TITLE: Five Decades of Playing with Fire

Legendary Finnish stuntman Markku Eklund is set on fire.

Eklund is considered to be one of the stunt pioneers of Finnish film industry with a body of work that includes films such as The Romanov Stones (Romanovin kivet, 1993) and The Real McCoy (1999).

"Human torch" Eklund made his first fire stunt in the early 1980´s at the age of 12. He never got hurt by flames.

Photo was taken on 16th of March 2022. The one-minute-stunt was done under supervision at the Haukilahti beach in Espoo, Southern Finland.

AUTHOR: Toni Rasinkangas (Finland)

Toni Rasinkangas is a Hämeenlinna-based (Southern Finland) photographer and a journalist, working for newspaper Hämeen Sanomat.



Awards

2023
-Tokyo International Foto Awards: Gold
-Paris Photo Prize: 2 x Gold, Bronze
-International Photo Awards: Honorable Mention (Official Selection)
-Budapest International Foto Awards: Honorable Mention

2022
-Tokyo International Foto Awards: Gold (People/Lifestyle), Silver (Editorial/Personality).
-Monovisions Photography Awards: Silver (photojournalism), Honorable Mentions (Fine Art, People).
-Monochrome Awards: Honorable Mentions (Photojournalism (book selection), Portrait)
-International Photo Awards IPA: Honorable Mention (Editorial/Press-Photo Essay/Feature Story).