Exploring Iceland in Winter | National Geographic

Iceland is full of stories. As a National Geographic photographer, I voyage across the circumpolar Arctic, immersing myself in some of the most raw yet beautiful places on the planet. For this adventure, I'm exploring Iceland in winter.

This time of year, the land is covered in darkness. I'm on a journey to find the rare glimpses of light in the midst of that darkness that revealed just how incredible this place is. Thousands of winters are written into Iceland's glaciers, embedded into each layer of ice as it is formed in the low light of evening. I walk deep into the glacier's heart.

I'm traveling through time. The most ancient ice is the clearest and bluest. The color and shape is what draws me in. As the dim evening light turns to complete darkness, I come upon a wrecked DC-3 airplane from decades ago, revealed by the light of the aurora borealis. The darkness recedes just enough to see the landscapes take shape again.

The small northern island, with its fresh volcanic landscape, is full of the push and pull of mighty forces. Mountains rise out of the sea in dramatic shape. And where water touches Earth, it becomes a sculptor, drawing tracks and trails as it cascades across the volcanic rocks.

As the light of the sun begins to appear again, my journey has come full circle. The light that reaches my camera's eye is just a few photons, but those photons are a million years old, and they speak to me. That's just it. The darkness slows me down.

The photographic process slows me down, enough to listen to the stories that the land has to tell. Free of professional kit and lighting and crew, it's just me and the Oppo Find X5 Pro, listening. And when I've learned to listen, each photograph transcends a single moment, a window into the past that illuminates our vision of the future.