A year in Reykjavík
I worked in Reykjavík from January to November 2000. Everything they say about the light is true. It is dynamic. You endure low cloud, blasts of sleet and rain, and blown volcanic dust, but there are many days to enjoy its amazing purity. Over the year you pass quickly from the endless evenings of midsummer to autumn's forced march into the dark. Left, two Reykjavík churches. Name unknown in the foreground; behind, the concrete spire of the Hallgrimskírkja, the city's most prominent place of worship.
Above: Summer house on Elliðavatn on the outskirts of the city, in early June. The Lupins were introduced to fix nitrogen and they liked it here. >The Laugardalur public swimming pool on an October morning. People swim in the frost, the snow and the dark. >Outlook tower on the old harbour breakwater, September evening.
From the tower of the Hallgrimskírkja, a wild February day when the structure shook and I wondered how rough the flight home would be. We're looking NE across old town houses and new apartment blocks to the sound and the tip of Viðey, a flat island with a monastic history. On the far shore is the sprawling mountain of Esja, the background to every view from Reykjavík's waterfront.
Above:
September: fishermen return to the Gamla Höfnin, the old harbour. Container ships don't dock here but fishing boats, cruising yachts, whaleboats, fishery protection vessels and cruise liners all do. >The Sun Ship on a midsummer evening.