Claire Anita Aho (1925 – 2015) was a Finnish photographer.
Born in Helsinki, Claire Aho was the daughter of Finnish film director Heikki Aho. Claire's mother, Dinah Selkina, was Lithuanian-born dancer.
She started her career in the 1940s at the Aho & Soldan company, owned by her family. In the 1950s and 1960s, she was an early proponent of colour photography in Finland.
Aho moved to Sweden in 1974 where she worked as a photographer for several newspapers including Hufvudstadsbladet and with Nordic Museum.
Aho's photos have been exhibited in Kiel and London among others. A major retrospective of her work was held in Helsinki in 2011.
n a world of photography almost completely dominated by men Claire Aho emerged with the attitude that she only took pictures - and that was fun - she emerged one of the star photographers of Finland and one of the few women in the profession during the 1940s and 1950s.
An early adopter of color photography, she sold her first print as a teenager and continued to excel in her field - sneaking into Porkkala without official permission to document the transfer from Soviet control and covering the 1952 Helsinki Olympics (as the only female photographer to do so), her photographs are far from conventional and with a life to them not often seen in that era and with an amazing command of color.
She was also an outstanding videographer, making the documentary "Laulu meren kaupungista " to celebrate Helsinki´s 400th Anniversary.
Even after she moved to Stockholm and her retirement, she continued to do work for several institutions who valued her knowledge and expertise. In recent years with much help from her son, her images has once again found themselves in the spotlight, a time capsule of a different era and even today, the pictures stand out.
I am quite amazed by the work she put into her pictures. They have a truly unique style to them - as if the people in them are merely with a friend and it just happened to be a camera present. They are natural in a way that is contrasted by the colors and the composure, glamorous yet almost ordinary in a way. It is a wonderful combination. She also had that special ability to capture common situations and capture the very essence of them as shown by her tremendous work in capturing life in everyday Helsinki.
© 2021. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Claire Aho or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
 |
| Ms. Claire Aho |
 |
Claire Aho at work
|
 |
| Children, Early 1950´s |
 |
| The Woman in the Window, Early 1950´s |
 |
| 4 Girls, Early 1950´s |
 |
| 8 Men, Early 1950´s. |
 |
| Figura Raina V, Early 1950´s |
 |
| Flowers I, Early 1950´s |
 |
| Glamour, Early 1950´s |
 |
| Harbour, Early 1950´s |
 |
Mattolaituri, Early 1950´s
|
 |
| Figura Raina II, Early 1950´s |
 |
| Figura Raina III, Early 1950´s |
 |
| The Children, the Bear and the Fridge, 1952 |
 |
| The Fridge, 1952 |
 |
| Penguins, Mid 1950´s |
 |
| The Radio, Mid 1950´s |
 |
| Carita Järvinen, 1956 |
 |
| Carita with hat Carita Järvinen, 1958 |
 |
| Cotton Rhapsody Elina Salo, 1958 |
 |
1958 Cotton Rhapsody, 1958
|
 |
1958 Cotton Rhapsody, 1958
|
 |
1958 Cotton Rhapsody, 1958
|
 |
| Lady Behind Glass, Clary von Platen, 1958 |
 |
| Surprise, 1958 |
 |
| Me Naiset We Women, 1959 |
 |
| Carita in black and white, 1960 |
 |
| Untitled, 1960 |
 |
| Carita, 1961 |
 |
| The Pension Reform, 1961 |
 |
| Carita in the Field, Early 1960´s |
 |
| Banana Men, Mid 1960´s |
 |
| Marimekko I, Mid 1960´s |
 |
| Marimekko II, Mid 1960´s |
 |
| Stainless Finland, Mid 1960´s |
 |
| The Pool, Mid 1960´s |
 |
| Time, Mid 1960´s |
 |
| Marimekko III, Mid 1960´s |
 |
Hanko, 1968
|
No comments:
Post a Comment