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We first spotted Kai Kuusisto (aka Kaintero) on Flickr a few months ago. His photos stood out from the crowd with those ultra tweaked airs, the great people portraits and the feeling of fun oozing out of every shot.

We hooked up with Kai to check out and talk about his ultra-dope photography…

Rider: Jorma Sonninen - Kinky wall ride

Hey yo Kai, where are you from?
I spent my first 25 years 15 km from Helsinki to the west in a small city (10,000 people) called Kauniainen and now I live in the heart of the capital of Finland, in Helsinki central.

Savela, Mikko Lehto

How long have you been riding?
I have been riding bmx for 10 1/2 years. Back in the days I used to buy/get new parts if they got broken, these days when they dont get broken as often it feels hard to upgrade my bike just for the weight or style… so my bike might be slightly out of the latest trends. I have always liked to paint my bikes by my self, last time I painted my bike using tree leafs and “miniature scale model paints”.

I recently learned to land tailwhips and many of my new tricks are tailwhip combinations like wallride to whip, whip to manual, whip to tailtap to footjam nosepick, downsidewhips…

I try to be an all around rider as much as possible but I admit I am spending more time going fast, doing airs and trying to link tricks than trying to learn the technical street tricks.

Rider: Aapo Airas - Love Anarchy BMX

When did you start taking photos?
I have been the Camera Man now for about only two years but before using proper equipment I have had several years fun trying to manage get some decent photos with different film/digital snapshot cameras. I remember how I learned to time pressing the shutter release button about two seconds before the trick was about happen! Hehe!

The “advantage” of Digital photography could be compared to the use of foampits nowdays in bmx, it is possible to learn some things really fast! I have learned to respect and admire all the talented film photographers and the amazing photoshop artists as well.

Kovis

What’s your camera set up?

I use:

-Nikon D200 and FE2 bodies
-Nikon 70-210 mm/ 4-5.6
-Nikon 50 mm and 85 mm 1.8D
-Nikon 18 - 70 mm/ 3.5 - 4.5 DX
-Sigma 10 - 20 mm DX
-The Original Lensebaby (latest buy)
-Nikon SB800 speedlight
-Vivitar 285HV flash (latest buy)
-Metz 60 CT-2
-3 x Pocket Wizard Plus II
-Manfrotto lightstands and last but not least the very handy Gorillapod (that lets you can attach a flash around trees and stuff…)

Skogås, Teemu Antila

Any tips for anyone taking bmx/skate action shots?

Hey I want some tips as well!
These could help a bit:

- Dont rely on automatics, use manual focus or focus lock and learn the relation between aperture, focal length, shooting distance and the area in focus.

- Try several angles/ different focal lengths and plan the timing etc. with the rider in the foreground.

-Do some test shots (or read the manual) to know what is the max flash power you can use to freeze high speed movement and prevent blurry pics taken with too slow flash duration. Faster than 1/2000 sec. flash duration should be pretty safe!

Rider: Viktor Holsten - Lookback shadow

Do you have any masterplans or ambitions for your photography?
My masterplan: I dream about life of a true lifestyle and nature photographer for magazines & cool music labels! I want to live from my heart to the fullest, to expand my world and push things forward with my work as best I can!

My Tasty Kelis

There are loads more great photos on Kai’s Flickr:

View Kaintero’s BMX Flickr slideshow

View Kaintero’s Portrait, Music & Lifestyle Flickr slideshow

Visit Kaintero on Flickr

Big ups Kai and thanks a lot!

This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 10:36 pm and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.