Pekka Parviainen

Born in 1954, Parviainen has lived his whole life in southern Finland at a latitude of 60 N. He graduated from Turku University in applied mathematics and worked at the university as a researcher and lecturer for 15 years. For the past ten years he has been a professional photographer specializing in atmospheric phenomena around the world. Many of his photos have appear in publications worldwide. Parviainen began photographing the night sky in 1973 with a Pentax film camera and the 6-inch refracting telescope of his local astronomy club. The cloudy weather of his country led him to focus on other phenomena common to northern skies as well, including auroras, noctilucent clouds, mirages, halos and rare atmospheric events. He still feels most at home in nature under a clear, wide-open sky with unlimited vistas, seeking beautiful sky phenomena to photograph.