The reasons for our personal preferences can be manifold and are sometimes difficult to explain or even understand. I have never made any bones about being excessively fascinated by certain parts of Iceland. Parts of the interior, in particular, have me hooked. A barren place, dark, almost uninhabitable and often moody. Some might say depressingly so. I would strongly disagree, but that only emphasizes the point I’m trying to make. The “Black Desert,” as some people call it, is—and I feel an urgent need to apologize for this comparison—pretty much the opposite of a Teletubbies landscape. If you’ve never been made to sit through an episode of said show, don’t worry, there is really no need to catch up. If you have, you will probably know what I mean…

Some people compare the black desert to the realm of Mordor in Tolkien’s fictional world of Middle-earth. It may or may not be close to what Tolkien envisaged when he wrote about Mordor in his books. Unfortunately, we cannot ask him anymore, so I leave that judgement up to people who know his work much better than I do. What I can attest to, however, is that the black desert, in the right conditions, can have a very dark, gloomy, almost desolate vibe about it. It is often said that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, and the singular beauty of this place may not be for everyone. So why would I feel so drawn to a place that some might perceive as “depressing.” What does that say about me? Frankly, I don’t know. But I don’t really care, either. I’m more concerned with trying to capture what the place means to me and convey some of the mood in my images. And I know that I will keep going back there. It’s that kind of a place…