mikkotakkunen/photographer/blog

I photographed Liz Donegan, one of the evicted residents of the Priory Hall estate in Dublin, in January during a 3-day assignment to Ireland for Helsingin Sanomat (FIN). Article and two photos ran Sunday 12 February 2012.

All the Priory Hall estate’s 250 families were forced to evict once the Dublin City Council found out the Priory Hall apartments were not built according to fire regulations. Liz Donegan and the other resident live now in limbo. They live in temporary residences but have to continue paying mortgages of their Priory Hall apartments, to which they do not have access to. The builder of the estate is being sued, but whether or not he will convicted is another matter. Liz Donegan is hopeful that her mortgage could be moved to another apartment. She and other Priory Hall residents do not believe that the estate can be repaired. At the moment, no work is being done on the estate and outsiders are not allowed on site. Former residents can access their own apartments only with appropriate IDs and an escort.

Irish economy is in ruins but the countryside is booming again. I visited a milk farm in County Wicklow, owned and run by brothers Hayden, as part of a 3-day January assignment to Ireland for the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. The farm sells all its milk for the production of the cream liquor Bailey’s and is known by many as the Bailey’s farm.

When I was working in the Palestinian refugee camp Shatila in Beirut, Lebanon, in December on a commission for the Finnish Psychologists for Social Responsibility, I visited again the War of the Camps memorial located by one the Shatila mosque, which I first visited in 2008.

War of the Camps, 1985-1988 was subconflict within the Lebanese Civil War.

I was really drawn to all the pictures of men and boys seen inside the memorial.

The entrance to the War of the Camps memorial. Shatila camp. Beirut. Lebanon. December 2011.

Untitled. Photograph seen in the War of the Camps memorial. Shatila camp. Beirut. Lebanon. December 2011.

Untitled. Photograph seen in the War of the Camps memorial. Shatila camp. Beirut. Lebanon. December 2011.

Untitled. Photograph seen in the War of the Camps memorial. Shatila camp. Beirut. Lebanon. December 2011.

Untitled. Photograph seen in the War of the Camps memorial. Shatila camp. Beirut. Lebanon. December 2011.

Untitled. Photograph seen in the War of the Camps memorial. Shatila camp. Beirut. Lebanon. December 2011.

Untitled. Photograph seen in the War of the Camps memorial. Shatila camp. Beirut. Lebanon. December 2011.

Untitled. Photograph seen in the War of the Camps memorial. Shatila camp. Beirut. Lebanon. December 2011.

Untitled. Photograph seen in the War of the Camps memorial. Shatila camp. Beirut. Lebanon. December 2011.

Untitled. Photograph seen in the War of the Camps memorial. Shatila camp. Beirut. Lebanon. December 2011.

Untitled. Photograph seen in the War of the Camps memorial. Shatila camp. Beirut. Lebanon. December 2011.

I spent another two weeks in Beirut in December 2011 finishing a commission for the Finnish Psychologists for Social Responsibility. First part of the commission was photographed in June 2011.

Exhibition of the commissioned work, Brave Girls of Shatila, photographed in the Palestinian refugee camp Shatila in Beirut, opened in Sanomatalo, central Helsinki, 16 January.

The exhibition gained good coverage in the Finnish media, as Finnish Broadcasting Corporation,YLE, featured it both on its premier TV news program A-Studio and on their Yle Radio 1 program Ajantasa.

The exhibition was up in Sanomatalo until 29 January, after which it will tour Finland for the rest of the year.

The project has a website at www.bravegirlsofshatila.com.

I spent another two weeks in Beirut in December 2011 finishing a commission for the Finnish Psychologists for Social Responsibility. First part of the commission was photographed in June 2011.

Some frames shot out and about in Beirut during the two weeks.

View towards Sabra market from the Gaza hospital building in Beirut. Shatila refugee camp seen in the distance behind the mosque. Gaza hospital was one of the places where people sought refuge during the Sabra-Shatila Massacre in 1982. Nowadays the run down former hospital building ( http://bit.ly/ukZYEf ) is in residential use by mostly Palestinian refugee families, but it is still known by its original name.

Posters advocating full Palestinian membership of the United Nations seen in Beirut near the Shatila refugee camp show Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaking at the UN General Assembly earlier this year.

Miniature replica of The Dome of the Rock seen in Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, next to posters of Palestinian Islamic Jihad organisation, including its former leader Fathi Shaqaqi, killed by Israel’s secret service Mossad in Malta in 1995. The real Dome of the Rock is located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem.

A photo I took of my friend Ahmad Saad, his wife Hikmat, and 2 months old son Mustafa at their home in Shatila refugee camp in Beirut seen in the family’s living room. 6x9in print cost me 3000 Lebanese (2USD).

Two boys sitting on a cliff overlooking the famous Pigeons’ Rock in Raouché, Beirut.

People enjoying a sunny December day on the seaside promenade Corniche in Beirut.

Poster seen in a public telephone in Raouché, Beirut.

Man in Shatila camp in Beirut showed me some Palestinian coins from 1927. Hadn’t seen any before. Surprised the text in them was written in three languages: Arabic, Hebrew and English.

The commissioned project itself has a website at www.bravegirlsofshatila.com.

Shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood in his Mayfair boutique in London for the Wall Street Journal 8 November. Ran 10 November 2011.

Original frame

The Wall Street Journal also ran a slideshow on its website with 10 frames. They also put up a video in which writer Christina Binkley talks about Kirkwood. The video includes some frames not featured in the slideshow or in print.

Couple of the frames from the video that were not included in the slideshow…

Photographed Occupy London Stock Exchange 3 November for Helsingin Sanomat (FIN). Photo and article ran 4 November 2011.

Some of the frames from the assignment…

Nokia World 2011 at ExCel Center, London, 26 October for Helsingin Sanomat (FIN). Nokia announced its new Lumia smart phones based on Windows platform. Photos ran 27 October 2011.

Some of the frames from the assignment…

I photographed Quality Solicitors Legal Access Point inside WHSmith in Westfield Shopping Centre in West London for the New York Times on 19 October. Photos ran in the New York edition of the paper Saturday October 29 2011 in the Business section and on the NYT.com website.

Screenshots of the website and some of the original frames.

I photographed former Olympus CEO Michael Woodford on Monday 17 October 2011 outside the Serious Fraud Office in London on assignment for the New York Times.

Tearsheet is from IHT’s Asia edition Wednesday 19 October 2011.

From New York Times website at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/business/olympus-faces-credibility-gap.html