PhotoStories : World : Finland : Winter in Haapajärvi

PhotoStories : World : Finland :
Winter in Haapajärvi

I was born in a little village called Haapajärvi. It's located in the middle of Finland, and the population is around eight thousands (8,000). Quite many citizens of Haapajärvi make their livings by agriculture related things, and the biggest employer is the town itself (providing for example social services).

I think Haapajärvi is a very good example about the development of the Finnish colonization policy: young people leave their small home towns to start studies in bigger university cities, and - surprisingly - never come back. The countryside is rapidly depopulating.

Personally I don't wonder why young families establish their own homes to city surroundings rather than in distant countryside towns and villages. There is a huge difference between cities and country villages in public services, cultural happenings and in possibility to do cool things.

There is one thing that big towns and cities cannot necessarily offer (even to young people), which is -- of course -- nature. The photographs in this page are examples of Middle Finland countryside surroundings during a winter season. All the photographs have been taken in Haapajärvi during christmas holidays in year 2000.

This photo is exactly from the same location than the main photograph in this page, except to different direction. Here you can see the ice surface of the artificial lake (Hautaperän tekoallas).
       I like the long lines of shadows on the ice, the sun is shining from just a little bit above horizon even it is middle of day! There are only few hours of daylight during the middle of winter.

Normally it is quite hard to photograph snow, because it easily gets a blue cast. This means that the photo is slightly underexposed.
      This time the weather was different than normally, because even my own eyes told me that the snow was more blue colored rather than white. So the coloring of the photo gives quite right mood this time.

It was my last days of holiday coming to end when this barn was photographed. I did miss the perfect red cast of sunset, so you can say this photo is quite colorless.
      Maybe next year I got there one hour earlier and get a descent photo... :)

This is a view form Eeronmäki hill. The sun has just raised and the surroundings get first glimpse of light after very cold winter night. The air is still, and some distant noises are coming from far away.

During the days I took the pictures, the weather was beautiful. There was some minus twenty degrees of Celsius (-20°C) and the sun was shining almost every day. I took camera with me and wandered around places I known would be potentially photographically scenarios.

Few hours of daytime are gone. The darkness is about to fall to forest. The winter really is dark and cold in northern countries.

Do you like winter time?

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I was born in a little village called Haapajärvi. It's located in the middle of Finland, and the population is around eight thousands (8,000). Quite many citizens of Haapajärvi make their livings by agriculture related things, and the biggest employer is the town itself (providing for example social services). I think Haapajärvi is a very good example about the development of the Finnish colonization policy: young people leave their small home towns to start studies in bigger university cities, and - surprisingly - never come back. The countryside is rapidly depopulating. Personally I don't wonder why young families establish their own homes to city surroundings rather than in distant countryside towns and villages. There is a huge difference between cities and country villages in public services, cultural happenings and in possibility to do cool things. There is one thing that big towns and cities cannot necessarily offer (even to young people), which is -- of course -- nature. The photographs in this page are examples of Middle Finland countryside surroundings during a winter season. All the photographs have been taken in Haapajärvi during christmas holidays in year 2000.

This photo is exactly from the same location than the main photograph in this page, except to different direction. Here you can see the ice surface of the artificial lake (Hautaperän tekoallas). I like the long lines of shadows on the ice, the sun is shining from just a little bit above horizon even it is middle of day! There are only few hours of daylight during the middle of winter.		Normally it is quite hard to photograph snow, because it easily gets a blue cast. This means that the photo is slightly underexposed. This time the weather was different than normally, because even my own eyes told me that the snow was more blue colored rather than white. So the coloring of the photo gives quite right mood this time.


It was my last days of holiday coming to end when this barn was photographed. I did miss the perfect red cast of sunset, so you can say this photo is quite colorless. Maybe next year I got there one hour earlier and get a descent photo... :)		This is a view form Eeronmäki hill. The sun has just raised and the surroundings get first glimpse of light after very cold winter night. The air is still, and some distant noises are coming from far away.


During the days I took the pictures, the weather was beautiful. There was some minus twenty degrees of Celsius (-20°C) and the sun was shining almost every day. I took camera with me and wandered around places I known would be potentially photographically scenarios. Few hours of daytime are gone. The darkness is about to fall to forest. The winter really is dark and cold in northern countries. Do you like winter time?

Back to the page top \| Back to Focus on Finland