Man and woman work in front of a joint sod hut covered in grass and flowers, near the village of Vestre Jakobeselv, Norway. Taken 1900 by Ellisif Rannveig Wessell, via Preus Museum Commons on flickr.
Living in Finnmark, in the far northeastern part of Norway, Wessel photographed the hard lives of its rural poor. The Preus Museum — Norway’s national museum of photography — compares her to Jacob A. Riis and Lewis Hine.
She developed her own glass plates and used sunlight to make her prints.
Warm summer sun,
Shine kindly here,
Warm southern wind,
Blow softly here.
Green sod above,
Lie light, lie light.
Good night, dear heart,
Good night, good night.— Mark Twain, “Warm Summer Sun“
enclos*ure 