Helsinki Diversion by Ella Derbyshire

Nikon D80's

When I shot this panorama I was trying to a locate any familiar landmark to guide me back to my hotel in Helsinki. Alas for my hurried state, for many hours I found nothing to orient me to my starting point, but to my delight and to the fortification of my panorama portfolio, I discovered this interesting corner and several other unsought panorama projects.

For this photograph, the painted French street scene first caught my eye, and then I saw the building behind it with those four human figures. What a nice background for my French Facade!

Great. I had discovered a 12-shot pano, 4 high 3 wide. But then I turned to the right, and seeing what you see here, I decided to try this 64-shot panorama, which is about at the limit of my stitcher's ability when I feed it a hand-held, multi-level, wide-light-range panorama.

The building in the foreground, according to my post-stitch, web-based research, is the Old Student House which was built in 1870 for the Student Union of Helsinki's university. This was during the reign of Russian Tsar Alexander II, and apparently he approved the plan himself.

It can be difficult to geocode a panorama that is taken when one's hotel is missing. I knew that I was on Mannerheimintie Street when I shot the pano, and I had the photos of the statues. In the end it was the three blacksmiths that guided me to the correct identity of the Old Student House and the correct place for the panorama on Google Earth.

I hope that you enjoy this effort. If there is a lesson to be learned from the experience, it could be that not all who are lost wander - some stop to take photographs.

The 64 images of this panorama were captured with a hand-held Nikon D-80 and stitched with Autopano Pro. Please take a few moments to wander around a bit.