By maintaining links with the people who had publicised my images, I gained a small but growing network of friends who shared a passion for, or lived in, Iceland. A set of black and white images from Iceland’s western fjords region, which I took in May 2009, was extremely well received, and shared by several people, both within and outside Iceland, making it my most popular gallery of photographs to date. Twitter, the microblogging service, and object of the derision of many of the less forward-thinking members of the traditional press, also had a major part to play in the imminent completion of an 18 year long personal cycle. Confronted by scenes such as this, how could I help but rediscover my love of photography? Gullfoss, the Golden Falls I returned to Iceland as often as timeâ€”and my walletâ€”would allow.

In 1999, 6 years after BjÃ¶rk screeched and wailed her way into our lives (well, those of us who were unfamiliar with The Sugarcubes), I travelled to Iceland for the first time, with my partner and our 6-month-old son, and I was bewitched. Until that time my choices of listening had (to my eternal shame) sailed with the winds of popular taste Sting, Annie Lennox, Mike Oldfield, to name but a few and it took this album to make me realise there was so much more out there. Here was this girl from a strange land that to most people only existed as a blob on school geography maps, and whose capital city had an exotic name, coming out with some of the most compelling and original music I had heard for years. Trivially, it was my first CD, but more importantly, it planted in me the seed of my obsession with Iceland and Icelandic music. The album was a first for me in several ways. And what a voice! I was fascinated, and in those days, when MP3 downloads were but a twinkle in the virtual eye of a nascent internet, I had to satisfy my curiosity in the only way possible, by purchasing a CD ofÂ BjÃ¶rk’s ‘ Debut‘ when it was released. A young Icelandic singer was fretting about the odd things humans do, whilst walking through a bizarre fake forest with assorted puppet animals.

In the summer holiday of 1993, during the heyday of ITV’s music video show ‘ The Chart Show‘, my attention was caught by an unusual sight. But there’s no doubt in my mind as to the most important album, one which has arguably shaped the very person I am today. If asked, I would find it impossible to name a favourite album, as the answer changes based on my mood, the weather, and the time of day.

Tune yards and blob opera