Walk on the Senate square Photo

Photographer’s Note

Walk on the Senate square

A classic and beautiful place in Helsinki…
The Senate Square and its surroundings form a unique and cohesive example of Neoclassical architecture. The square is dominated by four buildings designed by Carl Ludvig Engel between 1822 and 1852: Helsinki Cathedral, the Government Palace, the main building of the University of Helsinki and the National Library of Finland. Helsinki Cathedral is arguably Finland's most famous and photographed building; it celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2002. The oldest stone building in Helsinki is the Sederholm House located on the southeast corner of the square.The main building of the City Museum can be found on the Sofiankatu museum street.

Helsinki Cathedral

Helsinki Cathedral (in Finnish Helsingin tuomiokirkko or Suurkirkko, in Swedish Helsingfors domkyrka or Storkyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the centre of Helsinki, Finland. The church was originally built as a tribute to the Grand Duke, Nicholas I, the Tsar of Russia and until the independence of Finland in 1917, it was called St. Nicholas' Church.

A distinct landmark in the scenery of central Helsinki, with a tall green dome surrounded by four smaller domes, the church was built in 1830-1852, in neoclassical style. It was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, to form the climax of the whole Senate Square laid out by Engel, surrounded by a number of buildings all designed by him. The building has a Greek-cross plan (i.e. a square central mass and four arms of equal length), and is symmetrical in each of the four cardinal directions, each marked by a colonnade and pediment. Engel had intended to place a further row of columns on the west end to mark the main entrance (opposite the altar at the east end), but this was never realised. The building was later altered by his successor Ernst Lohrmann, whose four small domes make the architectural connection to the cathedral's model, Saint Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, even clearer. Lohrmann also erected two separately standing bell towers and zinc statues of the Twelve Apostles at apexes and corners of the roofline. (Source: Helsinki.fi)

vasilpro, lousat, TopGeo, John_F_Kennedy, Photo65Net, ChrisJ, jlbrthnn, ophelcia, ymrk, Gerrit, paura, dareco, jjcordier, ktanska, Graal, carper, bobocortis, jaywalker, asajernigan, JCG, JonteW has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

vasilpro (9497) 2009-04-22 0:57

Hello George,
Beautiful square and Cathedral,very nice photo, lovely colors and contrast. A nice composition and useful notes.
Have a nice day, Vasilis.

lousat (16166) 2009-04-22 0:58

Hi George,the low point of view make a difference,very great vision! You manage very well this difficult perspective,top quality of sharpness and colors like your style! My best compliments another time for this finnish gallery,have a nice day,Luciano

TopGeo (22249) 2009-04-22 1:05

Hello George,
Beautiful square and Cathedral, An excellent low POV with prospect good view and The place the colours the beautiful architecture and importantly frame and management of lighting great image well done
Georgios

serp2000 (9733) 2009-04-22 1:11

Privet, George,
Another point of view. Excellent! Great colours, good note! I miss Helsinki!
Have a nice wednesday!
Serghei

John_F_Kennedy (32032) 2009-04-22 3:05

Hello George,
Fantastic atmosphere on this plazza with the stunning cathedral. Great image! Very beautiful.
Best wishes,
Achim

Photo65Net (43096) 2009-04-22 3:32

Hello George,
Superb contrasts here !
I like a lot thow you used the white building.
Have a nice day,
JB.

Morac (20899) 2009-04-22 4:34

Bonjour George,

Présentée ainsi cette cathédrale est impressionnante.
J'aime bien cette présence des badauds sur la place comme sur les marches.
Bonne journée
Marc

Greg1949 (8519) 2009-04-22 4:52

George, nice one, is this as shot or was the key stoning removed in post? Great detail and color and a fabulous note.

Greg

ChrisJ (70443) 2009-04-22 5:26

Hi George

A good upward pov, with excellent sharpness, colour & saturation. The people add scale & context. Tfs!

jlbrthnn (39039) 2009-04-22 7:27

Hello George,
The building is very photogenic and attracts the idlers obviously. Its architecture and its immaculate color are a beautiful prey for the photographers. All the plans are superb. Very good realization. Congratulations.
Have a nice day
Cordially
Joël

ophelcia (5502) 2009-04-22 7:54

Ladies and Gentlemen...
I want to send this postcard to my family!
Great white balance;) I know how difficult it is to take a photo of this place;)
G.

ymrk (9168) 2009-04-22 9:07

Hello George,
Amazing view in this place...Site of peoples are be only just,here...Very well photo,affective details...
Have a nice weekend,my friend!

