Arctic Circle Home

I have so many places I call home now. Each time I come back to Lofoten in Norway, I spend time with my good friends who live here. 

There is an extended curcle of expats living in the Lofoten Islands. It seems to be a place where strangers can come and be at home.

I believe that we all have a perfect place to be. 

Some of us have always found home, while some of us have to go searching to find it. 

I think Lofoten is home for many people who aren't from there originally. There is a magnetic pull that draws certain people here.

Rorbu and Snow

Lofoten to me, is an idyl. It holds a lot of dreams for me as a landscape, particularly so in winter. 

With little red fishing huts (known as Rorbu), dotted around the landscape, and towering mountains jutting out of the sea, it is a place where I feel I can explore the possibility of making very romantic landscapes.

Black & White, in Colour

There's something to be said about shooting a fairly mono-chromatic location on colour film.

Returning to south Iceland, I found lots of black beaches and glacial ice. I also found foreboding landscapes such as Reynisdrangar's sea stacks. And then of course, Skógarfoss waterfall, which never seems to be without tourists, demanded to be shot in the middle of the night around 1am. That kind of light brings a mood and also a reduced colour pallet to work with. 

All this I felt, made my return trip to Iceland an exercise of shooting black and white subjects in colour.

Internalising a Scene

When I make images, I'm aware of feeling a connection to the landscape. If I'm in good spirits, then I believe that connection should work really well. But what if I'm not so well?

I came down with a chest infection the day I arrived in Iceland, and at the time, I felt it really hampered my creativity and enthusiasm. But looking back at these pictures now, I think the only thing it hampered was my willingness to carry out the full trip. Coming home early to rest, I had a chance to see these images sooner than I'd anticipated, and I'm really pleased with them. I guess, despite an awful cold, I was able to be objective and still make that connection.