Melissa Heikkilä
This Field Note documents an editorial portrait assignment for Helsingin Sanomat, featuring journalist Melissa Heikkilä, who reports on artificial intelligence for the Financial Times in London.
The portraits were photographed at Heikkilä’s workplace, Bracken House in the City of London, the headquarters of the Financial Times. Access included the newsroom, circulation areas, and the building’s rooftop terrace, which overlooks St Paul’s Cathedral and the surrounding financial district. The location was integral to the assignment, situating the subject within the institutional and architectural context of global financial journalism.
Portraits were made both inside the newsroom and outdoors on the roof terrace. The rooftop imagery places Heikkilä at the centre of London’s financial and media landscape, reflecting the global scope of her reporting. The surrounding cityscape — where modern glass towers sit alongside historic buildings — provided a visual context that mirrors the subject matter of her work, where emerging technologies intersect with long-established political, economic, and institutional structures.
Interior portraits offered a quieter counterpoint, focusing on concentration and presence within the newsroom environment. Together, the images balance scale and proximity, using place to support the narrative without overwhelming it.
Rather than illustrating artificial intelligence directly, the photographs focus on position and context — showing how reporting on AI operates within global centres of power and decision-making. The resulting portraits support the accompanying feature by grounding an abstract and complex subject within a specific, recognisable working environment.
