Kari Kuukka has been professional photographer and photojournalist for 25 years. During that time he has worked for the majority of national publications and agencies in Finland as well as wide clientele abroad.
His earlier work consisted of what he describes himself as “real news” i.e. doing daily news for national papers and covering e.g. the tearing down of the Berlin wall, the Romanian revolution, the independence struggle of the Baltic states and intifada in Israel. During the 90’s he concentrated more on his academic studies (linguistics/psychology), continuing his photography as a means to support himself through the university. After getting his MA from the University of Helsinki, he did some post grad work in linguistics and neuroscience.
About 10 years ago he made a conscious decision to abandon the academic career and to fully concentrate on photography. He is presently mostly known as a sports specialist and he has covered e.g. the last six Olympic Games. He has been awarded several times for his work - and during the past six years he has focused more and more on multimedia storytelling.
In addition to his own photography, he teaches photography, video and multimedia storytelling in three different universities. He is also well known for his writing and public stance defending photographers and their right to maintain the copyright of their own work - as more and more publishers are very aggressively pushing the “exclusive rights to the publisher” -deals to freelancers.
He works independently as a freelancer and manages his own multimedia company - the first of its kind in Finland.
Kari participated in the December 2012 MediaStorm Methodology Workshop. He had the following to say about his experience:
I was very pleased and fortunate to attend the December 2012 workshop with MediaStorm. It had been a dream for a long time - but unfortunately the dates (there’s only three of these workshops annually) had been inconvenient until now.
My daily work consists of photography, video, editing, multimedia, teaching and consulting... and I felt I needed somehow a broad overview of what is essential and what is not. Not to learn the verticals - but to focus on the bigger picture. And I think MediaStorm has made a right choice in NOT teaching multimedia 101 but focus on the higher end and on the methodology/production side of multimedia.
I had two things in my mind prior to coming to New York: First, I wanted to learn from the best of the best in multimedia business which are the core elements needed in multimedia, how to learn and teach them. How to apply that knowledge to curriculum design for a university (under- and post grad.)
Secondly, I wanted to learn as much as possible I could in this brief time to take back home to my own team - to take our competence and efforts to the next level. Especially how to create organizational structure which would be stimulating and focus on qualtity. Be financially viable. So that we could finally start talking about professional multimedia production also in Finland (or “North Pole”, as I usually refer to it).
And I got just that - and then some more. A lot more. For five days I don’t think there was a moment when I was not concentrating. Eight hours a day, brief breaks to eat and get a quick coffee in between. 100% focused all the time. Really, really intensive. Lectures, seeing/evaluating/breaking part multimedia pieces, talking with the team, etc.
What really impressed me was the ethos/dedication/commitment of the whole team to this high quality storytelling and the work MediaStorm does. Not one detail was too small that it would not be discussed at length if needed. I understand perfectly what Brian means when he says that the story should be made so good that you just cannot make it any better. The whole team seems to live by that principle. Which at least partly explains the outstanding quality coming out of MediaStorm.
Our group was small (four) and thus our conversations got really interesting and intense. I don’t think there has been period in my professional life I can say I have learned as much in such a short time as I did during our week together. My sincerest thanks to everybody for making it happen.

Once teetering on the brink of extinction, the Santa Catalina Island Fox made a dramatic recovery. Its resurgence marks one of the greatest conservation success stories in United States history.

In the shadow of Silicon Valley’s booming technology industry, a growing number of people remain out in the cold. Skyrocketing housing prices in America’s hub of innovation have pushed many onto the streets, straining policymakers to find solutions to a homelessness problem that impacts everyone in the community.

This page recognizing Zora J Murff for ICP’s 2023 Infinity Award for Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism features a film about his life, a slideshow of his projects and extra clips of his thoughts about his work and motivation.

Sebastião Salgado says "a good picture, a fantastic picture, you do in a fraction of a second, but to arrive to do this picture, you must put your life in there."

Esther Horvath has sent questions to the universe and she has received answers. She found her calling to tell visual stories that show the full research story behind our climate data.

See photographer Acacia Johnson’s growth from her earliest explorations of Alaskan landscapes to a National Geographic cover for a documentary project among indigenous people of the Arctic.

Sir Don McCullin never intended to become a photographer. He found it hard to believe he’d ever escape the poverty of North London. But a spur of the moment photograph launched McCullin into a career spanning 50 years in photography.

As the U.S. prepares for the final drawdown of soldiers from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Soledad O’Brien and MediaStorm take an intimate look at two veterans as they struggle with the transition from war to home.

Writer Zadie Smith pays homage to photographer Deana Lawson in the artist’s first Monograph for Aperture.

As a formerly incarcerated person, Michael struggled for work, and found purpose in being a husband, father, and activist. But 7 years since his release from prison, the cost of Michael’s activism is evident.

Benny is a “certified” garbologist. He collects what others throw away. Benny is also at war with his family. Here is a man sharing a house with his wife but living as a stranger. This is a household on the edge.

Photographer Amber Bracken recognized something deeper than a protest was afoot when hundreds of tribes gathered at the Standing Rock reservation in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

How does the death of a child change a parent? How does the death of a parent change a child? How do these moments change us as we develop and grow further away from who we were as children?

Maurice Berger–cultural historian, and columnist for the New York Times’ Race Stories–has spent his career studying and teaching racial literacy through visual literacy.

