The moment the young photographer, Kristin Leske, enters the Icelandic Pavilion at the book fair in Frankfurt/Main, the largest book fair worldwide she can feel it immediately: The familiar feeling of mystery and magic. A sensation she could only sense when being outdoors in Iceland. Iceland, which is this year’s guest country at the book fair, is introducing itself by a most atmospheric installation and an impressive collection of books about Iceland: Poetry, fiction, photography.

And there it is Kristin’s own photo book surrounded by all the great Iceland photographers like Ragnar Axelsson, Páll Stefánsson, Patrick Desgraupes or Marco Paoluzzo. An unforgettable sight, something she will never forget. Visitors pick up her photo book reverently and turn the pages with growing enthusiasm. For sure, Iceland’s landscape is the guarantee for pure drama. More than anywhere else, it is in Iceland where one can feel earth’s concentrated elemental force. Iceland’s landscapes are not smooth and delicate, but rough and powerful. Iceland’s country side is not flattering, but wants to be conquered instead. It is Kristin’s fine feeling for motif and ambiance that allows her to capture the special magic of Iceland. The visitors are drawn by the unusual perspectives and the courageous and wide variety of the detail views. Kristin’s photos are not in need of photographic tuning. Iceland’s soul is mirrored by those new, contemporary and expressive photos. Visitors acknowledge that Kristin managed to capture Iceland’s magic in a most convincing way. One Icelander at the book fair tells Kristin, that he was moved to tears by the sight of her photos. There is no nicer compliment in the world.

Like every story has a beginning, so does the success story of Kristin’s photo book. Maybe it was this one special moment when it all began: Kristin lying in the wet grass at the foot of Vatnajökull; underneath her the earthquake ridden ground shaking a minimum of three times day, whilst heavy rain clouds above her are driven by fierce winds. The happiness in her eyes will confirm that this was the moment she lost her heart to Iceland the island at the edge of the arctic circle. The moment her feet touched the Icelandic ground for the very first time, Kristin Leske the young photographer from Germany lost all her senses.

Iceland has left its mark on Kristin. What was meant as a vacation turned out to be the biggest project of her life. The moment the young student of the venerable Munich University of Photo Design decided to turn in a landscape photo book of Iceland as her final paper, turned out to be a life changing decision. Most of the renowned faculty’s professors advised Kristin against doing a photo book with landscape photos.

According to the faculty‘s credo, landscape photography is not part of a photographer’s artistic repertoire and quite unpopular. However, Kristin proved her professors wrong. It became clear that an expedition organized by tour operators was not feasible, due to cost reasons. Hence, she decided to tour and observe Iceland independently by car. Kristin’s parents were quite skeptical, but there was no stopping now. Kristin is adamant to go where famous photographers discovered the soul of Iceland. A new and better camera is purchased, a tent follows and last but not least she got herself a generator to be independent from power. A power cruiser or at least an all-terrain vehicle would be fantastic for this journey, but there is no money for that. It seems she has to use her own car, even though this means she has to travel with an open trunk. Kristin booked herself on a ferry from Denmark to Iceland for May 2008. This crossing proves to be cheaper and shorter as well, for the two-day lay-over at the Faroe Islands is rendered unnecessary.

Kristin’s engagement and enthusiasm for this project finally persuaded her parents as well. Their early skepticisms softened and Kristin’s father handed over his car keys of his Volkswagen Touran to her. Secretly he had modified the car’s exterior and interior, turning it into a “rolling travel bed”, by simply putting in an intermediate wooden ceiling: The upper bunk is for Kristin to sleep in and the lower bunk for the photo equipment. On May 10th, 2008 Kristin is heading off on her 1200 kilometer long non-stop journey: Leaving Oberasbach in Germany en route to Hanstholm in Denmark. Finally she is on the way to the land of her dreams. There is a little misunderstanding though that needs clarification: Somehow the Scandinavian Ferry Operators must have presumed that Kristin is a guy’s name or why else was she supposed to share a nine-person-cabin with 8 other men? But all this doesn’t matter anymore, when the aim of the trip is within arm’s length. There it is, only three days later: Iceland, spectacularly clouded in dense wisps of fog.

Seyðisfjörður, located at the Eastern Coast of Iceland, is quite an inconspicuous city and the only destination for car ferries. Here in Seyðisfjörður is where Kirstin started her expedition. The twenty-seven year old will tour Iceland by herself for twelve weeks, fulfilling her dream. Firstly, she travels down the famous Ring Road, going around the island at least five times. Every now and then she is taking side trips to the almost impassable highlands, traveling by car, busses, respectively light aircraft. Most of the times she is by herself with so many things to experience during a twelve week tour: Getting stuck in the highlands with her car, cut off from all communication, making new friends, being homesick, missing family and friends and even living through a tremendous earthquake. And yet, when she awakes at four o’clock in the morning dressed with scarf and gloves, snuggled deep into her sleeping bag she is overwhelmed by impressions each new day brings.

