness of Ålesund and the incredible people living there.

DAY SIX: IT’S A CELEBRATION

Veronika and I had planned to spend a portion of her birthday at the Waldehuset Museum. The house has an interesting story – the city burned down in 1904 destroying most of the city leaving this house intact while other houses around it burned down.

The story tells us that the man living in the house saw an angel who told him about the fire but encouraged him to stay in the house because his house wasn’t going to burn down.

And it didn’t.

We had to see it.

JACU COFFEE ROASTERY

Veronika’s sister, Noora, had organized an evening with a barista at Jacu coffee roastery as a birthday surprise for Veronika. So she got to learn how to make good coffee and enjoy the fruit of her labour.

Unfortunately I don’t drink coffee so I couldn’t appreciate the tasting side of it but I fully embraced the art that goes into making a perfect up of joe.

BIRTHDAY CAKE AT LYSPUNKTET

It was a beautiful day and most importantly, Veronika felt special and loved. I’m certain she will never forget about this birthday!

Tomorrow we go into the wild and I am so excited to share the wilderness of Norway with you!

Until tomorrow lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Travel Diaries: Norway // Day Five: Viewpoint

March 11, 2016

Man enjoying the view in Fjellstua restaurant Ålesund by Studio Metsä Photography

Holy smokes, people, this is where the true goodies start!

Welcome to the beauty of Ålesund.

DAY FIVE: ÅLESUND & AKSLA VIEWPOINT

To those of you that don’t know, I lived in Vancouver, Canada for five years and one of the things I loved (and still love) the most was the combination of mountains with ocean/water. It was the first thing that struck me about Vancouver and it was also the first thing that struck me about Ålesund. There is so much power in mountains and the ocean.

Not to mention the aesthetic pleasure it provides.

On our fifth day in Norway and second day in Ålesund, we decided to “hike” up one of the mountains to Aksla viewpoint in order to get a full view of the town and surrounding scenery.

Before reaching the bottom of the mountain, we walked through a park with this cat sculpture. I found it so interesting because the cat is in a defensive position trying to make itself look bigger by arching its back. Cats aren’t often portrayed like this and I wonder why it was chosen. If anyone has any insight please let me know!

I later discovered the artist behind this sculpture is Skule Waksvik who has various animal sculptures in public spaces around Norway.

SO NOW IT IS TIME TO GO UP WITH MY TRUSTED COMPANION..

YES, IT’S AMAZING, ISN’T IT??

(Thank you, Veronika, for this beautiful photograph you made of me!)

Fjellstua Restaurant

On top of the Aksla viewpoint with spectacular views stands the Fjellstua restaurant. We stopped to enjoy some local goodies along with tea (for me) and coffee (for Veronika). We could have stayed there for the rest of the day. In fact I was a tad envious of a girl I saw sitting there working on her laptop. Man, these aren’t exactly your everyday office views, are they?

But imagine: a nice little hike that wakes you up, a cup of tea from Fjellstua and out comes your laptop and off to work you go.

Ahhhh!

Yes, please. I will take a large order of that!

(The girl was sitting just to the right from here)

DOWNTOWN ÅLESUND

You see the seats to the left of the photo? Those seats are heated.

That’s right.

They’re heated.

Need I say more about the quality of life in this country?

Veronika’s sister, Noora, took us to the heated benches on our first day and I forgot to include this lovely photograph she made of us sitting on them.

Can you guess where we were headed? (Hint can be found by clicking here.)

But before reaching our destination, we took a little detour to a glass-blowing studio. Unfortunately I don’t have any photographs of the studio itself because I got distracted by this cutie pie:

He was one of the cats living in the studio and I fell in love immediately. Being a cat lover I of course jumped at the chance to pet him! As I was getting to know him by petting him (much to his pleasure of course), Veronika was reading about him out loud from a piece of paper.

She said he might bite.

And his name was Mr. Evil.

Umm..

Here I am petting a cat called Mr. Evil who might bite.

Great.

But, I decided to trust myself and my knowledge about cats and kept petting him.

And.

He loved it.

He was purring and his paws came out to knead (which is something they only do if they really like it).

And just like that Mr. Evil left and instead entered Mr. Cutie-pie-delightful-purring-creature!

After all that petting, we finally headed to our destination. I’ll give you one more hint:

YES, you guessed it!

We went back to the amazing Antik Galleri we fell in love with the day before.

This time we bought some coffee, tea and chocolate (by the way, Norway has the best and better version of the KitKat! YUM) and sat down to enjoy the view.

We had a break and we had a .. not-kit-kat.

Norway-Aalesund-iPhone-View-Tea-Cup-Studio-Metsa-Photography

Photo by iPhone 4

(And a final little light-weight cell phone photograph of us from Veronika’s phone)

So there concludes our day five. More or less.

Phew.

That was a load of photos wasn’t it?

And this is only the beginning!

I am so excited to share the upcoming photos with you fine folks! Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Until then lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Travel Diaries: Norway // Day Four

March 10, 2016

Plane windows on our way to Ålesund, Norway by Studio Metsä Photography

Flying from Oslo to Ålesund was short and sweet but most importantly breathtakingly gorgeous. It gave us, or mostly me since my partner-in-crime was fast asleep for the better part of the flight ;), a taste of what was to come. And I was beyond excited! This is the Norway I came to see.

