Blogs
In the past I was writing in Finnish, but due to the massive feedback I got during the Beijing Olympics I made the change. But, as I work mainly for the Finnish media, many published examples and audio remain - naturally - in Finnish.
In case you are interested, here are some of the earlier "venue specific" blogs:
Multimedia: 360°x180° Panoramic Images, Video, Audioslideshows, Composite Sites, etc.
Panoramic images are not much seen in journalistic/editorial use. I have a strong passion for non-linear storytelling and I have done numerous projects trying to combine this and several other approaches of visual storytelling.
A good example is the Vancouver Olympics, where I produced a series of multimedias - including all the photography, video, sound, flash- and html-coding for ALMAMEDIA and their papers : Iltalehti, Aamulehti, Satakunnan Kansa, Lapin Kansa, Pohjolan Sanomat, etc.
Another example set of examples can be seen on the MTV3 website, eg. presenting Mikko Hirvonen's WRC 2009 racingcar or the panoramic presentation of the LEVI 2009 World Cup opening.The simple example below is from the Beijing Olympics and it got over 1.4 million hits.
Tero Pitkämäki (javelin) and Jelena Isinbajeva (polevault) were done during Athletics WC in Osaka Japan 2007, using XLR-audio directly from the mixer and combining it with Apple loops in Soundtrack; Kiira Korpi is one of the slideshows I did during the EC-skating 2009 in Helsinki.
"Eye on the Sky" is nothing spectacular visually, but very informative, showing the production of the live aerial footage in the Neste Oil Rally 2009 in Jyväskylä.
I strongly feel that real multimedia, combining video and still images and especially paying attention to good audio is definitely the form of visual expression in the future. For the most part, multimedia is still lacking the MULTI part...
Shameless selfpromotion, articles - and some images maybe worth mentioning
Iltalehti example is a spread I did after Beijing Olympics for my client (a daily national newspaper). Nothing for professionals really, but I got lot of positive feedback from "normal" people, i.e. friends not working in the field who read it, saying that they had never really understood how much goes into doing what we do.
Rob Galbraith has twice posted an article of my panoramic images, once from the Beijing Olympics and once from the Vancouver Olympics.
Shot on 22nd January, 2005, in Pretoria, South Africa, late afternoon. January 2005 was the rainiest month in 25 years in Pretoria. Image portrays pole-vaulter Matti Mononen in training.
Canon EOS1DsMrk2, 70-200mm/2.8 IS; 1/400 sec at 2.8, ISO 640.
The Best Sports Picture of the Year 2005 in Finland
The Best of Scandinavian News Design 2007
The Best Sports Picture of the Year 2002 in Finland
Although mainly a sportsphotographer, I just have to post this one, as I have been having so much feedback on this image. I was shooting a sports event in the neighbourhood, when a friend sent a SMS saying that the warehouses were on fire. I arrived to the scene in couple of minutes.
After observing the fire a while I thought of Monet's famous painting (London Parliament in the Fog) and I just patiently waited 'til the smoke and flames were as I saw they should be.
Canon EO1DMrk2, 70-200IS 2.8 at 1/320 sec, f 7.1 at 250 ASA
The opening spread of Iltalehti featuring this image received later an award of excellence as the Best of Scandianvian News Design 2007.
Shot on 18th February, 2002, in Salt Lake City, USA. Image potrays skijumper Janne Ahonen during the Olympics Team Competition, first jump.
Canon EOS1D, 16-35mm/2.8 at 1/1600th of a second, f 11.0, at 800 ASA
Teaching and Consulting
Lately I have been more closely involved with the University of Tampere and their program of Visual Journalism. I've been teaching the basics of linear storytelling through audioslideshows and acting as a producer for their final works for two years now.
Click the image below to see some impressive pieces of work by my students:
