Pentti Sammallahti

Following on from my research on Henri Cartier-Bresson into his style of black and white reportage photography, I have subsequently come across the Finnish photographer, Pentti Sammallahti. Cartier-Bresson counted Sammallahti as one of his favourite photographers.

Pentti was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1950 into very much a photography family. His grandmother, Hildur Larsson was a famous Swedish photographer for a Helsinki newspaper, Kaiku in the 1900's. He grew up surrounded by her images.

At the age of 11 he produced his first photographs, prints of everyday life in Helsinki and in 1964 joined the Helsinki camera club.

From 1971 Sammallahti began to exhibit extensively in Finland and throughout the world. He is recognised as a master craftsman both in terms of photographic print and also mechanical printing methods.

His book 'Here, Far Away' published in 2012 is retrospective look at forty years of his work and charts his work around Europe, Africa, China and India.

Man sleeping in doorway - Helsinki, Finland 1964 - Pentti Sammallahti 

I have looked at many of Sammallahti's photographs online and one that stands out to me is one that he took when he was only 14 in his native Finland.  Called 'Man sleeping in doorway' I was taken by its simplicity, the horizontal and vertical lines of the door frame, wooden panels and bricked pavement. The man asleep oblivious to the birds pecking at the ground a metre or so away.

This photograph, demonstrates many of the principles I have learnt about in the the previous exercises dealing with elements of design.