Happy 2018!

I know, I know – it’s already February. Time just flies.

Last year was amazing. I got to move to this amazing country, settled in, made lots and lots of new friends, started rebuilding my photography here in Wellington region and met new wonderful clients and wonderful opportunities. 2017 treated me good. Really good. Better than I had ever dreamt of.

This year started out as good as the last one. The first photoshoot of the year was probably the most meaningful and powerful to start with. I got to meet Emilia Lahti, the overcomer, the founder of Sisu not silence. A researcher and peace activist, woman who is so kind and caring that you can almost see the glow around her where ever she goes.

At this very moment Emilia is running through whole New Zealand for an important cause.
50 ultra marathons within 50 days without any rest days. To raise awarness of domestic violence, to spread the word how it is not okay. It is a crazy challenge and by now she is already half way there. South island already conquered, North Island in progress.

Why? You can read her whole story here.

Only few days before her journey I met Emilia in Wellington where I got to spend time with her, take her press photos and listen to this radiant queen of kindness. It was a day of her send-off to her journey with a small, cozy event spent at the Karori Bridge club later in the evening, hosted by It’s not okay campaign

Now, four weeks later, after she had already run through south island we met again here in Wellington where she was invited to give speeches at the Royal Police College in Porirua. It was quite emotional moment when she arrived running to the College with such a heartwarming and passionate welcoming by the crowd. Steve Matthews was there to write very well about the event, you can read his article here.

There has been quite a lot interest in Emilia’s journey amongst media both in Finland and especially here in New Zealand. Kauneus & Terveys-lehti in Finland also wrote about Emilia’s NZ mission, you can read the story here (in Finnish) text by Tiina Tuppurainen, all photos by me.

She’s been interviewed in many newspapers and media, including the AM morning show on tv.

You can follow Emilia’s amazing run and support her mission by following her social media links and I highly recommend you to attend her very casual and heart warming events around NZ north island. All the upcoming events can be found on her facebook page.

Thank you Emilia for being such an inspiration, you have already taught me A LOT.  Keep shining where ever you go!