Day Four: Ålesund

Those of you that haven’t yet seen the previous blog posts, my friend Veronika and I were travelling in Norway for 10 days. The main purpose of our trip was to go to Ålesund and visit her sister, Noora, who has been living there for the past few years.

On our first day in Ålesund, Noora gave us a little tour of the town before settling into our accommodation. She took us to this antique store that was located right by the water (you can see it in the above photo on the right side with black window frames) and I immediately fell in love. Not only was the store filled with antiques (duh! ;)) but it had a little coffee shop where you could get tea or coffee and some chocolates and enjoy them while overlooking the calming, inspiring and exciting scenery of the Ålesund islands. The wall of the house is right where the water is, so there is no separation between you and the water. Man, I just wanted to stay and sit there all day.

Unfortunately we couldn’t then but Veronika and I returned to this place numerous times just to have tea and take in the powerful scenery.

Veronika’s sister Noora plays the piano, sings and writes music. We had the pleasure of hearing her play and sing nearly every day during our stay.

I have always loved the piano as an instrument and even played it when I was younger. There’s just something special about the sounds that it produces that makes me relax and really feel. Goosebumps are also known to appear quite regularly when I listen to piano music :)

In the evening we attended an event with Noora and her friends. We met a lot of great people, some from Norway, some from the US and some from Finland. We were tired but happy! What a great start to our stay in Ålesund.

Girls sitting in the living room by Studio Metsä Photography

Veronika and I on our first night in Ålesund

Tomorrow we will explore more of Ålesund and take in the breathtaking views.

Until then lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Travel Diaries: Norway // Day Three in Oslo

March 9, 2016

Day Three: Sunday Funday equals to museum day for us. There are countless museums in Oslo and we soon realized that we are actually incredibly pressed for time as most museums are only open four to five hours on Sundays.

That called for quick decisions – we both had to choose one museum we absolutely had to see and the rest we will leave.

Veronika’s choice was the Viking Ship Museum and mine the Contemporary Art Museum.

THE VIKING SHIP MUSEUM

The Viking Ship Museum is located a bit further away from the centre so we made our way there first. The museum is in a beautiful, more rural area of Oslo, actually really close to the King’s summer residence (as we were told by a charming older lady on the bus). This area is really popular during the summer months when many escape the city to the nearby beaches.

The building of the museum is an old cathedral and is in itself beautiful with high ceilings, big windows and stone floors.

The ships are from before and after 900AD and were found between 1867-1903, at a thousand years old! Isn’t it just absolutely amazing that they have survived for that long in such good condition?

The bones of two ladies were found (from 834) in one of the ships along with many burial gifts. They do not know what kind of a background the women had, but they suspect they, or at least one, must have had a bigger role in the community based on the grave they had received. They’ve estimated the ladies ages to have been 50 for one and between 70-80 for the other, and their heights estimated at 153cm. The older lady died of cancer but they don’t know what caused the death of the younger woman… one theory places her as sacrifice for the older lady so she wouldn’t be lonely going from this world to the next.

The Contemporary Art Museum

The Contemporary Art Museum is located right in the centre of Oslo in a beautiful Art Nouveau-inspired building, though we didn’t get to see it in its full glory because they had some construction happening around the front. The current exhibitions they have are “Poor Art – Rich Legacy. Arte Povera and Parallel Practices 1968–2015” and “Anna-Eva Bergman. A Graphic Universe”.

A piece by Anna-Eva Bergman in the Norwegian Contemporary Art Museum by Studio Metsä Photography

Anna-Eva Bergman / Photo by iPhone 4

At the Norwegian Contemporary Art Museum by Studio Metsä Photography

Ilya Kabakov’s installation Garbage Man (The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away) – Permanent installation

ON THE STREET

The day went by fast when immersed in other realities. If you’re ever in Oslo, I would highly recommend visiting both museums.

This was the last day in the sunny Oslo.

Next day Ålesund!

Until then,
xoxo Erika

Travel Diaries: Norway // Day Two

March 8, 2016

Before jumping into the actual travel diary, I wanted to say a little something to the ladies in my life.

In honour of International Women’s Day, THANK YOU to all the ladies in my life who have stood by me through thick and thin – who have listened, hugged, cared for, trusted and loved me. If it weren’t for all of you, I wouldn’t be where I am today. So thank you for giving me so much and for allowing me to be a part of your lives.

Here’s a small selection of a few of these ladies that have impacted my life. Please click on the bolded text to view their work! Enjoy!

Erica Wilk – multidisciplinary artist who has her own printing press company, Moniker Press, in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Magda Sierzputowska – designer and photographer currently based in Warsaw, Poland.
Annabelle Antas – photographic artist and wedding photographer currently based in Ekenäs, Finland.
Grace Vane Percy – photographic artist based in Helsinki, Finland and London, UK.
Joelle Gebhardt – illustration artist currently based in Berlin, Germany.
Sherise Talbott – ceramicist and illustrator currently based in Denver, Colorado, USA.
Annika Aro – nutritionist and owner of Soul Food Nutrition currently based in Vantaa, Finland.
Courtney Colbon – illustrator and artist currently based in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Defne Corbacioglu – graphic designer currently based in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Julie Damhus – industrial designer currently based in Aarhus, Denmark.

DAY 2: OSLO, NORWAY

So now, onto the travel diary! But since I am already feeling all sentimental, I’m going to keep it going just a little bit longer ;)

I wanted to give a shoutout to my travel companion, Veronika. She made the trip what it was and it would have not been the same without her. Even though it was the first time we travelled together, everything went better than planned. She is one of the most genuine people I have ever met and so easy to be with. Despite having gone through a lot in the past year, she hasn’t lost her caring nature. She is so much stronger than she might think and has a gift of bringing humour and warmth into all situations.

This vacation made us that much closer – she’s now the sister I never had.

So thank you, Veronika, for being who you are and for opening yourself to me. Let’s do this again some time! ;)

Second day in Norway and we woke up to another beautiful, sunny day in Oslo (little did we know this would be the most sun we would see all trip long ;)).

The metro station near our lodging had the most gorgeous structures ->

What I love most about sunny weather is how the light creates different types of shadows and patches of light. Seeing light patterns or patterns from shadows, makes me go nuts – in the best possible way!

Until tomorrow lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Travel Diaries: Norway // Day One

March 7, 2016

Fjords in Norway by Studio Metsä Photography

Welcome to the new Travel Diaries series!

This is the first of many to come and this time we will be diving into the gorgeous Norway.

This morning I woke up in my own bed after a few short hours of sleep, having arrived from the airport at 2:30am. I was exhausted but oh, so happy! This 10-day trip to Norway has been one of the most memorable trips of my entire life. We have laughed so much, talked our ears off, sat in silence, screamed with excitement, cried, met amazing new people and had spiritual experiences. All in all our trip was as breathtaking as the scenery itself.

Once I had emptied all of my memory cards, I was left with 2700 photographs (plus 600+ from my iPhone). It was a tad overwhelming, especially as I was still dealing with 729 photographs after the initial edit.

Ooops! That could take a while!

So I decided to save all of you, and myself, from an overload and instead will be doing a travel diary of each day. Smaller batches with more concentration! ;)

So, without further ado –>

DAY 1: OSLO, NORWAY

A friend of mine invited me to go to Norway with her to visit her sister who lives in Ålesund. But since I had never been to Norway before, I suggested we spend a weekend in Oslo before heading out further north.

The Central Railway Station of Helsinki by Studio Metsä Photography

Leaving early morning from the Helsinki Railway Station

Girl photographing by Studio Metsä Photography

My lovely travel companion

We arrived to Oslo at around eight on Friday morning (Feb 26th). We had a lot of time to kill since the check-in to our AirBnB lodging wasn’t until five in the afternoon. We decided to take it easy and start our day properly with breakfast. We asked a few locals for a good place to go for some breakfast and got a recommendation for a coffee shop called ‘BIT’.

The food was delicious and I loved the cozy industrial look of the coffee shop.

Above six photos by iPhone 4

The rest of the time we spent exploring the city and some more coffee shops ;) The first thing that surprised me about Oslo was how small it is! The population is somewhere around the same as Helsinki, but the city itself is quite compact and easy to walk around. The people were really friendly towards us and we felt very welcomed.

EXPLORING THE CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION

KAFFEBRENNERIET

ON THE STREETS

It was a long, but a wonderful first day. We got to our lodging at around seven and rested the rest of the evening so we could get up refreshed the next day.

So that, in a nutshell, was our first day! More to come tomorrow :)

Until then, lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Heart and Soul Present: Meditation and Negative Feelings

February 25, 2016

Painting with light self-portraits by Studio Metsä Photography

Lately I have been semi-absent in the Studio Metsä social media world and I apologize for that.

In addition to photographs, Studio Metsä also makes websites and the final deadlines of a few websites have kept me busy in the last week or two. On top of that I was hit by a massive wave of depression this week and after wallowing in it for a few days, I finally picked myself up today and decided “no more!”. These kinds of things are not often talked of in public, especially as business owners, maybe because we think it will somehow harm our reputation. But if you are a human being (which I assume you are since you are reading this blog post ;)) you are not immune to negative feelings so why shouldn’t we talk about them?

After all:

It is not about the negative feelings, it is all about how you handle them.

A big factor in me slipping down that slippery slope was the fact that I had started to neglect my very sacred morning routine of reading and meditating. Whenever I have started my day by reading something new or inspiring about business and/or self-improvement followed by even just 5-10 minutes of meditation, my day has been laid with a strong foundation to stand on and my mind has been clear and focused to take on the tasks of the day.

These few days have been a great reminder to never neglect it again.

So in honour of meditation, I wanted to talk about another form of meditation I take part in.

Photography.

(Shocked?! ;P)

Never having been much of a self-portrait photographer, I first took upon myself to find myself and my emotions in self-portraiture (this is not to be confused with the ever-growing world of selfies) back in 2011 when I was on exchange in the Netherlands. Self-portraiture is actually harder than it seems as you have to try to imagine what the photograph is going to look like without actually being able to see through the viewfinder (although with the advances of technology, this seems to be lost now too as a friend of mine demonstrated just earlier this week with her new Canon 6D: you can connect it to your phone via WiFi and use your phone as the viewfinder and shutter release). In the old-school world of self-portraiture, it is a string of trial-and-errors and in its repetitive form, extremely meditative.

