Bio
VILLE AKSELI JUURIKKALA (born March 6th 1980) is Los Angeles based photographer from Finland.
Ville Akseli Juurikkala is Los Angeles based rock photographer from Finland. Ville has shot album covers and promo shots for over 100 artists (Slash, Good Charlotte, Nightwish, HIM). He has released two photo books (The 69 Eyes: Route 69 and Nightwish: Dark Passion Gallery). Also he has directed three music videos and one documentary film, Nightwish: End of an Era (2008).
A photographic prodigy, Ville took up band photography while in high school after finishing. Soon after graduating, he turned his hobby into a formal career through several hefty assignments for popular music and lifestyle magazines. His work has been published in nearly all international music publications and he has been working as a contributing photographer for such international magazines as Metal Hammer (UK and Germany), Burrn (Japan), and Alternative Press (US).
While on the job, Ville is known to be fast, funny and extremely disciplined - a combination which enables his subjects the comfort to relax, while showing their wild side. A nature child in spirit, Ville is a self-taught photographer. His sense of color and proportion seem to come from within. If you've ever seen Ville at work, you can tell there is a bit of magic in the air. It's like watching a game without rules. He is spontaneous in his method, letting his eyes be his guide. Without any pre-visualization technique, or the exact science of trendy aesthetics, his images emerge through pure feeling. Through the lens, Ville can transform any ordinary situation into an intrinsically beautiful image.
By the age of 27 he gained himself a reputation as THE rock photographer of Finland. His images literally painted the pages of all music magazines in Finland. September 2007 was a busy month for finnish music industry, four out of five top5 bands, Apocalyptica, Hanoi Rocks, HIM, Nightwish, released their albums on the same month. Each had a different international record company (American, German and UK) and they were recorded all over the world with the top producers from Los Angeles, London etc. But they all had one common denominator, photography by Ville Akseli Juurikkala.
At the end of 2008 Ville Akseli moved to Los Angeles where he has been busy doing his third and fourth photo book and second documentary film.