Photographer Knut A. Aaning (1880-1922)

Knut Aaning was born in Stryn 23rd of April 1880. He trained as a photographer in Bergen and then returned to Stryn to work as a photographer in the Oppstryn area. Aaning most likely worked out of his home. When he died in 1922 thousands of glass plate negatives were stored in his house. When the house was sold the plates passed on to the buyers.

The new owners kept Aanings large plate archive for several decades storing the plates in the cellar. In the 1960s they then decided to demolish the house and Aanings negative archive was moved to a new storage location – the fox farm. A decade later the fox farm was demolished as well and most of the glass plates ended up on the dump. By chance a few plates were saved and later given to The County Archives in Sogn og Fjordane for safekeeping.

Of a negative archive that originally comprised thousands of plates only the 23 negatives presented here survived the years of poor storage and successive demolitions. The poor storage conditions have left the plates damaged by water and mold attacks. However, we hope you enjoy what remains of Knut Aanings photographic legacy. Please add your comments and help us in our effort to identify the places and people depicted by Aaning.