September comes along, accompanied by the famous Northern Lights. Wishing not to miss any of the spectacular light symphonies, Kristin was tempted to cut holes into the tent ceiling. However, Iceland’s challenging weather conditions prevented her from doing so. Back in Germany: all the text and layout was done by her autonomously. The joint presentation of all final papers in the ‘”Munich German Museum” in November 2008 was well attended. Many visitors were magnetically attracted by Kristin’s booth. Some passed her presentations, but many stopped, looking in wonder at the photos’ enchanting magic. Many of the guests spent hours at the booth, looking just like mesmerized at the film Jökulsárlón, named after Europe’s second largest glacier. The film was lovingly composed by Kristin of more than 22,000 single photographs. This is even more noteworthy, when considering that the film lasted but 10 minutes. No doubt: This is the magic of Iceland. Kristin unlike many others was able to capture the special magic. The response in Munich is huge the budget unfortunately not. Something incredible happened, when Kristin’s website finally goes online. One of her ideals and renowned producer of spectacular films of Iceland contacts her and praises her on her impressive work. No question, the show must go on. It would be nice to have more copies of the photo book fifty, maybe even one hundred.

For months Kristin is searching all over Germany for a printing house, regrettably to no avail. A photo book of that size mandates a higher volume of copies. Finally a ray of hope: A Chinese printing house is willing to accept the order. Kristin takes out a loan and establishes her own publishing house. The first proof turned out to be quite sobering: Color cast, lousy binding and much to Kristin’s horror printing errors. At this point in time there is only ONE copy of the photo book. Heavy hearted, Kristin decided to send her only copy to China for comparison. She never heard from the Chinese printing house again. However, Kristin didn’t give up. She made up a new sample and visited book fairs in Frankfurt and Leipzig and submitted petitions with many well established printing houses and publishing houses without success. Initial disappointment grew into enormous strength: Now more than ever! She successfully contacts one of the best printing houses in all of Italy. The number of copies grows, just financially feasible. During the summer of 2010 Kristin and her husband both traveled to Italy for quality control. Flurry of excitement kept Kristin awake for many nights. The moment she gets to see the first spreads is unforgettable and enormously emotional. Kristin heads back to the book fair. Thanks to her large format photos her trade show booth is well attended. Now she is able to negotiate with publishing houses at eye level, kicking at open doors. One of Iceland’s largest publishing houses declared an interest. The press drops in, asking for interviews, she can hardly believe it. Most of the visitors and press people agree Kristin has created a small miracle. Thanks to the great publicity received, she is now looking for a publishing-house for an English edition of her photo book. The sky is the limit!

More about photo book „Iceland“, by the photographer Kristin Leske
Publishing House Kristin Leske – Skua Publishing

This island surrounded by the roaring North Sea is the setting of the eternal struggle of elements and nature’s forces. Europe’s youngest country, still in making, has been shaped by fire and ice, water and winds. Born out of fire and molded by nature’s untamed forces, the Iceland reveals to the observer a landscape most fascinating and strongly characterized. A countryside so rough and untamed and yet indescribable beautiful. During her 12,000 km long photo expedition, Kristin Leske managed to capture Iceland’s multi-faceted and untamed nature declaring her love for this island, by circulating her autonomously produced photo-book “Iceland” in her own publishing house. The photo book appears in in a high-quality nicely adorned slip case, an unmitigated eye catcher. 280 large-format pages full of Iceland at its purest. The young photographer did not compromise regarding the production of this limited (500 pieces) fine photo-book. Good photos require technically perfect processing. This photo book certainly meets, if not exceeds those requirements. Finest »Garda matt« paper, produced in Italy, bordered by black-shimmering chromo linen in combination with perfect offset printing leaves nothing to be desired. The photo book enchants the reader with 230 most fascinating landscape motifs, followed by 14 index pages giving informative annotation to each and every motif. The photos‘ points of origin are marked on the detailed Iceland-Map, giving travel suggestions to the tourist.

About the Author
Kristin Leske, nee Oemus was born in Altenburg in 1981. From 2004 until 2008 Kristin studied photo design at the Munich University. After her graduation she worked as a freelance photo journalist. Currently, Kristin is living in Darmstadt where she is doing freelance advertising and product photography for Darmstadt and Nuernberg. Specifically for the photo-book “Iceland” Kristin founded her own publishing company: Kristin-Leske – Skua Publishing.