My business takes me all over the world and last July it took me to one of the most breathtaking and awe inspiring places I have ever been to – the Lofoten Islands. The mountains and the sea were incredible and I honestly stop breathing when I was taken to various places around Lofoten. The midnight sun was amazing as well!! With the changeover from my old site to my new branded site I realised that I did not share this amazing wedding on my blog. So please enjoy this jaw dropping part of the world!!!!

“All day long I claimed that I had brought the perfect weather from Australia. It was just magic!! A very beautiful ceremony with Lise and Andreas’ son providing tissues when they were emotional and then a fun dinner and party afterwards. We drove to what I call the beach with the white sand for photos. I was pleasantly surprised when Lise and Andreas were happy to do some unconventional photos with lollipops and sunglasses. I love everything about this part of Norway – the mountains, the dark blue and light blue water, the countryside and the colourful rustic buildings. It was a pleasure to be a part of the day capturing the moments and also the beauty that this country offers. Thank you Lise and Andreas for trusting in me to capture your memories, it is not every day you have a person from the other side of the world come to photograph your wedding. You guys rock!!!”

Another amazing year in the Northern Hemisphere – in July 2011 I visited Norway, Finland and Estonia. I photographed 4 weddings and 10 portrait sessions. One of the portraits we shot at 2.30am – loving the midnight sun!!  I am heading overseas again this year in July/August – see more information here if you are interested in booking me.

Here are some of my favourites from those photo shoots!

Lue Suomalainen versio täällä (Read the Finnish version here)

I love Scandinavia and in particular Finland. I grew up learning about Finland through letters and presents from my penfriend, Anna who lived in Varkaus. In my adult life I find myself becoming obsessed with colourful (in particular Marimekko, Aarikka and Finlayson) and wanting to enjoy saunas, having way too many berries and loving the summer cottage life. But it is the welcoming smiles and hugs of the many Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish people who I have met that makes me want to come back time and time again.

I have been to Finland many times – mostly in summer but once in October. My next two trips I would like to be in Scandinavia in July/August 2012 and February 2013. To afford to be able to see my second ‘families’ in Scandinavia I need to book some weddings and portrait sessions. So I am asking for your help to share my post.

The business stuff:
*Internationally, I have photographed 6 weddings in Finland, 1 in Norway and 3 in France. I have done portrait sessions (family and bridal) in Finland – Tampere, Helsinki, Turku, Kuvansi ; Tallinn, Estonia and Lofoten in Norway.

*You do not have to pay for my airfares.

*Asking me to photograph your wedding or portraits is more affordable than you might think – just ask me to give you a quote and we can discuss options to make this work for you. Please email me here.

Some examples of my International shoots and what people think about working with me:

Kimi & Anna, Helsiniki – July 2011 – “We wanted Gemma as our wedding photographer after seeing her fabulous photos on her website. By chance Gemma was coming to Finland in the summer of our wedding so we contacted her and luckily managed to get her to shoot our big day. It was a bit stressful not meeting up with the photographer in advance, but Gemma made it very easy to arrange everything at a long distance[and we got to meet her the day before the wedding]. She also asked detailed questions about us and the wedding as a preparation for the shoot, which made everything run smoothly on the day. It felt as though we had known Gemma for years! Thank you so much for capturing the biggest day of our lives so far!”

More photos here.

Emilia & Ville, Finland, Mikkeli Countryside – July, 2011 – “Thank you a million times for the wedding photos – you have made my heart go bouncing around the room every time I look at the pictures! We love them all! I never thought I could be so excited at a wedding that I wouldn’t remember it all, but with your photos I got a chance to live all those emotions again. You truly are an artist and we want to thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for capturing our wedding day.”

More photos here and Engagement Portraits here.

Päivi and Jukka, Helsinki, Finland – July 2010 - photographed with Anna Jarske ” I really love the photos you took! Thank you for participating in our wedding and it was a pleasure to work with you ”

More photos here and Engagement Portraits here.

Fanny & Gabriel, Angers, France – July 2010 (photographed with Emilie Gerard) – “I love all the pictures, they are beautiful ! Thankkkkkkkkkkkkks to you. Gabriel also loves the pictures, he says you’re a very very good photographer, he loves the way you tell a story with your photos!”

More photos here.

Lise & Andreas, Lofoten, Norway – July 2011 – “The photos are wonderful!! Thank you SO much!:)”  More photos here and Engagement Portraits here.

Anne & Toni, Tampere – July, 2011 (photographed with Juha Sompinmäki) – “The pictures are stunningly beautiful and capture all the little and big moments just perfectly and your presence on our special day was a great pleasure for us, too. Your skill in photography and wonderful personality are out of this world and in our opinion, you are highly recommended to photograph any kind of wedding anywhere!” More photos here.

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