Primordial Landscapes

Primordial Landscapes: Iceland Revealed elegantly explores the diverse and raw beauty of Iceland's extraordinary landscapes through striking images by photographer and naturalist Feodor Pitcairn and the inspired words of geophysicist, author, and poet Ari Trausti Guðmundsson.

This collection illuminates topographical phenomenon shaped and crafted by the most powerful natural forces on earth: rain and glacier melt form thunderous waterfalls and rivers that carve at the earth's surface; arctic snow and ice peppering the land and sea with striking shapes and patterns, feeding the climate and water cycles; lava flows from active volcanoes that build vast, textured landforms where life can begin and take hold. These are the beautiful and extraordinary results of our planet's most fundamental geological processes.

Pitcairn's passion for photography lies in his desire to convey the truest account possible of the natural environments he explores and strives to protect. Each Primordial Landscapes image was made with a digital Hasselblad camera, delivering superior color, detail, and clarity. A map and index provide intriguing geological and cultural information about the content of the photographs.

Feodor Pitcairnis a born naturalist, whose talents as an award-winning photographer and cinematographer convey the wisdom and beauty of nature's most wild environments. Over several decades, Pitcairn's work has been recognized internationally in environmental books and publications, documentaries, film-festivals, and galleries and exhibitions. Ari Trausti Gunðmundsson, renowned Icelandic geophysicist and author, is an active lecturer, documentarian, broadcaster, International Explorers Club member, and writer in the fields of geology, volcanology, astronomy, environmental science, and mountaineering, with over 30 published books. Receiving prizes for science communication, Ari also writes novels, poetry, and Laxness Literary Prize-winning short stories.