Photographs by
FO K I O N Z I SS I A DI S
Life is about timing The work of Fokion Zissiadis was brought to my attention during his quest to find a suitable publisher for his book about Iceland. After an initial glimpse of the pictures, I was intrigued to say the least. The sharpness of the images, the deep landscape vistas, the opportunity of showing off these incredible landscapes of this moonlike Iceland – he covered it all – with dedication and compassion, all the way. Accompanied by his lovely wife (and loyal partner in crime) Mata during their two 10-day trips, they were sweeping Iceland driving around for hours and hours. Mata was a good sport – it was a tough demanding trip in search of the best light, vistas and timing. When we met in Greece, he explained that as a young couple they were based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, studying architecture at the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania, enjoying their first job experience and exposure to photography. At the same time in the early 1980s, I was living in New York and trying to establish the teNeues Publishing Company. So we already had this life abroad in common. We compared notes: living in the States was an important and influential period in both our careers. Fokion Zissiadis is a photographer with a great sense of humility about his work, taking his time to publish his first book – hopefully with the right publisher. It is a great honour and responsibility for me. When we met we felt a strong rapport; we delighted in exchanging ideas and sharing emotions about doing things at the right time. One of my favourite personal observations has always been: life is about timing.
Hendrik teNeues Publishing CEO, teNeues Media GmbH 5
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I first met Fokion Zissiadis on a winter’s night in Reykjavík. We were two strangers – one with a passion for Greece, and the other with a passion for Iceland. A mutual friend worked as an assistant with Fokion on his photography tours of Iceland, and so I knew he was prepared to go to great lengths to get the pictures he was looking for. “Quite a character!”, he said. When I got to know Fokion, I was impressed. He is a man who has achieved a lot in life; he is an architect, a builder, an entrepreneur – he has built one of the most beautiful hotels in Europe, at Sani in Halkidiki. He is a disciplined man, but there is also a side to him that is full of boyish charm – and a certain restlessness. An adventurer, he is always looking for new experiences, new things to see and a new way of seeing things. This shines through very clearly in his photography. Fokion has travelled all over the world, but Iceland inspired him in a novel way. It was as if he had found something he was looking for, a focal point. He has explained to me that Iceland is like a work in progress. It’s so new that it is still being shaped by the elements – water, fire, wind and cold. Greece is different; human feet have trodden this land for so long, ships have been sailing around its coastline for millennia. Its beauty is exquisite, whereas the beauty of Iceland is harsh and desolate – and can also be dangerous. Fokion has also travelled in Africa, the oldest continent, where things are so ancient that they have been ground to dust. Iceland is the opposite, almost like a prototype of landscape. Of course, what we enjoy here is the photography and the masterful printing of this book – the panoramic vistas and also the details we see in the pictures. We have lava fields, the ever-present water, waves beating the coast, rivers flowing over the dark sands, glaciers breaking up in lagoons, the cloud formations in the Nordic sky, the rough edges of the rocks, and even the minutiae of ice melting, almost like abstract art. There is little human presence – a lonely church, a lighthouse, abandoned farms and shipwrecks. If there are people, they are small figures in the distance, as if to show the scale of things. Fokion travelled the length and breadth of Iceland to get these pictures, covering many thousands of kilometres; he visited in both summer and winter. Sometimes he surprises me with his subjects; an Icelander seeing them through a car window might not even notice them, but viewed through his lens they acquire a strange fascination and mystery. Egill Helgason TV Presenter / Film-maker Icelandic National Broadcasting Service 7
