Helsinki
A Holiday in Helsinki
Between hours spent staring down long stretches of dirty highway, shoveling snow and reasoning with the occasional security guard for “one more try” at any given spot, street snowboarding can be a grind. But this trip to Helsinki was different. With sunset at 3 p.m., elongated evenings provided plenty of time to immerse ourselves in the culture of Finland’s southern capital city. It came as a welcome change of pace. And for a trip that was outside the norm, I decided to experiment with its accompanying documentation.
I’ve always loved to scratch, burn and mistreat film negatives. I’m attracted to the permanence of the action, the same feeling that comes with painting a big, dirty strike across a blank canvas. Using film from a Pentax 6x7 cm medium-format camera, I wanted to insert our street riding into a wider context—an inclusive portrayal of the city, people and society, and how we as snowboarders relate to it all...
Subscribe for access to this article plus the entire archive of The Snowboarder's Journal content—and receive a discount on all products. Subscribe Now