Photograph guidelines

Pictorial narrative based on Helsinki’s brand concept

The starting point for the imagery are people and emotion: what can be experienced and felt in Helsinki. We show the true everyday Helsinki and the good everyday life of the Helsinki resident: people, working together, rejoice and funny details.

Helsinki is not just the core centre of the City. The neighbourhoods depicting people of different ages and backgrounds are an important part of the cityscape. In the images, we are also bravely showing an incomplete City under construction.

The City of Helsinki’s pictorial narrative is based on Hel of an impacts brand triangle, which stands on four pillars. The themes of the City of Helsinki’s pictorial narrative have been derived from these pillars.

Themes and image motifs:

  1. Changing Helsinki
  2. Functional Helsinki
  3. Helsinki of contrasts
  4. Original Helsinki
The Helsinki brand triangle.

Processing method and realisation of images

The style of the City of Helsinki’s photographs is authentic. The images need to be a candid view of Helsinki and not staged, portraying a true Helsinki atmosphere to the viewer just the way it appears in reality.

The images show the City of Helsinki as a diverse and vital city.

The people and the living environment are at the core of the images.

A decorative image depicting a person holding up a child to a glowing object.

Changing Helsinki

Change and the possibilities brought on by it are one of the pillars of the Helsinki brand.

Change can be seen not only in the vast area development projects, but also in, for example, the economic structure and in the increasingly international streetscape.

The changes are quite often initiated by the city’s residents, who want to develop their home town themselves.

Examples of image motifs:

  • Internationalisation
  • Economic structure
  • Area development projects
  • Influence on the living environment

Internationalisation

  • Two people sitting on a sofa with laptops.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • Four people sitting around a table.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • Two tour guides in the middle of the street.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • Ferry passengers disembarking.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten

Economic structure

  • Two people inspecting an azipod of a ship in dry dock.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • A person looking at a catalog.
    Photographer: Nimi Etunimi
  • People in a recording studio.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • A person making street food.
    Photographer: Eetu Ahanen

Area development projects

  • Photographer: Tero Pajukallio
  • Photographer: Riku Pihlanto
  • Photographer: Joel Pallaskorpi
  • Photographer: Kuvatoimisto Kuvio

Influence on the living environment

  • A dog and a person. The person is in the process of moving a pieces of firewood.
    Photographer: Tommi Kortesniemi
  • Four people sitting on a roof in the city.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • A long line of dining tables in the middle of the street filled with foods.
    Photographer: Lauri Rotko
  • A person and a dog in a garden.
    Photographer: Kuvatoimisto Kuvio

Functional Helsinki

Helsinki is a smart, safe and compact city, where we are jointly designing a modern city life.

Without first-rate basic things, Helsinki would not have the world’s most attractive competence clusters, captivating business activities or the world’s most progressive everyday life.

The know-how and education level in Helsinki is top notch. Our other strengths are, for example a low hierarchy, dense networks and flexible co-operation between businesses and universities.

Examples of image motifs:

  • City’s framework
  • Basic services
  • Know-how and education
  • Low hierarchy

City’s framework

  • Photographer: Kim Öhman
  • Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • Photographer: Veikko Somerpuro
  • Photographer: Jussi Hellsten

Basic services

  • Photographer: Kuvatoimisto Kuvio
  • Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • Photographer: Eetu Ahanen
  • Photographer: Jussi Hellsten

Know-how and education

  • Photographer: Lina Jelanski / Duotone
  • Photographer: Riku Pihlanto
  • Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • Photographer: Jussi Hellsten

Low hierarchy

  • Former U.S. Ambassador Bruce Oreck flexing his muscles in front of Somppa Sauna.
    Photographer: Eetu Ahanen
  • Two people enjoying coffee at a marketplace.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • A very relaxed person sitting on some stairs.
    Photographer: Carl Bergman
  • Naked people sitting at a table on a rooftop.
    Photographer: Julius Konttinen

Helsinki of contrasts

Helsinki has its own distinctive style and atmosphere, which we as citizens can be proud of. We do not want to be slick glossy cosmopolites, but there is an edge to us.

Helsinki is a City of refreshing opposites. In which other capital city can the thrum of everyday life and the tranquillity of the forest be just a few steps away?

Helsinki has a lot of interesting contrasts, thing like summer and winter, nature and city, science and art.