The following photographs are from the autumn/winter of 2014. They were shot in pitch black darkness with some light from my cell phone. This is how they were in camera, they haven’t been cropped or edited much. The only exception is the very first photo which I used as a trial for a tad darker, colder blue and some sharpening of edges. Other wise the photos are exactly as they were shot.

PHOTOGRAPHIC MEDITATION

Thank you for reading!

I would love to hear about your routines and your own form of meditation! Please connect with me by using the comment section below :)

Until next time lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Cats in search of a life-long home

February 19, 2016

Kissa etsii loppuelämän kotia HESYssä - valokuva Studio Metsä

Cats, cats, cats! I’ve always loved cats.

But growing up I didn’t have a chance to have one. My father has asthma and at the time was reacting terribly to cats. As a result it was always an absolutely-not for any animal but cats were the biggest no-no of all. So, I was left petting all the cats I could get my hands on outside of our house.

I remember a night I spent at my friend’s house who had just gotten a little kitten. My heart went to heaven upon waking up and having the little kittie come up to me purring. I thought, ‘how amazing would it be to wake up like this every day‘!

That’s what I dreamt about.

All animals have always held a very special place in my heart, but cats…there’s something special about them. Perhaps it’s their independence, their absolute resolution to showing how they’re feeling – no sugar-coating, no detours, just honesty (which I guess is also the very thing that some people are put off by). Not to mention their unwavering forgiveness – you accidentally step on their tail, they meow in protest and you kneel down to apologize and there they are, already purring, as if the tail-stepping never happened. Seriously! How amazing is this species.

At the age of 19, I finally got my own cat. Her name is Mimmi, she is now 13 years old (turning 14 this year!) and she is the most amazing cat in the world. Her and I used to take naps together when I was still living at home (that’s right, I got a cat while living at home with my asthmatic father. His reactions are long gone and he hasn’t suffered from any symptoms caused by cats thereafter) – so Mimmi and I would take naps together, I laying on the floor and she would sleep on my chest. When we lived in Helsinki and I would cry, she would come to me and lick the tears away. And every time I came home from work, she was already behind the door meowing and so excited to have me back.

How could you not love these gorgeous, fascinating beings?

—

As a result of this life-long love affair with cats, I have taken interest in their welfare and helping out any way I can. I first became more involved with animal shelters when I moved to Canada. I was volunteering at the local SPCA and began photographing the cats as time went on.

Since moving back to Finland, I have been involved with the local HESY organization doing photography for them here and there.

This week I went back to photograph some of the cats currently up for adoption.

MEET THE CATS:

Kissa makoilee HESYn tiloissa Helsingissä - valokuva Studio Metsä / Cats of Hesy

Halla – male – born in 2015

Halla is a chill cat. He is glorious in his size, he is thin but long. He came to HESY with his siblings who are all a bit timid, but friendly. He will be adopted with another one of his siblings or alone to a family that already has a cat.

Mosse – male

As soon as I got there, Mosse caught my attention. He was by far the most affectionate of all the cats there. I immediately fell in love with him. He will need a family who have time to spend with him, petting and socializing.

Viiru – female – about 1 year old

She was an interesting little kittie – she would be very interested in what’s happening around her, but as soon as the door is opened to their little room, she ran away. She is clearly looking for love and affection but is, for one reason or another, a bit timid. I have no doubt that she wouldn’t be the most affectionate cat with the right, patient and loving owner.
Viiru will be adopted along with her friend Pesonen (featured in one of the photos) to a home with previous knowledge about cats and no children.

Kissa etsii loppuelämän kotia HESYssä - valokuva Studio Metsä / Cats of Hesy

Viima – male – born in 2015

Viima is Halla’s brother and has the same timid personality as Halla does. He will also be adopted with another one of his siblings or alone to a family that already has a cat. He needs a family that has experience of cats.

John HESYn tiloissa odottamassa adoptiota - valokuva Studio Metsä // Cats of HESY

John – male

John was a real charmer and has a gorgeous fur coat. He will be adopted along with Smith and they need a home that doesn’t have small children. Both of their fur coats need to be groomed daily.

Smith HESYn tiloissa odottamassa adoptiota - valokuva Studio Metsä // Cats of HESY

Smith – male

If you’re interested in adopting any of these cats, please go to the shelter directly to get to know them! Also, please remember that these cats deserve, and need, a life-long home and should be chosen as a great fit to your family, where everyone takes an active role in taking care of the cat.

HESY ry
Yhdyskunnantie 11
00680 Helsinki

Cats can be visited Wed-Fri between 3-6pm and Sat-Sun 1-5pm

Until next time lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Photo Series: The Beauty and The Breast

February 10, 2016

Portrait of a breast cancer patient by Studio Metsä Photography

Of all the messages I got regarding the “I Challenge“- photo series, the one from this woman was the most impactful.

She had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and wanted to document her breast before it went under the knife.

—

For a moment I didn’t know what to say – all I knew was, I had to and I wanted to do it.

