Roy Tahtinen’s ‘HearSFound’ Images Are Love Letters to San Francisco – Richmond Overview/Sundown Beacon

By Judith Kahn

Roy Tahtinen conceived of his current photographic series on Valentine’s Day in 2016, when he made “an unintentional pivot” while collecting stones at Ocean Beach.

Instead of pocketing them, he began photographing the heart-shaped stones where they lay, posting one new heart image each day on social media. Since then, he continues to post one photo every day from some corner of the City.

He has always noticed images in objects around him that were not placed there intentionally. For example, he might see a face in a tree, an animal in a cloud, a number in a leaf, or many other shapes that appear in nature or in manufactured objects. Many people have experienced this phenomenon to some degree.

Roy Tahtinen has a knack for seeing hearts wherever he goes. He pairs his heart photos with quotations as “a form of meditation, a method to develop as an artist and an amazing way to connect with people from all over the world.” Courtesy photo.

On that Valentine’s Day, he realized that through photographing these objects in their immediate context, they could be shared more widely. In his ongoing exploration, Tahtinen realized the objects took on added meaning when photographed where they were found. Now, as the photographs become social media posts, many more people around the world can see what Tahtinen sees and form their own impressions.

On a practical level, this also freed him from the habit of collecting found objects and unloading them into the drawers and shelves of his small Sunset District flat.

“I decided I needed to stop this practice when I ran out of places to keep them,” Tahtinen said.

“The concept of focusing on hearts specifically was inspired by Tony Bennet’s song ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’ as well as my personal love for this amazing City,” he explained. “So, in exploring how to combine my unique way of seeing things – San Francisco’s connection with hearts, and my love of the City – I decided, ‘If you left your heart in San Francisco, I am going to try to find it.’”

In 2018, he challenged himself to post a photograph of one new heart to Instagram every day.

“This is when I started the series, HeartSFound,” he said. “And this is where things started to get meaningful.”

Tahtinen admits that while he has produced other photographic series, the term “series” might be an understatement with the hearts, which he’s been posting daily for five years.

Tahtinen selects a photograph each morning and pairs it with a quotation that either reflects the image or contrasts with it in a surprising way.

“Personally, it has been a form of meditation, a method to develop as an artist and an amazing way to connect with people from all over the world,” he said.

Originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Tahtinen worked in advertising and was looking for creative opportunities before moving here in 2000. He is not a full-time photographer.

“I think any fine arts pursuit is difficult to do full time if you want to pay the bills,” he said.

He said he feels lucky to have found a career that fosters and encourages creativity.

“The (advertising) work that was coming out of San Francisco was so original,” he said.

It was the dot-com boom, with lots of money and creativity behind many thriving brands, such as Levi’s, SF Giants and Williams-Sonoma. In 2022, he started working with the brand design team at Peet’s Coffee, his current position.

Tahtinen is curating his favorite heart images to create a book. He is working through how to compose it, which quotations to use to support the images, and how to produce it.

“I started making various collections and playing around with how photos work together and I am letting that drive the development.”

Tahtinen finds the greatest return on his creativity is “showing other people my perspective of the world and having them appreciate the way I see it. This is validating and rewarding because it is so personal.” He adds, “I am well aware that many parts of our lives seem designed to discourage creativity. So, the first reward of being artists or creatives is the freedom to be ourselves and not fight for permission.”

Seaside Buckwheat at Golden Gate Bridge by Roy Tahtinen.

His other interests are traveling and walking, the latter a daily activity for him. The beauty, diversity and walkability of SF inspire him to “walk more, to explore the City and to slow down and see more of what is around me.”

He describes his hometown of Grand Rapids as “actually a really fantastic place. I intended on moving back after a year or two, but I fell in love with the City and have made San Francisco my home.”

Two of Roy Tahtinen’s photos showing heart-shaped holes he observed in wood and rock carved by natural forces. See a large collection of his work at the Hunt & Gather art gallery at 1108 Irving St. and on his website, heartSFound.art.

Tahtinen posts daily to Instagram and Facebook – @HeartSFound.art and HeartSFound.art, respectively – and Next Door, under Roy Tahtinen, offering a positive, bright spot on the often contentious social media platform. His largest current physical installation is showing in the Sunset District at Hunt & Gather, located at 1108 Irving St. There, you can find framed prints along with bookmarks and greeting cards. Tahtinen’s cards and prints are also found in little shops around San Francisco, but he hopes to find wider distribution.

Tahtinen said his book will be a love note to San Francisco.

“I am inspired by those who left their hearts here,” he said. “There are so many shapes a heart can come in. It can be broken or whole. Wet or dry. Positive or negative. Symmetrical or eclectic. All beautiful in their own way. So, the book is also a celebration of diversity and inclusion. We are all so different, yet at the same time, we are all the same.”

See his work at heartsfound.art.

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