Happy Snappy

I am doing an online university course in photo editing. Although i am seriously falling behind, it has been a great way to learn. I can just log on whenever it suits me. And if something is tricky, i can just watch the episode again. One lesson was Grunge - take a photo and make it worse, but in a cool way - apparantly very fashionable in Sweden at the moment. Here is my shot of Linni - who better to give Grunge a face!

Maybe not the best picture I can think of in technical terms but i love the texture of the hands. This couple came to Malta to renew their wedding vows. The baby is due in a couple of weeks...

I have finally found the two pictures to be hung over my work bench in my entrance!

I had the place, I had the frames, I even got the handyman to hung them empty over my beloved work bench. But after having hung there with no picture for nearly a year, I took them down. The right photos simply didn't emerge... (funnily enough NOT ONE of my many visitors commented over the fact that I had empty picture frames hanging on my walls (and these are big frames!!). Interesting, dont you think? They are either blind as bats or just too polite to say anything about their nutty friend...)

So it was a great relief that this summers trip to Sweden provided with me with ample photos that I simply loved and would love to hang on my walls. These two made the final pick.

Me and the girls are back in Malta after nearly four week in the land of midnight sun and very expensive vodka.  Not that you buy that much vodka when you travel with the 3 kids, the youngest not even one year...  It was, as it usually is, a very nice break even though it was a bit different this year. Travelling alone with three kids there really isn't much space to manouver, so I mainly stayed put at my mother's place. But that is such an adventure in itself if you are a small kid from Malta! This picture is taken early evening at one of my favourite coffee places, Baecken. A coffee place with a playground, a minigolf course and its own little sandy beach - and of course great coffee! What else could you possible ask for a beautiful summer evening like this?

This is Valletta, the capital of Malta. I was up for a late sunday afternoon walk with my friends Margeret and Ray and kids in Lower Barakka Gardens. It was a typical February afternoon, cold with rain in the air. All of a sudden the clouds open up a small hole and the pale winter sun sweeps over Upper Barakka Garden, turning a grey, dull day into a magical one.

Kevin Casha is one of Malta's leading photographer. Having attending one of his photo classes, I asked if I could be his assistant during his photoshoots. One of his main topics is weddings, and he regularly does the cover of the magazine 'I do', a special covering wedding issues. So he asked if I could take 'behind the scenes' images from the shoot. Of course I would!!
I was fascinating with his complete control of the shoot. Kevin believes in taking a few shots, but take them right.  While i was shooting away frame after frame, he cooly just took a few of each situation. This saves him hours of post-shoot work. He also knew his model well, and is extremelly good at directing. Just by asking Sasha to raise her hands, he got a completelly different, and truly beautiful, shot.
Below some of my pics from the day.

I took this with my first digital camera - a 1 megapixel Sony! It is taken at my uncle's amazing summerplace in Finland. Finns are obsessed with summer places - they have a huge house in a small town and then they also have a huge summerplace. The summerplace has to be next to a lake, have a sauna and be miles away from the nearest neighbour.  Very few things beats having a sauna and then running straight out into a lake...

We just had a great open day at school. I was truly truly impressed with the kids. Maja's grade had China as a theme, and her class started off their presentation with Maja singing SOLO! Oh there has never been a more proud mother! She had kept it a secret for me, so I had no clue. And there she stood, in front of everyone, even har class mates were in front of her and not behind, with a microphone in her hand and sang through this chinese song with no hesitation. Thank god i had the video camera to focus on or I would have started to cry!

Linni's class had animals as a theme, and did a lot of coloring. As you can see, she had a blast! They sang a song in Maltese together, which was also very impressive. Whenever i tried to film other kids singing, i would hear ' MAMMA!!!' from Linni, so that the camera went back on her!

Philosophy at its greatest... This is EXACTLY how my reality feels like for me on a daily basis... Thank you Hillevi for finding this little gem of wisdom!

Maltapost might be slow but at least my sister's christmas presents did make it through! Only 2 months late - not bad!! And considering how many presents the girls got anyways around xmas, maybe this was for the better.
My sister is the best. She buys the most wonderful things. Maja and Linni got really cool supergirl t-shirts, milla got a funky outfit and i got a lovely necklace. And a book about love for my birthday. Thank you Anitta!!

My friend, Jannika, has a beautiful little baby girl, Pia. She just turned 1, and for birthday present we did a photoshoot. Just got the prints and they look so good! Am really pleased. Below is one of the pics - what do you think??

..  i didn't think the winds could pick up anymore, but i was wrong... kids tucked away in their beds, candles burning - feels like i am back in Sweden. Of course i am not, it's the Mediterranean Sea outside my window and not the Atlantic. And i will see the sun tomorrow, most of the day and not just for a few hours!

And i am blogging! I need to find out what the hype is all about. Have been wanting my own little website for ages, but am too technically challenged to get it off the ground. Maybe this is a good inbetween. I want an outlet to post my photos - not sure if this is the right medium but i will have a go. At least i am trying!

Living in Malta, with friends all over the world, i thought i'd keep it in english...