One-a-day Helsinki

Snow

2008-11-29T15:26:00.000-08:00

It came, it went, but while it lasted, I loved it.

Eerikinkatu street gallery

2008-09-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

I like the way the posters and their surrounding shop windows go together, and collide. Please click on the images for a full-size picture - the reflections on the glass are lost otherwise, and they are nice.

The shop here is called "Venuksen kylpy", "The Bath of Venus".

The photo poster is called "Alttari", The "Altar".

I take way too many photos of her

2008-07-02T05:32:00.000-07:00

but she is my favourite statue in Helsinki.

Easter sunset from my balcony, through falling snow

2008-03-25T14:57:00.001-07:00

Street icon

2008-03-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

The rocks look like they were stuck on later, but they're not

2008-02-17T14:58:00.001-08:00

Random bag people

2007-08-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

Seen downtown today.

There's a girl on the bin

2007-08-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

She's stuck on with chewing gum. She's someone's daughter.

People at work 5 - watching paint dry

2007-08-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

The other morning, on my way to work, I bumped into these two people, hard at work watching paint dry. They said it was boring, which is why they were playing around (note his black fingers). There was a reason to all this - they had just painted the Helsinki Festival Weeks' logo and motto ("Taide kuuluu kaikille" - Art belongs to all) onto the pavement outside one of the artsier cinemas.

An untitleable entry

2007-08-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

A new view through an old wall: the Katajanokka prison has recently been converted into a hotel, and a new passageway cut through the old prison wall.

Inside the prison-come-hotel grounds, a private form of public transport, the Helsinki bicycle. Two euros will let you use one for as long as you need to, within the city. I don't cycle, but I think the idea is pretty brilliant anyway.

People at work 4 - seeing dreams come into being

2007-08-11T05:58:00.000-07:00

Steve "Huzz" Porter shooting material for Rebecca Clamp's soon-to-be-out-on-Youtube video for her song "St Wilgefortis". Watch this space, I'll be linking to the video.

Hiroshima night

2007-08-07T13:01:00.001-07:00

Floating candles in Töölönlahti Bay, on the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. I try to go every year, I find it is quite beautiful there.

Final farewell to the oldest Helsinki-ite

2007-08-01T08:02:00.001-07:00

A few years ago, Helsinki's oldest inhabitant, a 250-year-old crack willow was struck down by lightning. The stump of the old tree was left in place in the hope that it would sprout again, but this hasn't happened. Today, it will finally be dug up, to be replaced by a young willow, grown from a cutting taken from the old tree.

People at work 3

2007-08-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

Rowing people to and from the floating Sauna Obscura. The weather on Tuesday, July 31st was filthy, but the sauna was hot and the water in Töölönlahti Bay surprisingly clean. In the background, Finlandia House from an unusual angle.

People at work, part 2 - the Sauna Obscura ticket lady (artist?)

2007-07-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

A floating sauna-cum-camera-obscura - the Sauna Obscura - by artist Heidi Lunabba. A couple more images on my flickr site.

Not quite Helsinki, but close enough

2007-07-25T13:18:00.001-07:00

Where have all the flowers gone

2007-06-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

60 000 flowering gerberas were installed on the steps leading to the Parliament House in Helsinki, as part III of Kaisa Salmi's environmental art project Eeden (Eden). The building is an ugly monolith. I felt the flowers juxtapose quite surreally with it. In another ten days or so, the flowers will be handed out to members of the public.

Cafe garden in Tamminiementie

2007-06-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

I thought the chairs looked like ghosts of ballerinas. An angel sat in one of them, can you see it?

Manolo Valdes does Velasquez

2007-05-26T14:36:00.001-07:00

People at Work 1 - The Bicycle Cab Driver

2007-05-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

This is not a pipe

2007-05-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

The tree is with child

2007-05-20T09:07:00.000-07:00

The difference a night can make

2007-03-17T04:27:00.000-07:00

Last night's sunset from my balcony.

The view this morning from the same balcony (spot the same treetops) - spring came and went. Never mind. It'll come again. The beauty of positive thinking allows me to interpret this as multiple springs each year.

Pictures from a walk last weekend

2007-03-17T04:23:00.000-07:00

Time to attend to this poor site again: The Friendship Between Our Nations statue

2007-03-17T04:21:00.000-07:00

The snowmen will get you

2007-01-28T03:30:00.000-08:00

When you're at the bus stop, we'll be looking over your shoulder...

...and when you stagger home at two in the morning, we're keeping an eye on you.

Tree with breasts

2007-01-21T08:24:00.000-08:00

"Sooner or later, I will surround you..."

