This was a pretty special two months, with its highs and lows, it's definitely one to remember. So unfortunately I'm not going to tell you how I partied with friends, got drunk a lot, woke up on a deserted island and was then miraculously saved - no. I'm Frederik, I worked. No seriously - I spent the majority of my two months in a photo studio, working, learning, connecting, creating - it was awesome. I did travel a bit around Estonia and I did take a few trips to Helsinki however a big part of my summer was building myself as an artist, building my portfolio, working with other creative, talented people to create art. That's what I like to do, it's who I am, it's how I spend my time. It's a large part of how I grow as a person.

A busy day of shooting smoothies, drinking smoothies and shooting more smoothies.

It all started with my plan to do two weeks of work experience at a photographers studio. It quickly turned into two months and the work experience part was more like free keys to an amazing studio in exchange for some mild, time-to-time help. Basically, it was a pretty good deal. It was also fascinating to get insight into what it's like for a photographer to make a living off it. It was a really informative time and I'm super glad I got to do this with a photographer as talented as Kertin Vasser. Right when I saw his portfolio I knew this was someone I want to work with and on top of having created amazing photographs, he also turned out to be an individual with a personality to match.

I had an incredible amount of fun and I had a chance to do a lot of really cool things, I second shot a wedding, I photographer the president, I had a chance to meet incredibly talented people in their own field and I think my eyes were really opened up to Estonia's wonderful entrepreneurship. I always thought that I couldn't do what I wanted to do in Estonia while maintaining a lifestyle I'd be happy with. This actually isn't true, one of the things this summer has taught me is that chances of me making a stellar living as a photographer in Estonia are actually pretty okay, I could do it. I could actually do okay. It is only if I am looking to become the biggest, most awesome photographer in the world and if I want to work with the biggest, most awesome people in the world that I should probably live somewhere else. Right now, I honestly don't know which way I want to go - I love challenges, I will never settle for who I am in the present moment but I think the next two years I still have left in school are going to be really crucial to this decision.

Seen at the wedding I second shot for Kertin.

I think my photography did get quite a bit better over the summer, I started using photoshop a lot more as I've started to realise that it has the ability to give a really fine polish to an image that might be slightly farfetched in Lightroom. It's not to say that I extensively photoshop my images and they look nothing like the image originally did - it just means there is an extra level of polish which helps to grab the attention of my viewers. I think you'd agree that there is a difference in post processing style if you look at images from before the summer vs during and after. I certainly can tell that it's been a help.

Retouching away, those Wacom drawing tablets were freaking awesome!

I don't think I had as many photo-shoots this summer than I did the previous summer and I think the large part of the reason for that is that I really tried to make every photo-shoot unique and really experiment with different styles. The photo I was editing in the photo above was from a shoot completely different to the style of images I had created before. After that I shot a sort of vintage, fashion look with Onerva which I think also looked really unique - there was also an entire fashion collection which again was rather different because it meant that not only were the models extremely important in the photo, the clothes were up there on the same level too. I've actually shot collections before but I think this shoot I took showing off the clothes a lot more seriously than I have previous times and I think it works a lot better. I did a shoot with Grete which involved her wearing a native American styled headwear. It was a really special one, it was a challenge and on the spot thinking was very much a necessity on that shoot.

This is totally NOT Grete reapplying makeup with a knife, we wouldn't even think of doing anything as silly as that.

I really wanted to do more travelling than I did, unfortunately I didn't get the chance. I went to Helsinki a couple of times and that's about it. My trips to Helsinki were great though, I got to hang out with Onerva and she's so much more than just a great model. She's a person I talk about real shit with, our conversations very often turn into some really meaningful discussions where we learn from each-other and I think that's one of the most amazing things that a friendship can give.

I took this photo with my Sony point-and-shoot in a cafe. It might be me just being silly but I just love this. :D

Alright I think it's time to wrap this post up. It was an amazing summer, I will never forget my time in the studio, thank you Kertin for giving me that chance - I'll be back soon! I created images that were in many ways very different to my usual style and that I think is one of the most important things you have to do in order to grow as an artist. I mean, I even shot a one month old baby - I think that leaves me a lot better qualified now than I was two months ago.