Yağmur

npecanhuk (14756) 2009-04-22 11:54

Hello George!
That's another pretty interesting, impressive and beautiful picture of this magnificent Cathedral!
Sharpness, exposure, pov and composition are all excellent!
TFS - Congratulations!
Best regards,
Neyvan

Gerrit (36313) 2009-04-22 13:05

Hi George,
excellent composition and agreat dailt life scene and architecture photo.
Good clear whites without any overcast and good all over colors.
Regards, gerrit

hay_kes (28562) 2009-04-22 13:40

Hi George,
What a superb photo vith Excellent POV, colours, sharpness and perspective.TFS.
Cheers,
hAve a nice day,

hAyAti

paura (39376) 2009-04-22 17:18

Jorge,
Uma beleza de fotografia, tomada de um lindo ponto e com fotometria excelente. Um lindo trabalho, amigo.

Abraço

Paulo

dareco (17104) 2009-04-22 19:42

So nice to see this beautiful place once again. You really do have great pictures of it!! Excellent pov and detail. TFS

Royaldevon (5944) 2009-04-23 0:19

Hello George,

With such an elevated position, it created difficulties for you to capture the whole building from any other perspective. Also, the strong light on such a white building must have created problems of oe. However, you have coped admirably.
There are good leads to the building which posses strong lines, excellent details and by its sheer size, is imposing.

Kind regards,
Bev :-)

jjcordier (25256) 2009-04-23 1:50

George
Magnifique POV sur ce splendide bâtiment éclairé de très belle façon.
Amicalement
JJ

ktanska (16695) 2009-04-23 4:01

Hi George,
Nothig new actually on this shot. But it's well done on good lights and shows how people like to gather there having a break. I can imagine there's a lot more people there this weekend when warmer weather is finally promised even here north.
Kari

Graal (58786) 2009-04-23 23:07

Jó napot George,
beautiful place in Helsinki, nice square and architecture of cathedral. Good vertical composition. Superb quality. I like it.
Gr., Aleksander

danyy (69499) 2009-04-24 3:30

Bonjour George,
une photo très lumineuse et aussi trsè colorée, on y apprécie la vie et le mouvement.
Pas faciel à équilibrer sur le plan de l'horizontalité avec cette petite impression de penchement vers la gauche.
Belle contre plongée qui donne beaucoup d'allure à cet édifice.
Excellent week-end.
Daniel.

carper (65742) 2009-04-24 23:14

very nice one my friend,
a good view here, the perspective is very nice and you have a good balance in the shot, good photo job, have a good weekend.
regard jaap

bobocortis (14144) 2009-04-25 8:20

Hello George.
Great capture, from a well-chosen low pov.
The exposure is perfect, expecially on the enlighten facade.
Best regards.
Bobo.

gildasjan (24149) 2009-04-25 9:12

Bonjour George
Bon POV,cadrage soigné et un très bon éclairement pour cette image sous ce bon bleu ciel.
Bonne fin de journée
Amicalement
gildas

jaywalker (12308) 2009-04-25 11:14

Hi George, The sharp quality is out-standing & so is the amazing architecture, this is a beautiful piece of art with its domes on top, Very good light & great colours, the blue sky makes for a wonderful background, kind regards Wilson.

asajernigan (14304) 2009-04-25 16:04

George,
This is a great shot of this beautiful cathedral. The inclusion of the square in the foreground was a nice decision using the lines in the tiles to lead the eye into the shot. The people add a nice sense of scale to the shot. The lighting and colors are great with excellent sharpness and detail.
TFS,
Asa

JCG (25753) 2009-04-26 3:31

Hi George,

A beautiful place of user-friendliness, meetings and to photograph this splendid cathedral which arises marvelously on this superb blue sky. This massive architecture is exceptional. Beautiful management of the color and the light, thank you George.

With all my friendships and very good Sunday,

Jean-Charles

jurek1951 (26162) 2009-04-26 5:47

Hi George,
excellent sharpness and depth in this beautiful picture. Excellent capture of the scene, a bit artistic and wonderful.
Georg

sacavem (8525) 2009-04-27 7:35

Olá George,

Really a postcard!
Very good your composition and point of view, good definition over this marvelous, classic and beautiful place in Helsinki.
Congratulations,
Filipe

Photo Information

Copyright: George Rumpler (Budapestman) (42876)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-08-09
Categories: Daily Life, Architecture, Artwork
Camera: Canon Ixus 50
Exposure: f/5.6, 1/1250 seconds
More Photo Info: view
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Discovery of Helsinki, Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2009-04-22 0:48