‘The Passionate Photographer’ | Kosti Ruohomaa

Kosti Ruohomaa’s work told the stories of Maine’s people and the rugged lives they led.

When Kosti Ruohomaa looked through the lens of his camera, he saw not only a single photograph but also a story, one filled with emotion, drama, and the complexity of life. Ruohomaa was born to Finnish immigrants in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1913, but moved to Maine at age 13, and, during an international career that saw his work in leading publications throughout the 1940s and ’50s until his death in 1961, it was Maine that called to him more than anywhere else. 

This photo, Trawler Quincy at the Grand Banks, 1957, a gelatin silver print, is now on display at the Maine State Museum in Augusta until July 2016 as part of an exhibition, The Passionate Photographer: Kosti Ruohomaa’s Maine in Magazine Photojournalism, showcasing his remarkable eye for story and understated emotion. Whether you’re viewing the freezing swells faced by Grand Banks fishermen or the steadfastness of a Maine farmer on his well-worn path to a winter barn, once you spend time seeing the world through Ruohomaa’s eye, something will change for you.

Howard Chapnick, who headed the Black Star photo agency, for which Ruohomaa shot many of his images, once said, “The word [‘artist’] is thrown around with gay abandon in photography: ‘This picture looks like a Rembrandt, this one like a Renoir.’ Kosti’s photographs do not have to be compared to the work of painters. A Ruohomaa picture looks like a Ruohomaa!”  mainestatemuseum.org      —Mel Allen

Mel Allen

Now editor at large, Mel Allen's first byline in Yankee appeared in 1977 and he joined the staff in 1979 as a senior editor. Eventually he became executive editor and led the staff as editor from 2006 to 2025. During his career he has edited and written for every section of the magazine, including home, food, and travel, while his pursuit of long-form storytelling has always been vital to his mission as well. He has raced a sled dog team, crawled into the dens of black bears, fished with the legendary Ted Williams, profiled astronaut Alan Shephard, and stood beneath a battleship before it was launched. He also once helped author Stephen King round up his pigs for market, but that story is for another day. Mel is author of Here in New England: Unforgettable Stories of People, Places, and Memories That Connect Us All (Earth Sky + Water LLC, 2025).

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