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Iceland's dramatic landscape — where volcanoes lie beneath glaciers and glacial streams carve through lava fields — has captivated photographer John Welsh, based in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. After 16 years of professional photography work, Welsh has made three trips to Iceland, driven by a profound connection to the Nordic country.

“I just fell in love with the place,” Welsh explained. “It felt like it was home. It just felt right.” His photographs were displayed at the Wayne Art Center through April 24.

Welsh pursues dramatic lighting moments rather than conventional landscape documentation. During one journey along the southwestern coast, stormy weather suddenly broke to reveal light illuminating a nearby island — a fleeting moment he captured before it vanished. On another occasion, he chased a rainbow that appeared between two glaciers but ultimately eluded his camera.

Iceland's extreme weather demands patience. Welsh has spent over a month there across multiple expeditions, experiencing only a handful of sunny days. Winter visits offer merely hours of daylight, while autumn reveals ground cover colors replacing sparse trees.

Welsh explores Iceland's geothermal regions, including Reykjavik, whose name means “Smoky Bay,” and dangerous areas like Myrdalsjokull glacier, which conceals an active volcano beneath its ice.

Edward Savaria, a fellow photographer, praised Welsh's work: “His photographs express the passion of the country” with “a true photographic eye.” Mark Thellman, Welsh's former instructor, highlighted his strong composition and color sensitivity.

Welsh uses digital Nikon cameras and plans to focus on portraiture during future expeditions, exploring how Iceland's sparse population responds to their dramatic environment. He aspires to conduct photography workshops in Iceland.

People's Light & Theatre Company's bistro in Malvern, Pennsylvania displayed photographs of Iceland's natural scenery during summer 2004. The exhibition featured 25 images selected from over 7,000 photographs taken by John Welsh, a professional photographer from Jenkintown who had made six trips to Iceland within two years.

Welsh initially traveled to Iceland during winter 2001–2002 for vacation. After one bus trip outside Reykjavik, he reconsidered his photographic direction. He noted, “I thought, ‘I bet I could do some interesting work here.’” The limited daylight — only two to three hours daily — inspired his artistic vision.

His subsequent visits documented dramatic landscapes including turbulent rivers, fluorescent green moss on cliff edges, and sunlight dissolving into dark seas. Following an exhibition, an Icelandic book printer encouraged him to compile a photographic collection. Though he initially considered including people, he found himself drawn back to landscapes, stating, “I shot more landscapes...this is what I have to do.”

Welsh described Iceland as “a country of striking contrasts” with remote, rugged terrain outside Reykjavik. His approach to photography emphasized adaptation rather than waiting for ideal conditions. He explained, “I'll shoot in the rain, I'll shoot under gray skies. I adapt to the conditions.”

His panoramic compositions depicted muted color palettes of grays, browns, and greens, capturing the island's isolation and desolate beauty. Welsh's work conveyed both literal landscapes and spiritual dimensions through his unique perspective and technical skill.

John Welsh hopes his latest work will encourage people to see Iceland in a new light. Welsh, a Philadelphia photographer, has made six trips to Iceland over the last two years, capturing the country's landscape. Welsh's forte since embarking on his career in 1987 was taking pictures of people, first in fashion, then in photojournalism. “I never became a hard-core journalist,” he says, “but I still think in terms of telling a story.”

During a trip to Iceland, he says on his website: “I knew I had to return. The strange yet incredible scenes I found in Iceland's empty spaces fed my desire to explore.”

An Exhibit and a Book

The result was 7,000 photographs, from which he has drawn an exhibit, Iceland: Another Take, and an upcoming book by the same name. The exhibit appeared at Scandinavian Fest in Edison, New Jersey, and featured 25 photos.

He plans to publish the book himself, aiming to include 50 photos. “The choice to self-publish was made so I could keep the content true to my experiences,” he says. “Most books on Iceland I have seen contain spectacular scenes and are photographed very well. My experiences are very different, and I think this is the strength of the work.”

Welsh notes that his greatest challenge was probably what Iceland is famous for: the unpredictable weather. “I learned not only to deal with it, but to use it to my advantage (even though it can be tough on photographic equipment).”

Chasing Unpredictable Light

Welsh recounts a memorable moment near &Thorn;ingvallavatn during a storm. After driving along a twisted road, “the road suddenly straightened, and the lake appeared on the horizon. Almost perfectly timed, the storm halted, and a single beam of sunlight broke through the clouds and illuminated one of two islands in the lake.” He managed to capture several shots during this brief window of perfect light before the weather shifted again.