Room with no view

2006-11-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

On day two in my new flat, I woke up to find my 10th floor view completely gone, swallowed up by fog. Or perhaps I am at cloud level.

Cave art in a metro tunnel

2006-11-19T09:06:00.000-08:00

Darkness

2006-11-08T23:03:00.000-08:00

The time of year is just too dark for my Pentax - if I photograph by "daylight" (believe me, it needs the quotation marks), my pictures all come out a funny hue of blue, and the night-time function requires a steadier hand than I have...

Little balls were falling from the sky

2006-10-31T23:50:00.000-08:00

It was called first snow. There'll perhaps be better pictures of it, once I venture out...

We are trees

2006-10-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

Russian tanks in Helsinki

2006-10-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well, only the one, actually, and that one only driven here by the Hungarian Cultural Centre to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the uprising against the Communist regime.

Too dark! Too grey! Too drab!

2006-10-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

Right now, it seems, taking a photo a day in Helsinki is quite a lot to ask. Some may manage it, but I never seem to see anything for the rain and general greyness. However, if you remember my recent Bigfoot shot - clicking on the picture itself will take you to my flickr site. Once there, if you click on comments, you will find someone else's fantastic shot of the very same Bigfoot tribe member - at night!

Indoor tsunami

2006-10-20T07:18:00.000-07:00

"The Big Time", by Jiri Geller, at the Korjaamo Gallery in Töölö.

A memorial service for Anna Politkovskaya

2006-10-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

A panahida, or Russian Orthodox memorial service, was held for Anna Politkovskaya at the Ouspensky Cathedral in Helsinki today. The light conditions made it nearly impossible for me to get a decent photo of it, but I want to publish this picture of people filing out from the church regardless. I am neither Russian Orthodox nor religious, but I wanted to attend to pay my final respect. The picture below is a little better lightingwise, but somehow in my view lacks both in human interest and composition. Ah well, I am not a photographer after all.

The artist Liina Lång had parked her tin cow nonchalantly outside the gallery

2006-10-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

There must be a tribe of them...

2006-10-13T05:56:00.000-07:00

I don't mean to only document Helsinki graffiti, but this Bigfoot tribe lurking around Annankatu appeal to me. Here is the first furry fellow I saw...

The weird man of Kamppi

2006-10-12T02:57:00.000-07:00

He lives in a glass showcase with his relatives. I find his gaze unnerving.

Lightening up: I caught the Bigfoot on camera!

2006-10-11T06:01:00.000-07:00

Right, gentle readers, the world is a nasty place but I can't remain depressed continuously. So herewith the good news: I have taken photos of the mythical Bigfoot. Above, he is featured close up, below, in his natural environment, i.e. Annankatu in Helsinki. (I have my own street, you know...)

A candle vigil for Anna Politkovskaja

2006-10-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

Outside the Russian Embassy in Helsinki today, a candle vigil was held in honour and memory of Anna Politkovskaja, the Russian reporter murdered on her doorstep on Saturday. She was an outspoken critic of the Putin government, particularly of its handling of the war in Chechnya. Note the Chechen flag left leaning against the Embassy fence in the picture. I don't normally post the same picture on my two sites, but this is an exceptional circumstance.

A dog park by moonlight

2006-10-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

The one man band played on

2006-10-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

An American one man band guy was playing downtown. He told us his listeners he would do an old Finnish schlager as his last piece, which he sang in perfectly passable although heavily accented Finnish. The heavens opened, but members of the public rushed out with their umbrellas, to save his amp...

...things got really hot when out of the rain-soaked crowd, a guy in a leotard emerged and did a dance with his perfectly ordinary-looking (male) friend.

Too weird

2006-10-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

A shop window at Stockmann's, the main department store downtown. All the dummies have false moustaches, the horse looks terrified, and the sign says, "No streethorsing outside shop window". At four in the morning, it was a stunning sight.

I found my camera has a night-time function

2006-10-03T06:04:00.000-07:00

Last night, having just missed the tram, I fiddled around with the camera I have, um, adopted from my younger son. Lo! It has a night-time function on it! I didn't have the time for picture hunting, so just shot a couple where I was: top photo, the reasonably new National Opera House, bottom photo, the tramstop...

A florist's shop, from both sides

2006-10-01T22:39:00.000-07:00

They're leaving us

2006-10-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

I can't say I blame them - the weather has been filthy. I am not going to say it - no, not even think it - but I could've been in the tropics...

It is pink, and it is sideways

2006-09-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

Paw prints on pavements

2006-09-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

There are others, too. This is a bear's.

