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Collections

Our collections include more than two million photographs. In addition to approximately 10,000 photographic works of art, the collections include magazine, advertising, fashion, documentary, portrait, vernacular, architectural, landscape and nature photographs. On this page you can have a closer look at our collections.

Museum's collections in Finna

Other websites

More than 2,000 collection photos are digitally available in Finna. The material includes photographic art, early history of photography, portraits, snapshots, fashion photographs, photojournalism and much more. New images will be published regularly in Finna.

The Finnish Museum of Photography in Finna

Museum's collections on Flickr

Other websites

Take a look at our collections! There are hundreds of free-to-use photographs on our Flickr Commons account. When reusing the images, please include an attribution to the photographer and the Finnish Museum of Photography. When using the photos online, please also provide a link to our Flickr page, so others can explore and use our collections.
 

» The Finnish Museum of Photography on Flickr

Stereoscopic Sunset

Collection pick
In 1911, wealthy amateur photographer Max Neuscheller documented his farm in Karelia with two new photographic inventions of his time: 3D and colour.

A holiday in Mongolia

Collection pick
The linguist G.J. Ramstedt and the archaeologist Sakari Pälsi (1882–1965) made an expedition to Mongolia in 1909. A gifted amateur photographer, Pälsi was there not only as an archaeologist, but also in the capacity of photographer.

Life as a Street Urchin

Collection pick
Little Iris knew there were other kinds of men in the world than her father, Fritz Englund (1870–1950), an amateur photographer and a well-to-do bourgeois head of the family. She had seen them loitering on the streets, smoking cigarettes and hollering at women passing by.

The Last Resort You Would Visit

Collection pick
Martin Parr's photos in The Last Resort series were taken in England’s traditional New Brighton beach resort.

Photoshopping before it was cool

Collection pick
Petteri Bülow (b.1961), Juha Saari (b. 1964) and Touko Yrttimaa’s (b. 1947) digitally manipulated photographic works have been made using the ‘Quantel Paintbox’ in YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company’s, newsroom in 1990. They were slightly ahead of their times, since later in the same year the first version of Photoshop hit the markets.

Natural Elegance

Collection pick
These shots taken of Vuokko Nurmesniemi’s dresses by K-G Roos (1937–1976) for Marimekko in 1957 represent the very latest in the Finnish fashion photography of their day.

Everyday Chaos

Collection pick
Markus Jokela (b. 1952), together with journalist Ilkka Malmberg, has made reportages about ordinary Finnish everyday life for magazine Kuukausiliite. In the pictures junk is left lying around, while the camera flash sprays out an even light.

From Zero to Sixty

Collection pick
“Showing movement means both man and camera have to be ready for action,” photographer, non-fiction author and researcher Vilho Setälä (1892–1985) writes in his book Valokuvaus tieteenä ja taiteena (Photography as Science and Art, 1940).

The Face of Ambition

Collection pick
Press photographer Kalle Kultala was at his best when working among politicians and other wielders of power.

Peeping Tom

Collection pick
In June 1970, Apu magazine published an article illustrated by Kalle Kultala (1924–1991). Kultala captured a Peeping Tom a hundred metres away, sneaking around behind the fence at the Seurasaari nudist beach. At the same time, he unashamedly took snapshots of the naked women on the beach.

Age is just a number

Collection pick
Photographer Hanna Weselius (b. 1972) wanted to challenge our antiquated notions of age, and our expectations of what elderly life is all about.

Street choreography

Collection pick
For Jouko Leskelä (b. 1956), street photography means snapping pictures freely and staying alert while he is in the street. This picture was taken while the photographer was walking down the Esplanade in downtown Helsinki.

Images of the Cultural Revolution

Collection pick
This photograph, taken in the workshop of a factory that made statues of Mao, is one of the frames of the film printed on the contact. In 1967, K-G Roos (1937–1976) was among the first western journalists in China after the start of Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

Lace from Head to Toe

Collection pick
A fashion piece published in Suomen Kuvalehti magazine in May 1965: “New Lace without Arsenic” was shot at a summer cottage by photographer Kalle Kultala.

May Day Masquerade

Collection pick
Carnivals are rare in Finland, but on May Day people go out into the streets and squares in droves. Dressing up and wearing masks is all part of the fun, as this Merja Salo's photograph proves.

Elvis Was Here

Collection pick
Two photographs printed in the magazine bear witness to the megastar’s visit. Negatives found in photo agency Valokuvaamo Foto Jatta’s archive reveal how these pictures were made: photos of an unknown assistant and of Elvis Presley were combined using reprography, cutting and pasting.

Discomfort and daring

Collection pick
The photographic artist Iiu Susiraja’s black humour has gained international acclaim. Susiraja’s own physical being is the key element in her art.

In your face with a hand-held flash

Collection pick
With this photograph by Markus Jokela, showing a family kitchen in Kirkkonummi, near Helsinki, from the early 1990s, we want to encourage all our readers to loosen up and enjoy everyday highlights.

To see and be seen

Collection pick
The photograph of the girl in a wet T-shirt is part of the iconic Young Heroes series that Jouko Lehtola photographed in the mid-1990s, when he toured Finnish rock festivals, dance pavilions and clubs over two summers.

Visiting the Karelian people

Collection pick
Four children, two dogs, and one Lada. In the panoramic photograph by Pentti Sammallahti, there is ‘a situation going on’.

Angle space

Collections
In the Angle exhbition space, the Museum’s collections are always in focus.

The Museum's collections

Collections
The collections of the Finnish Museum of Photography include more than two million photographs. The collections focus on 20th-century Finnish photography, and are made up of both selected works by photographers and images from extensive photographic archives. The museum's collection of objects includes thousands of photography-related artefacts. The museum also has a paper archive and a photographic library.
Wladimir Schohin: Asetelma ikkunalaudalla, 1907. Suomen valokuvataiteen museo / AFK:n kokoelma. Digitoitu kopiodiasta tehdystä värinkääntövedoksesta.

Wladimir Schohin: Still life on window sill, 1907. The Finnish Museum of Photography / AFK collection.

I. K. Inha (born as Into Konrad Nyström, 1865–1930) was a Finnish photographer, writer, translator and journalist.

I. K. Inha: Njokkoo antamassa. I. K. Inha (born as Into Konrad Nyström, 1865–1930) was a Finnish photographer, writer, translator and journalist. Donated to the museum.

Wladimir Schohin: Väriliituja laatikossa, 1907. Suomen valokuvataiteen museo / AFK:n kokoelma. Digitoitu kopiodiasta tehdystä värinkääntövedoksesta.

Wladimir Schohin: Crayons in a box, 1907. The Finnish Museum of Photography / AFK collection

Portrait of an unknown child. Atelier Apollo, Helsinki, 1905-10. Photography production first achieved industrial proportions with the spread of visiting cards in the second half of the 19th century. A photograph was a unique memento. People collected and exchanged visiting cards with their circle of acquaintances, giving rise to family-album culture. The name of the person in the picture is sometimes written on the card, but most of the people appearing in these visiting cards are unidentified.

Portrait of an unknown child. Atelier Apollo, Helsinki, 1905-10. Photography production first achieved industrial proportions with the spread of visiting cards in the second half of the 19th century. A photograph was a unique memento. People collected and exchanged visiting cards with their circle of acquaintances, giving rise to family-album culture. The name of the person in the picture is sometimes written on the card, but most of the people appearing in these visiting cards are unidentified.