Helsinki Bus Station
Photographing actress and fencer Hilla Isabel at Helsinki Central Library Oodi.
During the 2010s, as I wandered aimlessly through New York City in my early and often frustrating attempts at street photography, I came across the Helsinki Bus Station Theory. It was coined by Finnish-American photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen during a commencement speech on creative perseverance (“stay on the bus”). While it offered a sense of reassurance at the time, I wasn’t sure photography would be a long-term pursuit.
Select images captured during my visit to the Finnish capital.
In the years since, I’ve explored different facets of the medium, moving between portraiture and still life before returning to street photography last October. Jet-lagged on a recent trip to Helsinki, I reread Minkkinen’s words in the middle of the night and found his message particularly resonant. Photography hasn’t become easier, but I’ve grown to appreciate the challenge of finding beauty and abstraction in the mundane. Fifteen years after purchasing my first DSLR, I wandered the streets of the Finnish capital with a greater sense of clarity and purpose.