SÍM House Saljavanger – Photo by: SÍM

The term Walkabout comes from the Australian Aboriginal. The idea is that a person can get so caught up in one’s work, obligations and duties that the truly important parts of one’s self become lost. From there it is a downward spiral as one gets farther and farther from the true self. A crisis situation usually develops that awakens the wayward to the absent true self. It is at this time that one must go on walkabout. All possessions are left behind (except for essential items) and one starts walking. Metaphorically speaking, the journey goes on until you meet yourself. Once you find yourself, you sit down and have a long talk about what one has learned, felt and done in each other’s absence. One talks until there is nothing left to say — the truly important things cannot be said. If one is lucky, after everything has been said and unsaid, one looks up and sees only one person instead of the previous two. -Source Unknown

Many photographers are drawn to Iceland for the natural beauty of its landscape. While this is something I do find interesting, I would prefer to document the everyday life of Iceland’s citizens and residents. My work will be a street photography project, documenting the urban environment, primarily in Reykjavík, and surrounds during my Artist Residence with The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists (SÍM) in January, and February of 2015.

We all get caught up in our day-to-day lives, caught up in work, obligations, and duties. I have spent the last five years working in a factory, doing exactly the same thing day in, day out; And I’ve spent the last two years studying photography formally. By taking this project on in my first year out of study this project would be as much about finding myself again as a photographer, as it would be about exploring, and discovering the soul of Reykjavík.

Street Photography is not a series of images displaying the different facets of a subject, or issue. As a Walkabout has no destination, so Street Photography has no specific subject matter. When one leaves the house for either there is no agenda, the Street Photographer doesn’t visualise photographs in advance of taking them. The destination is one of discovery, and both reveal one’s self, and the soul of the place, in the process of wandering.

We are so busy that we often overlook the beauty of the place we inhabit. Sometimes it takes a fresh set of eyes to notice events, architecture, and culture that many locals would overlook as they have seen them before. I will explore, find, and show the everyday beauty that is all around Reykjavík to her residents, and Icelandic culture to the international community.

I will shoot this project in black and white, ideally on Black & White film. I find that colour can be distracting in many photos, and can take focus away from the subject. Monochrome is raw, stripped back, honest, and allows the viewer to see the true nature of the subject.

“Not all those who wander are lost.” -J.R.R. Tolkien