I don't even know where to start.
Well, have to try something. Long long time since the last post. I managed to finish my service period in the army, unsurprisingly I miss the whole thing every now and then.
I've been kicking back the whole summer now, doing some cool sh*t like cottage weekends with friends, photographing, drifting events, swimming, stuff to make this the one summer to remember, living the life... Hell, I even spent a week in Austria, what's not to like?
I'm at a turnpoint here. This'll probably be the last summer I get to run around like this before my retirement days.
That's right, I'm moving off to live on my own, and not in the neighbor house, I'm moving over 200 kilometers away from home to a small town near the east coast called Jurva.
Why's that? Well I'm finally in for studying to become a photographer
I'm on a 2 year schedule for becoming something called "kuva-artesaani", and after that I'll run for Valokuvaajan ammattitutkinto (Qualification for photographer) Which'll take a year extra. School starts early in August.
About that... I haven't got a place to live there yet
I got the word from the school a couple weeks back, I accepted the invite, and off to Salzburg I was. After we got home and I got everything sorted out, I went to Motopark to check the cars out. When I got home, I was told that our modem/router got fried by a thunderstorm
So our household was without internet for days and only yesterday I was back online to send inquiries. Let's keep our fingers crossed for that.
Late June I was at Pesämäki raceway with my friends to check out the new race track for drifting - FPDA Drifting SM (Finnish championships) was the name of the game. Quite an in-tight track with lots of good corners.
The reigning champion Tuomas Yli-Knuuttila took the gold here.
A couple weeks from that and it was off to central europe.
Around 12 hours of travel, 3 airports, buses and a sleepless night later it was boots on ground in Salzburg, Austria. First thing on the to do list was checking out the Red Bull Hangar-7. The place was top notch, with an amazing collection of extreme cars, bikes and aircraft on display. Not forgetting the architecture and offerings of the Mayday bar and restaurant Ikarus. Shame they don't let you publish the photos you take there, which I have a ton of
After that it was time to hop on the bus and get to the hotel. The room was nice, breakfasts more than adequate and what was over the top was the rooftop terrace. Perfect place to sip off a coffee in the morning or chosen beverages later. The views in the city were almost abstract for a Finn. Mountains, mountains everywhere, even in the middle of the city with big castles and a museum on top
I visited a lot of interesting and unique places, including Schloss Hellbrunn, which was a castle with various trick water fountains and nozzles coming from surprising places and got wet
Anif Zoo had some exotic animals including monkeys, zebras and lions which I have never seen before. One day I rode a cable car up the mountain in the first picture - Untersberg and had a little bit of walking/climbing to do to reach the peak. The view there at 1839m was stunning.
The first night I watched the Soccer WC finals Germany - Argentina. Of course interpreted in German. It was a good game. After the Germans triumphed, someone started a fireworks show nearby
After the week there, a ton of chocolate, cheap prices and testing various food & drinks you can't get up here, it was time to get back home. The trip was very tiring and I ended up sitting and waiting for a bus for around 3 hours in midnight Jyväskylä. After sleeping the night (and the next day) I was again off to Motopark and Radalle.com festival. Another SM drifting included
The pit was bigger than usual, they had time attack and quartermile races the same day & weekend so there were some pretty impressive cars out there.
Juha Pöytälaakso and Power2drift team were the names of the day. It was extremely hot so the cars were allowed to run without their hoods on to prevent excessive heat issues.
What's next? I'm probably going to be shooting photos in the Finnish WRC Neste Rally event in and around Jyväskylä, because it's right here near me.
All the shots here and more - in my gallery
Long time no post so long post.