Yesterday I was sitting at Tampere market hall having coffee and observing people walking by and sitting at the near by tables. A perfect opportunity to stalk and photograph innocent bystanders. Unfortunately, as I was inside, there obviously wasn't light available as much as outside and the day was pretty grayish anyway so that was a bit of a downer and a slight restriction to how I could photograph. But I did get few that I think are worth at least a glimpse.
Finns usually don't have that colorful clothes on. Some may get wild after April or May and wear all kind of crazy colors like yellow or green, but when the fall comes and especially when all the colorful leaves have dropped from the trees and it's wet and dark and gray, the people here usually tend to get gloomy too in every way and wear black, gray and overall dark colors. Red sometimes is an exception, but usually that color also in the fall and winter moths tends to be a bit on the dark side. Patterns (if any) also are pretty lame and something that blends in to the crowds well.
So if I would have waited for more eye catchers to shoot at than the two ladies I spotted with black and white checkered and the baby light pink coat (third last photo), I would still be there, sitting and waiting.
Wearing dark colors when it's dark never has made any sense to me. I tend to get incredibly blue and down and depressed and tired and all that when the winter comes and there's little light available. I do have all kind of cool lights in my home and I do stuff my mouth full of vitamin D every day, but those really are just poor substitutes to proper summer sun. Or winter sun if there's also white snow cover on the ground. Snow is a life savior but when there is none, like this winter has been, I cling for everything that might brighten the day just a little bit more. And one of those is colorful clothes.
But you know, it's tough. Finns just are what they are. Most people have a need to wear dark all the time or at least when it's dark outside. And it's useless to scream all alone in the clothing stores for rainbow colors if I'm the only one doing that. Clothing store owners offer what people want to buy and people buy what store owners offer.
We have a saying in Finland that pretty much sums up how general population thinks about clothes. "Rumat ne vaatteilla koreilee." It's the ugly ones that dazzle with clothes.
The saying tells you about envy. Not trying to be something you are not. About the constant though in a Finns head: "What other people think about me." About being modest. Not sticking out from the crowd. Not being different. And it also tells you about priorities. What kind of clothes one has is not high on the priority list. Practical, intact and clean should be enough. Nothing too fancy. One should not be too vain.
I love colorful people. In every way. Colorful is more fun than always being politically correct.
But as I am a Finn, colorful people should do that in their own time and space on the other side of my camera lens and not bother my darkness with their bright thoughts and outfits more than I can handle.
To further explain this we have a perfect word for that. It's hajurako = the smell gap. It means that one should not get too friendly with someone in certain situations. Keep strangers at least arms length away. Be suspicious, not talk too much, not be too friendly and not give away everything who you are straight away. And it also means exactly how it sounds. No sitting next to someone in the buss if there's a possibility to sit alone. (Both, window and aisle seat available.) Not hug perfect strangers. And if forced to talk to someone, do that slightly further than an arms length or from a distance where one can't smell the other person. Always have something in between you and them if forced to be too close. A table, a bag, a child. Any child will do. Or a pet. Just grab a pet. And never look at them in their eyes for too long if they are too close to you.
