Arctic White

2000 - ongoing

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My passion for Arctic landscapes began over 20 years ago when I first travelled north of the Arctic Circle to trek through the Scandes mountain range. I was just 19 years old and had never before experienced that just being in a landscape could have a profound impact on my spirit - not just my immediate state of mind, but also to alter the life path that I had envisioned for myself. That very first visit turned into one of many journeys to explore the various biomes that make up the northernmost parts of our world. I remember that moment that altered my life with perfect clarity, I was sitting on a boulder in Láddjuvággi - a valley at the base of Sweden's highest mountain Kebnekaise - observing the landscapes surrounding me. I was transfixed in a tranquillity that I had never experienced before - it was the closest I had ever come to feel at one with the world that surrounded me. After an extended time just sitting there on that boulder, I picked up my notebook and wrote down a note to myself so that I would always remember that experience. One particular paragraph stands out as relevant even today, over 20 years later:

“I feel divinity in these landscapes with mountain rock of the deepest black, valley moss and shrub of the lushest green, streams with the clearest water, and the most ethereal light from the skies above. I don’t believe in any god, but I believe in the divinity of these landscapes.”

Since that transformative moment, I have continued to travel north to Sweden, Norway and Greenland year after year, continuously expanding my understanding and photography of these ever-changing Arctic landscapes.

Arctic White is a collection of photographs from my journeys to these regions in wintertime. Winter in the northernmost parts of the world can be harsh and photographing in such conditions is challenging. On some expeditions, I have experienced nothing but strong wind, heavy snowfalls and -20°C - 30°C for days on end making photography almost impossible. I have been thrown off my skis by wind gusts so strong that the only thing that you can do is to try not to fall on something hard. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have also experienced beautiful light weather with warm temperatures that have lasted for weeks. The one thing I know is that the arctic winter provides some of my favourite landscapes to photograph. This collection is a celebration of those landscapes.