Michael Wilkins
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A series · 14 photographs

Iceland in Winter

Iceland in the depth of winter, when the day is a few hours of low, sideways light and the rest is dark. The weather took most of the colour away before I could, so much of this set is close to black and white: horses in their winter coats, a blue-morph fox on snow, mountains with no top edge. The White Horse is the first photograph I ever printed big and hung on my own wall.

High-key black-and-white profile portrait of a white Icelandic horse against a pure white background, only its dark eye, ear and nostrils holding the frame.

The White Horse

Iceland · 1 of 14

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 · 2 of 14

A snow-covered mountain massif fades into a white sky in a near-monochrome panorama, dark bands of rock marking the summit ridges.

Mountain, Erased

Iceland · 3 of 14

Photograph of Kirkjufell in winter, its distinctive steep cone rising above a snow-covered plain, with a frozen waterfall and blue ice on dark rock in the foreground.

The Church Mountain

Snæfellsnes, Iceland · February 2018 · 4 of 14

A frozen waterfall hangs in blue-white columns of ice over dark mossy basalt, snow banked deep at its base.

The Falls, Stopped

Iceland · February 2018 · 5 of 14

Long-exposure photograph of Seljalandsfoss in winter, a single tall waterfall dropping from an undercut basalt cliff into a dark pool, blue icicles clinging to the rock and deep snow banked on both sides.

Behind the Curtain

South Coast, Iceland · January 2018 · 6 of 14

High-key black and white photograph of a snow-covered ridge line, the mountain's dark rock ribs showing faintly through deep snow against an almost featureless pale grey sky.

Low Contrast

Iceland · February 2018 · 7 of 14

Black-and-white panorama of a snow-covered mountain ridge streaked with dark rock, fog closing over the summits and still grey water below.

Ridge in Fog

Iceland · February 2018 · 8 of 14

Black and white photograph of a straight snow-covered road running between two rows of bare frost-covered trees, tyre tracks in the snow leading to a bright vanishing point.

The Avenue

Iceland · January 2018 · 9 of 14

High-key black and white photograph of a grey Icelandic horse in snow, shown from the shoulder up in three-quarter profile with its long pale mane blown forward across its face by the wind.

Windward

Iceland · February 2018 · 10 of 14

Close portrait of a bay Icelandic horse with a thick winter coat and dark wind-blown forelock, one blue-dark eye visible, snowfields soft behind.

Winter Coat

Iceland · February 2018 · 11 of 14

An Icelandic horse's face hidden behind a long tangled chestnut forelock, one dark eye just visible through the hair, against black.

Under the Mane

Iceland · January 2018 · 12 of 14

An Icelandic horse's head emerges from black shadow, chestnut strands of mane catching a thin band of light, eyes soft.

Horse in the Dark

Iceland · January 2018 · 13 of 14

Photograph of a dark-furred arctic fox sitting in deep snow, facing the camera, its near-black winter coat contrasting against a pale white background.

The Blue Morph

Westfjords, Iceland · January 2018 · 14 of 14

A giraffe stands on a wet dirt track in falling rain with its tongue out, a second giraffe feeding in the bush at right.

The next room

Pumba