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What can I say about 2009? These past 12 months have been quite incredible; the highs have been very high and the lows very low. The New Year starts for me in an uncertain light and I am not quite sure what to expect, apart from the unexpected if the end of this year is anything to go by. :)

The most important thing that has happened to me this past year might just be going pro with my photography. Being able to take photos, with my best friend as well, and to earn money from doing something I love has been amazing. The only downside has been the fact that I've had less time and motivation for my street photography. It feels funny to be shooting so many photos and actually sharing less here with you. Next year is already looking very busy wedding-wise for us, so I might just have to apologise well in advance for this trend to continue. ;)

  A lot of things happened in 2009; our offices moved in March, I had the swine flu in May and I finally found the courage to get my wisdom teeth pulled out in November. I also survived a minor accident on a London bus in April and lived through the massive snow fall in February (which got me published in the Flick 2009 review just a few weeks ago!). Oh - and I met Ethan Hawke (and went all mushy babbling fangirl on him). There were some amazing fun I had with my friends, for example when I celebrated my birthday in a Victorian cell (converted into a bar) as well as seeing and hearing a lot of great live music; Rachel Yamagata and Heather Nova being the most memorable gigs this year.

Work has been very challenging this year and there have been times when it has got me to a point of apathy, which is very unlike me. 2010 is going to be full of further changes in the office and I'll need you all to keep your fingers and toes crossed for me as there are big things going on work-wise for me in the first quarter of the coming year. I'll really need all the positive energy and luck out there sent my way, please.

  The end of the year has been particularly difficult and I have been so grateful for all the support me and my family have had from all our friends and immediate family. I really had no idea how blessed and loved we really were until we hit some really hard times in September. I cannot say thank you enough to all the people who helped us through these last few months. Actually, it's been quite a difficult year to a lot people I know, so here's hoping that 2010 will be a little better and brighter for all of us.

The things that have got me through this year, apart from my amazing friends and family, have included Spotify; which is an incredible service for free music, Etsy; which continues to be an amazing place to find all things unique and crafty as well as Easyjet (from all the things!) as it has been a lifesaver this year flying me without a fail to and back from Finland. I've also been spoiled by some great books this year from which I can recommend The Exception by Christian Jungersen, The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and The Colour by Rose Tremain wholeheartedly. Big up to Bookmooch at this point for providing me with these and a lot of other good books for free this year!

For 2010 I am unusually not making any resolutions as such. This year has been good to me in a sense that I am thinner, richer and bitter-sweetly happier than in 2008 - something I'd like to keep up this coming year. The overall plan really just includes taking better care of myself, having more quality time with my friends and family and just enjoying myself in the small moments life and London throw my way.

Although my blogging here has been quite irregular and erratic this year I'd like to thank you all for your patience and ongoing support and comments. My photos are few and far in between, but I promise to continue to share them with you as much as I can. The photos in this post are from my Holga 35mm which took me a long time to shoot this autumn/winter. However they seemed to have turned out lovely on the Neopan 1600. :)

Actually, after all the above I'm really looking forward to the New Year as it seems to bring with it great opportunities and big challenges. So, I wish us all a fantastic, exciting and positively eventful 2010 as we start the new decade tonight! Happy New Year! <3

Have a lovely Christmas everyone! I'm off on my holiday for the next week+ so see you for the annual review of 2009 next week! <3

Last night was the first time I actually had any time or motivation to pop out to take some photos as promised a while back. Actually, the film in my Holga 35mm needed finishing, which you'll be glad to know I did AND I also took the digital SLR out for a little evening walk in the cold winter night of London hence these few photos.

I really like cold crispy winter evenings in London. Mostly when I am indoors cuddled up nice and warm with a big cup of tea, so I consider last night some sort of sacrifice. :) Actually, it was well worth the little walk however cold it was. I caught some lovely moments last night.

I often plan to get the camera out at night time, but it never happens... funny that! :) There is something about the light and really the lack of it at night though. It's like taking another step further in the voyeuristic approach street photography has.

This year I feel like I have come to myself really when it comes to photography. I've found myself, my point of view really and confidence I haven't had before. There are moments I see and I'm able to capture them. I think that is one of the hardest things to do successfully as a photographer, but I hope other people "get me" a bit easily now. :)

I often talked about the ease of taking street photos earlier this year, there really is something that seems to have clicked for me along these past 12 months. There has been a long break between last night and when I last purposefully went out to the streets of London with a camera in hand - yet it felt like it was only yesterday. It's a lovely feeling and I really wish I'd have more time and energy to do more street photography than I've had time especially the end of this year.

After work I was out at Liverpool Street meeting a friend with a coffee earlier in the evening and was a bit early, so I managed to grab some of the photos above whilst waiting. It really was cold, but so gorgeously wintery.

