A year before the Wanderer Series I was living in Northern Lapland, a Sámi village called Karigasniemi for 8 months. In that period of time, I saw true Arctic Lapland landscapes for the first time in my life (I’m from Southern Lapland and the landscape here is totally different). When I was living and working in Karigasniemi, I made new friends and connected with locals who took me into deep wilderness. I was very impressed with the landscape and the wild out there. Something totally different and something unique.
-Tiina Törmänen
I really wondered why the area is not so photographed. Perhaps it’s because access into wilderness in winter time is difficult? You can go there only with skis or with the local people by snowmobile. I saw deeper parts of wilderness late spring and then nights were already too bright for night photography. At that time I knew I needed to go back and shoot some dark nights at winter time in these kind of areas.
-Tiina Törmänen
Late Autumn 2014, I bought my own snowmobile and spent December to February at my childhood home, and learned to ride it. Then I did some location scouting using large-scale topographical maps and figured out that in the Kilpisjärvi area, there are even more highland wilderness areas, and there are also official snowmobile routes. So then I booked myself to Kilpisjärvi for 2 months to work as a chef in a local hotel. Finland is an expensive country and otherwise it would be almost impossible to stay somewhere for a long period of time, especially when you don’t any have contacts out there. When working in the area, you get some money (almost free living), some spare time, and then you can spend some time making contact with the local people. So it’s a win-win situation. I always prefer staying a longer period of time somewhere to get the best shots.
-Tiina Törmänen
It was very hard 2 months. There was a lack of workers out there and I did 6-7 days work in a week and most of my days were 10-12 hours long. And after work, I took my snowmobile and went into the wilderness to shoot. But the only option was to shoot a longer period of time there, so I just had to manage it, and I did. I also made new friends and great contacts in Kilpisjärvi.
-Tiina Törmänen
Shoot what inspires you most. It's ok to follow and learn from others but try to find your own way of doing things in the end. That's how you develop your own style. Always listen your inner self and try different things on the way. I used a Canon 5dmk3 , Samyang 14mm 2,8 / canon 24-70 mm f 2.8 L for this series. Learn the basic night shooting techniques. What lenses to use, how to adjust exposure setting and ISO setting. After you have this basic understanding in your head then you start thinking more about what to shoot and composition itself. To understand technique it's essential. You also need to learn night photography editing process. I would recommend to take a course from Learn Star Photography.
-Tiina Törmänen
About Tiina Törmänen
Tiina Törmänen is a photographer from Finland. She specializes in capturing the northern and arctic landscapes. See more of her works on Behance or her website.