Picturing the Past

Under the City Sky, an exhibit of 8600 or more photographs of Helsinki taken between 1969 and 1987 by Eeva and Simo Rista. It's rather fun to look at all the photos from the neighbourhood 30 years ago and barely recognise the area.

Helsinki Panorama: 1866 and 2003. A really interesting comparative panoramic view of Helsinki past and present.

Museum of Photography at the Cable Factory [ Tallberginkatu 1G, open Tues-Sun from 12 to 19 ] I've been meaning to visit the museum before now, but there is an exhibit unti 21 December by Sakari Viika which sounds interesting even if the English description is awkward.

Snow, ice and light are motifs that have been part and parcel of landscape painting and photography throughout their history. Landscapes are pictured for their beauty, uniqueness or wondrousness. Immortalising landscapes is often linked to travelling. Being on the move, seeing new things and recording them are among the photographer's oldest tools, a role imposed by the profession. As a photographer, Sakari Viika belongs to that classical school of photographers who love to travel and are always dreaming of it.

These images were taken within a square kilometre in a landscape that was in No way special. They were taken during the darkest time of the year when life means stillness and monotony. In these images, snow, ice and light form scenery the photographer saw every day on his way from home to his study. Occasionally, the same scenery would change temporarily, natural light luring us on a journey into the moment at hand. Therefore, these images are characteristically silent and still.

The Degree Confluence Project. Jarkko found this one and it's rather interesting if you look at the map. Gaping holes of dark territory are all over the globe. What puzzles me is not why Novaya Zemlya hasn't been fully covered but why so few of the confluences and the pictures taken of them seem to be near anything.

The individual pictures taken as a whole make for an lovely mosaic, but the present incarnation doesn't interest me nearly as much as the 2nd stage of the project to document the changes over time at the various confluences.

8 Dec 2003 at 1:09, Helsinki