ABOUT

These sometimes innocuous scenes—photographed in Italy, France, Denmark, Finland, and Nepal—are often tinged with melancholy and reveal the photographer's poetic universe. His black and white images demonstrate a particular attention to detail, to the light that shapes spaces, to the silent expanses in which a human or animal presence suddenly emerges. The strong presence of nature, the mimicry between the flight of birds, the movement of trees in the wind, the weight of snow, the expanse of clouds... give his images the evocative power of visual tales.

Contemplating the world through Pentti Sammallahti's lens reveals a sensitive, sometimes even lyrical, nature. The experience of the image is twofold: beyond its narrative virtuosity, its use of two-tone, with immaculate whites, like the plumage of its swans or flamingos, confronted with deep blacks, creates a play on textures and powerfully restores a world where birds hold a singular place.