Iceland: Photos from the North

In July 2025, I had the opportunity to circumnavigate Iceland by van with a friend, using creative writing, filmmaking, and photography to capture the landscapes, folklore, and culture of this dynamic island.

This project drew inspiration from Ásmundur Sveinsson’s Water Carrier statue, which humbly sits in Reykjavík’s downtown plaza. The statue — originally disliked by locals when it was introduced to the city in 1948 due to its appearance — symbolizes the labor and hardship of pre-modern life, exemplifying the resilience of the Icelandic people while acknowledging Iceland’s tumultuous past.

This project attempts to draw from Sveinsson’s creative aim through the medium of photography, exploring Iceland’s contrasting landscape of volcanoes, waterfalls, glaciers, surreal beaches, and more. These photos demonstrate the solitude and hardship of survival in remote, northern areas, while simultaneously exhibiting the diverse color palette present in these varied landscapes.

Inspired by Iceland’s grueling winds, underground grunge scene, mirror-like coastlines, and more, I chose to capture many of my photos in black and white. The juxtaposition of dark and light, ground and sky, and living and dead in these photographs played into the sentiment I drew from Sveinsson’s Water Carrier: an ode to resilient people of Iceland and the truly wild climate of this one-of-a-kind location.