Seppo Tuomaala

Finland - Suomen Ammattivalokuvaajat ry

Specialisations:

Documentary Nature Fine art

Biography

I am an ophthalmologist, entrepreneur and photographer from Helsinki. Photography has been part of my life since high school. That's when. At different times of the year I spent hundreds of hours photographing nature near our summer cottage. Most of the time the walks or skiing trips were fruitless in terms of pictures, but sometimes I would get a beautiful landscape shot or come across an owl sleeping in the lower branches of a tree or a moose emerging from the trees. I also photographed people close to me and sports. I took my nature photos mainly on slide film, but there was also a darkroom in our garage. Perhaps that's where my later affinity for black and white photography came from. It wasn't until 2008 that I picked up the camera again. I bought my first digital system camera and joined the Camera Society and started attending courses. Photography started as street photography, as is often the case with amateurs. I have always enjoyed travelling and knowing new cultures.. Especially in South America where I also volunteered as a doctor from 1997-1999. With my camera I was looking for that famous "decisive moment" and sometimes maybe I found it. In 2013-2015 I completed the professional qualification of Photographer at Lappia Vocational School in Tornio, Finland. It was one of the best experiences of my life and thanks to great teachers and fellow students I started to understand photography in a much deeper way. My photography became more systematic and in 2017 I had my first bigger solo exhibition at Laterna Magic in Helsinki. My main topic has been different cultures and people in their enviroment. During the last 15 years I have participated in about 25-30 group exhibitions in Finland, mainly of different amateur groups, and have won about 300-500 prizes or honorable mentions in competitions sponsored by such mainly amateur organizations as the FIAP (The International Federation of Photographic Art) or PSA (Photographic Society of America) and numerous other awards. Although the coronavirus period was unpleasant in many ways, for me as a person and as a photographer it was another turning point. When I couldn't travel abroad, I spent a lot of time in nothern Finland, and I started to experience and see the beauty of nature again, as I did as a schoolboy. Since then, I have become very enthusiastic about nature photography again while at the same time continuing my documentary and Fine art-photography. After my come back to nature photography, I was delighted to win a final place and an honorable mention in the "Wildlife" category of the Finnish Professional Photographers' Finnish Photo Awards 2024 and prizes in other competitions with my wildlife photos. I sell my works through my website mostly. I dedicate my time 50/50 between my two passions, medicine and photography (meaning about 6 months for both / year). Hopefully, I can make the photographic side also economically sustainable in the future. Meanwhile, I just enjoy photography more than ever. I am very happy to have such a great thing in my life! I am a member of the Finnish Professional Photographers (SAV ry) and the Finnish Nature Photographers.