On the day of the photo shoot, I arrived to her house and she opened the door smiling. We had a long conversation over tea before getting to what I actually came there to do. She told me a lot about herself and we shared many experiences, thoughts and emotions with her.

This woman is fantastic. She is so friendly, so open, so strong and she has such a good heart. It was easy being around her and I nearly forgot why I came there in the first place.

Once we started the process of photographing, there was no sadness, there was no awkwardness, it was just her and I conversing, sharing a moment that will forever be marked by the photographs we were producing.

We were creating work that she will carry in her heart forever.

Photo Series: The Beauty and The Breast

She didn’t find a lump in her chest, but instead she was alarmed by the oddity of her breast – it had changed in appearance. The breast felt different, it was resting oddly and she noticed her nipple had turned inward.

She is going under the knife next week.

And she will come out of it without her left breast.

This will, I’m sure, take a lot of time and emotion to really understand and come to terms with. But I have no doubt in my mind that she wouldn’t come out of this stronger.

Through, and with, these photographs I send her my wishes, my prayers and my thoughts. I’m honoured that she trusted me with such a sensitive and fragile subject matter. She opened her heart to me even though up until we saw each other, I was a complete stranger to her. But it is, in fact, in these moments that we experience life at its best – when we jump into the unknown simply following our hearts. And I am so glad she did so with me.

—

Until next time lovelies,
xoxo Erika

NEW! Portrait series: I Challenge / Hanna

February 4, 2016

Welcome to Studio Metsä’s new portrait series – I Challenge.

For this series, I have met with girls who showed interest in being part of a photography experience that went a little deeper than the surface. Each meeting has been so genuine, open and up-lifting that I have left the coffee shop inspired, happy and excited. The questions I have asked the girls have penetrated the surface straight into the heart and have led to amazing conversations and connections.

These people have opened up to me about their pasts, experiences, fears, insecurities, hopes and dreams – you name it. I have felt incredibly honoured to be someone they can open up to. But through all of it, there was one common thread I was looking for – a source of discomfort.

We all have things we would rather not do, situations we would rather not be in. What’s interesting is why those specific things are so uncomfortable to us and what happens when we challenge ourselves and put ourselves into those situations regardless?

—

Today I would like you to meet, Hanna (Part I).

Hanna is a happy girl – at least this is my view on her based on the two times I have met her.

Smiling.

Laughing.

She is really out-going and friendly and always on the go. At work, she has a leadership position and loves what she does.

You can see there is a confidence and an ease she carries herself with.

But, and we all have a but,

she doesn’t like to be alone.

She especially dislikes being in silence with nothing to do.

She told me how one time she was in the sauna with her roommates and had asked them “Why do people go to the sauna? What do they do there?” – and lest you forget; she is from Finland and sauna is pretty much in our blood ;) – but for her, there is no point just sitting there, doing nothing and not even being able to have your cell-phone nearby to entertain you.

The Challenge for Hanna: Alone, in silence, doing nothing.

I invited her to Lauttasaari (a neighbourhood in Helsinki, Finland, known for its nature, peace and quiet) and asked her to not wear any make-up so that she will feel more open, raw and vulnerable.

I took her to a beautiful spot right by the ocean. It was quiet, we barely saw people and the only things making noise were the waves and the birds.

And I made her sit. And be still. And silent.

At one point she remarked “It really is so quiet here!”.

If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.

Challenge Series: Girl in the wintery forest by Studio Metsä Photography

(Isn’t she just gorgeous?!)

With this last photograph I was thinking about the idea of her always being in her head, even if physically she might be somewhere else.

—

The Result:
In the end, as much as she had enjoyed being photographed, she had also been frightened to be in silence. And then she told me why – she is nervous about how slowing down, or coming to a full stop, would affect her and her ambitious attitude.

I hope that through this experience, she might want to put herself more into situations like this and explore those feelings that arise.

—

That’s it for now. This was a great first photo shoot for the series, I’m excited!

Until next time lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Blogging Challenge #7:
From the good of the heart

January 31, 2016

Hooray, and holy smokes, this is the last post for the 7-Day Blogging Challenge! Much to my surprise, I actually really enjoyed it. In a way it is like journaling (which is something I have been doing ever since I was a little girl), which at its best can be incredibly therapeutic and meditative.

So, what do you say? Shall we get on with the last Blogging Challenge post?

We shall!

Something else that has carried with me from childhood is my absolute love and adoration for animals. They are creatures that most often far outweigh the human in more capacities than one. They have the ability to make you live in the moment and forget about all of your troubles, not to mention teach you how to love unconditionally. I mean seriously, have you ever had a furry friend hold a grudge? I sure haven’t. They have the amazing ability to forgive and forget, something we could all learn from!

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.
-Anatole France

The sad part is that, as we have domesticated animals, they sometimes end up in the care of people who are entirely incapable of caring for themselves, not to mention other living beings. This is how animals end up abused, living on the streets and, in some worst case scenarios, dead.

We patronize the animals for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they are more finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other Nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.
-Henry Beston

Luckily we have organizations that work to help these animals, care for them and provide them with a chance for a new life. One of those organizations is HESY, The Helsinki Society for Animal Protection. I have been lucky enough to have worked with them and help out in any way I can. They asked me to come in and photograph their vet at work for an article they were publishing in their magazine. These photographs are from that time.

