1- Hi Reilika! Tell us a little about yourself, and how you became interested in photography!
Hello! I am 42 years old, and I’m based in Finland.
I first fell in love with photography when my father got a darkroom when I was a kid. It was such a magical process to develop pictures…
Some decades later, after fine art university studies, I become a freelance photographer for magazines and newspapers. The book cover industry is a very different world from that, and I really love its possibilities and challenges.

2- What gives you ideas and inspires you to create such a broad portfolio?
I find a lot of inspiration from everyday objects, nature, the textures of materials, literature and movies.
Lately I’ve been picking up random objects and thinking about what kind of story they might tell, and what kind of background or lighting they would need.
I’m also very inspired by objects which evoke a sense of their history – scratches, broken parts, things which have been weathered, torn, thrown away…

3- You shoot all kinds of subjects, but we are always very impressed with your still life images! What advice would you give to photographers shooting in this genre?
Follow trends – movie posters, magazines, books, all the visual culture around. Play with colours, light, materials, compositions.

4- What’s your must-have gear for any photoshoot?
I try to keep my photo shoots as technically simple as possible. I work with natural light or 1-2 flashes, LED-lights or lightboxes.
I often use 50mm macro lenses for still life photography. And I like to explore the possibilities offered by old analog lenses.

5- Do you prefer to shoot at home, or in a professional studio?
I usually shoot in my home studio!

6- Where do you look for the resources to create your imagery – objects and accessories, for example?
By keeping my eyes open! They can be found everywhere – I find objects at home, by borrowing from friends, in flea markets, or even on the streets.

7- How important is Photoshop in creating your finished images?
Post production often takes a lot of time, but it does depend on the image. I tend to see my shots as ”potential raw material”, and very often the final idea will be created in Photoshop.

8- What has been your funniest or most awkward moment on a shoot?
Nothing awkward comes to mind, but sometimes while shooting outdoors there have been some photobombing animals!

9- Personal projects can be so beneficial to a photographer’s growth and creativity.  Do you have any you’re working on right now?
Lately I’ve started to build pinhole cameras, and I hope to find some people who work in different art mediums to collaborate with.

10- What do you think the challenges are for the stock photography industry at the moment? What changes do you foresee over the next few years?
The stock photography industry is growing at an enormous speed, so it’s really difficult to say or predict which way things will be going over the next few years.
I hope that there will always be a demand for high-quality and artistic images!

Click here to explore the Reilika’s entire portfolio of work.