Patrick Lefèvre first travelled to Iceland in February 2024. Vetur: Frozen Landscapes of Iceland develops that encounter into a study of winter light, snow and the roads that cross an apparently remote terrain. Rapidly changing weather gives the landscape an unstable appearance: what seems empty can become an arrangement of contrasts, while a road supplies a human measure within the white expanse. The subject is therefore both a recognisable place and the way conditions of light transform our perception of it.
The publisher describes Lefèvre’s approach through Pictorialism, a useful framework for considering these photographs as composed images as well as records of a journey. High contrasts and snow-covered forms invite attention to tone, shape and atmosphere. His contribution here lies in turning a first visit into a sustained visual response, rather than relying only on the familiarity of Iceland as a scenic destination. The tension between geographical description and painterly interpretation offers a way into the work without requiring the images to serve as a travel guide.
Published by Kehrer Verlag in 2025, the English-language volume contains 74 colour illustrations across 120 pages. Its 22.5 × 30 cm format and softcover with dust jacket give this landscape study a substantial page surface; the design is credited to Kehrer Design, Laura Pecoroni. These details identify the publication under discussion, ISBN 9783969001905. In 2026, it was one of the books selected through Belfast Photo Festival’s juried PhotoBook Open Submission, with the festival’s Photo-Book Library page linking directly to this edition.
For a collection concerned with contemporary landscape photography, Vetur offers a focused example of how winter conditions can become a visual language. Its interest lies in the relationship between snow, contrast and traces of movement through the land, and in the opportunity to compare that approach with more descriptive treatments of Iceland. The Belfast selection provides exhibition context; the book’s photographic treatment and physical form remain the stronger reasons to examine it.
