We had Me Naiset -magazine here in Finland write a story about us. A story about our underwater pictures we do together and about our sister time which is very valuable to us. Johanna always says it's a lot more difficult to dive for pictures than for competitions - in competitions you go along a straight line and doesn't matter how your face looks like. In pictures usually Johanna has to be in positions far from vertical and to make sure her face looks normal she has to replace the air in her sinuses with water. That's how your face still looks normal when underwater.
Most of our still photos we do together, just the two of us. They are our ElinaJohannaDays, there's no rush even though there is always a plan. We heat up the sauna and we sit there and do final planning. Then we go in the water, summer or winter or whatever. We both hold our breath and it probably looks quite funny if you don't know what we are doing. We are popping up and down in a similar speed, we say a few words when we come up, usually take one breath and go down again. The planning has usually been done beforehand so we know what we are doing, what kind of clothing we have and all this has been planned according to the water temperature as well. In freezing waters in winter Elina usually has a wetsuit and Johanna might have a dress. This means Elina goes in the water first, gets herself and camera ready and Johanna comes and we shoot quickly. Then back to sauna and then after 15 minutes same thing again. Maybe in winter when Johanna doesn't have a wetsuit we can do three sets.
These are the best days for us. Of course all our other projects with different crews are nice too, but these days are special. Hopefully this coming winter we could stay at our cabin for days and days and just take our own pictures.
We have a set of 10 pictures that are made to canvases and will travel around as our exhibition. We are starting to have those exhibitions again so stay tuned! And if you have a place in mind anywhere in the world where could come and set up our exhibition let us know!
Elina has Ikelite housing for Canon Mkll bodies and Aquatica housing for Canon Mklll. She has two favourite lenses for underwater: Canon 14mm f2.8 and Sigma Art 35mm f1.4. You don't see her very often (never) shooting with a fish eye. Maybe if we were taking pictures of huge whales she might change into something like that.
Pics by: Elina
Model: Johanna
Location: Heinola lake Sonnanen, Salo lake Nummijärvi
Clothing: Guess, Marimekko, Prawno Apparel, Asenne Surf