Sense of Finland

‘Sense of Finland’,  by the photographer, Arno Rafael Minkkinen.

We all have our sense of home. I was born in Helsinki in 1945 but grew up in America. The 16 year absence from the homeland did create a vacuum within me—an affectionate longing, a subconscious urge to return. Every time the plane touches down at Vantaa I wait for the first bump. If it is going to be a crash landing, at least I will be home.

My first photographs in Finland, taken in Nauvo, confirmed for me the sanctity of nudity. The essential bareness that surrounds everything in nature surrounds us as well. In Finland, where nature can be at its most glorious, to be nude and alone in the forest or on some shoreline vista may be the closest one will ever get to the experience of creation. I love digging my toes into the forest floor or navigating the boulders along the lake shores barefoot and bare ass like a monkey in heaven.

– Arno Rafael Minkkinen

 

 

Lakeland

The largest Lake District in Europe: In a scarcely populated country there’s enough scenery and shoreline for all, allowing you to easily lose yourself in thought or be inspired by the vast clear lakes, intricately splintered by islands, isthmuses and green spits.

Lakeland