“Damn it all!” cursed fisherman Kari Seppänen, having just seen his snowmobile sink into a dark hole in the ice-covered lake near Pyterinkari. This book describes what happened next. Thanks to Seppänen, and about twenty other people who live close to Lake Vanajavesi in the Häme region of Southern Finland, Droplets provides a set of highly personalised pictorial stories.
This visually impressive work describes how people including a fisher, a scientist, a pianist, youngsters hoping for a bright future, and a local legend all relate to Lake Vanajavesi. Among the figures featured in the book are environmentalist Pentti Linkola, farmer Markku Keijälä, children from Ruununmylly School, and Katri Erkamo, a native of the island of Retulansaari.
Their stories are accompanied by plenty of factual information, though Droplets is not a reference book as such.
– Our book aims to share views, feelings, images and landscapes from the region around Lake Vanajavesi. Though there are as many stories as story-tellers, their shared message is clear: Vanajavesi and its surroundings are well-loved and important. The area’s lakes and rivers have fundamentally shaped the lives of many local people. Pentti Mansukoski, photographer and Tia Yliskylä, author
Droplets – Stories from Lake Vanajavesi is a hardcover book, which includes 250 pages. Translator is Fran Weaver.