Not having had enough of the skaters at Bishopsgate I came home via Somerset House, which is my favourite place this time of the year. The skating aside the whole setting is so gorgeous, yet all I have to show you is this very romantic photo by the toilets! :D

Oh look - more winter romance! :D Actually this is my favourite photo from last night and I'm very pleased with it. I saw the family, knew where I wanted to be, walked there, turned around and took this photo. Bingo. ;)

The Old Vic has some gorgeous lights going on as well. No Christmas trees this year though, which I'm surprised about. They usually have them on top of the title roof and they look so pretty. The credit crunch has robbed us of a lot of beauty I tell you!

Another nice moment which is very London. People just leave the most amazing stuff on the streets sometimes to be discarded. That looks like a good mattress that, or is that the credit crunch me talking...

Also, I caught this for the little back seat series. I should work a little bit more on these photos actually. The series has a lovely feel to it, but who knows when I next will be around with a camera in hand. There are the black&white Holga photos to be picked up and scanned (I forgot today after work, oh the shame!), so you're not going without some more stuff before the end of the year. But I do feel a bit bad that I've not been a good blogger these past few months... I feel like a New Year's resolution coming on... Oh dear! Better end here before I say something I'll regret! :D

About a year ago I collaborated with my good friend and a fellow street photographer on a little double exposure project. Exactly a year later we have another roll of film multiple exposed and developed! Yay! I shot a roll in London earlier this spring and shipped it to Berlin where the roll was shot through again and the photos developed over last weekend. Unfortunately this time the roll only had about four great double exposures, but more so quite weird and wonderful in their coincidences.

We agreed both times to give as little as possible in guidance of what the other had shot on the roll to maximise ... weirdness, I suppose. It's quite odd to see some of these photos and what we have caught in the images. This one above in particular is very ghost-like for me.

Or what about this one? How funny that the two images would be a slot machine and this logo. If I was superstitious I'd be quite freaked out by these photos by now. :D

This one is my favourite one from the roll. The trees of The Green Park embossed on the people and street life of Berlin - just lovely! :)

Looks like I am posting a lot of film at the moment as well. This is of course not a bad thing at all.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's another roll of film developed from my Holga 35mm! Wow! And not that long ago since my last one. ;) There were some more shots left from Covent Garden (see previous post) on this roll so I took the camera out again this week with me to finish it off.

It's always a nice surprise to get something developed after a while from actually taking the photos. None of this instant gratification of the digital era for me, I say! Just good old fashioned film, negatives and prints. The Fuji Superia 800 never fails with its colours on a sunny day out with the Holga either. It's a shame I'm a bit lazy to clean the dust off these scans properly, so please, just turn a polite blind eye to that fact and enjoy the colourful lounge wear! :D

Sometimes it still amazes me how close I can get to some people to take photos and for them not to care or notice. This couple had such nice mirroring positions and odd shoe arrangements I dared to step closer and I didn't even get them to turn their gaze at me. A lovely moment I wish happened every time I wanted to document something odd going on around me. :)

And here starts the "new" half of the roll (yes, he was yawning!). I went over to my favourite place of  quiet reflection on Thursday this week. I have spoken about the beauty and meaning of the British Museum to me before, so I won't bore you with the philosophy of it all today. Just enjoy the moments I had whilst visiting one of my favourite places in London.

The Superia really is superior for colour on gorgeous sunny days, don't you think? There is no editing on photoshop on the colours here. I swear! Just look at that intense blue of the sky. Good enough to eat, right?

Early morning is the best time to visit to get the best effect of the Great Court and see the play of the shadows the ceiling throws across this vast architectural space. A truly inspirational place to be standing in. And to think I remember the time there was no Great Court to admire when I first moved to London! Where would I be without it now? :)

Ah, and an old series creeps up on me... As a nice "lost" moment below me unfolds, literally. The best view of the Great Court is actually from the West Wing (no pun intended). Just take the first set of great stairs up from your left when you enter from the main entrance and go all the way up. From a small viewing balcony to your left at the top you're able to see the whole Great Court in the best light if you come first thing in the morning.

Like these shadows! I have taken photos in from this spot before, I know. I just can't resist the play of the people, the shadows and the architecture of those stairs here. And yes, this is a colour photograph (no more Superia gushing I promise!).

These tables at the cafe are usually more full, but for some reason there were only these two men, deep in thought, over their papers that Thursday morning. Nice light, nice posing. Shame about my scan quality. :)

In other (good?) news; there should be more blogging and street photography coming your way this autumn as the wedding season draws to a close and I can focus on some more personal projects. Next time I'll be out and about with the digital cameras, I'd think. Oh and I have been drooling over the new Olympus E-P1 cameras online. It's neither healthy or wise, but they look so gorgeous... Let's see how long I last before I cave in and get one! :D

Hello chaps! Remember me?!  :D Well, here I am after a lovely London Saturday on the streets of London after a long while. It's been aaaaaages since I've had a Saturday off and felt like picking up a camera, but today there I was. Armed with my trusty 35mm Holga, film and late August sunshine to spur me on I wandered about Farrindgon and Smithfields during lunch time.

Actually, it was early lunch time, as you can see and I was on my way to get my hair cut. (I wanted a change and I sure got one!) ;)

What a peachy Saturday it has been indeed. I get my hair cut at the Glass hair salon (site under construction by the looks of it) at Barbican, a skip and a jump away from Smithfields, so it was a lovely walk back for me showing off my new do. :D

Hope this wasn't a case of the old swine flu... She didn't look too well or too happy to be out and about today.