And here are a few of the inhabitants at HESY at the time:

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
-Mahatma Gandhi

To give back and help these animals, please follow this link to donate to their important cause (the page is in English and all bank accounts are in the IBAN format so you can make a bank transfer from anywhere in the world).

I’m excitedly waiting to have a chance to work more with HESY and other organisations alike. If you have a desire to make the stories in your company or organisation visual, get in touch with me through info (at) studiometsa (dot) com – I can’t wait to hear from you!

And now, folks, this is it. I have completed my Blogging Challenge! Thanks to all of you for supporting me and commenting on my posts. It means the world to me! So even though the official challenge is over, I will still keep blogging since I am having so much fun! :)

Happy new week to all of you lovelies!

Until next time,
xoxo Erika

Blogging Challenge #6: What Lies Beneath

January 30, 2016

It was the beginning of elementary school and I was in the line up for lunch when I felt a pinch in my butt. I turned around to see a grinning girl few people behind me. I wish I could say it was a friendly grin but it was, in fact, much more malignant than friendly.

That was the start of my 6 year turmoil with said girl.

During the six years of elementary school, she was in control over how I felt, what I did, who I spent time with and where I went. The nightmare got so bad that at times I was afraid of going to school, not knowing what kind of a day she was having today – good or bad – so I would take out a thermometer, hold it up against a hot lightbulb and tell my mom I have fever and therefore cannot go to school.

As children we are, unfortunately, not able to understand and process things the same way we are as adults.

And I have since come to understand that (with the words of the wise Eleanor Roosevelt)

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

The experience of being bullied has been one of the most influential events of my life. It began as a dark cloud hanging over my head but the more I processed it, the more I came to see the gifts it presented for me.

It has made me a very sensitive and observant person
It has taught me how to recognise true friendship and care in people
It has given me strength to push through boundaries of my own and of those around me
It has allowed me to connect to something deep within me and feel feelings strongly and deeply
It has taught me that nothing is set in stone and I, myself, am a work-in-progress, always able to evolve and grow
And more than anything, it has taught me that I can push through and survive anything. Because we are precisely as capable as we think we are.

Whether you think you can or you think you can’t; you are right. -Henry Ford

And that concludes today’s Feel Good Blogging Challenge. I sincerely hope you are all having a wonderful weekend with your loved ones, feeling the laughter in your stomach and the love in your heart.

Until next time lovelies,
Thank you for being so amazing.

xoxo Erika

My self portrait in Vancouver, BC - Studio Metsä Photography

Blogging Challenge #5: THIS ONE’S FOR YOU.

January 29, 2016

Reading Start With Why by Simon Sinek - Studio Metsä Photography

In honour of it being Friday, I will keep this short and sweet!

(You’re welcome! ;))

If there’s one thing I know all of us entrepreneurs have in common is the endless, near obsessive, fascination with self-improvement because we understand that in order for our business to grow, we need to grow.

So today I bring you a book recommendation to aid you in your growing.

START WITH WHY (How great leaders inspire everyone to take action) by Simon Sinek.

It’s hard to make a case to someone that your products or services are important in their lives based on external rational factors that you have defined as valuable. However, if your WHYs and their WHY correspond, then they will see your products and services as tangible ways to prove what they believe.

This book will make you rethink your business and its values as well as understand more about your own behavior.

To illustrate the concepts in the book, check out this great animation I just found from FightMediocrity:

I hope this post has inspired you to help you and your business grow and find the right audience for your message. We all have a why, but some of us just have never stopped to think about it. How about this weekend you take some time for yourself and really think about why you are doing what you’re doing?

Until next time lovelies – enjoy your weekend!
xoxo Erika

Here are a few direct links to the book (just click on the name of the store) so you can BUY IT:
-Finland -> Adlibris
-Europe -> Amazon (UK)
-North America -> Amazon (USA) or Amazon (Canada)

Blogging Challenge #4: By the way,
I also photograph

January 28, 2016

Erika from Studio Metsä is also a photographer

What is Studio Metsä all about? What exactly does Studio Metsä do?

If you’ve read the previous Blogging Challenge posts, you will have gotten a pretty good idea of the values and ideas behind Studio Metsä. And now that you are aware of the why, let’s get more clear on the what.

To put it simply: I photograph.

That’s what I do.

And I love it!

Now I will introduce you to a few “categories” of photography that are near and dear to my heart:

