# Helsinki - the capital of Finland and polar bears



## Oberleutnant (Sep 11, 2002)

A small collection of my photos of buildings, street scenes and local residents from 2005 - 2006. I hope you like them and don't afterwards feel that you completely wasted few minutes of your life watching these. 



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Aleksanterinkatu, one of the main shopping venues


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Office buildings by the sea.



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View from the most popular beach in Helsinki



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Headoffice of the Sitra Foundation










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A nice residential building










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Sometimes the people of Helsinki tend to go overboard with drinking. Me? I'm always completely sober, as you can see in this photo taken with camera's self-timer. [In the middle, holding the cigarette wrong way]



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Cheaply-built modern residential building... where's the dynamite so that we can blow it up?










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A jovial Jamaican street performer. "Supah Finnish cameramoon!"










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Ascending the stairs of Central Railway Station metro










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Buildings in Vuosaari suburb, 15km east of city center.










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A tall residential building under construction there









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Old-style metro train leaving the suburb









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A Russian group of classical music students from St. Petersburg were playing their instruments on the street with utmost skill - it was just like going to concert.



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Winter makes every place look like North Korea.









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The most beautiful part of inner city Helsinki! Full of colourful buildings and ultra modern sport cars.










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World peace gift from Moscow . . . At least the place is very fitting architecture-wise.










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Beautiful sunset over the ugly area



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The area in front of these buildings has been neglected for many years. Since the photo was taken, a bunch of buildings has gone under construction, their apartment prices going to million euro range.










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Construction site of a new Music Center



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Metro arriving


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Nightclub entrance


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## Neitzsche (Sep 28, 2005)

Very nice collection. Looks like a very pleasent and liveable city. Didn't quite have the funds to head up to the Scandanavian countries last time I was in Europe, but I have even more incentive now next time I'm over that way. cheers :cheers:


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## Bahnsteig4 (Sep 9, 2005)

29 is Seurasaari, 36 is Eira, right? And I enjoyed a great salad in the café on Esplanaadi on pic 24. 53 was taken from the Ateljee bar?

Lovely pictures. Seems a Helsinki wave has been coming in lately. And I triggered it off.


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## Zombile (Jul 11, 2006)

Superb takes.

Somehow you manage to create an atmosphere I really appreciate with your photos (esp. those with a dark/melancholic atmosphere).

If every bigger city in Europe/the world would have such a photographer to represent it here, we would see much more than always the same NYC/HK-stuff over here!


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## Kaitak747 (May 13, 2006)

I really like the atmosphere of the Scandinavian cities, most of them seem extremely peaceful.


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## opium (Apr 10, 2006)

where are the bears


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## maneater (Jul 28, 2006)

Helsinki looks very pretty, the pictures and people look great - but Helsinki really looks like it is missing something as a city, and I am not sure what it is. It doesn't look like it's a city of nightlife or like it has a real main throughfare where everyone is being seen and heard and a core where there's tons of life. It just looks a bit lifeless...I'm not trying to be mean or rude, but that's just my observation. It looks like it would be just as exciting as Oslo.


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## maneater (Jul 28, 2006)

But I do think Helsinki has beautiful modern architecture...I just love the modern stuff! So sleek and cool looking...


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## Bond James Bond (Aug 23, 2002)

Sooooo . . . where's the polar bears? :?


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## Very Controversial (Dec 4, 2005)

Very Nice city and well maintained.


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## Bahnsteig4 (Sep 9, 2005)

> Helsinki looks very pretty, the pictures and people look great - but Helsinki really looks like it is missing something as a city, and I am not sure what it is. It doesn't look like it's a city of nightlife or like it has a real main throughfare where everyone is being seen and heard and a core where there's tons of life. It just looks a bit lifeless...I'm not trying to be mean or rude, but that's just my observation. It looks like it would be just as exciting as Oslo.


I must say that I agree up to some point. "Nightlife" consists of getting drunk at 7 pm in the parks and trams and being noisy all night long in the streets. On saturdays and sundays in the morning you have to watch out and avoid the vomit stains on the ground.

But other than that, Helsinki is not comparable to Stockholm or Copenhagen. It is... "different", which by no means is a bad thing. I've seen nothing like it before. I'd go there again, but I doubt if I could really spend my life there. (Which I definitely could in OSL, ARN and CPH.


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## Bahnsteig4 (Sep 9, 2005)

> If every bigger city in Europe/the world would have such a photographer to represent it here, we would see much more than always the same NYC/HK-stuff over here!


I agree and I promise I'll try my best to represent Vienna later (Sept) when I won't have to work. 
Again, great pictures!


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## Mr Bricks (May 6, 2005)

maneater said:


> Helsinki looks very pretty, the pictures and people look great - but Helsinki really looks like it is missing something as a city, and I am not sure what it is. It doesn't look like it's a city of nightlife or like it has a real main throughfare where everyone is being seen and heard and a core where there's tons of life. It just looks a bit lifeless...I'm not trying to be mean or rude, but that's just my observation. It looks like it would be just as exciting as Oslo.


Critisize Helsinki if you want to but lifeless is one thing the city certainly isn´t! If you say that you know nothing...


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## Poulpy (Nov 10, 2005)

Wonderful pictures, so sad Helsinki is underrated in Europe... I hope i'll visit your country in few years, nature is omnipresent :cheers:


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## Sideshow_Bob (Jan 14, 2005)

Helsinki is great! And these pictures are excellent! 
@maneater, Ever been to Hki? 
It's propably hard to get a full image of a city when looking at one guys pictures of it.. 
And in my opinion it doesn't lack anything a city it's size should have.


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## Varsben (Jan 14, 2005)

Bond James Bond said:


> Sooooo . . . where's the polar bears? :?


They're scared of traffic.


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## Falubaz (Nov 20, 2004)

nice pics. i like especially those with people on. quite interesting.


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## lpioe (May 6, 2006)

fantastic shots
2, 12, 64, 92 are my favs.


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## malec (Apr 17, 2005)

Amazing pictures. Just came back from there yesterday. We were there on tour with an orchestra and stayed in a hotel very near here:


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## Novak (May 9, 2006)

Outstanding thread! Beautiful, and very anti-boring, versatile pictures you got there.


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## cmoonflyer (Aug 17, 2005)

Nice series pics !


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## Oberleutnant (Sep 11, 2002)

First of all, big thanks for your feedback! I'm honestly surprised by your reaction and glad that you liked the photos - especially so, if at least some of you felt that they conveyed little bit of the atmosphere. 


@ Neitzsche
You're from NZ? Ah, but you missed nothing then. Finnish cities have nothing that rest of Europe has to offer and our nature pales in comparison with your South Island. Seriously. 

@ maneater & davidkunz/VIE
No need to be afraid that you would be rude if you say something negative about the city. You should see some of the things we say about Helsinki at the Finnish urban discussion board.  I want to hear more of this. 

Helsinki and Finland lacked urban culture until very recently. Some fifteen years ago, the number of establishments you could call "night clubs" was less than ten. Street cafes were unheard of. It's changed a lot during the past decade, but I feel that Helsinki is still undeveloped in this respect compared to rest of Europe. Change is for better, but things have a long way to go.

Godawful Finnish drinking culture and mainstream-driven club/nightlife way don't help one bit, nor does the fact that urbanization didn't take place until 1960s and 1970s. On top of that, the local residents of Helsinki tend to think they're residents of a big city and all that different compared to rest of the country, while underneath their slightly more expensive clothes and better kept appearance they're pretty damn similar to people of same age in other Finnish cities.



Anyhow, photo 29 was from Hietaniemi beach, while 36 was indeed Eira. 53 was actually taken from the Stadium Tower in Töölö. 




SuomiPoika said:


> Critisize Helsinki if you want to but lifeless is one thing the city certainly isn´t! If you say that you know nothing...


Come on, no need for that. Some central areas of Helsinki are *very much alive* (equally comparable to any European city) during the summer, but the urban life in Helsinki is extremely isolated to some locations. Go to some side street - or just few hundred meters to somewhere else from a popular place, like Tennispalatsin aukio - and streets are completely deserted.



And what about the lack of polar bears? Hmmm, I suppose they had withdrawn to their ice caves in fear of my cameras. That's the only likely explanation I can come up with.


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## Menino de Sampa (Sep 21, 2003)

Lovely and walkable city.


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## designwise (Sep 13, 2002)

AMAZING PHOTOS.. you captured the city very well ! :cheers:


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## Galandar (Dec 2, 2004)

Great country, great city


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## Mr Bricks (May 6, 2005)

Oberleutnant said:


> Come on, no need for that. Some central areas of Helsinki are *very much alive* (equally comparable to any European city) during the summer, but the urban life in Helsinki is extremely isolated to some locations. Go to some side street - or just few hundred meters to somewhere else from a popular place, like Tennispalatsin aukio - and streets are completely deserted.


I would say most streets in the city centre are lively, it´s the areas outside it which make the city inferior to let´s say Copenhagen. The architecture and life dies out north of Töölö/Kallio. And even in those areas we don´t have the same urban life as in Copenhagen´s Norrebro. Everything is centred to the city core. This is something that needs to change.

As far as the nightlife goes I have nothing to complain about. There are plenty of bars, pubs and clubs to choose from and in the summer people party outdoors till dawn.

Another thing I love about Helsinki is that the city is situated on a peninsula. Wherever you go you will always see the sea. This is something Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo lack.

According to a recent survey tourists place Helsinki over other Nordic cities when it comes to trendiness, nightlife and architectural variety. Stockholm and Copenhagen rank higher when it comes to history and culture.


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## jennifer68 (Dec 25, 2008)

I went to visit Scandinavia for 3 weeks 25 years ago.
I wanted to see fjords and the north cape in norvège, same people in suede and lakes in finlande.
the nature in Europe, it is in Scandinavia where it is best protected and the air is there the purest in Europe.
The only thing that I saw on Scandinavian cities was rail stations.
In the South of Europe in Italy in Spain or in France we have constructions which exceed thousands years and everywhere.
Scandinavians have the highest standard of living of the world, on the other hand their cities it's as if we were in Bucharest or in Sofia, the mat, sad facades and tramways which date front the war.
You make what with all your money in Finland? 
Except for the wooden churches and the castle of turku.ah I forgot aalto alvar but he built where in Helsinki ?
The Finnish modern architecture is the most innovative in Scandinavia I think.
white walls.larges glazed surfaces which let bring in abundantly the light a little the style of le corbusier.
I speak about the individual architecture
And the night-life? In the North people go to bed when people in the South begin leaving.
But unforgettable journey, the coastal express between hammerfest and tromso, 
the cruise liner between turku and mariehamm and mariehamm and stockholm.
but the passenger ships of the silja line are luxurious.
and the best memory of my life, to sleep in a hut of same people in the north.
I am sorry but I find French cities more beautiful than Scandinavian cities.
sorry but my english is bad, i am french.

best regards.


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

Thanks for the peek. I haven't been there since I was 8 years old.


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## ZOHAR (Jul 16, 2005)

amazing street pictures!
Post more people pictures!
Its lacks in this forum


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Very nice city


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## Marsupilami (May 8, 2005)

I just love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## dj4life (Oct 22, 2009)

Helsinki Cathedral - Heksinki, Finland -_ - Copia by OUTDOOR & TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY, on Flickr


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## casb68 (Jan 4, 2011)

This is a very beautiful city


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