Fredrik Bruno on Flickr Commons

Skanstull in Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Fredrik Bruno, 1943

The 1940:s in Sweden and Norway – in colour! The Swedish National Heritage Board presents a new collection on Flickr Commons with photos by Fredrik Daniel Bruno (1882-1971), who was a town engineer in Hudiksvall in the northern part of central Sweden. He was also a diligent amateur photographer.

Fredrik Bruno took colour photos on travels around Sweden and Norway in the 1940:s and early 1950s, loading his camera with either Kodachrome or Agfacolor diapositive film. Most of the travels in Sweden were probably official and related to his profession. His field of interest as a town engineer is well reflected in the frequent motifs of towns and cities, buildings and public parks. Sweden’s two largest cities Stockholm, the capital, and Göteborg (Gothenburg) are well represented. Some photos are from the Swedish countryside and some are from Norway. The Norwegian photos, all from 1948, show towns and landscapes. They seem to be from a private holiday trip.

Röros, Norway. Photo: Fredrik Bruno, 1948

The new collection “Fredrik Bruno“ is arranged in two sets, “Sweden“ and “Norway“. Most of the photos are from the 1940:s, a few are from the early 1950:s.

Some of the photos from Sweden will be linked in the description field to a recent photo in our photo database, showing exactly the same view in 2010-2011. These photos are taken within a project at the Swedish National Heritage Board, where selected views catched by Fredrik Bruno have been photographed anew to illustrate change (or lack of change) over time, mostly in the urban environment.

Join us on a colourful trip around Sweden and Norway! Hope you’ll enjoy – we really look forward to share these photos with you, and we hope to see comparative photos in the comments. :)

Stigbergskajen quay in Göteborg (Gothenburg), Sweden. Photo: Fredrik Bruno, 1944

>> Anna Boman works with Flickr Commons at the Swedish National Heritage Board