‘Farmer Guðjón Þorsteinsson, Mýrdalur, Iceland, 1996’ by Ragnar Axelsson
“The photograph that changed everything for me was an old man with a beard on a black beach,” says the Icelandic photographer Ragnar Axelsson.
“If I was a band like the Beatles it would be my Yesterday, if I compare it to music, which I often do with photography.”
Known for his black-and-white images of changing and disappearing traditional lives across the Arctic, Axelsson is the recipient of the 2025 RPS Award for Environmental Responsibility.
Here, he tells the story behind his well-known image ‘Farmer Guðjón Þorsteinsson, Mýrdalur, Iceland, 1996’, shot while working as a photojournalist for the country’s daily printed newspaper, Morgunblaðið.
“There was a storm in Iceland. The electricity went down, and I heard that there were two farmers, Guðjón Þorsteinsson and his brother Óskar, living out on a farm above the peninsula of Dyrhólaey, a few hours’ drive from Reykjavík, who had to milk the cows by hand. I went to photograph them.
“The photos ran on the back page of the newspaper. Their cows were kind of dirty, so the authorities took their cows away from them. I was so sad to hear that, so I went to Guðjón and said, ‘Can I buy you new cows?’ He was grinning, and he said, ‘Well, I’m getting old and I didn’t want to milk them anyway, so I’m very happy.’
“I asked him, ‘Can I take your pictures now and then?’ I went back a few days later and he was on the beach, looking for a mink that was killing the eider ducks. He was angry. I was walking with him. There was a strong wind, and I was waiting for the moment when the waves hit the rock, and Guðjón was looking at me.
“When the photo ran in the paper, people started recognising my work. That was the game-changer. For exhibitions now, everybody asks for that photo.
“It also changed everything for him because he got a lot of attention and roles in two or three films and advertisements. When he got paid for a film, he called me and said, ‘You’ve got money here. They paid me so much money. It’s your money, not my money.’
“In the end we became very good friends. Whenever I passed his home, three hours from the city where I live, I always took food for him. He died from cancer. He was much older than me, but I really liked him, and I love that picture too.”
The Hunter from Ittoqqortoormiit: Tradition and Survival in Greenland by Ragnar Axelsson is published by Kehrer Verlag. Learn more about Axelsson in the January-March 2026 issue of the RPS Journal.
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