Portfolio reviews Archives - Helsinki Photo Festival

Portfolio reviews 2022

Rafa — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 23:01:18 +0000

Scan QR & register now!

Portfolio Reviews 2020
Up next at Helsinki Photo Festival’s educational events is the annual Portfolio Reviews with a chance of winning as first prize a solo exhibition.

The event will be held on September, Sat 3rd at Ateljee in The National Museum of Finland, starting at 11:15 am and ending at 17:30 pm. Each review will last 20 minutes added with 5 minutes of change.

Confirmed reviewers are following photography experts:
Curt Richter (US) – Photographer and lecturer
Florence Montmare (SE/US) – Photographer
Carl-Mikael Ström (SE) – Visual artist
Rafael Rybczynki (DK) – Artistic Director Helphoto

Portfolio Reviews are open to photographers of all levels to showcase their work and get professional feedback. All genres are accepted. The event provides space for networking and can lead to exhibitions and much more. Opportunities to get constructive feedback, guidance and advice on career development.

What is expected: All participants are required to bring their photobook dummies, photo folders or prints. Also, can showcase them through their digital devices. The participants are expected to appear face-to-face and be in good health.

What winners will receive: The first prize winner of this year’s Portfolio Review will be granted the honour to be exhibited solo at the Helsinki Photo Festival 2023. The winner and up to three runners-up will be also featured in the festival’s online gallery and social media channels. The highest voted portfolio will also be offered the opportunity to participate in the limited edition print program at www.helphoto.com.

Selection of the winners: During the portfolio review sessions, each reviewer will select the best portfolio in his opinion. The winners will be announced online as well as contacted via mail by Sep 7, 2022.

Portfolio reviews are paid sessions: 35 euros per review/project. Participants can book one review or choose more reviews.

How to enter the contest: Registration at linktr.ee/helsinkiphotofestival portfolio reviews link via Typeform or just scan to QR code and fill out your details and pay for as many reviews as you want to participate with our experts. Registration deadline: September 2nd at 23.59.

#portfolioreview #helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto2022

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Diane Meyer brings embroidered photography to Helsinki

Rafa — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 11:00:00 +0000

Portfolio Review Winner Diane Meyer brings embroidered photography in a solo exhibition from July 10-October 2nd, 22 to the Summer Yard of the National Museum in Helsinki.

Diane Meyer‘s work has long been defined by explorations into the physical, social and psychological qualities that characterize place. These investigations have taken various forms throughout her career. Just as different locations have different defining features, her work frequently changes genres and mediums in accordance with the conceptual framework in which she is working. Meyer is interested in experimentation and as such, have produced a wide range of projects using different materials including an installation based around the notion of the American West as an invented, mythological space; a large scale photography based project focusing on transportation issues and carless-ness in Los Angeles, a series of installations taken in the sleeper car of a cross-country and several site specific installations in various cities related to local histories.

Another theme that runs through her work is an interest in the porous nature of memory and the ways it can be disrupted and replaced by images as well the means by which photography transforms history into nostalgic objects that obscure objective understandings of the past. She recently completed a series of 43 hand-sewn photographs taken along the entire roughly 100 mile path of the former Berlin Wall. Sections of the photographs have been obscured by cross-stitch embroidery sewn directly into the photograph. The embroidery is made to resemble pixels and borrows the visual language of digital imaging in an analog, tactile process. In many images, the embroidered sections represent the exact scale and location of the former Wall offering a pixelated view of what lies behind. In this way, the embroidery appears as a translucent trace in the landscape of something that no longer exists but is a weight on history and memory. By using the embroidery in a way that is reminiscent of pixels, a connection is being made between forgetting and file corruption.

The images were taken in the city center as well as the outskirts of city where Meyer followed the former path of the wall through suburbs and forests. She was particularly interested in photographing locations where no visible traces of the actual wall remain but where one can still see subtle clues of its previous existence. These clues include incongruities in the architecture that occurred as new structures were built on newly opened land parcels, changes in streetlights, or newer vegetation. Often the embroidered sections of the image run along the horizon line forming an unnatural separation that blocks the viewer. This aspect of the sewing emphasizes the unnatural boundaries created by the wall itself. The sewing, which is soft and domestic provides a literal contrast to the concrete of the wall and a metaphorical contrast to its symbolism. As the scale of the stitches remains the same, the overall size of the image determines the amount of detail captured in the embroidery with the larger pieces in the series having over 30,000 individual stitches.

Helsinki Photo Festival’s Portfolio Review enable participating photographers to present their work to international photography experts. They thus benefit from experts’ advice, and for some, obtain real exhibition and/or publication projects. The Helsinki Photo Festival’s Portfolio Review is open upon registration to all photographers whatever their photographic practice or image treatment technique.

