Fog images from 2024 / 1 Fog images from a couple of walks in 2024. While editing these older photos, my workflow is getting faster, I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.

Fog images from 2024 / 1

Fog images from a couple of walks in 2024. While editing these older photos, my workflow is getting faster, I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.

Evening walk This was a successful walk in the city. I consider four images from a short walk a pretty good yield.

Evening walk

This was a successful walk in the city. I consider four images from a short walk a pretty good yield.

Plumbing Renovation During our plumbing renovation, I planned to do more street photography, but I ended up building the Godox flash app instead. These are the last photos from 2025, next in line 2024.

Plumbing Renovation

During our plumbing renovation, I planned to do more street photography, but I ended up building the Godox flash app instead. These are the last photos from 2025, next in line 2024.

One Eyeland – World’s Top 10 Portrait Photo Contest 2025

Gold and Silver from One Eyeland - World’s Top 10 Portrait Photo Contest. Gold with 20/20 vision in Portrait: Conceptual category and Silver for Autoportrait: Curious in Portrait: self-portrait category. Photographer rank in the same…

Morning Walk 08-2025 Once again in the fog. This morning’s walk yielded three images just a few hundred metres from our home.

Morning Walk 08-2025

Once again in the fog. This morning’s walk yielded three images just a few hundred metres from our home.

Moody September Moody photos from last September. My absolute favorite weather to shoot in is fog. I got three outdoor sets of photos this month, which is more than usual.

Moody September

Moody photos from last September. My absolute favorite weather to shoot in is fog. I got three outdoor sets of photos this month, which is more than usual.

Evening Walk // 10-2025 Evening walk in the centre of Kuopio from last year. Two images ended up being edited.

Evening Walk // 10-2025

Evening walk in the centre of Kuopio from last year. Two images ended up being edited.

The Eyes Välke Light Festival, 15–17 November 2025, in Kuopio, Finland. Back to going through the archives. At least this teaches you to look at photos differently in post-processing. When you do not have total control of the light and what is in front of the camera, post-processing also needs a different touch.

The Eyes

Välke Light Festival, 15–17 November 2025, in Kuopio, Finland. Back to going through the archives. At least this teaches you to look at photos differently in post-processing. When you do not have total control of the light and what is in front of the camera, post-processing also needs a…

// 12 • 2025// I usually move photos to the NAS after I’ve gone through them and edited the selected ones. I don’t have any studio shots to go through, but there are some older random shots to check. These are not that old, but there are some from 2021. I’ll try to go through these before starting any new projects.

// 12 • 2025//

I usually move photos to the NAS after I’ve gone through them and edited the selected ones. I don’t have any studio shots to go through, but there are some older random shots to check. These are not that old, but there are some from 2021. I’ll try to go through these before starting…

–20°C It’s been a cold winter, often dropping below –20°C. Maybe I should have been out with the camera more often, since these conditions have also made it the most beautiful winter in a long time. Still, even in such conditions, you can find loneliness and other themes that are more typical for me in my photos.

–20°C

It’s been a cold winter, often dropping below –20°C. Maybe I should have been out with the camera more often, since these conditions have also made it the most beautiful winter in a long time. Still, even in such conditions, you can find loneliness and other themes that are more typical for…

New logo text design I wanted to create a custom design for the logo text instead of just using the Playfair font directly. I created a file to play around with different ideas and went through quite a few versions before reaching the final design. While I was at it, I also made a short animation for the logo.

New logo text design

I wanted to create a custom design for the logo text instead of just using the Playfair font directly. I created a file to play around with different ideas and went through quite a few versions before reaching the final design. While I was at it, I also made a short animation…

Résistance

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
- Mahatma Gandhi

Lighting diagram / editing details / photo selection: petridamsten.com/resistance/

#dystopia, #repost

Jail Time

Nationalism is an infantile thing. It is the measles of mankind.
- Albert Einstein

Lighting diagram / editing details / photo selection: petridamsten.com/jail-time/

#dystopia, #repost

Blind Justice

When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.
- Sinclair Lewis

Lighting diagram / editing details / photo selection: petridamsten.com/blind-justice/

#dystopia, #repost

Interrogation

- "Are you a communist?"
- "No I am an anti-fascist"
- "For a long time?"
- "Since I have understood fascism."

- Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls

Lighting diagram / editing details / photo selection: petridamsten.com/interrogation/

#dystopia, #repost

Customs Inspection

The world will not be destroyed by evil people but by good people who do i nothing to stop it.
- Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom

Lighting diagram / editing details / photo selection: petridamsten.com/customs-insp...

#dystopia, #repost

Tyranny

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished - unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
- Voltaire

Lighting diagram / editing details / photo selection: petridamsten.com/tyranny/

#dystopia, #repost

Denied

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
- George Orwell

Lighting diagram / editing details / photo selection: petridamsten.com/denied/

#dystopia, #repost

"Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it." - Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

Bureaucrats' Morning

Lighting diagram / editing details / photo selection: petridamsten.com/bureaucrats-...