The forgotten one

2006-09-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

Actually, this picture should have been part of an earlier post, featuring a photograph exhibition on electricity substations, on Eerikinkatu, in downtown Helsinki. This is at the top of the street. I somehow managed to overlook it.

Pink Floyd-ey

2006-09-19T01:03:00.000-07:00

2006-09-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love him

2006-09-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

I do.

The fog came rolling in

2006-09-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

Men on the pavement

2006-09-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

Airport security?

2006-09-10T01:28:00.000-07:00

No. The entrance to O'Malley's Irish Pub, adjacent to Hotel Torni, during the Asem (Asia-Europe) meeting in Helsinki. With some fifteen heads of state gathering in the city, security has been a major issue, particularly as the meeting coincides with the 5th anniversary of 9/11. No doubt some of the dignitaries were staying at the hotel - not every pub has metal detectors. Yet.
PS Oops, correction, more like 40 heads of state. No wonder we've had a copper on every street corner.

Portrait of the artist with a nice frame.

2006-09-09T06:16:00.000-07:00

Showtime, he yelled

2006-09-03T02:35:00.000-07:00

Where Lenin & Scrooge are hand in glove

2006-09-02T02:31:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling I know how they're feeling

2006-09-01T00:45:00.000-07:00

Apple alone, berry together

2006-08-31T03:14:00.000-07:00

In Joe's garden.

A carved tree in Hesperia Park

2006-08-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

The Helsinki poetry marathon

2006-08-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

As a counterpoint to the Helsinki City Marathon, Saturday saw a poetry marathon, staged at the old Central Bus Station.

J.K.Ihalainen mid-performance with his strong, beautiful poetry. This guy has had William S.Burroughs illustrate one of his books! Follow the link given, click on Poetry, and scroll to find a sample. His best stuff is in Finnish, though, in my humble opinion.

Night of the Arts, part 5. High culture.

2006-08-25T02:20:00.000-07:00

Night of the Arts is, as the name would suggest, a night devoted to the arts. Arranged in Helsinki this year for the eighteenth time, it features performances from right across the broad board of (what terms itself) art. We ended our evening at the National Opera, listening to this wonderful tenor doing an aria from Yevgeni Onegin, followed by a duetto from La Traviata, to which we were all invited to dance. More pictures of the event on my flickr site.

Night of the Arts, part 4.

2006-08-25T02:16:00.000-07:00

Fire-juggling is too cool. These kids were good, and there was drumming, too. My older son is somewhere in the crowd.

Night of the Arts, part 3. Return of the Pancake Man

2006-08-25T02:13:00.000-07:00

We ate the pancakes afterwards. I was in some way happier that they were cooked by the lady.

Night of the Arts part 2

2006-08-25T02:10:00.000-07:00

This guy was serving pancakes outside an antique shop. I asked him whether I could take a picture, and he replied "Naked or clothed?" The rest, as they say, is history...

Night of the Arts part 1

2006-08-25T01:48:00.000-07:00

Dozens of shamanic drummers gathered in the park at Töölönlahti Bay.

Unplug yourself at Café Fanny

2006-08-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

Smoke on the water

2006-08-22T02:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the wind turned easterly again, and Helsinki was engulfed in the smoke from forest fires in Russia, 300 kilometres away.

2006-08-20T23:20:00.000-07:00

Finlandia Hall, designed by Alvar Aalto.

2006-08-20T01:06:00.000-07:00

I love the fact we have a huge plot of wasteland right in the heart of town, behind all the famous landmarks such as the Finlandia House or indeed the House of Parliament (out of shot, to the left a touch). Alas, it's all going to be developed within the next five years or so.

2006-08-19T07:51:00.001-07:00

Pig-ugly things can be beautified, part 2. Museokatu, Helsinki, Finland.

2006-08-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

The artists featured on these electricity substations are
Anna Seppälä
Mirva Valvanto
Matti Hintikka
Marjatta Hanhijoki
Anna Alapuro
Heli Kurunsaari

2006-08-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

2006-08-19T07:49:00.000-07:00

2006-08-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

2006-08-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

2006-08-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

2006-08-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

2006-08-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

2006-08-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

Portrait of the artist on a silver ball.

2006-08-19T02:14:00.000-07:00

Pig-ugly things can be beautified. Eerikinkatu, Helsinki, Finland.

2006-08-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

The photographers featured on these electricity substations are
Aki-Pekka Sinikoski
Heli Sorjonen
Hanna Koikkalainen
Niina Vatanen
Noomi Ljungdel
Tuomo Rainio

2006-08-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

2006-08-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

2006-08-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

2006-08-18T10:05:00.001-07:00

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2006-08-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

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2006-08-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

2006-08-18T09:56:00.000-07:00