These photos are snapshots of what I found most intriguing about Iceland; the contrast between the inhospitable land and the bubbly Scandinavian aesthetic in many of the small societies lining the coast. A few pastel-coloured rooftops here, a couple sporting neon-coloured sneakers there. Every so often a plump church with a bright red roof. All set against a backdrop of geological formations only recently churned up from the earth’s interior. A country that in places resembles a cold version of Mordor, but which is certainly not inhabited by Orcs (although the stories about trolls roaming the place is another chapter entirely).