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Photography and Text by Huiping Tina Zhong, Copyright 2020
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Remembering Iceland in the Time of Pandemic
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At the beginning of 2020, no one could have foretold what happened in the past several months. The COVID-19 has become a global pandemic, and as a result I am trapped in my apartment, not being able to go anywhere outside these enclosed white walls. After a 14-day self-quarantine in my room because I show some symptoms of a cold, I begin to yearn for the grand exterior, the vast, open world that is behind my 1 m2 window. I recall that I have a ton of left over photos I took when I visited Iceland two years ago, and I’ve been procrastinating over editing them. I pull them out, and once more, I’m fascinated by the beauty of that experience. The icy mountain peaks, the blue water, the hazy steam of the blue lagoon, the ashy color palette of white snow, pale yellow grass, cyan sky and light gray tarmac road. Going through these pictures, it pulls me back to that dreamlike land—the land of ice and fire.
Iceland has been my dream destination since my middle school years. I’ve seen countless dramatic photos of the grandiose landscape and colorful sky of Iceland. However, when I arrived at Iceland together with my long-time friend from middle school, the Iceland that I imagined was not exactly the same as what I saw. Because it was winter when I visited, the days are short (from 11am-3pm) and daylight is quite dim. Wintertime is not a popular tourism time for Iceland, hence for most of the time, our tiny bus of 10 people was the only vehicle traveling in the grand color field of light gray, icy-blue, pale yellow, and white. Standing in front of the silent snow mountains and the roaring waterfalls, I felt incredibly small and insignificant. However, at the same time, I felt an incredible connection with nature, therefore I hope my lens can capture the misty, brisk and quiet air of Iceland. In some of the shots, there is my friend facing away from the camera. In some of the shots, there are no people, or there is only a person in the distance. The reason for this choice is that I wanted the camera to be simply an observer of a traveler, of a land, or of a distant memory.
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About The Author: Huiping Tina Zhong is a senior majoring in Art History at Bryn Mawr College. To access additional articles by Huiping Tina Zhong, click here: https://tonywardstudio.com/blog/stories/