On a side note: Taking the Holga 35mm out with some film was so lovely. It's been ages since I shot anything on film and it was great. I had my prints done in SnappySnaps this afternoon though and they messed them up (again). So, I had to put the negs through my scanner and my Canon scanner has issues with film higher than 400iso. Perfect, as these Fuji 800ZPro prints come off nothing like the punchy colours they should be. (I called the lab and they are reprinting my film as they did 80% of the roll off frame *sigh* Labs just aren't what they used to be...)

Just couldn't wait for the reprints to show you these, so I'm posting these anyways. There were so many great moments going on today. I loved this guy hiding from me when he saw the camera. Really nice moment this.

Sometimes I wish I could zoom a bit with the Holga, but alas, this is also still quite nice. If the scan wasn't so crappy you could actually see the "Love" ads more properly at the front of the newsagent, just have to point them out for now... ;)

Dad's are great, aren't they? :D What a safe crossing for the little ones. I wish I caught some traffic in this, but the cars were too quick and so was the daddy. You can barely see a shadow of the traffic passing in the bottom left hand corner.

A true photographer always finds the best angle. She certainly had the right idea for her tourist photos. :) Blackfriars is undergoing some major works at the moment to get ready for the crossrail to come (for the Olympics of course). The traffic is bad, but it also provides a nice backdrop even on Saturdays.

There are also a lot of workmen around in their high viz gear around all over Blackfriars Bridge all the time. Not sure what he was supposed to be doing, but what he was actually up to was quite photogenic. Look at the lovely London clouds as well. Perfect August day today, really!

All the legs and shadows caught my eye in this. And then there's that ad up there pulling a nice oops-face as a bonus. Damn SnappySnaps, if I could only show you the prints from all these photos...

... this one especially. The scan does this no justice, but what can I do. This was actually my last frame before turning the film in for processing. It's a a hip shot from walking across the road. I saw this couple, aimed, shot and this is what I got. A nice photo for my ongoing couple series, don't you think?

It really was lovely to be out there again to be shooting, I can't say that enough. And of course on film. I really have missed my Holga(s) and good analogue action, but the weddings are still going on thick and fast and I am really enjoying shooting them as well. You can see my SusieShoots gallery for updated wedding goodness (in the gallery section) and I do blog over there now as well. This far 2009 has been an amazing year and I really have enjoyed it. Let's hope it can only get better. :)

Before I knew it the last days of the holiday was drawing to a close, the summer days over and I was yet again packing. Living abroad certainly has its benefits, but being in two places can sometimes be quite hard. I am glad I am able to enjoy two countries, two cultures, two separate ways of living in my life though.

The home sickness and melancholy don't hit me usually until I am above in the skies looking down to my home country. It's a funny feeling of deprivation flying. For me it's like a teleport between two lives between where I am from and where I belong.

Planes are also often very melancholy places that I don't get to photograph, so I'm glad I brought my digital SLR with me on my holidays this year. It made the ease of documenting and capturing moments very organic for me. I have some lovely memories to go with all photographs this year as well. But this lovely diptych my friends also brings my visual diary in this blog to an end. For now it's back to the weddings, events and the occasional street photography! :)

Finland is a beautiful country in the summer. And one of the best things is that even in most larger cities you have to walk less that 5 minutes and you are in the middle of some kind of greenery, forest or a park. I miss the nature dreadfully sometimes in London and often crave for peace and quiet that in the big city is hard to achieve.

  There is something magical about the light in the summer as well. Finland is one of the countries that has midnight sun, so the summer months are very light almost 24 hours a day. This photo brought me back memories of my childhood summers in the countryside when the fields turn a golden hue this time of the year and every day is full of sunshine.

The summer fruit and veg are also gorgeous, and most things you can pick yourself, making everything automatically organic. One of the best tastes of the summer for me is slightly melted vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries.

Oh and being so close to the nature all round you also get to share the city with the wild life. This little fella was sharing an evening walk with mum and me one night. Not far from the city centre! :) I think I prefer the rabbits in Finland to London's city foxes to be honest, after having experience of both this year. :D

During the days in Tallinn we took a few day trips. Part of one of them was a visit to the annual flower festival, which was by the old town walls. What a beautiful setting!

Another sunny day was spent in the Tallinn Zoo, which is HUGE! I always feel very ambivalent in zoos; it is great to be able to see all the different animals so closely, but at the same time my heart breaks for the captives. The polar bear was magnificent if not a bit hungry the afternoon we met.

The city centre is full of tourists from all over the world in the summer months. Some of them are cooler than others. ;)

But before we knew it the days had flown by and it was time to head home. The easiest way to cross the Gulf of Finland is on the ferry, with all the other travellers.

Tallinn is actually an easy day trip do from Helsinki, if you ever happen to that neck of the woods and thinking of something different to do. But for us it was time to spend some more time in Finland.