Kristján Logason
The Deliberate Eye
I do not go out hunting for pictures. I go out living — and occasionally, if I am paying attention, something jumps in front of the lens and asks to be photographed.
The deliberate eye is not about volume. It is not about the camera you carry or the hours you put in. It is about how you see — and after forty years of looking at the world through a viewfinder, the one thing that has stayed constant is this: I wait for the moment that earns my attention. Most moments do not. The ones that do are worth waiting for.
What interests me most is people living inside their own world — surrounded by hundreds of others and yet entirely elsewhere, occupied by something only they can see or feel. I am drawn to that split second of private existence in the middle of a crowd.
My photography is closer to prose than to reportage, closer to a short poem than a document. A punchline from life catches my eye — something in the light, the posture, the unexpected collision of two things that have no business being next to each other — and I steal it from the flow of time and try to hold it still.
The deliberate eye is not about volume. It is not about the camera you carry or the hours you put in. It is about how you see — and after forty years of looking at the world through a viewfinder, the one thing that has stayed constant is this: I wait for the moment that earns my attention. Most moments do not. The ones that do are worth waiting for.
What interests me most is people living inside their own world — surrounded by hundreds of others and yet entirely elsewhere, occupied by something only they can see or feel. I am drawn to that split second of private existence in the middle of a crowd.
My photography is closer to prose than to reportage, closer to a short poem than a document. A punchline from life catches my eye — something in the light, the posture, the unexpected collision of two things that have no business being next to each other — and I steal it from the flow of time and try to hold it still.
Growing Up Inside a Publication
I grew up in Iceland surrounded by images. My mother edited the local weekly paper, and newspapers with interesting photographs came into the house every day. National Geographic was a treasure passed around like something sacred.
A fisherman named Karl noticed my interest in photography and invited me to his home. In a darkened room, projected onto a wall, he showed me landscapes and flowers in Kodachrome — the colours strong and saturated in a way I had never seen. It was my first encounter with photography as something luminous, something that could stop time and make the world beautiful and strange.
Around town, hand-coloured photographs by Björn Björnsson hung on the walls of many homes — a local grocer and one of Iceland's serious photographers, his archive eventually running to tens of thousands of images. Photography as art was part of the domestic landscape of Neskaupstaður long before I ever picked up a camera myself.
A fisherman named Karl noticed my interest in photography and invited me to his home. In a darkened room, projected onto a wall, he showed me landscapes and flowers in Kodachrome — the colours strong and saturated in a way I had never seen. It was my first encounter with photography as something luminous, something that could stop time and make the world beautiful and strange.
Around town, hand-coloured photographs by Björn Björnsson hung on the walls of many homes — a local grocer and one of Iceland's serious photographers, his archive eventually running to tens of thousands of images. Photography as art was part of the domestic landscape of Neskaupstaður long before I ever picked up a camera myself.
The Moment of No Return
In 1976, at thirteen, I got a Kodak Instamatic and got properly interested in photography. Four years later I borrowed my father's Canon Canonett — and that was the moment there was no going back.
In 1982 I bought my first camera of my own, in Reykjavík, and joined the photo club Hugmynd '81. A year later I won my first award, in a monthly magazine competition.
In 1985, at twenty-two, I bought my first semi-professional Canon specifically to photograph the Live Aid concert in London. The images ran as a front page and a spread in an Icelandic newspaper — my first real publication.
In 1982 I bought my first camera of my own, in Reykjavík, and joined the photo club Hugmynd '81. A year later I won my first award, in a monthly magazine competition.
In 1985, at twenty-two, I bought my first semi-professional Canon specifically to photograph the Live Aid concert in London. The images ran as a front page and a spread in an Icelandic newspaper — my first real publication.
Learning Before School
In 1989 I became a press photographer at Dagur newspaper in Akureyri instead of going to photography school — a decision that taught me more about instinct and speed than any classroom could have.
I studied formally later, at Fotoskolan Vasa Vuxengymnasium in Gothenburg, Sweden, from 1992 to 1994, graduating as one of the first photographers in Iceland to present digital photography and digital image manipulation as a final examination.
"Kristjan has for a long time been in the forefront of digital photography in Iceland and is among the first Icelandic photographers to graduate with digital fine art images as his final exam work."
