Harold Heikkinen (T’65) |
The first camera Harold Heikkinen (T’65) owned was a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. Like many aspiring photographers he honed his skills by taking numerous family photos when
he first started clicking the shutter at age 14. Later, he used that same Brownie to take photos of Elvis Presley when he and the groundbreaking singer served together
in the Army – first at Fort Hood, Texas, and then in Germany. In addition to Presley, Heikkinen has photographed many other entertainers, including Tony Bennett, Johnny Cash, Anne Murray and Neil Sedaka. He has also amassed hundreds of photos of historical importance to the mining country of the western Upper Peninsula, creating a unique photographic archive he has made available to researchers and the public alike.
Born in 1938, Heikkinen grew up in Atlantic Mine, Mich., surrounded by mining buildings, shafthouses, and the lumber mill and broom handle factory where his father worked.
“The lumber mill closed in 1949 and the mining buildings were demolished in the 1950s,” remembers Heikkinen. “As kids, we played in the mining area. When they blew up the mining office vault near our home, the checks, maps and documents went all over with the wind.” The young Heikkinen picked up and saved much of that material, foreshadowing his interest in archiving area history.
Heikkinen captured Elvis Presley during a variety show aboard the USS Randall on Sept. 30, 1958. |
Heikkinen also has strong genealogical ties to the region. His grandparents – Thomas and Anna Heikkinen of Puolanka, Finland, and Joseph and Lydia Rautio of Kestila, Finland – came to Michigan and settled in Atlantic Mine. Many of their children owned cameras, including Heikkinen’s father, Emil, who took many pictures of the copper mining and lumber industry in Atlantic Mine and surrounding towns.
During his hitch in the Army from 1958-60, Heikkinen’s interest in photography grew. In Germany he purchased a Voightlander Prominent 35mm camera and spent as much time as he could in the Post Library darkroom learning how to develop pictures and slides. He photographed Germany on bus tours and also took photos during time he spent in Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Monte Carlo, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxemburg and Holland.
It was on the ocean crossing to the posting in Germany on board the USS General Randall that Heikkinen got his chance to photograph the king – and even gain a footnote in rock ‘n’ roll history. It was Presley who organized a variety show on the troop ship, en route to docking in Bremerhaven, Germany, on Oct. 1, 1958.
“Elvis played the piano while Charlie Hodge played guitar and sang,” recalls Heikkinen. “I was near the piano and took pictures during the show.” Hodge (who Presley
knew as one of The Foggy River Boys) would go on to play guitar and sing back-up for Presley when the two returned to the states. While in the service, Hodge played in the Combat Command “A” Band for the 3rd Armored Division. The man Hodge replaced in the band? Trumpeter Harold Heikkinen, who would continue to periodically see Presley while on maneuvers.
Johnny Cash as photographed by Heikkenin on March 11, 1983, at the Carlton West in Green Bay, Wis. |
When he returned from the service, Heikkinen started amassing his collection of archival photos of disappearing copper country history by first copying relatives’ photos. Neighbors and friends allowed Heikkinen to re-photograph their pictures and even had former townspeople mail him photos to copy.
It was also during this time that Heikkinen began to formally study his passion. After being honorably discharged from the Army in March 1960, Heikkinen began work as
a lab aide in testing and research for the Michigan Department of Transportation in Ann Arbor. While there, he took one photography course locally and a second from the New York Institute of Photography. In December 1961, Heikkinen was promoted to soils inspector with MDOT and moved to Grand Rapids to cover the GR and Kalamazoo districts. He visited what was then Ferris State College and met Richard Hertz in the Graphic Reproduction Technology department.
“The work in the districts slowed down so I was transferred to the Newberry and Crystal Falls districts in the Upper Peninsula,” recalls Heikkinen. “I became tired of all that traveling, and I enrolled in the Graphic Reproduction program.” In Big Rapids, Heikkinen discovered additional benefits to being a photographer. “Graphic Reproduction students were assigned to photograph candidates for Winter Carnival Queen. After photographing all those, anyone would get interested in photography!”
Personal loss led Heikkinen to broaden his interest in the subjects he both photographed and collected. On Dec. 31, 1966, Heikkinen’s mother died of cancer, and in June 1970 his brother was killed in a pickup truck accident. “After that, my photography included photographs from the cradle to the grave – all parts of life.”
While living and working as an engineering specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in Green Bay for 28 years, from 1972 to 2000, Heikkinen continued to use his camera – especially in the many photos of celebrities he took at the Carlton West dinner club.
From the Heikkenin archives: Copper Range Railroad at Freda, 1901-02. Left: Hank Rouleuaby Coupter and right: Jim Hooper at Freda-Beacon Hill. |
Retired, Heikkinen, and his wife, Dora, today live in the Atlantic Mine house he was born in and where he spent his childhood. Because of his strong connections to the
area, Heikkinen wanted to make sure his photographic collections remained an area resource. In addition to donations he’s made to Michigan Technological University’s archives and the Finnish American Heritage Center’s Historical Archive at Finlandia University, for the past several years he has had a photographic display of his historic Atlantic Mine photographs in Houghton’s Dee Stadium from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Gone is the Brownie Hawkeye. Like so many other photographers, Heikkinen uses digital technology. His main camera is now a digital Canon Rebel and instead of a darkroom he uses Photoshop software, backing up his files on a 250 gigabyte external hard drive. “I donated my darkroom equipment to the Finnish American Heritage Center,” says Heikkinen. “At my suggestion, they plan on setting up a darkroom display at a future date to show students how photographs were done in the good old days.”
Like when Elvis Presley was still king.
