Artistic Director Ralf Långbacka and Director Kalle Holmberg in front of Turku City Theatre in 1972 (cropped image), V. K. Hietanen / JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency. Objektinumero: JOKAVKH2D11A:3

V. K. Hietanen

Viljo Kalervo ”V. K.” Hietanen (1924−2012) worked as a photographer for the Turku regional editorial office of Helsingin Sanomat between 1961 and 1989. He was the first permanent photographer hired for HS’s regional offices. In the Turku region, Hietanen also took photographs for Åbo Underrättelser and the Uusi Aura newspaper. Occasionally he would also work for Ilta-Sanomat, Viikkosanomat and Apu.

V. K. Hietanen was a “trusted photographer” who was sent to record secret or private meetings between politicians, for example the meeting between Kekkonen and Kosygin on an icebreaker during Operation Danube, the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, in 1968.

The photograph collection includes daily politics from the Turku region, state visits and influential persons, sports and cultural life. The imagery also depicts local events on Aland, and the shipyard industry and businesses on the southwestern coast of Finland. In addition, the collection also records the structural change of urban scenery, as well as building conservation and civic activism in the Turku region.

More pictures: museovirasto.finna.fi/joka

Read the article: