Trust the process (2021), 1/8 + 3 AP, photographer Kati KalkamoAll life above all (2021), 1/8 + 3 AP, photographer Kati Kalkamo
I’ve been asked why I choose to photograph nature and why there is almost never people in my photographs.
In nature I recharge my batteries. But I get exhausted after social events. And I would rather choose a good walk in the forest than a really big party. I like trees more than many people.
I’ve always had hard time to relate with people and to fit in. But in nature I can always find something to relate.
I can find stories and personalities that intrigue me everywhere. And I can get really excited about a fallen leaf or a twig and get my imagination flying.
This photograph is from one of my favorite photo spots, a ditch bank, on a quiet road near a popular outdoor trail. I am fascinated by the place’s invisibility and insignificance to our appreciative gaze. And how abundant and diverse the plants flourish next to each other.
Everything has its own place, its own personality, its own voice. They share the space, even though they compete for light, resources and space, while at the same time allowing everyone to flourish.
I found this withered grass just a few dozen meters away from my doorstep.
I could have stared and photographed it for hours. I was fascinated by how the light played on the grass, how the grass formed abstract patterns before my eyes. Like it was drawn by nature.
We look for beauty from vanishing untouched nature. We value nature with our eyes and seek for something breathtaking, something big, predefined beauty and value. The beauty of nature is all around us, even close by and unnoticeable, vanishing and fleeting. In nature, everything has its place, its own personality and its own story.
We need to learn to look close and see value and beauty even in the unnoticeable and insignificant. Which is as meaningful and as valuable as the magnificent landscapes and untouched nature.
There’s so much noise in this world. It prevents us from seeing, from being present.
I used to drive by this tree frequently, sometimes daily. It grew by an intersection of a busy road.
It still remains there but a big part of it has fallen and been removed. I think it must have been passed by millions of times, and probably hardly ever noticed.
Photographer Kati Kalkamo’s Elegance of a Ditch exhibition opened on 22nd of July at Naantalin taidehuone. Exhibition is open 22.7.–10.8.2025 at Naantalin taidehuone.
Place for everything (2015), 1/8 + 3 AP, 60 x 90 cmElegance of a ditch (2017), 1/8 + 3 AP, 60 x 90 cmI am here (2018), AP 1/3 (8 + 3 AP), 60 x 90 cmWhen we didn’t waste our time waiting (2017), 1/8 + 3 AP, 90 x 60 cmNow you can see me (2016), AP 1/3 (8 + 3 AP),90 x 60 cmIt all has a worth (2015), 1/8 + 3 AP, 60 x 90 cmYou won’t get lost if you know yourself (2018), 1/8 + 3 AP, 60 x 90 cmTrust the process / All life above all (2021), 1/8 + 3 AP, 60 x 90 cm,
Elegance of a ditch
We look for beauty from vanishing untouched nature. We give value to nature with our eyes and seek for something breathtaking, something big, predefined beauty and value. The beauty of nature is all around us, even close by and unnoticeable, vanishing and fleeting. In nature, everything has its place, its own personality and its own story.
Elegance of a Ditch exhibition celebrates nature’s imperceptible beauty in ditches, roadsides, banks of ponds and wastelands. These burst with life, seizing the moment, and radiate life’s fleeting elegance. With my photographs I want to give my subjects a possibility to be seen.
We look for beauty from vanishing untouched nature. We give value to nature with our eyes and seek for something breathtaking, something big, predefined beauty and value. The beauty of nature is all around us, even close by and unnoticeable, vanishing and fleeting. In nature, everything has its place, its own personality and its own story.
Elegance of a Ditch exhibition celebrates nature’s imperceptible beauty in ditches, roadsides, banks of ponds and wastelands. These burst with life, seizing the moment, and radiate life’s fleeting elegance. With my photographs I want to give my subjects a possibility to be seen.
The artworks are part of a larger series. The photographs were taken between 2014 and 2021.
Exhibition is open 22.7.–10.8.2025.
“For me taking photographs is a form of storytelling. It’s my love story to the world and my way to see the world deeper.”
“I want to speak for nature’s intrinsic value and imperceptible beauty and to increase the appreciation of nature with my photographs. Nature gives strength and perspective to life. We are part of nature. Diverse and healthy nature is also an investment to our own wellbeing.”
