Jukka Gröndahl: When Small Things Became Great – Press Photos from a Golden Age

VB Photographic Centre’s autumn exhibition features photojournalist Jukka Gröndahl’s (b. 1958) first major solo exhibition, ”When Small Things Became Great – Press Photos from a Golden Age”. The exhibition brings together press photographs Gröndahl took in Finland, and the surrounding region, for Helsingin Sanomat between 1983 & 1994. Gröndahl calls this period his own golden age, as it forms a self-contained, coherent body of photojournalism that is distinctly his own. He favors shooting in the existing light, and the photographs reflect his drive to make images that are clear and insightful, without ever losing sight of good-natured humor whenever it was possible.

The photographs in the exhibition were published during a time when the Finnish newspaper industry was at the height of its power. Money poured into the newspaper companies through every door and window. Circulation figures were at their peak and advertising sales were flourishing. This gave photographers and journalists tremendous freedom to choose and develop their own story ideas. It’s fair to say there was no subject too small to become a full broadsheet-page feature in Helsingin Sanomat. Among the things that made it into print were the topping-out celebration for a new water-intake pipe at a fish farm in Enonkoski, and a July children’s swimming school in Kuhmo. Gröndahl was fortunate to live and work in northern and southeastern Finland during those years — working out of a major national newspaper’s small regional offices in Oulu and Lappeenranta produced a different kind of imagery than working out of the main editorial office in Helsinki would have.