Kristian Kaarna is a European photographer born in Finland. He feels at home all over the world. Kristian Kaarna has studied, lived and worked in international capitals throughout his adult life (Paris, Milan, Helsinki, Madrid, Barcelona, Hong Kong). Today, he spends lot of his time in rural Spain, taking advantage of the remote work opportunities of modern technology and photographing Andalusian countryside.
KRISTIAN KAARNA
PHOTOGRAPHER
Photography is finding beauty in everyday life. It is to get to know the subject. It is detail in a natural wonder
of the world or person in front of the camera. Photography is the art of observation.
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PARIS
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In 1993 Kristian Kaarna started his journey of the photography. He went to study to the classical photography school MJM in Paris where he learned analogue black and white film photography and darkroom laboratory work. The magic of film photography and laboratory work took over him! After that he continued to study modern techniques in Paris, SPEOS in the most advanced photography school. He was one of the first photographers studying digital processes that changed the whole world.
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PORTRAITS
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Kristian Kaarna loves shooting portraits. He thinks that capturing a perfect photo is not merely recording someone's features.
It is showing and telling the story of the subject, offering a vivid sense of a person's real presence. His aim is to capture the deep and genuine personality of each individual.
ONGOING AND PAST EXHIBITIONS
LANDSCAPES
Kristian Kaarna has a passion for
landcape photography. He observes his constantly and acutely. For him, landscape photography is capturing the image that embodies the spirit of the outdoors.
It carries a sense of being there to see something incredible, small or huge. Making timeless landscape photography is his goal.
FILM PHOTOGRAPHY &
STUDIO AND DARKROOM
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The magical art and science of the darkroom
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"In this era of Photoshop and instant digital imaging, it may seem futile to shoot with film or to spend hours in the darkroom printing test strips and adjusting settings to find the right exposure, contrast and colour balance for a single photograph."
But it is magical and the time is well spent! In the darkroom I create extraordinarily complex and beautiful black and white photographs that are timeless."
SUR IN ENGLISH
ART MAGAZINE FINLAND
SOLO EXHIBITION
MUSEO ETNOLOGICO
RIOGORDO ESPAÑA
2022
Kristian Kaarna’s latest exhibition, Landscapes, debuted at the Ethnographic Museum in Riogordo in late spring 2022 which features large format photographs of landscapes from around the world.
The exhibition marks the Finnish born artist’s first solo exhibition in Axarquia, Andalusia.
SOLO EXHIBITION
NELIMARKKA MUSEUM
ALAJÄRVI FINLAND
2019-2020
Integrated Landscapes presents works by photographer Kristian Kaarna. His exhibition aims to stimulate discussion about the beauty of our own area, nature and its observation and contemplation in the bustle of everyday life.
"Beauty is found in our everyday environment. Sometimes it's hard to see the wonderful nature in places that we know so well. Familiarity can make the landscape boring, but we don't pay enough attention to it."
PROJECT LA RUCHE
PARIS, FRANCE
2019-2020
Kristian Kaarna photographed a Parisian artist's residence La Ruche where many famous artists had once worked. The artist’s residence, once the cradle of modernism, is now closed to outsiders, but Kristian Kaarna was invited to stay and work there.
During his visit, Kristian photographed some current inhabitants of the house, known as the Beehive, and the statues found in the park, as well as the shattered splendour of La Ruche. The photographs of La Ruche were part of the Kristian Kaarna’s Nelimarkka Museum Solo photography exhibition.
THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE joined Kristian Kaarna's project for the 2017 Centennial Year of Independence of Finland
2017-2018
Kristian Kaarna's solo exhibition "Under the blue sky" met the conditions set by Finland 100/ Suomi 100 program, as part of the country’s centenary celebrations around the world.

The exhibition was on display at Frame Gallery in Fuengirola from 25 September 2017 to 25 September 2018 and at the Embassy of Finland in Brussels in spring 2018. The Finns achieved independence on 6 December 1917.
CULTURE HOUSE PROJECT IN AXARQUIA
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This project was created to have space where everyday life and art meet, and where indoor interacts with outdoor. It is a place to create images and use traditional techniques with the latest technologies. Here, people can create and learn black and white analogue film photography, use the darkroom and the studio. The project also helps people to make photography in magnificent surroundings.
The project embraces the past and looks to the future. Culture house is a meeting place for art and culture-loving people from all over the world. Sustainable living in a modern world in the countryside!
KRISTIAN KAARNA
Building exchibition in Nelimarkka Museum in Finland
INTEGRATED LANDSCAPES
12.10.2019 - 23.2.2020, Nelimarkka Museum, Alajärvi Finland
KRISTIAN KAARNA
Finland 100 years Exchibition in Frame gallery Spain Exhibition closing