Sólfar – the Sun Voyager – Revisited

I say revisited because my first shot of Sólfar was way back in 2013 when we were in Reykjavik for a conference. We had attended a late concert at Harpa and were walking along Sæbraut Road enjoying the grey light over the fjord. We stopped to admire Sólfar (the Sun Voyager) – as most people do – and the picture I took then was for many years my portrait image on WhatsApp. This was before WhatsApp was bought out by Meta. These new images were all taken in early July 2025 – on the last day of our wonderful time in Iceland – when we were taken back to photograph Sólfar and Harpa by Árni and Rut (at our request).

My idea was to try and create a Pep Ventosa styled image by circling the sculpture – taking images all the while – and overlaying them in post processing. But when I was editing them in a 9×16 crop format the stern of the ship soared up and inspired me to try something different.

I copied the image several times and each time I made it ever smaller. Then I superimposed them one on top of the other to give the impression that the ship launches out across the fjord towards Mount Esja and into a land of dreams. Without knowing it I was following the intention of the sculpture: the Wikipedia entry says “Sun Voyager is described as a dreamboat, or an ode to the Sun. The artist intended it to convey the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom.”

Finally, I took the idea one step further and tried vignetting the image to give it a dreamy, misty, and perhaps mystical appearance.

I still haven’t attempted a Pep Ventosa styled appreciation of Sólfar: but if it comes out well I shall share it here.