ragnaraxelsson

Photographing the Arctic for over 40 years.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

Mountain horse at the end of the roundup, 1989.

From the book Behind Mountains.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

A mountain horse behind a bale of hay, 2015.
Þórður Guðnason feeds the sheep, 1989.

From the book Behind Mountains.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

A storm moves through Ittoqqortoormiit, East Greenland. 25 May 2025.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

Tóti, Ari, Kristinn, and Kalli, Áfangagil, 1989
From Behind Mountains.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

Kristinn Guðnason and Kristján Gíslason, Jökulgil, 1987
From Behind Mountains, the new photography book by Ragnar Axelsson.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

Mountain herders on Frostastaðaháls near Landmannalaugar, 2008

From Behind Mountains, the new book by Ragnar Axelsson.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

Cape Tobin, East Greenland, 2025

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

Storm season in Scoresbysund. Snow falls heavy. People and animals move with the wind, not against it. They know this world. They have lived with its fury for a thousand years.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

The storm passes. The land changes. A new landscape emerges—for now. But another storm is waiting, already gathering strength beyond the horizon.
Life in the Arctic is not easy. It never was. It never will be.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

Twenty-five below zero, and the horizon holds its glow just a little longer. In Qaanaaq, Thule, the days begin to grow again.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

The days are short, the nights endless. In the Arctic, people battle the unyielding forces of nature. The cold spares nothing. For over a thousand years, this has been a life of endurance and quiet heroism.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

Darkness covers the northernmost settlements as Christmas approaches. Arctic hunters move across the sea ice, seeking their livelihood. The cold cuts deep, sinking to 20 or 30 below zero.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

The young generation in Ilulissat, playing in the sunset.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

In September, I traveled to Greenland, on an assignment for The New Yorker. It was a privilege to collaborate with Andrew Katz, who recognizes the importance of visual storytelling and for the power of photojournalism.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

Fishermenn from Ilulissat sail among huge icebergs in Ilulissat ice fjord.

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

Lónssveit, South East Iceland, 2015

[ragnaraxelsson @ragnaraxelsson1]

The Shadows of years passed on Knarrarnes on Mýrum, Iceland, 1992