an exhibition by Vincent Enot

Equipped with a Leica M6 and a 21mm lens, Vincent Enot takes us with him to the heart of Iceland, which he crossed on foot over 400 km in the summer of 2022. Concerned about the impact of his project on the environment, he chose to travel to Iceland from the south-west of France without taking a plane. 

Printed on Bergger warm glossy fibre based paper, the UP NORTH series will be exhibited at the Festival Argentique in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer. In rough, contrasting black and white, Vincent Enot's images convey the power of natural elements.

Vincent, can you tell us about the background to your UP NORTH series?

UP North is a project whose idea was born during the first confinement. I needed to imagine an adventure, to project myself into something that would take my mind off the situation we were all in. I'd seen that it was more or less possible to cross Iceland on foot, and that's when the project started to take shape. But aware of the impact of such an adventure on the environment, I wanted to find an alternative to travelling by plane, so I chose to go to Iceland by other means of transport, stop bus, train and ferry, a way of limiting my carbon impact as much as possible.

What limitations did you impose on yourself when shooting?

I took about 30/35 rolls of Kodak TriX 400 film. I didn't really impose any constraints on myself, even though the choice of a 35mm format, black and white and a wide-angle lens like the 21mm is a choice that forces you to photograph in a certain way and not in another. 

The 21mm, the lens you used for this work, is a focal length with a very pronounced rendering.  

The choice of 21mm was made a few months before the start of this adventure, because I wanted a lens that would capture as much information as possible and give us the feeling of being isolated in the frame. With 21mm, the subject is often just a small speck in Iceland's gigantic landscapes, and this is a reminder of the solitude you feel being alone in the middle of this immense space.

Why did you choose to print the series on glossy warm paper?  

I only recently discovered baryta paper and its different grades, once the project was completed and thanks to Fred Goyeau's lab work. It was there that I was able to see a very different range of paper that brings another dimension to these images. The warm-gloss BERGGER baryta paper produces deep blacks and beautiful whites. I wanted to have high-contrast prints, so it was the best choice for me. 

What message would you like to communicate to visitors to your exhibition?  

That it's possible to travel differently, to envisage something slower and more rooted in reality, and that it's within the reach of anyone motivated by this idea.