Helsinki Photo Festival Portfolio Review will take place on Saturday 3rd September 2022 at The National Museum, Helsinki. The first prize is a solo exhibition in the forthcoming year’s festival edition. Join and reserve your seat to learn more and have a chance to win the main award. More info will be posted soon on our website in the helnews section.

www.helsinkiphotofestival.com/helnews

#helsinkiphotofestival #helphoto22 #portfolioreviews #photography #portfolio #kansallismuseo #curator #experts #pedagogy #education #helsinki #finland #networking #dianemeyer

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Press release 2021

Rafa — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 03:00:07 +0000

Helsinki Photo Festival 7.7.-30.9.2021

Helsinki Photo Festival fourth edition opens July 7 for the public

Helsinki Photo Festival is a visual arts event focused on photography opening for the public July 7 and ends September 30. The fourth edition on the theme Fearless to be exhibited in the whole metropolitan area. The event is held annually and brings a new art experience to Greater Helsinki. In a period of 12 weeks curated photography exhibitions can be discovered 24/7 in public spaces and at cultural institutions. The festival will present the works of 62 artists from 30 countries with new works which have not been shown before in Finland.

Every year the festival selects +50 open call winners from different genres. The contest is judged by a jury of leading experts in photography and education. In 2021, the festival received 428 submissions with 5307 images from 55 countries of which the international jury selected 50 international open call winners and ten Nordic emerging talents.

In Helsinki, prime outdoor exhibitions are in the garden area of the iconic Finlandia Hall (accessible from Mannerheimintie), the classic open air swimming stadium Uimastadion, Ebeneser Kindergarten Museum in Sörnainen and in the Cultural Centre Stoa in Itäkeskus. On the border of Helsinki and Espoo worth mentioning is a Nordic photo exhibition taking place at Hanaholmen Art Park.

The festival program includes various exhibitions and pedagogical events throughout a period of twelve weeks, inviting photo enthusiasts of all ages from any gender, race or class. Since its founding in 2018, the festival has welcomed more than one million spectators. The edition of 2021 can be experienced mostly outdoors, with due regard to current covid safety precautions. Most exhibitions are accessible free of charge.

“Every year Helphoto aims to reflect on topics that have the power to inspire, provoke and have the potential to create a debate on societal movements and everything that surrounds us and matters to us”, states Artistic Director Rafael Rybczynski.

“We, at the Helsinki Photo Festival association, aim to make Helsinki the new photo capital of the North! We are very proud of this third edition of our annual festival to have strong and sovereign partners, international experts and supporters helping us to accelerate this vision and to enrich the visual culture scene in Finland,” says artistic director Rafael Rybczynski.

Contemporary photography meets the city

At least nine outdoor exhibitions, opening on different dates between July and September, will be located throughout the metropolitan area of Helsinki.

From July 7 onwards, an outdoor exhibition in the Finlandia Hall’s garden area will display international artists. Portfolio Reviews will be organized with international and domestic experts on September 3. The event is open to photographers of all levels to showcase their work and to get professional feedback. The first prize winner of the Portfolio Review will be exhibited solo at Helsinki Photo Festival 2022.

One of Helsinki Photo Festivals’s special highlights of 2021, is a unique photo exhibition at the Helsinki Uimastadion. During its opening hours, the outdoor swimming pool will present the works of international award-winning visual artists.

Hanaholmen – Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre will host the Nordic Village, a talent platform fostered by Helsinki Photo Festival to support emerging Nordic artists to present their works to a broad audience. A Nordic photo exhibition will take place outdoors at Hanaholmen’s Art Park presenting a group exposé of 15 Nordic photographers and a solo exhibition. A seminar with focus on Nordic photography with distinguished visual artists, curators, photography teachers, authors and editors will be organised on August 27. Nordic experts include Hannu Vanhanen (Backlight Photo Festival), Kristyna Müller (CFF – Centrum för fotografi), Pål Otnes (Forlaget Fotografi), Sigrún Alba Sigurðardóttir (Iceland University of Arts) and Fryd Frydendahl (Fatamorgana Photo School) and many more. The Nordic Village is supported by all Nordic embassies and the Nordic Culture Fund.

An exhibition with various works of +30 international artists from the festival’s annual open call finalists will be presented at Vantaa Art Museum Artsi and on a +50m long exhibition on a wall fence provided by construction companies Hartela and Fira from August 4-September 30. On August 26, a free of charge guided tour will be arranged as part of the Taiteiden Yö (Night of Arts).

Distinctive exhibitions all over Greater Helsinki

Every single exhibition of Helsinki Photo Festival is unique as of the contents and individually tailored to the respective venues. A map with all exhibition sites will be provided on the festival’s website. For the first time, the festival will offer its visitors a tri-lingual experience to learn about all the exhibited works in English, Finnish and Swedish.

The festival’s pop-up gallery Galleria Futura will invite photo enthusiasts and collectors to explore unseen and censored works of open call finalists in Kasarmikatu 46-48 as a part of Kasarmitori’s summer side events from July 15-August 30.

The solo exhibition of the emerging Finnish talent Svante Gullichsen will showcase a set of his new works in the Nordic Village at Hanaholmen. The second solo exhibition of Helsinki Photo Festival’s forthcoming 2021 edition will be dedicated to the winner of the festival’s first portfolio reviews in 2020 David Barreiro, a Spanish documentary photographer. His project “A Breach of Margins”, sponsored by the Embassy of Spain in Finland, can be experienced in the garden area of the Finlandia Hall.