Welsh plans to return to Iceland, possibly that winter, to visit friends. Regarding future projects, he speculates about pursuing a similar photographic style applied to Hawaii, exploring volcanic landscapes in a tropical setting.

Usually, when you attend an event in Radnor, you see John Welsh, a long-time local photojournalist, taking photos. However, at an event last Friday, it was John Welsh himself who was the featured artist.

February 23 marked the opening of Welsh's exhibit, “Icelandic Travels,” held in the gallery in the Connelly Center on the Villanova University Campus. The exhibit is composed of thirty-four photographs culled from over 8,000 images taken during seven trips to Iceland in the past five years.

From Photojournalist to Landscape Artist

What can compel a man who has been a photographer of people for 20 years to become a landscape photographer? Welsh says “the landscape of Iceland” proved irresistible. Initially curious after reading about Iceland in guidebooks while traveling Scandinavia in 1993, he made his first brief visit in winter 2001, then returned in spring 2002 to begin documenting the terrain.

“To a visitor, it is the landscape which speaks with the loudest voice,” Welsh noted in a 2006 Canadian newspaper interview.

Iceland's significance lies in its location where European and North American tectonic plates collide — an ideal subject for a journalist-photographer drawn to where “the landscape is being made and remade.”

A Multi-Layered Experience

Welsh's exhibition incorporates multiple sensory elements. Beyond framed photographs and accompanying text, he includes smaller versions of related images. Live brass music accompanied the opening reception, while some displays feature classical guitar adaptations of ancient Icelandic folk melodies.

Welsh describes his time in remote Icelandic locations as contemplative, mindful of local lore and the “palpable spirit” permeating the landscape. He emphasizes the Icelandic people's respect for their volatile environment.

The Ambassador of Iceland to the United States, Albert Jónsson, attended the opening. The exhibition ran through April 12.

Marc Windahl attended an exhibit opening at the Spirit Room in Fargo, North Dakota, featuring three artists exploring Icelandic landscapes as part of the Scandinavian Hjemkomst Festival. The main gallery displayed work by Wayne Gudmundson (black and white photographs from the Askja volcano region) and Gudmundur Ingolfsson (color prints).

Photographer John Welsh, with a photojournalism background, exhibited in the back gallery. His digitally-shot images (using a Nikon D1x) were cropped to panoramic format. Due to limited shooting time, Welsh adapted his photojournalistic approach rather than waiting for ideal landscape lighting conditions.

A distinctive feature of Welsh's work is the minimal inclusion of sky. “Generally, when the sky is included, the photographer is tempted to try to make it look better via darkroom or Photoshop techniques. Frequently, this can result in a sky that looks ‘plastic.’” Welsh avoids this pitfall by excluding the sky when light doesn't serve his artistic vision.

Welsh's panoramic compositions reveal varied earth tones — browns and greens alongside Iceland's volcanic soil — creating visual depth. His rule-breaking compositions include unconventional framings: a canyon with stream running vertically, a single green plant centered in a red-brown former lakebed, and a wet blacktop road capturing viewers' attention through unexpected color relationships.

Photographer John Welsh presented 34 panoramic photographs selected from 8,000 images captured during seven trips to Iceland at the Montgomery County Community College “Images of Iceland” exhibition. The display showcased the country's distinctive terrain, including glacial streams, volcanic rock formations, and remote landscapes rarely found in guidebooks.

Iceland, despite its name suggesting a frozen landscape, is an island approximately the size of Ohio with a population of 300,000. The country features more than 10,000 waterfalls, hot springs, fjords, and green valleys. Only 11 percent of the nation is actually covered by glaciers, with much of the uninhabitable interior consisting of moss-covered rocks from ancient lava flows.

Welsh's interest in Iceland developed gradually. After visiting Mexico in the early 1990s, he became curious about Scandinavia. Following travels through Denmark, Sweden, and Norway in 1993, he began reading about Iceland. His first Icelandic expedition occurred in 2001.

Welsh noted: “This is my 20th year as a photographer and I've never shown until the past few years. I was always working for newspapers and doing commercial work.”

Each photograph featured Icelandic place names and accompanying text describing how Welsh discovered each scene and his emotional response when capturing it. Many locations were accessible from roadsides near populated areas, though others required extensive hiking to reach.

