I have gotten some feedback during the last few days "Why aren't you keeping any blog?" and "Where is the update you promised for your homepage?" Frankly, been busy busting my butt trying to survive these skiing competitions I am covering. First Val d'Isére and then thru Switzerland to Liberec. Alpine was great (it always is...) but this X-country has been killing me. Snow, rain, snow, fog... Durign the past two weeks I don't think there has been a day I have not used my Aquatech-raincovers on the cameras. My other 1DMrk3 jammed the other day and I think water/moisture is the culprit.

And trying to make some interesting imagery in these conditions... yeah, right. You have a choice of white background, sometimes light grey background, then white background - and that's about it. No play with shadows or the tracks on the snow; there just isn't enough contrast for that.

My update on the actual homepage is long overdue. Been working on it here whenever I have got time, but that has not been enough. Got the framework set up, but content is still lacking. But it's getting there. Especially I am happy about the way which the "Princess Sophie Diaries" is shaping up. But more about that later.

To prove I have not been lazying around the past three weeks, here are some images (mainly of Finnish athletes) I have for one reason or another liked. Some published, others not, shown in random order. Captions (in Finnish) and some camera data appear on the top if you bring your cursor over the image.

Some of the sunny images of the Alpine WC are shot with the new Canon 800mm. Amazing lens, truly magnificent. Fast as hell, sharp and crisp. Cannot really be used with 1.4x but actually there is no need to. Definitely on my toylist for Xmas. Althought the list price of c. 14 000 € might slow down the Santa Claus a little.

I did couple of audioslideshows from Val d'Isére. I have to admit that visually they are nothing out of this world, but if you do speak Finnish and are into alpine skiing, they might be of interest. Audio is by Tanja Poutiainen and Kalle Palander.

A small blog while waiting for my actual homepage getting ready and up.

To go to my old homepage, click here.

( To go to my homepage, click here.)
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Women slalom: Tanja Poutiainen

Women giant slalom: Tanja Poutiainen

Kalle Palander: on recovery and the future

On the right some tearsheets (almost all from Liberec, as I did not take any snapshots of the pdf's while in Val d'Isére). It's funny, looking back at them, how much really happens in less than two weeks.