T-Bone Walker in a gorgeous white suit in 1972; Eddie Taylor squeezing guitar strings in 1976; Otis Rush in sunglasses in 1980; Eddy Clearwater in a full headdress in 2013: These are just four of Pertti Nurmis thousands of photographs. Nurmi started blues photography as a youngster in the fall of 1970 when Muddy Waters visited his hometown of Helsinki, Finland. Since that auspicious moment, Nurmi has focused his photography on the American blues artists visiting Finland. Now, 45 years later, Nurmi ‘s blues photo archive boasts thousands of mostly black-and-white frames of hundreds of blues artists. All the major blues and jazz festivals in Finland have hosted his photo exhibitions, and overseas his blues photography has been on display at the 55 Bar in New York City, the Musicians Institute of Hollywood, and the Keeping the Blues Alive event in Memphis. Nurmi was also the editor-in-chief of Finlands Blues News journal during the 1980s, and the managing editor in later years. He has been the journals principal photographer throughout the past decades, and his photography has been covered in legendary European blues magazinesIl Blues and Jefferson.