The technology made for a change in course. All the experiments with in-camera multiple exposures and light trickery were about to move into the computer instead — and I loved it, so much that ten days before the final exam and our graduate exhibition, I jumped into the darkroom of the computer age. Every image I had prepared for the exhibition was thrown out. I wanted to make digital images based on short poems I had written to my wife. The digital cameras we had access to weren't good enough, so I had to shoot on film, develop and print it, then scan it before I could start on the final collage — collage because the quality of digital printing wasn't there yet, and computers couldn't handle big files. My ideas had to be adjusted to what the technology could actually do. I had to learn and experiment along the way.
That early encounter with digital tools set a direction I never really left. While my peers were still working entirely in the darkroom, I was already asking what the computer could do that film could not — and what it could not do that film still could. Those questions have not gone away.
I studied formally later, at Fotoskolan Vasa Vuxengymnasium in Gothenburg, Sweden, from 1992 to 1994, graduating as one of the first photographers in Iceland to present digital photography and digital image manipulation as a final examination.
"Kristjan has for a long time been in the forefront of digital photography in Iceland and is among the first Icelandic photographers to graduate with digital fine art images as his final exam work."
The technology made for a change in course. All the experiments with in-camera multiple exposures and light trickery were about to move into the computer instead — and I loved it, so much that ten days before the final exam and our graduate exhibition, I jumped into the darkroom of the computer age. Every image I had prepared for the exhibition was thrown out. I wanted to make digital images based on short poems I had written to my wife. The digital cameras we had access to weren't good enough, so I had to shoot on film, develop and print it, then scan it before I could start on the final collage — collage because the quality of digital printing wasn't there yet, and computers couldn't handle big files. My ideas had to be adjusted to what the technology could actually do. I had to learn and experiment along the way.
That early encounter with digital tools set a direction I never really left. While my peers were still working entirely in the darkroom, I was already asking what the computer could do that film could not — and what it could not do that film still could. Those questions have not gone away.
What the Art World Rejected
Not everyone was convinced. Bruce Gilden looked at the work once and said, simply, "This is manipulated" — and I walked away. The Icelandic Photographers Association took a similar view: it was not photography, as far as they were concerned.
The advertising world felt differently. For two decades I worked as a freelance advertising and editorial photographer in Iceland, with clients ranging from the Icelandic government and the Icelandic Cancer Fund to Geo Magazine, the Daily Telegraph, the New York Post, Corbis, and Playboy. The commercial work was rigorous, and I was good at it — awards followed, from EFFIE and AAA campaign honours to a Myndstef artist grant and a Kópavogur artist grant. But the work that mattered most to me was always elsewhere, in the images nobody was paying me to make.
The advertising world felt differently. For two decades I worked as a freelance advertising and editorial photographer in Iceland, with clients ranging from the Icelandic government and the Icelandic Cancer Fund to Geo Magazine, the Daily Telegraph, the New York Post, Corbis, and Playboy. The commercial work was rigorous, and I was good at it — awards followed, from EFFIE and AAA campaign honours to a Myndstef artist grant and a Kópavogur artist grant. But the work that mattered most to me was always elsewhere, in the images nobody was paying me to make.
On the Road
In 2009 I founded Sjónarhorn, a monthly photography showcase and panel discussion in cooperation with the National Museum of Iceland and the Icelandic Photographers Association. It ran for several years and helped establish a culture of public photography discussion in Iceland that others have continued and built on.
But the real turning point came in 2006, when I left Iceland with a motorhome and spent two years travelling through North and Central America doing street photography. The result was a self-published book, USA My Way — Where Are the People, and a lecture series that toured the National Museum of Iceland, the Icelandic School of Photography, MA Akureyri, and Focus in both Reykjavík and Selfoss through 2009 and 2010. That journey confirmed what I had suspected for a long time: documentary street photography was where I belonged.
Back from the road in 2008, I started studying guiding and tourism at the University of Iceland — a decision that would matter more later than it seemed to at the time.
But the real turning point came in 2006, when I left Iceland with a motorhome and spent two years travelling through North and Central America doing street photography. The result was a self-published book, USA My Way — Where Are the People, and a lecture series that toured the National Museum of Iceland, the Icelandic School of Photography, MA Akureyri, and Focus in both Reykjavík and Selfoss through 2009 and 2010. That journey confirmed what I had suspected for a long time: documentary street photography was where I belonged.
