8 Tuntia. 12 Kuvia. Monta hahaha.

« A magician giving sidewalk performances on Helsinki's Night of the Arts before it started to rain. He roped me into helping with a few tricks and I was reasonably impressed. It was the first time in 16[?] years that it rained on the festival. I took a few photos, including this one, with the Leica before the pissing heavens drove most of the entertainment and people somewhere indoors and most others just stayed home. »

For some inexplicable reason, the evening before Taiteidenyö [Night of the Arts], I noticed in the Finnish programme something that looked like a photo scavenger hunt so I looked for it in the English translation just to make sure I wasn't misreading it. There was a Fotomaraton that was open to mobile, digital and film photographers with the objective of taking 12 photos in 8 hours directed by clues dispensed every 2 hours over the course of the evening from 4pm - midnight. I'm a glutton for self-punishment and rejection so naturally I thought this was quite possibly the most fabulous idea ever and took me and my Lomo on down to Vanha at the designated hour to get my film and my first set of clues. I figured the Lomo was the ultimate in art student camera since you can't always predict how the camera will behave or where it will decide to focus thus creating Art. :) I should have listened to the words of Henri Cartier-Bresson:

A photograph is neither taken nor seized by force. It offers itself up. It is the photo that takes you. One must not take photos.

The clues were hard, especially since they were in Finnish and the cultural in-jokes were lost on me. I had to call Jarkko a few times, especially for "Vain mäkikotka tietää" [Only the skijumper knows] since, aside from a suicidal tendency and knowing where to get good ski wax, I had no idea what skijumpers know. :) The weather and lack of car didn't help either since we had only 2 hours to take precisely 3 photos in the order of the clue's appearance on the list and so we couldn't really stray too horribly far from Vanha on foot. Jarkko valiantly came along for the evening portion of the madness and held the umbrella against the rain while I took a few shots. It was a lot of fun but if they have it next year and it doesn't rain, I'll have a few ideas on how to make my entry suck less.

The show of the winners photos opens tonight at 7pm on the 2nd floor of Lasipalatsi and I'm really interested in seeing what other people took photos of for all those crazy clues. You can enjoy my non-award-winning Fotomaraton entry in the comfort of your office or bedroom where you can laugh with me in private. The bold text is the clue in Finnish and English and they are in the same order as the clues were given. :)