I like the first photograph. I’d like to see more photographs shot from an insider’s perspective that connect with the title. I don’t get “meltdown” as an impression when looking at these. Why fishing boats? It seems like every Iceland story must have to have one. Why the horses? Aside from the first photograph, where is the tension (putting the captions aside)?

If your title was “Life is mostly back to usual in Iceland” instead of “Meltdown” then I probably would have gone in with different expectations and liked it more.

Anyhow, very nice images Jo! This set of images reminded me of another one published here, Sakhalin by Michael Christopher Brown. Similar approach, both very, very good. Congrats!

And a warning to potential visitors to Iceland: don’t be fooled by Icelandic economic meltdown, it is still very pricey! Especially in Reykjavik.

Best,
Veba

I also feel that in most cases, you’ve got the balance right between mood and feeling, as you put it above, and information. There are a few images, however, where it seems to me you’ve missed opportunities, and a couple where the balance seems off to me. This is all just opinion and preference, of course, but I’ll try to explain, as I believe more attention could be paid to good captioning on many essays, here on Burn and elsewhere.

Under the third image, you’ve put enough description for us to understand what’s happening, and you’ve also provided some broader context about the activity within the political, economic and social themes of your essay. For number eight, which is, for me, a purely lyrical image, you’ve given just enough information to understand what we’re looking at; this works well, and there is no need here for more. It could be argued that just the location, or no caption at all, could work equally well.

In the second of this series, your caption seems to be purely descriptive, even “Icelanders drive their jeeps…”, but I can’t identify vehicles or Icelanders in the picture. Perhaps “…; many Icelanders drove to watch the eruption, happy for the change of subject” might work better, basically taken from your later image of the eruption. For the last image, which would seem to me a great way to conclude the series with a lyrical ‘mood’ shot, you’ve chosen to add information about the fishing industry. Yet when you show fishing trawlers earlier in the series, you treat them more as simple mood shots with only a short description, rather than adding the context at a point where I feel it would fit better and add more.

I think the same could be said for number 19, where, instead of adding the bit about “more or less sincerity”, which we can see for ourselves and doesn’t add to our understanding, a brief point about the role and current situation of religion or education in Iceland might have been more appropriate. The use of “loom” for the fifth image also seems unnecessary; if they do indeed loom, I’d say the picture should show it. As it is, to use ‘loom’ seems forced; it’s difficult for me to get any sense of their looming from this image, and I get the impression you used it more to suit your story than the picture. As for image 24, is it a nice shot of horses to add feeling, or is there a broader point to it?

Again, I think it’s a great series of photographs, but I also think your ambition is more here and the information in the captions is therefore important. Certainly I don’t want to say with this that all images, or all series, need informative captions; some are far better off without any. But where we spend so much time getting the pictures right and agonising over their order, the quality of the writing and its contribution to the overall message deserves as much attention.

Looking thought your blog (wish I could read it !) and think you left out the ‘home run’ image
from the Burn edit that, to me, sums up things nicely.

It’s the 4th image on page 1 and I believe it is titled, “drittkaldt”. Excellent !

I’ve always wanted a Sherpa, mais Chacun à son goût, eh. Actually, I was thinking it would be interesting to see photos of this vast environmental wasteland, maybe something like Edward Burtynsky, but I can’t help noticing that NatGeo didn’t get them either. Is it just not possible to get access to those places?

For those of you who mentioned NatGeo, btw, they did do a story on iceland that included a lot about the smelters, but it was apparently before the financial crisis.

Matias

Being the first colour essay in a while I dived straight into it, missing opening statements and even captions. I was that happily carried away. And my surprise was even greater when I read afterward that it was all about the financial crisis. Had to read and follow captions the second time round.

I reckon this says more about me and the way I instantly and subconsciously create explanations, expectations and “rules of engagement”. In a split second!
I remember the Icelandic collapse, the referendum, the shock, the volcano. Never been to Iceland but I have friends that go regularly, I thought I knew some things about it. And this essay being lovely and so well done, gave me not the remotest clue to link all the above together. Financial crisis in Iceland looks like that? But, what did I expect? Why did I expect to see what I’ve seen before?

A solid work, Jo, and one that has put me in an unexpectedly complex position. I have to think through it, and through my head too.
Congrats.

The opening photograph is amazing.

This image, along with 7,15,and 22 remind me very much of the magic reallist paintings of Alex Colville. The compositions are gentle, formal, and whimsical. Your tonal control is extraordinary, especially in 7 and 15. I like the fact that while your tones here are very carefully controlled, there is no obvious manipulations. I also like the fact that you resist the temptation to “correct” every image, #11 for example. One mouse click would make this photograph look like broad daylight, however that would destroy the mood.
I could go on here, there is much about this work that I very much like. Gotta get to work.

Bravo Jo, nicely done.