Back from the road in 2008, I started studying guiding and tourism at the University of Iceland — a decision that would matter more later than it seemed to at the time.
Norway
In 2010 I became a photo archivist in Leikanger, Norway, and in 2012 took on a digitizing project for the National Library of Norway. In 2014 my wife and I opened Gallery Vegg in Bergen, inside Hraun art and design, and I held solo shows there of my own work — The Way I See It in 2014, and Color of Travel in 2015.
The Way I See It
I have since photographed across Iceland, through Scandinavia and Europe, in the Americas, and wherever else life has taken me. The Way I See It is an ongoing series now drawing from more than twenty countries — not a project built around a concept, but a record of a photographer paying attention to the world as he moves through it.
In 2016 I began working as a guide and photographer in Iceland, running the company Amazing Iceland — the studies from 2008 finally put to use. I no longer take commercial assignments. The work now is entirely artistic: street and documentary photography, occasional landscape, and the thinking and writing that surrounds it. I shoot less than I used to. But when something happens in front of me that asks to be seen, I still try to hold on to it.
logason.com is where the work lives. The Deliberate Eye is a YouTube series about photography — not about cameras or gear, but about the act of seeing before you pick up the camera. At the moment I am based in Kópavogur, Iceland.
In 2016 I began working as a guide and photographer in Iceland, running the company Amazing Iceland — the studies from 2008 finally put to use. I no longer take commercial assignments. The work now is entirely artistic: street and documentary photography, occasional landscape, and the thinking and writing that surrounds it. I shoot less than I used to. But when something happens in front of me that asks to be seen, I still try to hold on to it.
logason.com is where the work lives. The Deliberate Eye is a YouTube series about photography — not about cameras or gear, but about the act of seeing before you pick up the camera. At the moment I am based in Kópavogur, Iceland.
Credentials
Education
Fotoskolan Vasa Vuxengymnasium, Gothenburg, Sweden — Photography, 1992–1994. Graduated as one of the first photographers in Iceland with digital photography and digital image manipulation as final examination work. Press photography training: Dagur newspaper, Akureyri, 1989–1992.
Publications
2009 — USA My Way — Where Are the People — self-published
1997 — Ljósmál — collaborative publication, 5 photographers and 25 writers
1997 — Trail — book of poetry and pictures (one copy, travelling)
Lectures
2009–2010 — USA My Way — Where Are the People — lecture and showcase series at the National Museum of Iceland, the Icelandic School of Photography, MA Akureyri, and Focus Reykjavík
Art Projects
2009 — Founder and director of Sjónarhorn — monthly photography showcase and panel discussion in cooperation with the National Museum of Iceland and the Icelandic Photographers Association
2006 — Coordinator of international speakers for the Icelandic Photographers Association conference (80th anniversary)
2005 — Coordinator of international speakers for the Icelandic Photographers Association conference
Awards and Grants
2011 — EFFIE — Best ad campaign, Icelandic Cancer Fund
2010 — AAA — Best ad campaign in Iceland, Icelandic Cancer Fund
2006 — EFFIE — Best ad campaign, Honda Motors Iceland
2005 — AAA — Finalist, Icelandic advertising awards
2004 — AAA — Finalist, Icelandic advertising awards
2003 — Myndstef artist grant
2002 — AAA — Finalist, Icelandic advertising awards (Rúbín coffee)
1997 — Kópavogur artist grant
1997 — Epica — Finalist, European advertising awards
1996 — Epica — Finalist, European advertising awards
Selected Clients
President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Foundation, Geo Magazine, Playboy Magazine, New York Post, National Museum of Norway, Sogn og Fjordane fylkeskommune, Icelandic Cancer Fund, Icelandic Government, Corbis, Demotix, The Daily Telegraph, Jyllands-Posten, H:N Marketing Communication
Fotoskolan Vasa Vuxengymnasium, Gothenburg, Sweden — Photography, 1992–1994. Graduated as one of the first photographers in Iceland with digital photography and digital image manipulation as final examination work. Press photography training: Dagur newspaper, Akureyri, 1989–1992.
