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Tim Parkin

Amateur Photographer who plays with big cameras and film when in between digital photographs.

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Hans Strand already has one book published about Iceland, the very lovely “Above and Below”. Why, then, does he need another one?

Well, he’s not short of photos for one and I get the feeling he wasn’t particularly happy with the first book. I think this was an attempt to lay the Iceland publishing demons to bed for once. When I asked to buy a copy, Hans pointed out that it’s a little large and may cost more than the average book just to deliver it. Not being averse to spending on photographic publications I went ahead and underwent a little weight training in readiness for the postman. I’m glad I did as the end product is over 9lb in weight and each double page spread is about 2ft wide (29cm by 37cm)!

I spent a good afternoon perusing the images and I’m not sure whether I’m impressed or disappointed. On the one hand, the images included are great and it’s nice to see some new ones, particularly the snowfield images. However, as an owner of “Above and Below” I already have many of my favourite ones in that publication. However, the size of the book doesn't half impress and there are many magnificent images that I hadn't seen before!!

One of the problems, which may well be a personal one, is that nearly all of the images therein are double-page spreads, which I’m not a fan of - dividing each image with a fold and forcing a crop to fit are something I would prefer to avoid. In a book this large, the individual page images are more than large enough for most images also. Still a personal problem I imagine.

I know I’m a critical viewer though and a few people have been impressed with the publication when they’ve dropped by and if you’re a big Hans Strand fan (with equally big pockets and arms) then this is probably a must buy. If you want a well produced book in a more modest size, have a look at “Above and Beyond”

You can buy Hans Strand’s "Island" from Amazon Germany for 98 Euro.