The Multiple Choice Gallery, located on the second floor of College Hall at Montgomery County Community College in Whitpain, displayed the exhibition through August 11. Admission was free.

Iceland gradually captivated photographer John Welsh. His realization came during his second visit to this North Atlantic island nation. “I rented a car and took a trip out into the countryside,” Welsh recalled. “And I realized, ‘this is an amazing place.’”

This pivotal moment occurred in spring 2002. Within months, Welsh returned to begin his photographic documentation. Over the following five years and six additional expeditions, he captured 8,000 images. The culmination became “Images of Iceland,” an exhibition displayed at Montgomery County Community College's Brendlinger Library through August 11.

Welsh's connection to Iceland began in 1993 while traveling through Scandinavia by train. Reading about Iceland in his guidebook sparked his interest. He made his first visit in winter 2001. Though Welsh had spent two decades in photography, focusing primarily on editorial portraiture for Philadelphia-area newspapers, this project marked his initial landscape photography venture.

Unlike conventional landscape photographers who wait for optimal lighting conditions, Welsh employed an alternative strategy — visiting different locations and maximizing available light regardless of circumstances. This approach yielded an authentic portrayal of Iceland's geologic variety, from glaciers to thermal springs.

The exhibition features diverse Icelandic locations: the crimson-hued shores of Lake Kleifarvatn, the striking Dyjandi waterfall, and terrain surrounding the active volcano Hekla. Each photograph includes explanatory captions detailing Welsh's experiences, including poetic observations about storm patterns near Hafrafell.

John Welsh, a Jenkintown photographer, keeps good company.

He's drawn to picture-taking in Iceland's wilderness as if to idealize or tame those primal landscapes — a vivid reminder of the 19th-century photographers stirred by the sheer magnificence of America's Western landscape.

Thirty-four of Welsh's images are now on view at Villanova from among the nearly 8,000 he captured during seven Icelandic trips he's taken since 2001. The show's title, “Icelandic Travels,” gives no hint of the rugged overland trekking Welsh did across much of that volcanic island nation to photograph bleak, even bizarre yet beautiful unpopulated terrain.

Showing his preference for the wide, horizontal picture format, Welsh made these photos to share with others his own sometimes-profound experience of virtually unspoiled, transcendental wilderness, so full of sudden unpredictable changes.

The strength of his pictures comes from their honesty and their ability to make us see and feel what nature still is in that part of the North Atlantic. These landscapes and their exaggerated vantage points — looking up into the sky or down at the ground or way off into the hills — add further to the quietude Welsh felt despite lightning bolts, howling winds and cascading waterfalls. And he has a taste for the dramatic.

The images, anchored in an autobiographical context, have a diary-like nature heightened by Welsh's adding text about the setting as he experienced it to each photo's title and date, instead of letting the picture speak for itself. A freelance commercial photographer, Welsh here seems to be working in the area between documentary photography and art.

Avoiding any feeling of contrivance in this work, Welsh happens upon particular moments in particular places and gently enshrines many of them. So who can deny that Welsh idealizes his subjects in ways reminiscent of William Henry Jackson and other American wilderness photographers of old? Fine show.

Photographer John Welsh from Jenkintown presents Iceland photographs that transcend typical tourist postcards, instead offering authentic glimpses into remote Icelandic life. His images capture delicate flowers on rocky ground, snow-capped mountains shrouded in clouds, and powerful waterfalls.

Welsh's journey began in 2001 when curiosity about Iceland's barren landscape motivated his first visit. Originally approaching the trip as a tourist with minimal photography ambitions, the 20-year journalistic photographer gradually recognized photography's value for documenting his experiences. Across seven subsequent visits, he embarked on spontaneous three- to four-week driving expeditions through small towns.

Reflecting on his work, Welsh stated: “Overall, this project is more about my travels than it is my photographs.” He gravitated toward remote communities of approximately 300 residents, staying in modest accommodations while exploring various seasonal landscapes.

Recognizing how his photographs could educate audiences about Iceland's relatively undiscovered character, Welsh decided to exhibit his work publicly. Each photograph includes detailed descriptions, creating what he describes as a gateway to exploration.

Discussing solo travel, Welsh explained: “For me it is about freedom. There is no noise, no cell phones, no distractions — I find time to look inward.” Walking through his gallery visibly demonstrates this philosophical approach.