Japan for me was family on a military base. A day and night with GusgGus, dancing and singing into the cold autumn morning. Crowds that made me feel lonely. A girl in pink in a cafe. Quiet temples on quiet streets. A beehive gone mad under the neon lights while loudspeakers blasted an electronic cacophony out of hell. Leaving the madness for the graceful calm of Lake Kawaguchi. A woman playing music beautifully badly for me. Unseen monkeys rustling the leaves of the forest. Solitude with tea and anime while dressed in Kimono. Nibbling on dried fish. Slipping into the soothing hot water of the Onsen. And finally, the collapse of the Icelandic economy on the other side of the planet. It was time to go home.
Japan, 2008
Year 2000. I discover W. Eugene Smith´s photography. Everything changes. Rolls of film and and my Olympus OM-2 is what I carry, an arsenal in the hands of a novice. I set my sights on the industrial, dreaming to follow in footsteps taken 45 years earlier
Reykjavik, Iceland
Helga trying on a new life at Ikea
2017, Iceland
I breathed in the last of the smoke lifting from the quiet city. It was the first day of the year, and the past, as well as the future, had burnt up in the night.
New years day 2018, Iceland
Some people hike that mountain close to every day. Some people constantly set their sights on new terrain, as if in battle against the forces of time and place. Wherever we go, we all have a common enemy.
Mt. Esja, November 2017 (w. Árni Már Sturluson)