With Finland celebrating 100 years of independence, photographer Suvi Sievila wanted to do a special project to represent her country and its dramatic landscapes, as well as the season of winter by using the beauty of ice for her concept.
Over the years, the shape of Finland has been visualized a woman with her arm raised up in a fluttery dress dubbed “The Maiden of Finland.” The conception was planned to capture ice and it’s beauty as the dress for the Maiden in Suvi’s project. This project wasn’t an easy feat either, and took several months of planning and preparation to complete. It took five months alone to save up enough empty milk cartons that would be used to freeze the water in. It didn’t get any easier after that, the temperatures had to drop below freezing to allow the water to turn into ice in her backyard. After watching and waiting for the perfect time, Suvi jumped on the opportunity and begun the process to craft her ice dress which spanned over five days.
Finally it was time for the shoot to take place, however there was no time to spare as the weather decided to make a turn into warmer temperatures. With shooting outdoors, you always have to consider mother nature may disrupt your plans, let alone if everything is depending on her cooperation. With not much time to spare, Suvi rushed her shoot to nail the shot just in time before the ice dress melted away.
There’s definitely beauty in ice, this project took a lot of hard work and dedication to complete. I’m sure it was all worth it in the end for everyone involved including model Belinda Nieminen and MUA Satu Sirelius. The final result is just marvelous, and it’s incredible to see the process of how Suvi formed the dress into the shape of Finland as well as the rest of the process for the shoot. If you are curious to read more about Suvi's project, jump over to her blog.
Image used with permission of Suvi Sievila.
What an effort! Why not photoshop the dress as well? Haha.