The Lonesome Cowboy

There is a haunting grandeur to these cliffs in the winter; they are full of such foreboding that a visitor can be excused for feeling unwelcome. It is no surprise that Game of Thrones has been filmed very close to here in the southeast of Iceland, it ticks many a box for the visually hungry location scout.

A sense of place is often easier to achieve in a photograph than a sense of scale, but both are important for me in a shot like this. Landscape photography is a very challenging genre of photography and not one I have ever really shown much distinction at. I want to tell my own stories and that requires bringing our own props and simply using the backdrop as a canvas. My leaning was to play on the enormity of the scenery and the comparative modesty of man.

The cowboy here was a strong and tough man. We spent a few days together during the snowstorm in Iceland and his word was generally sovereign. There was no need to challenge any of his views on the outside world or indeed on his own world.