Mr. Parr looks at Finland

Photo © Paula Hietaranta

Last week Martin Parr, a world-famous phenomen in photography, visited Helsinki to attend the opening of his first solo exhibition in Finland and also to meet with the students at Aalto University´s School of Arts, Design and Architecture where he was teaching about 20 years ago.

”Luckily I needed not to teach after that”, he says. 

If you are familiar with Martin Parr´s way to photograph, you know what to expect: real, unpolished, funny, ugly pictures. They are light years away from those tourist photos trying to sell the travel destinations. When Martin Parr takes for example a close-up photo of a meal using his macro lens and ring flash it doesn´t look delicious – it looks something you would not be tempted to eat.

”My job as a photographer is to create fiction from reality”, he says.

These photos were taken last August on a journey from Helsinki to Oulu, and they are so true to life that looking at them is almost like being there. 

In the exhibition you can see also a short video about the trip and Martin´s gentle way to photograph people. That tall, silent British guy is at the same time a nosy child and a goal oriented adult, who is determined to take a lot of pictures and a lot of bad pictures. 
”I am more in favour of provoking than selling. Bad pictures are often the interesting ones”, he says. And smiles.

Martin Parr: Think of Finland is open until April 8th at Laboratory, Erottajankatu 9 B inner courtyard, Helsinki 13. Open Tue-Sun 11 am to 6 pm. Free entry.

Exhibition is sponsored by Nokia.

www.laboratory.fi

Stefan Bremer on the funny side of the street

Stefan Bremer: Oskar´s first ride in the roller coaster, Linnanmäki, 2009.

At last a Helsinki book you can enjoy just by looking at! 
It is a photo book by Stefan Bremer, who is our most distinguished and craziest photographer. Weird combination, but so true. 
Stefan´s long career as a photographer got new flames when he bought a small digital camera and started to toy with it. So he became a real everyday magician with quick eye and fingers and a great sense of humour. 
Now you can see that Helsinki is not a deep-frozen city with reindeers in the streets but a vibrant place full of fun, laughter, flaming colours, sweat and kisses.

 

Stefan Bremer`s book Helsinki. 160 pages. Published by Kustannusosakeyhtiö Teos. www.teos.fi

Stefan´s exhibition Helsinki in Stoa Gallery shows until 11.3.2012 a limited amount of his Helsinki book pictures. Address Turunlinnantie 1, Helsinki. Open Mon-Thu 9 am to 8 pm, Fri until 6 pm, Sat-Sun 10 am to 4 pm. www.stoa.fi

 

Come to meet the creative energy of Helsinki

At first this book looks as appealing as a brick covered with bread-bag clips, but do not let it put you down – inside it you find the most interesting world of 20 Helsinki based designers. (Plus essays by 12 people describing their ideas about Helsinki.)

You feel welcomed to their studios and homes and favorite places and dreams and hopes through the interviews and first and foremost through the amazingly beautiful photos by Katja Hagelstam. They introduce you even to the light and weather in Helsinki all around a year.

OK, design cannot of course solve all the everyday problems of Helsinki or Finland or the world, but the positive attitude and willpower are surely needed to keep our nose above the water level.

You can buy the English edition 20+12 Design Stories from Helsinki via http://recordshopx.com/book/hagelstam_tanttu_katja/20_12_design_stories_from-helsinki/

And the same book in Finnish (20+12 muotoilutarinaa Helsingistä, WSOY) you find in your nearest bookshop or internet wsoy.fi/yk/products/show/178951

Go and see Strange Love

 Timo Kelaranta: Birds, bridges, 2010.

What a lovely name for a photo exhibition! Timo Kelaranta´s Outo rakkaus (Strange Love), the spring´s major exhibition in the The Finnish Museum of Photography, opened yesterday evening. 
The exhibition shows the arch of Timo´s entire career. This is how he himself describes the start of it: “Photography was a strange love for me. It wasn’t a great passion at first. I don’t remember being astonished the first time I saw a print become visible in the red light of the laboratory. Photography had, as it were, crept into my consciousness and refused to leave. Now, I was on the verge of a serious relationship with it.” 
Now you see that his photos are more than just pictures: even if they are upright, minimalistic and sometimes very formal, they open to us a window to his clever mind and his vulnerable soul, too.
Luckily this romantic hero knows well the value of his work. If you mention that some of pictures may look too simple, Timo is the first to say cheerfully: ”Feel free to make similar ones yourself!”

Timo Kelaranta: From series For Auli, 2011.

Timo Kelaranta: The Strikes, 2010.

Timo Kelaranta: From series JUEGO, 2009.

Timo Kelaranta: Outo rakkaus is open until 29.4.2012. Opening hours are Tue-Sun 11 am to 6 pm, Wed 11 am to 8 pm, address The Finnish Museum of Photography, The Cable Factory, Tallberginkatu 1G, 00180 Helsinki. www.valokuvataiteenmuseo.fi