I photograph two subjects: downtown Tampere, Finland in winter and Lake Pyhäjärvi from my boat. Different places, but the same exploration - solitude, distance, and disappearing.
In the city, long straight streets vanish into snowstorms and darkness. One or two figures move through empty roads under streetlights that barely illuminate. Everything disappears - into weather, into night, into the distance between buildings.
On the lake, I'm alone in my wooden boat. The shore disappears. Land becomes distant. I escape into open water, rough weather, changing light. The boat moves through spray and reflection, sky meeting water.
Both places offer what I seek: being by myself, open space, harsh conditions to face. Perseverance. The visual perspective of distance - whether down a city street or across water.
I work only in black and white film, printing in the darkroom. This isn't about documenting reality. Black and white creates distance between what exists and what I make. The photograph becomes an artifact, a constructed object. I can concentrate on essentials: light, shape, emptiness.
These images explore isolation as choice, not loneliness. The deliberate act of disappearing - into urban snowstorm or onto open water - to find the space and air needed to simply be.