mikekelley
25th of August 2009 (Tue), 09:49
I'm trying to use five of these photographs to tell a story for a small article about this place. Unfortunately the weather was pretty uncooperative, and I am not allowed to use photoshop other than global adjustments (it's for a travel magazine).
This was all shot in Djupavik, Iceland, an old herring factory located in the northwestern strandir coast of Iceland. One way to describe it could be 'total isolation.'
So, without further adieu, vote for the one you'd like to see tossed.
#1:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2616/3854889468_7c965022fd.jpg
An arctic tern has no tolerance for me going near her home - making aggressive passes and vocalizing her disapproval of me treading near the factory, she followed me around squawking until I was a hundred or so yards from this location. Hundreds of these terns swarm around, outlasting the humans which could only sow the land for a short number of years.
#2
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2490/3854887434_eaa0fa49ef.jpg
Lit only by the soft light of the cloud-veiled arctic sun at roughly 2 o'clock in the morning, remains of the MS Suđurland, a ship that had been last in use nearly a century ago. She was grounded here and used as a dormitory for the huge number of workers that flocked to Djupavík, seeking riches in the booming herring industry. Fifty years of neglect show what a harsh environment this is, as only an empty skeleton of the ship remains, and she will only decay faster in years to come.
#3 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2472/3854108901_09fd579fc7.jpg
It seems that water is the only constant in Djupavik. Rain, waterfalls and the freezing Arctic ocean. Years ago only the din of processing machinery and heavy equipment can be heard. The roar of this waterfall was here before the factory and it is still here watching the process of decay.
#4 http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3645/3854098731_bcfc6e22d2.jpg
Thousands of tons of herring were caught and processed here every year. The only permanent residents of the town have taken to fishing and drying the fish on the last remains of a dock that once stretched from the factory hundreds of feet into Djupavik, which means Deep Bay in Icelandic. This deep-water harbor was the only means of transportation to and from the factory for nearly 60 years. Today, only an oft-serviced and potholed road winds along windswept cliffs: one small mistake could be fatal.
#5 http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3429/3854098319_3e99d8477a.jpg
Many pieces of abandoned machinery are strewn across this empty landscape. An old signpost guides hikers around an area which would be otherwise very easy to get lost in. The factory, which was once the largest concrete building in Europe and a modern technological marvel, is nothing but a tiny aberration in this harsh and empty wilderness.
#6 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2495/3854951424_7ef4816c8b.jpg
The interior of the factory is now a far cry from what it once might have been. Hundreds of workers walked these stairs every day, as the din of machinery echoed in the background. Shiny stainless steel, heat thrown from diesel generators and white sanitary coats have been replaced with scrap metal, cracked concrete and and an endless chill.
This was all shot in Djupavik, Iceland, an old herring factory located in the northwestern strandir coast of Iceland. One way to describe it could be 'total isolation.'
So, without further adieu, vote for the one you'd like to see tossed.
#1:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2616/3854889468_7c965022fd.jpg
An arctic tern has no tolerance for me going near her home - making aggressive passes and vocalizing her disapproval of me treading near the factory, she followed me around squawking until I was a hundred or so yards from this location. Hundreds of these terns swarm around, outlasting the humans which could only sow the land for a short number of years.
#2
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2490/3854887434_eaa0fa49ef.jpg
Lit only by the soft light of the cloud-veiled arctic sun at roughly 2 o'clock in the morning, remains of the MS Suđurland, a ship that had been last in use nearly a century ago. She was grounded here and used as a dormitory for the huge number of workers that flocked to Djupavík, seeking riches in the booming herring industry. Fifty years of neglect show what a harsh environment this is, as only an empty skeleton of the ship remains, and she will only decay faster in years to come.
#3 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2472/3854108901_09fd579fc7.jpg
It seems that water is the only constant in Djupavik. Rain, waterfalls and the freezing Arctic ocean. Years ago only the din of processing machinery and heavy equipment can be heard. The roar of this waterfall was here before the factory and it is still here watching the process of decay.
#4 http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3645/3854098731_bcfc6e22d2.jpg
Thousands of tons of herring were caught and processed here every year. The only permanent residents of the town have taken to fishing and drying the fish on the last remains of a dock that once stretched from the factory hundreds of feet into Djupavik, which means Deep Bay in Icelandic. This deep-water harbor was the only means of transportation to and from the factory for nearly 60 years. Today, only an oft-serviced and potholed road winds along windswept cliffs: one small mistake could be fatal.
#5 http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3429/3854098319_3e99d8477a.jpg
Many pieces of abandoned machinery are strewn across this empty landscape. An old signpost guides hikers around an area which would be otherwise very easy to get lost in. The factory, which was once the largest concrete building in Europe and a modern technological marvel, is nothing but a tiny aberration in this harsh and empty wilderness.
#6 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2495/3854951424_7ef4816c8b.jpg
The interior of the factory is now a far cry from what it once might have been. Hundreds of workers walked these stairs every day, as the din of machinery echoed in the background. Shiny stainless steel, heat thrown from diesel generators and white sanitary coats have been replaced with scrap metal, cracked concrete and and an endless chill.