Examples of image motifs:

  • Roughness
  • Beat and Tranquillity
  • Contrasting weather
  • Nature and city
  • Science and art

Roughness

  • Photographer: Julius Konttinen
  • Photographer: Carl Bergman / Duotone
  • Photographer: Juhana Hurtig
  • Photographer: Carl Bergman / Duotone

Beat and Tranquillity

  • A person sitting next to a pool at night.
    Photographer: Eetu Ahanen
  • A foggy urban street.
    Photographer: Riku Pihlanto
  • Traffic on a bridge over frozen waters.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • A set of stairs going up a forest.
    Photographer: Kuvatoimisto Kuvio

Contrasting weather

  • People swimming in a pool.
    Photographer: Dorit Salutskij
  • Low and dense clouds over Helsinki.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • A seagull passing over a ferry.
    Photographer: Riku Pihlanto
  • A solitary person walking over a bridge.
    Photographer: Carl Bergman / Duotone

Nature and city

  • Boats driving close to the shore.
    Photographer: Riku Pihlanto
  • A plant-clad building.
    Photographer: Juhana Hurtig
  • A fabric-based chessboard on some moss.
    Photographer: Riku Pihlanto
  • A person jumping into a body of water.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten

Science and art

  • A quartet playing music.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • People at a festival
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • A structure built out of cardboard boxes.
    Photographer: Korppi Filma
  • A person looking into the distance is standing in the dark and lit up by a single bulb.
    Photographer: Kirsi Tuura

Original Helsinki

Helsinki is a city where dissimilarity is appreciated. Here, everyone can be themselves, no matter how eccentric or regular you are.

Originality is a thing that our City is known for. Helsinki is known as a City with a creative atmosphere and a strong, engaging experiment culture.

New and unexpected things are constantly born in Helsinki: phenomena, innovations and a truly distinctive urban culture. The best thoughts from here are circulated all over the world.

Examples of image motifs:

  • People and the environment
  • Close-ups of people
  • Urban culture
  • Phenomena
  • Innovations

People and the environment

  • A family looking at Christmas trees.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • A person caring for plants on a balcony.
    Photographer: Laura Oja
  • Two handsome people riding a scooter.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • Two people sitting on a bench by the beach.
    Photographer: Robert Lindström

Close-ups of people

  • A person with heart-shaped sunglasses is hugging another person.
    Photographer: Robert Lindström
  • A person walking a trail of planks.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • A person smiling and carrying firewood.
    Photographer: Eetu Ahanen
  • A person looking through some tiny binoculars.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten

Urban culture

  • Rugs drying in the sunshine.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • Sauna-goers walking through a courtyard.
    Photographer: Julius Konttinen
  • Two people enjoying a meal at a marketplace.
    Photographer: Eetu Ahanen
  • A person taking a photo of people sitting at an outdoor table.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten

Phenomena

  • People walking under a canopy of strings. Yes, i know it sounds strange but I simply have no clue what they are doing.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • Vintage American muscle cars at night.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • The Helsinki Cathedral lit up by blue lights.
    Photographer: Eetu Ahanen
  • A very foggy day. You can see a tree branch and that's about it.
    Photographer: Carl Bergman / Duotone

Innovations

  • A bridge in the evening.
    Photographer: Riku Pihlanto
  • Three people with laptops sitting around and talking.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten
  • Inside a sauna.
    Photographer: Eetu Ahanen
  • A very handsome person using a VR-headset indoors.
    Photographer: Jussi Hellsten

Historical Helsinki

A wide historical imagery can be used as part of Helsinki’s pictorial narrative.

Historical images of Helsinki

  • A photo in black and white of a person standing in the doorway of a sauna.
    Photographer: Signe Brander / HKM
  • An island in the archipelago.
    Photographer: Signe Brander / HKM
  • People in the city carrying untold numbers of balloons.
    Photographer: Juha Jernvall
  • A swarm of people jumping into the water.
    Photographer: Foto Roos / HKM

Use of images

Images may be used either separately or as pairs of images.

An example of an image surface not being divided into two parts.
An example of an image surface being divided into two parts.

Dividing the image surface

The following kinds of combinations in terms of images, shapes and colours can be made when dividing the image surface:

  1. A combination of the image and the colour surface using different images and colours.
  2. Combining two images to achieve size contrasts and colour contrasts.
  3. Combining two images to achieve weather contrasts.
  4. Combining a historical and contemporary image.
An example of an image surface being divided into two parts.
An example of an image surface being divided into two parts.
An example of an image surface being divided into two parts.
An example of an image surface being divided into two parts.

Principal’s checklist

  • Helsinki story
  • Helsinki’s brand concept
  • Material bank guidelines for photographers
  • Model release form for being portrayed in images

Material bank

Provide the photographer with the material bank guidelines, which include naming practices and how the images are delivered to the client.

Brand concept

Also provides the photographer with a link to Helsinki’s brand concept. Everything that is being done should eventually relate back to the brand triangle, which after having read the brand concept is opened to the photographer and which is excellent background material for creative work.

Helsinki’s brand concept and background material can be found here:

www.brandnewhelsinki.fi/2020

The Helsinki Story

In addition to the photography brief, provide the photographer with Anna Moilanen’s and Marjaana Toiminen’s One HEL of an Impact brand concept lyric “My Helsinki” as background material.

The story is a valuable summary of what is to be captured and communicated visually through photographs.

Download the Helsinki Story (.pdf)