Signe - a true professional
By Anu Uimonen
When looking at the Helsinki photographs of Signe Brander (1869-1942), one’s attention is first drawn to the pictures’ stunning depth of field. It seems that there is no end to the detail that it is possible to pick out even in the far reaches of the photographs.
Photographers can increase the depth of field by reducing the size of the aperture, but then the exposure time increases proportionally. Brander’s pictures are abuzz with people; some of them are moving, so she could not have used very long shutter speeds.
Another admirable quality of her photography is the skilful handling of architecture. Even the tallest of buildings do not lean one way or the other.
Perhaps the most delightful characteristic is the strong sense of life that the pictures express.
Brander depicted a disappearing Helsinki, but for her this was not merely houses facing the threat of demolition, but also the people who lived there, their pets, passers-by, different modes of transport, street vendors, and practitioners of other professions.
Brander managed to record an incredible amount of detail in her photographs.
The secret of her art lies both in the technology, and in the photographer herself.
The glass negatives of Brander’s camera were large - 18 X 24 cm, which guaranteed an large area of sharp focus. She was able to move and tilt the front and back boards of her camera, making it easier to keep horizontal lines straight.
There were many women photographers 100 years ago, but most of them worked in studios doing portraits. Signe could do more than that.
She started out in the photo studio of Daniel Nyblin, where she may have learned the techniques of both portrait and landscape photography.
At the end of the 19th century she was a studio photographer in Savonlinna, where she also began to work with landscapes. In Helsinki she had her own studio in 1904 - 06.
When she began to work for the Helsinki Board of Antiquities, Signe Brander was a versatile and experienced professional photographer.
She was skilful in her use of daylight. She had mastered composition, and knew how to wait for the right moment. She knew when it was worth climbing higher to get the best possible angle. And naturally, she mastered the capabilities that the camera had.
The work was physically strenuous. The camera and other photographic equipment were heavy. Each individual glass negative weighs 170 grammes.
Brander took 900 pictures of Helsinki - a massive task, which was nevertheless not the most extensive of her photographic projects. She also systematically documented the battlefields of the Swedish-Russian war of 1808 - 1809, as well as Finnish manor houses. Nearly 2,000 of her manor photographs are still intact.
Over the past century, the copies made by Brander herself have faded. For the book, new copies were made using the old glass negatives and the best modern technology. The book was printed using the duotone process, preserving all of the shades of the magnificent pictures as well as possible.
The result is a magnificent book, for which thanks are due both to Signe Brander herself, as well as Riitta Pakarinen and photographer Jan Alanco.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 16.1.2005
More on this subject:
 Book of old photos gives sightseeing tour of Helsinki 100 years ago
ANU UIMONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
anu.uimonen@hs.fi
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