A sense of “overcrowding” quickly becomes apparent upon discovering Eyjafjallajökull in southern Iceland. Too beautiful to be true, the volcano is too vast to circle in a single day, too wild not to unsettle those tackling its green or bluish slopes, too perfect for a photographer seeking to capture its essence.
Juuso Westerlund traveled there in June. He described how he widened his eyes at the postcard scenery before him, realizing how difficult it would be to find an original perspective on such an overexposed subject; all that was missing was a stamp and postmark to make it official.
The hordes of tourists converging here daily unwittingly create a mise en abyme. “Waving their smartphones almost pathetically in these breathtaking, vast spaces, these thousands of ants make their own postcards by photographing postcards – it’s dizzying,” said the 50-year-old Finnish photographer. Disconcerted, he decided to follow these human clusters along the ultra-marked trails that crisscross the imposing massif. They all arrived in white SUV vehicles rented at Reykjavik airport “like robots,” moving from selfie spot to selfie spot, never straying from the beaten path.
“Unbearable,” said the internationally renowned photographer, a graduate of the University of Art and Design in Helsinki and a member of the Moment Agency collective, which seeks to capture the everyday reality of Scandinavian countries through a documentary approach. Attracted by the secondary tracks that go across rivers or beneath impossibly high waterfalls, Westerlund at least appreciated not being pressed for time; in summer, the sun rises at 4 am and sets at 11 pm.
New era
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