Publications
2009 — USA My Way — Where Are the People — self-published
1997 — Ljósmál — collaborative publication, 5 photographers and 25 writers
1997 — Trail — book of poetry and pictures (one copy, travelling)
Lectures
2009–2010 — USA My Way — Where Are the People — lecture and showcase series at the National Museum of Iceland, the Icelandic School of Photography, MA Akureyri, and Focus Reykjavík
Art Projects
2009 — Founder and director of Sjónarhorn — monthly photography showcase and panel discussion in cooperation with the National Museum of Iceland and the Icelandic Photographers Association
2006 — Coordinator of international speakers for the Icelandic Photographers Association conference (80th anniversary)
2005 — Coordinator of international speakers for the Icelandic Photographers Association conference
Awards and Grants
2011 — EFFIE — Best ad campaign, Icelandic Cancer Fund
2010 — AAA — Best ad campaign in Iceland, Icelandic Cancer Fund
2006 — EFFIE — Best ad campaign, Honda Motors Iceland
2005 — AAA — Finalist, Icelandic advertising awards
2004 — AAA — Finalist, Icelandic advertising awards
2003 — Myndstef artist grant
2002 — AAA — Finalist, Icelandic advertising awards (Rúbín coffee)
1997 — Kópavogur artist grant
1997 — Epica — Finalist, European advertising awards
1996 — Epica — Finalist, European advertising awards
Selected Clients
President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Foundation, Geo Magazine, Playboy Magazine, New York Post, National Museum of Norway, Sogn og Fjordane fylkeskommune, Icelandic Cancer Fund, Icelandic Government, Corbis, Demotix, The Daily Telegraph, Jyllands-Posten, H:N Marketing Communication
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2012 — Familiarity — Gallery Caballo Blanco, Norway
2004 — Big Step (Biennial version) — Gallery VFÍ, Reykjavík
2002 — Big Step — Gallery Icelandic Graphic, Reykjavík
1996 — From the Coloring Book — Reykjavík
1996 — Black and White — Cycloid Phantom Gallery (internet exhibition, by invitation)
1995 — Variation of Anger — digital poetry pictures and BW work, Reykjavík
1992 — BW images of people, Reykjavík
1983 — First solo show, Neskaupstaður
Group Exhibitions
2004 — Paper — LÍ group exhibition, Salurinn, Kópavogur
2003 — Florence International Biennale de Art (part of Big Step exhibition)
2001 — The Cliff — multimedia (pictures, poetry, sound), Salurinn art fest
2001 — Poetry-Pictures — LÍ/BLÍ group exhibition
2000 — In Memory — LÍ/BLÍ group exhibition
1999 — Portrait — LÍ/BLÍ press photographers competition
1998 — Music for Ordinary Instrument / Daily Disco — Gallery Skruggusteinn
1998 — Music for Ordinary Instrument / Daily Disco — LÍ/BLÍ group exhibition
1992 — Group exhibition with photoclub Hugmynd '81
2012 — Familiarity — Gallery Caballo Blanco, Norway
2004 — Big Step (Biennial version) — Gallery VFÍ, Reykjavík
2002 — Big Step — Gallery Icelandic Graphic, Reykjavík
1996 — From the Coloring Book — Reykjavík
1996 — Black and White — Cycloid Phantom Gallery (internet exhibition, by invitation)
1995 — Variation of Anger — digital poetry pictures and BW work, Reykjavík
1992 — BW images of people, Reykjavík
1983 — First solo show, Neskaupstaður
Group Exhibitions
2004 — Paper — LÍ group exhibition, Salurinn, Kópavogur
2003 — Florence International Biennale de Art (part of Big Step exhibition)
2001 — The Cliff — multimedia (pictures, poetry, sound), Salurinn art fest
2001 — Poetry-Pictures — LÍ/BLÍ group exhibition
2000 — In Memory — LÍ/BLÍ group exhibition
1999 — Portrait — LÍ/BLÍ press photographers competition
1998 — Music for Ordinary Instrument / Daily Disco — Gallery Skruggusteinn
1998 — Music for Ordinary Instrument / Daily Disco — LÍ/BLÍ group exhibition
1992 — Group exhibition with photoclub Hugmynd '81
In Short
Kristján Logason is an Icelandic photographer based in Kópavogur. His work spans street and documentary photography across more than twenty countries, gathered in the ongoing series The Way I See It. He has been working with photography for over forty years — as a press photographer, an advertising photographer, and now as an artist working entirely on his own terms. He shoots less than he used to. When he does, it is because something has asked to be seen.