Nature photographer Hannu Hautala's retrospective exhibition
Photographer Hannu Hautala (b. 1941) is a pioneer of Finnish nature photography and the first professional nature photographer in Finland. For over fifty years, he has put on film the Finnish forest nature and its mystic light. Hautala's lifework has resulted in an archive of over 1,5 million pictures, which offers a unique opportunity to explore the changes that have taken place in the Finnish nature over the last few decades.
Eagle, Hannu Hautala
Hannu Hautala's retrospective exhibition "Man in the Finnish forest 1962-2009" is a compact cross section of his wide output since the early days of his photography interest, through his years of professional photography, all the way to his retirement days. The oldest picture in the exhibition is from 1962, taken in his birthplace in Southern Ostrobothnia, and the newest is from 2009, is from his home town of Kuusamo, where he has lived for 30 years and where he has done most of his lifework. In the works he has chosen for this exhibition, Hautala presents the most important cornerstones of his work as a photographer; the light in the North in different seasons and different times of day, the Finnish forest, capturing movement in pictures and filming a rare occurrence in nature.
Hannu Hautala's retrospective exhibition "Man in the Finnish forest 1962-2009" - compiled by Hannu Hautala and the Hannu Hautala foundation - is shown in Berlin: the Finnish Institute in Germany 17.8.-24.9.2010.
Barn Swallow, Hannu Hautala
Man in the Finnish forest 1962-2009
When Hannu Hautala moved to Kuusamo, he found the mystic light of a summer night and the blue moment of a winter day. Related to this theme is the book "A Year in Kuusamo" (1985), published soon after he moved to Kuusamo, it is also one of the most significant books of his career. A whopping 33 000 copies were printed, which brought the nature photographer both financial and artistic freedom. The northern light is also strongly present in the book "A Summer's Night" (1992).
Hannu Hautala has extensively photographed the coniferous forests - or Taiga - of the North, and its species. In 1990 he published a book called "Winter on the Finnish Taiga", which got a lot of attention also outside Finland. During Hannu Hautala's life the Finnish forests have gone through a tremendous upheaval, but what the nature photographer has noticed is that nature is astoundingly adaptable. Capturing movement and rare occurrences is strongly connected to Hannu Hautala's most important subject: birds. "When I succeed in getting a bird into a picture, where you can see the surrounding conditions, the season and time of day, I am very pleased at heart", Hannu Hautala says. One of his favourite bird pictures is the black-and-white "Eagle lands" (1971) also included in this exhibition. Making a book has always been the main goal of photography for Hannu Hautala. His first book "Erämetsän elämää" was published in 1968, when he was still working as a full-time auto mechanic. Hannu Hautala has published over 40 books, and most of them have also been translated to other languages. "My steps have become shorter, but still I am happy as I head to the woods to photograph", states the retired (since 2004) nature photographer. To preserve and protect Hannu Hautala's lifework, a foundation was established in 2008. The foundation is in charge of digitizing and filing Hannu Hautala's slides, as well as presenting them to the public in the Hannu Hautala Nature Photography Centre in Kuusamo, and other exhibitions outside Kuusamo.
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