The series Adventures constitutes works reminiscent of movie stills in which our characters Mrs. O. Haapala and Mr. Helmut Schweinstein appear in a range of scenes taking place at the turn of the 19th and 20th century.

The images show phenomena that were distinctive to the time. They seem fascinating, romanticized, even objectionable. A century ago the world was undergoing major changes: the industrial revolution had brought wealth and technology. Medicine had developed, a new middle class had emerged and equality issues were slowly being evolved. There was strong optimistic trust in the future that was only to be crushed by the two World Wars.

Later on we have seen what the industrialization and its innovations have brought upon us: a polluted planet and cruel wars. The information overflow has made us numb and created a looming dystopian threat. The fin-de-siècle flickers in our imagination as a brass-shimmering era when development advanced without plastic, concrete suburbs or a bad conscience about wasting natural resources.

During years 2008 - 2016 Atelieri O. Haapala's photo booth toured 80 events, including burlesque festivals, vintage markets, historical balls, city festivals, event days at museums, dance festivals, and theme parties.

Atelieri O. Haapala's event photography was both documentary and performative and was inspired by the touring market photographers of 19th century. It was an occasion where audience could enter into a small alternate reality for a moment and pose in front of the hand-painted backdrop in the direction of Mrs O. Haapala (Salmi), while Mr Schweinstein (Melander) operated the camera.

The format of these event photos was inspired by the cabinet card. Both digital photo and photo print imitate the late 1800s' photo that was mounted on cardboard.

Saara’s alter ego

Onyxei Haapala (née Schwartz) is a German-born gentlewoman and the widow of the Finnish inventor Ernesti Haapala. With the death of her husband, Mrs Haapala was forced to find a respectable livelihood appropriate for a woman. So she founded a portrait studio in Helsinki. Photographing people soon became an obsession for the sober-minded pedant, who has an insatiable interest in the various manifestations of human nature.

Marco’s alter ego

Helmut Schweinstein is the scion of a wealthy industrial faily who lost his fortune in the crash of the Vienna Stock Exchange in 1873 and subsequently joined his distant cousin Mrs O. Haapala in her photography studio business. A man with a fondness for amusements, Helmut is able to indulge his urge for adventure around the world in his new duties as a camera operator.