SPACES – both interior and exterior I love the idea of a home – creating a space that caters specifically to your personal lifestyle. I love walking into people’s homes and getting a glimpse into the person, their lifestyle and values. Because that’s what I feel homes are at their best – a reflection and an extension of the person living there. This is why it is so intimate to have someone allow me into their space to photograph it – something I don’t take lightly. After all, this is the space where we let our guard down, where we come to unwind, where we run to if we’ve had a bad day.
In the more surface level of things, I’ve always been fascinated by architecture and interior design. When I was a little girl, one of my favorite hobbies was drawing floor plans for houses. I had a huge A2 (around 16.5″ x 23″) sketchbook which I would lay out on the floor, take my pencil and my ruler, and off I went into my own little world. In this world I would always have a room for cats and a room for dogs because obviously they deserved a sacred space of their own! ;)
My father has played a big part in all of this as he has always been the one fixing, building and renovating everything in my childhood home. He nearly single-handedly renovated the entire house my family moved into when I was 13 and built a lot of the furniture we used growing up. He is an inspiration!
PEOPLE – oh, people. I love people.And I love portraits. For me, there are photographs of people and then there are portraits. Portraits take in everything; the location, the light, the shadows, the angle, the expression, the colors, the clothes, the environment – everything. All of those things come together to tell a story. Most of the time, the most unexpected, unplanned, unposed photographs are the ones that go the deepest. They are the ones that express something real, something raw, something worth telling. Those moments can’t be fabricated, they come from time spent with the person. They come as trust is built between the subject and the photographer.
THE WORLD – as I found it.Traveling is another life-long passion of mine. There is no better way to get a well-rounded education than traveling. Not only do you get a glimpse into the world other people live in but you also find connection points to your own existence and every time, in every country, with all cultures, you realize that when all of these external factors are stripped, we are all exactly the same. We fundamentally operate from the same needs and wants and desires. We all want to be loved and accepted, to have freedom, safety, food and a roof over our heads.
STILL LIFE – hello control!As you spend more time with me, you will come to notice that I am a woman of contrasts. As much as I love nature and all things natural, both in general and in photography, I also love the absolute and pure control I have over everything when working in a studio. The above studio photographs were for an auction house where I got to spend time with objects from the past. These objects have been touched by and traveled with many people throughout the years. I imagine all the things they have seen and heard, all the stories they would tell if they could speak. It’s precisely those stories that blow life into these still objects and precisely why I love photographing them.

So there we go! Four of my main photographic interests and a few reasons why.

What about you? What type of photography is your favorite? And why? Leave a comment, I would love to know :)

Until next time lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Blogging Challenge #3: Inside out

January 27, 2016

Whytecliff Park Vancouver BC by Studio Metsä Photography

DAY THREE of the seven day Blogging Challenge – Something fascinating and relevant

Today I wanted to talk about relationships.

Why are you friends with the people you are friends with? Why do you love the people you love?

Is it because they have a lot of money? Or because they have a lot of influence? Or maybe it’s because they just bought that freaking awesome penthouse suite? Or because they are really hot? Or no, I know, it’s their designer wardrobe, isn’t it? Or no, wait, now I really know why, it’s the colour of their hair! …right?

Umm, NO.

We all know that’s not why we love someone.

It’s because they’re amazing people. It’s because they have a good heart, they’re there for you, they support you, they are great listeners, they make you laugh, they give great advice, they share your values, you have common interests – whatever it is, it is not on the surface, it is within. It’s who they are and how they make you feel.

(But if on top of that they were also really attractive and owned a penthouse suite, that wouldn’t exactly be a turn-off now would it? ;))

So let’s relate this to the business side of things. Companies and organizations are struggling to stay ahead of the competition or even simply to get recognized in the midst of the information overload each of us experiences on a daily basis.

What makes us stop? What makes us pay attention?

Something flashy might grab our attention for a moment, but then comes the next flashy thing and we have already forgotten about the one previous to that. And the cycle goes on.

Our world is saturated with images, each prettier or more shocking than before. But quantity does not override quality, it never has and it never will. And today quality comes from the heart.

What if you and your company started operating from the inside out? What if you brought out the personality, the values, the vision and mission of your brand? What if you turned your brand into the most amazing, heart-warming person anyone’s ever met? And then added the hotness and penthouse suite to complete the package?

Because this is the thing : we can appreciate the superficial qualities of products or services, but we don’t marry them or become loyal to them based purely on those factors. Our loyalty and commitment lies with those that connect to something deeper within us.

We all want connection – genuine, honest-to-god, raw connection.

I remember a time in art school when I was showing my photographs during a critique and a lot of my fellow students brought up an emotion they felt when they looked at them. The photographs weren’t literally depicting this emotion, but it was an emotion I had felt at the time I made those photographs and they were able to connect to that.

That’s the true beauty of photography – when you work from that passion within you, you work from something stronger than anything tangible, and it comes across in the work. Your heart comes across in the photographs.

So next time you need a photographer for a project, remember who your company is, the values and the reasons why you are in business and select a photographer who is in business for the same reasons. This creates a force to be reckoned with and, I swear, together you are going to make magic.

I will leave you with this little nugget of wisdom from Maya Angelou:

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post and that it has given you something to chew.

Tomorrow is a new day and we get another chance at designing our businesses, our lives and ourselves.

May the force be with you.

Until next time lovelies,
xoxo Erika

Blogging Challenge #2: Was I teleported or how did I get here?

January 27, 2016

Gorgeous Vancouver at sunset by Studio Metsä Photography

Day Two of the Blogging Challenge! Woop woop!

Today’s theme is how did I become an entrepreneur!

I bet everyone dreams of being their own boss, right, I mean it is an appealing thought to be in complete control over your time, tasks and appointments. I’m sure the thought has crossed many people’s minds. And it sure did mine, over and over again, for years and years. But it always seemed nothing more than an elusive dream.