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A brief comment on the photographic work of Fokion Zissiadis, Iceland
The photographs taken by Fokion Zissiadis during his two expeditions to Iceland seek to immortalize this extraordinary country through the photographer’s personal vision. In reviewing them it became clear that the remarkable force of these landscapes lies in the metaphors, the allegorical dimension, which the photographs evoke. Fokion takes the real magic of the extreme geophysical phenomena and stark contrasts of the Icelandic landscape and enhances them through his own interpretation. He elevates observed reality to the status of myth, thus creating a world in which: …moulds are formed of velvet-smooth hollows and depressions, steam engines are shaped from clouds, waterfalls seem to be the beards of gods, the remains of ships and planes are transformed into extraterrestrial beasts or biblical arks and arrayed like satellite dishes; earth and sky, solid and fluid, acquire the same material density, while even the abundant springs of water welling up from the bowels of the earth are transformed into a sea of stone… Fokion’s landscapes seem to create myths featuring battles between giants or titans. What remains of these battles is a hard, adamantine and precious stone… The black and white photographs are one component of this photographic corpus – Fokion’s Iceland studies – that particularly fascinate me. Here, the photographer moves away from the Apollonian light of the Mediterranean to emphasize what I would call the Plutonian light of midnight. These black and white landscapes imply a fictional narrative – one that interweaves recollection and memory, rather than alluding to what we might call recorded experience. They are open to ambiguity, to dreamlike associations and connotations; they elevate the transformations and changing forms of matter to an absolute contrast between the white of the Icelandic ice and the black of the volcanic lava. What we see in these studies is a contrast generated through a visual reconciliation of opposites. The attempt for a comprehensive sense of one lived experience defines an intermediate space of poetry between opposite extremes coinciding in grey matter. Literally: a coincidentia oppositorum. Thalea Stefanidou Art Historian and Critic – Curator 9
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L I S T O F P L AT E S
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11. Ódáðahraun, Odadahraun by Dyngjufjöll, Northeast Iceland
21. Reynisfjara, Reynisfjara, South Iceland
31. Gullfoss, Gullfoss, South Iceland
13. Sölvahraun, Solvahraun, South Iceland
23. Stokksnes, Stokksnes, East Iceland
33. Gullfoss, Gullfoss, South Iceland
15. Krepputunga, Krepputunga Interior, North Iceland
25. Dyrhólaey, Dyrholaey, South Iceland
35. Strokkur, Strokkur Geysir, South Iceland
17. Markarfljót, Markarfljot River, South Iceland
27. Jökulsá á Fjöllum, Jokulsa a Fjollum River, Northeast Iceland
37. Námaskarð, Namaskard, Northeast Iceland
19. Jökulsá á fjöllum, Jokulsa a Fjollum River, Northeast Iceland
29 Malarrif, Malarrif Beach, West Iceland
39. Fáskrúðsfjörður, Faskudsfjordur, East Iceland
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41. Skeiðarársandur, Skeidararsandur, South Iceland
51. Seljalandsfoss, Seljaland Waterfall South Iceland
61. Eldhraun, Eldhraun lava field, South Iceland
43. Skaftafellsjökull, Skaftafellsjökul, South Iceland
53. Frostastaðavatn, Frostastadavatn, South Iceland
63. Lónsfjörður, Lonsfjordur, Southeast Iceland
45. Skeiðarársandur, Skeidararsandur, Southeast Iceland
55. Sigöldufossar, Sigalda Waterfalls, South Iceland
65. Fjallsárlón, Fjallsarlon Glacier Lagoon, South Iceland
47. Kirkjufellsfoss, Kirkjufell Waterfall, West Iceland
57. Rauðaskál, Raudaskal Crater, Mount Hekla, South Iceland
67. Núpsstaður, Nupsstadur, Southeast Iceland
49. Seljalandsfoss, Seljaland Waterfall, South Iceland
59. Eldhraun, Eldhraun lava field, South Iceland
69. Fagurhólsmýri, Fagurholsmyri, South Iceland
71. Ljótipollur, Ljotipollur Crater Lake, South Iceland
81. Öxnadalsheiði, Oxnadalsheidi, North Iceland
91. Fjallsárlón, Fjallsarlon Glacier Lagoon, Southeast Iceland
73. Búðir, Budir Church, West Iceland
83. Snæfellsnes, Snaefellsness mountain range, West Iceland
93. Reynisfjara, Reynisfjara, South Iceland
75. Grundarfjörður, Grundarfjordur, West Iceland
