Series 03 / 04
Night shift
Helsinki Nov 2025, for Kolmas Vuoro Editorial commission
Eleven nights on a magazine feature about the people who keep the city running between midnight and six. Each gave me ten minutes and the light they already had.
Kolmas Vuoro commissioned the story in November 2025: eleven pages on the night workers of Helsinki, for an issue about the hours most readers sleep through. The rule was the magazine’s and mine: no flash, no extra lamps, nothing moved. A bakery’s ovens, a tram’s tubes, the sodium lights over the harbour and a dashboard were the whole lighting kit.
I met a baker in Kallio, a tram driver on the last line, the cafeteria crew of the night ferry, a hospital porter and a night nurse, a taxi driver on her break, the snowplough crews, the first newspaper van and a crane driver in Vuosaari. Most of them had never been photographed at work. I shot on CineStill 800T, which keeps a red glow around every lamp, and on Portra 800 for the faces.
Series 03 / 04
Night shift
Helsinki Nov 2025, for Kolmas Vuoro Editorial commission
Eleven nights on a magazine feature about the people who keep the city running between midnight and six. Each gave me ten minutes and the light they already had.
Kolmas Vuoro commissioned the story in November 2025: eleven pages on the night workers of Helsinki, for an issue about the hours most readers sleep through. The rule was the magazine’s and mine: no flash, no extra lamps, nothing moved. A bakery’s ovens, a tram’s tubes, the sodium lights over the harbour and a dashboard were the whole lighting kit.
I met a baker in Kallio, a tram driver on the last line, the cafeteria crew of the night ferry, a hospital porter and a night nurse, a taxi driver on her break, the snowplough crews, the first newspaper van and a crane driver in Vuosaari. Most of them had never been photographed at work. I shot on CineStill 800T, which keeps a red glow around every lamp, and on Portra 800 for the faces.
- ∞
- 10
- 5
- 3
- 2
03.01
Kallio, 04:10. A baker, flour to the elbows.
03.01
Kallio, 04:10. A baker, flour to the elbows.
03.01
Kallio, 04:10. A baker, flour to the elbows.
03.02
Töölö, 01:52. An empty tram in teal light.
03.02
Töölö, 01:52. An empty tram in teal light.
03.02
Töölö, 01:52. An empty tram in teal light.
03.03
Night ferry, 02:30. The cafeteria after the last customer.
03.03
Night ferry, 02:30. The cafeteria after the last customer.
03.03
Night ferry, 02:30. The cafeteria after the last customer.
03.04
Pasila, 03:05. A porter and his trolley, an hour to go.
03.04
Pasila, 03:05. A porter and his trolley, an hour to go.
03.04
Pasila, 03:05. A porter and his trolley, an hour to go.
03.05
Vuosaari harbour, 05:20. The crane cabin above a wet yard.
03.05
Vuosaari harbour, 05:20. The crane cabin above a wet yard.
03.05
Vuosaari harbour, 05:20. The crane cabin above a wet yard.
03.06
Sörnäinen, 00:40. A taxi driver on her break.
03.06
Sörnäinen, 00:40. A taxi driver on her break.
03.06
Sörnäinen, 00:40. A taxi driver on her break.
03.07
Hakaniemi, 02:10. Snowplough drivers at shift change.
03.07
Hakaniemi, 02:10. Snowplough drivers at shift change.
03.07
Hakaniemi, 02:10. Snowplough drivers at shift change.
03.08
Meilahti, 03:40. A night nurse writing up her notes.
03.08
Meilahti, 03:40. A night nurse writing up her notes.
03.08
Meilahti, 03:40. A night nurse writing up her notes.
03.09
Herttoniemi, 05:45. The newspaper van, first stop.
03.09
Herttoniemi, 05:45. The newspaper van, first stop.
03.09
Herttoniemi, 05:45. The newspaper van, first stop.
03.06
00:40
40
Sörnäinen
Night shift
night-shift
A taxi driver in her forties leaning on her car at a closed petrol station in the rain, eating from a paper bag under the fluorescent canopy.
Portrait
false
A taxi driver on her break.
Sörnäinen, 00:40. A taxi driver on her break.
03.02
01:52
112
Töölö
Night shift
night-shift
A tram driver seen through the windscreen in teal light, on a wet street.
Landscape
true
An empty tram in teal light.
Töölö, 01:52. An empty tram in teal light.
03.07
02:10
130
Hakaniemi
Night shift
night-shift
Two snowplough trucks with orange beacons in a depot yard, a driver climbing down from the cab in falling snow.
Landscape
false
Snowplough drivers at shift change.
Hakaniemi, 02:10. Snowplough drivers at shift change.
03.03
02:30
150
Night ferry
Night shift
night-shift
A ferry cafeteria at night, a worker wiping tables, with porthole windows.
Landscape
true
The cafeteria after the last customer.
Night ferry, 02:30. The cafeteria after the last customer.
03.04
03:05
185
Pasila
Night shift
night-shift
A young hospital porter with a trolley in a corridor.
Portrait
true
A porter and his trolley, an hour to go.
Pasila, 03:05. A porter and his trolley, an hour to go.
03.08
03:40
220
Meilahti
Night shift
night-shift
A nurse writing notes under a small desk lamp in a dark hospital corridor, her face half in shadow.
Portrait
false
A night nurse writing up her notes.
Meilahti, 03:40. A night nurse writing up her notes.
03.01
04:10
250
Kallio
Night shift
night-shift
A baker in her fifties by the ovens, flour on her arms.
Portrait
true
A baker, flour to the elbows.
Kallio, 04:10. A baker, flour to the elbows.
03.05
05:20
320
Vuosaari harbour
Night shift
night-shift
A crane operator’s lit cabin high above a wet container yard.
Landscape
true
The crane cabin above a wet yard.
Vuosaari harbour, 05:20. The crane cabin above a wet yard.
03.09
05:45
345
Herttoniemi
Night shift
night-shift
A delivery worker loading large plastic-wrapped bales into a van with its rear doors open on a dark street, one lit window above.
Landscape
false
The newspaper van, first stop.
Herttoniemi, 05:45. The newspaper van, first stop.
Work in this light
Editorial, architecture and campaign commissions, in the hours with the least light. Every frame here is also printed by hand in Kallio; ask for sizes.