With that dreamer mindset I moved to Helsinki, the capital city of my homeland of Finland, soon after finishing high school. I had no freaking clue about what I wanted to do with my life, I mean I wanted to be a photographer but come on now, how realistic is it that I would get to do what I like?? So I postponed school and got myself a job instead. Funny thing is, I had dreamt about working for my at-the-time-favorite clothing store and ended up getting employed by them. So dreams do come true but I guess it wasn’t strong enough to make me realize that dudette-woman, I could totally be a photographer if I so wanted. Oh well, we all have our paths we need to take, right?

Well. Turns out not all dreams are dreamy in reality and it really is true when people say “be careful what you wish for”! I quit the job after two years and went on to look for something with more responsibility – I was really craving more opportunities and challenges, so I ended up in a mobile operator company. I started as a receptionist but due to the company’s rearranging and reassigning of tasks, I was being trained for more.

Whoopiedoo, I was getting more responsibility! But what the heck, I was still “just” the receptionist! I marched into my boss’ office and made a strong case as to why I should be promoted. She agreed and voilá, suddenly I had my own office and was in charge of bad debt and collection.

But.

As I was clocking in and clocking out day after day, month after month, I began to crawl out of my skin. It was not my cup of tea, at all!

And then it happened.

The turning point.

I was studying for an entrance exam test (because I thought if I just went to study anything, I was bound to find something I liked). But as I was (trying) to read the book, I told a friend of mine how I wasn’t at all inspired and all I wanted to do was photograph, why couldn’t I just do that? He was silent for a moment and then he said to me “Erika, if that’s how you feel, why on earth are you studying for this exam? Why don’t you just apply to go study photography?”

And that was it.

I applied to a photography school in Finland and spent an amazing year studying and devouring anything and everything related to photography. But it only made me crave for more and I decided it was time to apply abroad (something that had also been a dream of mine for a long, long time!). After a chain of events, I ended up finding and applying to a school in Vancouver, Canada.

I still remember the moment I got a package in the mail from ECUAD.

It was thick.

!!!

And I thought “nooooo, could this be…? Could this really be an acceptance package??”

I opened it.

The letter read “Congratulations!..”

EEKK!!

I WAS MOVING TO CANADA!!!

My life was about to change. Entirely. Completely.

And it did. My life got turned on its head.

The absolute best decision I ever made.

Ever.

I cannot emphasize it enough!

On August 14th, 2008 I embarked on a journey from Finland and after freaking crazy 33hrs of traveling, I was in Vancouver, BC. (And FYI, it does not normally take that long to travel from Finland to Canada but I was flying through two different cities and got stuck in the last one due to some seriously delayed flights!)

But boy, oh boy, was it ever worth it.

I was in freaking VANCOUVER! I still remember waking up in my hotel in the morning, looking out at sunny Vancouver all the while the widest smile EVER was spreading across my face. There are not enough words to describe how happy I felt. I stepped outside my hotel and the hot, humid air hit me and I just stood there, on the street, (Beatty Street), and smiled. I must have looked like a complete fool, haha! The following two weeks I spent getting my shizzles organized: finding an apartment, getting a phone and a laptop, learning how to navigate the city, and I swear the entire time I had this goofy grin on my face. Come to think of it, people probably just thought I was high! Haha (For those of you that don’t know, Vancouver is also known as Vansterdam…)

Anyway.

It was heaven. Pure heaven.

And that’s really where it all started. From stumbling on a few different possible “career paths”, I arrived at a conclusion that I was not going to be happy unless I followed my heart. It was that simple realization and faith that got me through all the challenges and obstacles.

I dared to follow a life-long dream of living abroad and it showed me that everything is possible. When you get into that mindset that everything is possible, everything really becomes possible.

During my time in Vancouver, I met some truly amazing and inspiring people, all of whom I will forever carry in my heart. (And this makes me think of a beautiful poem by my favorite poet ee cummings called “i carry your heart with me (i carry it in“) All of these people played a part in forming and shaping my mind, attitudes and outlooks, and indirectly preparing me for entrepreneurship.

It has been a long journey of learning and unlearning and I have become eternally hungry for more. And now that I finally made the plunge to be an official, legally owned company and not a freelancer, everything seems to hold more value. Now everything I do, everything I read, everything I talk about or listen to, everything holds direct meaning for the business. When I am self-employed, it all comes down to the self (this is something that was pointed to me a while back by one of my personal heroes, someone who, in more ways than one, changed my life).

Being an entrepreneur is so much more than the work itself, marketing, branding or accounting – it is a trip into you. You are constantly at the edge of your seat, outside of your comfort zone, learning and growing, finding new ways when the old ones no longer work. It’s a constant trial-and-error, discovery and re-discovery.

It’s not just a job, it’s a way of being.

One of my professional heroes, Jim Rohn, put it so well when he said:

“If you want to have more, you have to become more.
For things to change, you have to change.
For things to get better, you have to get better.
For things to improve, you have to improve.
If you grow, everything grows for you.”

This is what I have written on the wall of my home office and this is what I keep as my mantra. Life is what you make of it and when we are lucky enough to be born under circumstances where we can have this much control over our lives, we have to make the most of it.

And that, in a nut shell, is how I arrived to where I am today.

My gratitude goes to everyone I have met along the way, in my entire life, because those are the people I have to thank for shaping me into who I am today. Thank you.