Hannes Heikura Press photographer of the Ýear
PHOTOGRAPHY Helsingin Sanomat photographer Hannes Heikura has been chosen Finnish Press photographer of the Year 2007. His photo, taken from a helicopter, of a boat sailing through a thick layer of blue-green algae in the Gulf of Finland was voted Press photo of the Year.
The picture is part of a series of ten taken in different parts of the world, with subjects ranging from weather phenomena in Finland to a poppy field in Afghanistan. It also got an honorary mention in the category News photo of the Year.
Heikura, who won the title Press photographer of the Year three times earlier (1992, 2005 and 2006), also won this year's public vote.
The jury voted a photo by Niklas Tallqvist News photo of the Year, one by Timo Pyykkö Portrait of the Year, and a photo by Jaakko Avikainen Sports photo of the Year. Freelance photographer Henrik Malmström is being awarded for the best domestic reportage. Aamulehti newspaper’s Rami Hanafi gets the prize for Foreign Reportage of the Year.
The year’s best press photos were for the first time chosen in Tampere. 111 photographers took part in the competition with over 2600 photos.
A selection of the best photos is on display at the TR1 gallery (Väinä Linnan aukio 13) in Tampere until the 16th of April. In May part of them will move to the Luova.fi gallery (Albertinkatu 16) in Helsinki.
More photos by Hannes Heikura can be seen at the Finnish Museum of Photography at the Cable Factory in Helsinki until May 18th.
Press photos of the Year 2007 (in Finnish, with info in English)
The winning photos by Hannes Heikura (Helsingin Sanomat – captions in Finnish)
All the winning photos (HS, captions in Finnish)
TR1 gallery, Tampere
Luova.fi gallery, Helsinki (in Finnish)
Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki