Horses from Jarkko on Vimeo.

Last saturday I got an assignment to make some shots of horse racing. I was touched by those steaming beasts in eerie cold darkness so I made this video as a by-product. I wanted to the final piece to be in HD but somehow I managed to screw up the settings in edit so it isn’t. Soundwise originally I was editing this piece to go along with Portishead’s “Machine Gun” but then thought that what the heck, I’ll do my own soundtrack. Headphones are recommended.

Posted by Jarkko

When working with photography starts to get on my nerves or I feel stuck with it I have few other things to do. Actually three: to play music, to do some sports or to draw something. Lately I’ve picked up the pencil more often than the drumsticks and I must say I’ve enjoyed it tremendously. It has been some years since I’ve done any illustrations. For the time being I’m working full-time with press photography (i.e. interacting and being social with people) so I feel that some kind of balancing is needed and drawing seems to do the trick for me. You know, letting some creative steam out and just getting tapped into the flow. This stuff is highly meditative as I can just focus on getting the lines right. And when I draw I never know what the outcome will be. And that is just damn refreshing! This sketch of a boxer took three episodes of Black Adder (one and a half hour) to finish.

Posted by Jarkko

These photos of Sauli Niinistö were never used so I might as well post them here. I feel that taking photos of seasoned top politicians is kind of tricky since they know the game. They know what kind of image they want to project and they know how to deliver it. So it was with Sauli. We did the interview at his home (which actually was a surprise that he invited us there) but he was very precise where the photos should be taken. The interview and the shooting was to be done outside, there was no chance that we were going to go in. But when we started there was a moment of chaos and I did miss one potentially interesting photo. This happened: Sauli and his wife Jenni have a French bulldog named Lennu. Kind of comical looking fella, I think. At the very beginning of interview Lennu shoots out from nowhere and rushes the presidential candidate. He his trying to grab the dog while this drooling rocket of energy feverishly climbs on top of Niinistö who at the same moment is shouting “no photos!” This didn’t really matter because I had tele lens and I was standing maybe two meters from him so I missed the moment. Why I hated that I wasn’t able get the photo? Because something unexpected and uncontrolled happened.
Anyway, I don’t know if it transcends to the viewer as a great image but I was pleased with the shot where he is standing his arm stretched out. This is because it was the only moment when he seemed to be somewhat absent and not conscious about being photographed.

Posted by Jarkko

Some reportage stuff from last summer. This one is from Åland. The topic was basically about the traditions and the present of this special area. The writer and I tried to think about the stereotypes related to finnish Archipelago – you know, stuff in tourist brochures- and then compare that ideological landscape to concepts that we percieved as “reality”. This was done by finding people with different kind of stories: workers from Thailand, footballers from US, local rockers and so on. So it was also a sort of “outsiders looking in”  angle to the identity of Åland. The story itself turned out to be ok but in the photos this method resulted as a very scattered outcome. The result wasn’t a catastrophe but I’ve should have had balls to take more focused visual approach. But you’ll live and learn. Hopefully. These images are mostly the same ones used in the paper.  The story was published in Helsingin Sanomat.

EDIT: One photo added.

Posted by Jarkko

Last week I went to take some photos of a new work by Charles Sandison. He is an artist based in Tampere and the winner of Ars Fennica 2010. His latest piece is presented in Hämeenlinna Art Museum and it is something that you should check out. I was familiar with some of his work before but the scale of this was just pretty overwhelming. 26 projectors making constantly changing patterns and shapes, all based on his C++ coding. And what I understood the projectors are not screening individually, they all are projecting the same piece. So it is not a static video projection but a kind of living form of code or scripture filling this big space. Back in the days the exhibition room used to be an old granary and the whole idea for the work stemmed from this notion. Sandison scanned some old granary accountbooks from this era and by some strange way turned them into coding. Anyway, the work is a visual blast.

Posted by Jarkko

Few shots from this summer. So far my work has been mainly about shooting single portraits for the paper but I’ve been on few mini-reportages too. And I promise they will be posted here at some point. I have a hard time liking most of my photos, but one of the better ones is the photo of Antti Kempas (first at the top). I was totally lost with the photo shoot at the beginning and didn’t have any idea where to go. But when I started pressing the button I noticed that the flash behind Antti’s head created an interesting profile on scratched plexiglass. I felt that it worked well with his career which has been full of misfortune and injuries. Sometimes things just happen.
And some info about the photos, starting from the top: Athlete Antti Kempas, women’s orienteering at Jukola, Minister of education Jukka Gustafsson in his office, member of Parliament Juha Väätäinen, former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Sinwatra at Kauppatori, motorcycle training at Itäkeskus and Sakari Ellonen at The Civil Service Centre in Lapinjärvi.

