Napoleon

Visiting Kuva&Kamera exhibition in Helsinki. Joined a neighbouring club's bus trip again. It seems that there was less to see in the technical side again, and the photo exhibitions have been larger before, too, but there were many interesting lectures. The first one was Kristiina Markkanen interviewing senior photojournalist Caj Bremer about the book "Mies katolla" (Man on the roof) they made together about Bremer's photos. In the blip Bremer is telling the story behind his photo of President Kekkonen in Napoleon's birthplace, one of his greatest shots. I had heard it before, but enjoyed hearing it once again.

Bremer had been following President Kekkonen's visit to Corsica, and when Kekkonen entered the house where Napoleon spent his childhood, he had prayed the window above the door would open and Kekkonen would look out, with "Napoleon" engraved just below him on the wall. That's exactly what happened, and even better: Kekkonen put his hand inside his jacket in a very Napoleon-esque way! After the photo had been published (a version with Mrs. Kekkonen cropped out by the way), Kekkonen had told Bremer that he was just reaching for a handkerchief. Bremer replied "Mr. President, that's a very unusual place to have a handkerchief" and Kekkonen admitted that he may be right. The photo won "Press Photo of the Year" competition that year.

The other lectures I listened to were one about wedding photography by Jere Satamo, interview of the three ladies who got the medal positions in the Finnish Portrait Photographer of the Year competition and a lighting workshop by Krister Löfroth. One of the three ladies was Mitja Kortepuro whose visit a few years ago was one of the most popular events our camera club has had. I had a nice chat with her afterwards, and also with Mr. Satamo, who happens to be the previous owner of my monitor.

I was lucky enough to buy the book before they ran out, and got it signed, too. Got a new battery and a new memory card for very good prices and bought some new photo papers. Looking forward to trying them out.