Twenty-year-old Konsta Punkka – known by his online handle Kpunkka – heads into the forest every day. He may spend hours lying motionless in a meadow, waiting for deer to show up, or trying to get a squirrel to eat from his hand.
Punkka posts new nature photos daily on Instagram – an online photo-sharing service that’s dominated by teenage selfies.
“I used to really hate it that everybody was just taking these face pictures. I couldn’t care less about that side of it. I thought I could do something different. I had taken nature photos before and I thought that I could try that,” says Punkka.
Being different has paid off. Konsta’s squirrel photos became hits, Instagram recommended his pictures and within a couple of years he has amassed more than 116,000 followers.
That is a huge number by Finnish standards. In comparison, the nation’s most popular rap star, Cheek, has about 158,000 followers, while up-and-coming teen idol Benjamin Peltonen has 226,000.
‘Cuteness sells’
Punkka’s followers began referring to him as ‘the squirrel whisperer’. His pictures are especially popular among American Instagrammers.
“Cuteness works,” he says laconically. “Young girls and boys and even teenage girls like this kind of cute stuff. Cute squirrels sell; it works.”
Other amateur nature photographers from Finland have also scored international success through online image services such as Flickr and 500px.
Last year Valtteri Mulkahainen of the eastern town of Sotkamo snapped an image of bear cubs who seemed to dance – which was published in newspapers around the world including the New York Daily News.
Mulkahainen shares his images through 500px as well as on Russian and Israeli photo sites.
“It’s nice to get feedback. That way I can develop as a photographer, when I get negative and positive feedback. I get a lot of feedback from the Russian forums particularly. There are comments from around the world every day. Luckily there’s Google Translate so I can understand what people are writing,” he says with a chuckle.
Such online sharing can lead to paid work for amateurs. Mulkahainen has published calendars and postcards. He has also been offered opportunities for exhibitions, and is invited to take part in photo contests on a weekly basis.
“Some people I know through an Israeli photography forum suggested that I have an exhibition in Haifa. I thought, why not?”
Punkka meanwhile leads photo workshops and has been offered other work. For now, though, he says he’s busy with his studies – and his relentless search for the next perfect picture of his “squirrel friends”.