#dystopia #repost

More than ten years have passed since this project, and it’s still relevant.

Time Warp After the first three images of the shoot, my son suggested taking one more, with the alley leading toward the church in the background. I used a longer 10-second exposure to capture the light trails from passing cars. The final image was composed from three exposures. Model: Patrick Damstén

Time Warp

After the first three images of the shoot, my son suggested taking one more, with the alley leading toward the church in the background. I used a longer 10-second exposure to capture the light trails from passing cars. The final image was composed from three exposures. Model: Patrick…

The Terminal This is simply an area with benches where people can sit in Kuopio harbour. After the light painting, it reminded me of some kind of terminal where a traveller is waiting, hence the name The Terminal. The background was again removed and replaced with plain sky and water. It originally contained messy trees, street lights, and buildings that did not suit the minimalistic look I was aiming for. Model: Patrick Damstén

The Terminal

This is simply an area with benches where people can sit in Kuopio harbour. After the light painting, it reminded me of some kind of terminal where a traveller is waiting, hence the name The Terminal. The background was again removed and replaced with plain sky and water. It…

On the Edge After the teddy bear image, we moved to the edge of the pier. I was a bit concerned there might be enough wind to tip the light stand into the lake, but luckily it stayed in place. The RAW file included the light pole, but I found that keeping only a hint of light made the image more minimalistic, along with cleaning the background from lights and trees. Model: Patrick Damstén

On the Edge

After the teddy bear image, we moved to the edge of the pier. I was a bit concerned there might be enough wind to tip the light stand into the lake, but luckily it stayed in place. The RAW file included the light pole, but I found that keeping only a hint of light made the image more…

Contact Sheet was reading the book Magnum Contact Sheets. It's interesting to see the images that didn't get published, and how they form part of the journey toward the final, published photographs. I thought this kind of presentation could also work well when publishing my own photos, but only if it could be automated. One Python script later, I can now automatically generate this kind of image from a shoot to include in a blog post.

Contact Sheet

was reading the book Magnum Contact Sheets. It's interesting to see the images that didn't get published, and how they form part of the journey toward the final, published photographs. I thought this kind of presentation could also work well when publishing my own photos, but only if…

Teddy Bear I noticed the teddy bear in the window only after the shoot, so it was a happy accident. I slightly missed the focus, but fortunately the error was small enough that high-pass sharpening largely corrected it. I usually apply this technique only to selected parts of an image to emphasise certain details, but this time I used it on the entire image. Model: Patrick Damstén

Teddy Bear

I noticed the teddy bear in the window only after the shoot, so it was a happy accident. I slightly missed the focus, but fortunately the error was small enough that high-pass sharpening largely corrected it. I usually apply this technique only to selected parts of an image to emphasise…

Serial Killer For the second image we went for a darker mood — a kind of “serial killer” look. Monochrome images are a bit faster to edit since I don’t have to deal with color. I usually prefer working in color, but I think these images work well in monochrome. Model: Mika Antikainen

Serial Killer

For the second image we went for a darker mood — a kind of “serial killer” look. Monochrome images are a bit faster to edit since I don’t have to deal with color. I usually prefer working in color, but I think these images work well in monochrome. Model: Mika Antikainen

Mika 1 Mika wanted a new profile picture, so we met up in my home studio and tried a few ideas. This one is a more traditional one-light portrait. Model: Mika Antikainen

Mika 1

Mika wanted a new profile picture, so we met up in my home studio and tried a few ideas. This one is a more traditional one-light portrait. Model: Mika Antikainen

Platforms Last image from the first set in the Traveller series. The background was messy again, but luckily I’ve photographed these foggy lake scenes in the past. Model: Patrick Damstén

Platforms

Last image from the first set in the Traveller series. The background was messy again, but luckily I’ve photographed these foggy lake scenes in the past. Model: Patrick Damstén

In the Bed of Reeds Swapped the sky again for a moodier version, getting rid of the messy trees at the same time. I’m starting to like this Traveller theme more and more. My motivation for photography has been a bit low lately, but this has brought it back up. Model: Patrick Damstén

In the Bed of Reeds

Swapped the sky again for a moodier version, getting rid of the messy trees at the same time. I’m starting to like this Traveller theme more and more. My motivation for photography has been a bit low lately, but this has brought it back up. Model: Patrick Damstén

Ticket Booth These ticket booths looked great for the photo, but the background was too messy. I ended up replacing it with a foggy lake and a sky image from my archive, giving it what I call a “seascape fine-art treatment.” Model: Patrick Damstén

Ticket Booth

These ticket booths looked great for the photo, but the background was too messy. I ended up replacing it with a foggy lake and a sky image from my archive, giving it what I call a “seascape fine-art treatment.” Model: Patrick Damstén

Stadium of the Past The Väinölänniemi stadium is old — and that’s what makes it work as a background. Model: Patrick Damstén

Stadium of the Past

The Väinölänniemi stadium is old — and that’s what makes it work as a background. Model: Patrick Damstén