The cultural centre Stoa in East Helsinki will host two photo exhibitions from July 7-August 30. Outdoors at the Stoa art wall square spectators will be able to explore works of 50 open call finalists and the other exhibition will present 15 selected works at the Balcony Gallery. From July 12-September 30, ten international photographers will be set up with multi large prints at Keran Hallit in Espoo. In collaboration with the City of Kauniainen, Helsinki Photo Festival will set up a four weeks photo exhibition from August 16-September 20 with the best image from each open call finalist of the Fearless theme.

For more details read our complete press release here:

Inauguration / Opening Helsinki Photo Festival 2021 EN/FI/SE: https://we.tl/t-w5KLUOtcf6

Press release – Helsinki Photo Festival 2021 EN: https://we.tl/t-l7FhZe9HLA
Lehdistötiedote – Helsinki Photo Festival 2021 FI: https://we.tl/t-v6htdF7mHk
Pressmeddelande – Helsinki Photo Festival 2021 SE: https://we.tl/t-0E4AHVO7SR

Info on collaboration with Ebeneser Foundation – The Kindergarten Museum FI/EN: https://we.tl/t-JN5PClSlnY

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Portfolio reviews winners 2020

Rafa — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 23:54:00 +0000

Helsinki Photo Festival 2020

Portfolio review winners

Helsinki Photo Festival’s Portfolio Reviews 2020
Portfolio Reviews are open to photographers of all levels to showcase their work and to get back professional feedback as well as networking with people who may be able to help you with your career development or lead to exhibitions, publications and much more. Opportunities for critique, guidance, and professional connection are available within a wide range of photographic markets, such as portrait, product, fine art, travel or fashion photography, among many others.⁣

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What Winners Receive
The first prize winner of this year’s Portfolio Review will be exhibited solo at Helsinki Photo Festival 2021. The winner and up to five runners up will be also featured in the festival’s online gallery. The winning portfolio and a few selected images of up to five runners up will be promoted on Helsinki Photo Festival’s social media channels, Facebook and Instagram, which can reach up to 5000 virtual followers alone. The highest voted portfolios may be also offered the opportunity to participate in the Helsinki Photo Festival limited edition print program in 2021.

The Competition Criteria
When examining entries, the jury of reviewers will consider the following criteria:

Impact
The lighting
The story it tells
Consistency of the portfolio’s theme
Its technical quality
Creativity
Composition & style
Use of colour
Presentation
Innovative or unique approach to the subject matter

Helsinki Photo Festival’s Portfolio Reviews were held August 28-29, 2020 at the Ateljee room of The National Museum of Finland.

43 artists from 3 continents applied to get review sessions with leading experts in the field of photography. Each review held was 20-30 minutes long. Experts were available for face-to-face meetings. COVID-19 travel restrictions prevented some of the jurors and participants from attending in person and many portfolio reviews were held online.

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The winners of the portfolio reviews of Helsinki Photo Festival 2020
Helsinki Photo Festival’s international jury is pleased to announce the winners of the festival’s portfolio reviews. The jury congratulates all winners and thanks all artists who participated in this year’s contest.

1.
Absolute winner for best portfolio submission and highest votes given by all experts!
David Barreiro (Spain) – A Breach of Margins
https://www.davidbarreiro.com/

2.
Sandro Livio Straube (Switzerland) – Berge bleichen
https://www.sandroliviostraube.com/

3.
Oskar Alvarado (Spain) – Where Fireflies Unfold
https://oskaralvarado.com/

4.
Laura Pannack (United Kingdom) – Baruch
https://laurapannack.com/

5.
Sonja Trabandt (Germany) – Uebermorgen Schnee (Tomorrow’s Snow)
http://sonjatrabandt.com/

6. Lotta Lemetti (Finland) – Kekta
http://www.lottalemetti.com/

The jury judging all portfolios included the following experts:

Elina Anttila (Director of the National Museum of Finland)
Maria Faarinen (Chief Curator at The Finnish Museum of Photography)
Emanuela Mirabelli (Photo Editor, Marie Claire Italy)
Rafael Rybczynski (Artistic Director of Helsinki Photo Festival)
Stig Marlon Weston (Photographer and Director of the CYAN studio collective)
Nita Vera (Photographer & PhD student of Photography at Aalto University)
Marianne Ager (Curator of Photography & Film, Brandts Museum of Art and Visual Culture, Denmark)
Karin Aringer (Head of Contemporary Art & Design Bukowskis, Sweden)
Alexa Becker (Acquisitions Editor for photography and art books for Kehrer Verlag)
Nela Eggenberger (Chief Editor at EIKON – International Magazine for Photography & Media Art)
Moritz Neumüller (Barcelona based Curator, Educator and Writer in the field of Photography and New Media)
Naoya Yoshikawa (Artists of Photography and Professor at Osaka University of Arts)

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