Michael Wilkins
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Photograph of an Icelandic coastline in winter, a foreground of snow-covered black lava boulders giving way to still steel-blue water, with a long range of snow-covered mountains along the far shore.

The Cold Shore

Iceland · February 2018

1D X Mark II, 176 millimetres, f 5, 1/8000 of a second, ISO 3200

Three bands: lava, water, mountains. Nothing else was offered.

The whole picture is three horizontal bands — snow-covered lava at the bottom, flat water through the middle, the range along the top — and the only real decision was how much to give each one. Iceland does this constantly: strips a view down to two or three elements and dares you to make something of it. Shot on a long lens to stack the far shore up close and flatten the space between.

Part of Iceland in Winter, a series.