Japan’s Disposable Workers examines the country’s employment crisis: from suicide caused by overworking, to temporary workers forced by economics to live in internet cafes, and the elderly who wander a town in search of shelter and food.

Karl Ove Knausgaard is the celebrated author of a massive six-volume autobiography. But Knausgaard remains confused by the attention. This is a portrait of a man who has achieved massive success yet still considers himself unworthy.

Michael Thomasson has devoted his life to video games. It’s been his passion and his obsession for more than three decades. He owns over 11,000 unique game titles for more than 100 different systems.

A film about Michael Christopher Brown for the 2017 ICP Infinity Awards.

The Long Night, a feature film by Tim Matsui and MediaStorm, gives voice and meaning to the crisis of minors who are forced and coerced into the American sex trade.

Jonathan Harris and Greg Hochmuth have a complicated relationship with the internet and have worked together to develop an artwork that explored some of the more difficult consequences of what it means to live with the internet.

In 1977, Robyn Davidson walked 1,700 miles across the Australian outback. National Geographic sent Rick Smolan to photograph her perilous journey—a trek that tested and transformed them, forming an immutable bond that continues to this day.

Once at the center of the U.S. economy, the family farm now drifts at its edges. In Iowa, old-time farmers try to hang on to their way of life, while their young push out to find their futures elsewhere. Driftless tells their stories.

The American family farm gives way to a subdivision - a critical cultural shift across the U.S. Common Ground is a 27-year document of this transition, through the Cagwins and the Grabenhofers, two families who love the same plot of land.

For Walter Backerman, seltzer is more than a drink. It’s the embodiment of his family. As a third generation seltzer man, he follows the same route as his grandfather. But after 90 years of business, Walter may be the last seltzer man.

Larry Fink has spent over 40 years photographing jazz musicians, wealthy manhattanites, his neighbors, fashion models, and the celebrity elite. His archive is a thoughtful collection of American history, and Fink’s experience of it.

LaToya Ruby Frazier’s body of work “The Notion of Family” examines the impact of the steel industry and the health care system on the community and her family. Collaborating with her mother and grandmother, she uses her family as a lens to view the past, present and future of the town.

Tomas Van Houtryve wants there to be a permanent visual record of the dawn of the drone age, the period in American history when America started outsourcing their military to flying robots. In order to create this record, Van Houtryve sent his own drone into American skies.

Evgenia Arbugaeva was born in the magical town of Tiksi, Russia. This barren, arctic landscape influenced Arbugaeva in almost every aspect of her dreamlike photography.

Surviving the Peace: Laos takes an intimate look at the impact of unexploded bombs left over from the Vietnam war in Laos and profiles the dangerous, yet life saving work, that MAG has undertaken in the country.

A family is determined to give their disabled son a whole and vital life. In the midst of a great burden, one small child – with a seemingly endless supply of love – is the blessing that holds a family together.

Inspired by the photographs of the Farm Security Administration growing up, Lynn Johnson has spent nearly 35 years as a photojournalist working for LIFE, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and various foundations.

Resetting the Table takes a unique, personal look at the impact Starbucks’ Create Jobs for USA program has had on the American Mug & Stein pottery facility in East Liverpool, Ohio.

Hungry Horse captures the spirit of renewal, peace and serenity through stunning landscapes and intimate oral histories.

Using humor and a love of fantasy, "The Amazing Amy" Harlib connects with audiences through performing strenuous yoga-based contortion acts in New York City.

In many countries, girls as young as eight are forced into marriage by their families, culture and economic situation. This practice destroys their chance at education leading to tragic results.

Surreal and mysterious, North Korea was a black hole to outsiders wanting a glimpse of the country. That all changed in 2012, when AP photographer David Guttenfelder led the opening of the bureau's newest office inside the North Korea.

Virginia Gandee's brilliant red hair and dozen tattoos belie the reality of this 22-year-old's life. Inside her family's Staten Island trailer her caregiving goes far beyond the love she has for her daughter.

Based on 14 trips to Afghanistan between 1994 and 2010, A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan is the work of photojournalist Seamus Murphy. His work chronicles a people caught time and again in political turmoil, struggling to find their way.

In Rwanda, in 1994, Hutu militia committed a bloody genocide, murdering one million Tutsis. Many of the Tutsi women were spared, only to be held captive and repeatedly raped. Many became pregnant. Intended Consequences tells their stories.

To those who serve in the armed forces, what is the aftereffect of war? The Marlboro Marine is photographer Luis Sinco's portrait of Marine Corporal James Blake Miller, whom he met in Iraq. For Miller, coming home has been its own battle.

Zakouma National Park is one of the last places on earth where elephants still roam by the thousands. In a land where poachers will slaughter the huge animals for their tusks alone, it takes armed guards to keep them safe.

Kingsley's Crossing is the story of one man's dream to leave the poverty of life in Africa for the promised land of Europe. We walk in his shoes, as photojournalist Olivier Jobard accompanies Kingsley on his uncertain and perilous journey.
The MediaStorm Platform is an advanced video platform that extends the user experience beyond linear video to include the interactive capabilities of the Internet.
The MediaStorm Platform is an advanced video platform that extends the user experience beyond linear video to include the interactive capabilities of the Internet.
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