Taivaantulien tyttö

self-taught photographer

Hi! It looks like you have stumbled upon my home pages, welcome!

Who I am, and where I'm from?

I'm from Harjavalta, a small town in Satakunta Region in Western Finland, but now I live in small town of Laitila in Southwestern Finland. In the beginning I was a nature photographer, until I joined "Revontulikyttääjät" (Finnish aurora watchers) group in Facebook.

From the group I re-discovered my old passion for northern lights, and when the conditions for northern lights were favorable, I went out with my camera to shoot the northern lights, and that's what I still love to do whenever possible.

I used to be a day-time nature photographer, but that soon changed to night time photography under starry skies.

I'm interested in photographing atmospheric phenomena like northern lights, noctilucent clouds, halos and thunderstorms. Besides this, I'm also an amateur geologist and mineral collector. I'm in love with northern lights, especially with aurora form called "The Dunes". I was a member in the team that discovered "The Dunes" in 2018-2019. The name for the aurora form was suggested by me and it was inspired by my late father who was also interested in skywatching and atmospheric phenomena.

Here in my website I publish posts about my night time photography trips. Sometimes very unexpected and random things can happen during the trips, you can read about my adventures here on my site!

How did I became a photographer?

It was year 1980 when I was 6 year old and I saw the northern lights for first time in Finnish Lapland. I was watching the display with my father in the backyard of a hotel in Lapland. It was a moment that I will never forget! After the display I wrote to my journal: "tonight I saw first northern lights of my life, there were two kinds of reds, and they were absolutely amazing! I wish I could see northern lights again sometimes!"

That night my father gave me a new nickname "Taivaantulien tyttö" (Girl of Northern Lights), that is also the name of my website now. Northern lights were unforgettable experience for a small child, but still today decades later I enjoy seeing them every time! But there is still one thing that I haven't seen since then, totally red auroras.

I also experienced my first thunderstorms with my father, and according to him I was only two year old then, but I was very fascinated by that amazing natural display. I have also spent many nights under starry sky with my father that I will never forget.

Decades later in 2018 I was able to participate in book project called "Revontulibongarin opas" (skywatcher's guide to northern lights). Later the same group was discovering "The Dune" auroras. I was involved in the project as a citizen scientist, and eventually the project led to discovery of new aurora form in 2019.

When the aurora scientists were researching the new aurora type, there were two photographs that played a key role in the study, one of them was taken by me. There is also a "behind the scenes" story of "The Dunes" in my blog.

So please enjoy your time watching my photos and reading blog posts, you are most welcome to the wonderful world of atmospheric phenomena!