Posted by Jarkko

Posted by Jarkko

Some thrashers and Ozzy from Sauna Open Air at Tampere. It was damn hot, even without leather. These photos were taken for Helsingin Sanomat where I’ve been working since the beginning of June.

Posted by Jarkko

Aikaa on vierähtänyt sopivasti, joten postaan omat MM-kuvani tänne. Nämä ovat yhtä lukuunottamatta kaikki kuvia, joita ei käytetty lehdessä. Kuvasin juhlintaa Tampereella sunnuntai-iltana, tämän lisäksi olimme Kauppatorilla maanantaina. Alla lyhyt tiivistys näistä päivistä.
Sunnuntaina alkuillasta kiertelimme tamperelaisia kisakatsomoja ja kartoitimme yleisiä fiiliksiä. Tarkoituksena oli tehdä kakkoskannen avausjuttu kisafiilistelystä ja kuvata viisi erilaista faniporukkaa. Kuville oli varattu etusivu, uutisaukeama sekä ns. kakkoskansi. Toimittajan kanssa kuitenkin pian totesimme, että oli järkevämpää yksinkertaisesti tehdä juttu reportaasihengessä. Sunnuntaina tilanne oli mielenkiintoinen siinä mielessä, että ensimmäisen painoksen mennessä kiinni oli ottelu vielä käynnissä. Toiseen, myöhempään painokseen sain kuvattua tuoretta kuvaa välittömästi Keskustorilta, joka täyttyi ihmisistä noin puolessa tunnissa pelin päätyttyä. Kuvat torilta lähetin kamerasta suoraan toimitusjärjestelmään Mifi-mobiilireitittimen avulla. Langattomasti lähetettäessä kuvatiedostot täytyi pitää niin pieninä kuin mahdollista, mutta resoluutio riitti sanomalehtikäyttöön silti hyvin. Kamera sai luonnollisesti vettä niskaansa suihkulähteellä, mutta siitä ei koitunut mitään ongelmia. Vasen silmäni ei sen sijaan ottanut vettä vastaan yhtä hyvin, enkä nähnyt kuvatessani sillä juuri mitään.
Maanantaina lähdimme hyvissä ajoin kuvaamaan joukkueen saapumista Helsinki-Vantaan lentokentälle. Aikataulut venyivät ja lopulta kone oli myöhässä kaksi tuntia. Kompurointien ja kaiken muun sekavuuden jälkeen pikaisesti keskustaan ja kuvien purku samaan konsernin kuuluvassa toimituksessa. Kuppi kahvia, banaani ja kohti Kauppatoria. Noin 40 minuuttia ennen virallisen juhlan alkamista koko Kauppatorin alue oli täysin tukossa ja näytti siltä, ettemme pääse ollenkaan lavan läheisyyteen ajoissa. Tunkeminen ja pönkeäminen tuotti kuitenkin tulosta ja ehdimme paikalle. Hieman ennen juhlien päättymistä pois konsernilehden toimitukseen tekemään kuvia. Mifi ei toiminut koko illan aikana, enkä saanut mitään lähetettyä Kauppatorilta. Toimituksessa nopeat kuvavalinnat ja kuvankäsittelyt, jonka jälkeen hommat oli hoidettu.
Kuvia kahdelta päivältä kertyi satoja ja nyt katsottuna harmittaa se, ettei editointivaiheessa ollut riittävästi aikaa miettiä lehteen meneviä kuvavalintoja.

Posted by Jarkko

Pakana from VJM2010_A on Vimeo.

A short video portrait of Oskari. The piece was made as a part of my MA studies in visual journalism at university of Tampere. The other works are to be found here. Go check them, they are good. All the videos have loose theme of making choices and decisions.
Major thanks goes to Oskari for participating and to Mikko Keskinen for helping ever patiently with technical stuff. Working with this project felt good and hope it shines through. Enjoy!

Posted by Jarkko