85. Mývatni, Myvatn area, Northeast Iceland
95. Hjörleifshöfði, Hjorleifshofdi Cape, South Iceland
77. Kirkjufell, Kirkjufell, West Iceland
87. Goðafoss, Godafoss, North Iceland
97. Reynisdrangar, Reynisdrangar, South Iceland
79. Snæfellsnes, Snaefellsness mountain range, West Iceland
89. Mývatn, Myvatn Lake, North Iceland
99. Arnarstapi, Arnarstapi Harbou r, West Iceland
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101. Málmey, Malmey Island, Skagafjörður Fjord, North Iceland
111. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, Southeast Iceland
121. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Beach, Southeast Iceland
103. Málmey, Malmey Island, Skagafjörður Fjord, North Iceland
113. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Beach, Southeast Iceland
123. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Beach, Southeast Iceland
105. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, Southeast Iceland
115. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, Southeast Iceland
125. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Beach, Southeast Iceland
107. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, Southeast Iceland
117. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, Southeast Iceland
127. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Beach, Southeast Iceland
109. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, Southeast Iceland
119. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Beach, Southeast Iceland
131. Holtsárós, Holtsárós Lagoon, South Iceland
133. Dyrhólaey, Dyrholaey, South Iceland
143. Búðir, Budir Church, West Iceland
153. Hvítserkur, Hvitserkur, Northwest Iceland
135. Hjörleifshöfði, Hjorleifshofdi Cape, South Iceland
145. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, Southeast Iceland
155. Hvítserkur, Hvitserkur, Northwest Iceland
137. Hjörleifshöfði, Hjorleifshofdi Cape, South Iceland
147. Jökulsárlón, Jokulsarlon Beach, Southeast Iceland
157. Svartifoss, Svartifoss Waterfall, South Iceland
139. Kirkjufell, Kirkjufell, West Iceland
149. Herðubreið, Herdubreid Mountain, Northeast Iceland
159. Dettifoss Waterfall, North Iceland
141. Skógafoss, Skogafoss, South Iceland
151. Gullfoss, Gullfoss, South Iceland
161. Gerðuberg, Gerduberg Basalt Columns, West Iceland
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Grímsey
Siglufjörður
Ísafjörður
Ólafsfjörður Hrísey Dalvík
Húsavík
Godafoss Waterfal
Skagaströnd
Dettifoss Vopnafjörður
Sauðárkrókur Patreksfjörður
Akureyri
Blönduós
Namafjall Mývatn
Seyðisfjörður Egilsstaðir Neskaupstaður Stykkishólmur
Reyðarfjörður Askja
Grundarfjörður Buðir
Djúpivogur Borgarnes Hvitserkur Akranes Höfn
Reykjavík
Garðabær Keflavík Hafnarfjörður
Kleifarvatn Grindavík
Hveragerði
Svartifoss
Selfoss
Þorlákshöfn
Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon
Landmannalaugar Hella
Kirkjubæjarklaustur
Hvolsvöllur
Vestmannaeyjar
Vík Summer itinerary, August 2013 Photoguide driver: Sigurður Hrafn Stefnisson Winter itinerary, March 2014 Photoguide driver: Dúi J. Landmark 171
Fokion at Stokksnes, Stokksnes, East Iceland Photo: Sigurรฐur Hrafn Stefnisson
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Fokion Zissiadis He was born in Thessaloniki in 1956. He studied architecture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and went on to do a Masters degree at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia USA, graduating in 1983. His career to date has been in the hotel and tourism sector, continuing the family tradition as a shareholder in the well-known Sani Resort in Halkidiki and Vice President of Sani S.A.
Photo: Patrycia Lucas
He first took an interest in photography – mainly photographing buildings and urban landscapes – during his years as an architecture student. Later it was nature, on a small or large scale, which became his narrative priority, while he gradually developed more personal, interpretative views of the landscapes he sought to capture. His photography expressed a desire to preserve a wide-angle ‘view through a personal window’ on the world around him. An active man with a passion for the natural world and a love of adventure, he planned journeys to particular destinations where nature reveals the primitive building blocks of which it is made, where the great age of the natural landscape is to be seen, where the visitor is challenged to engage fully and completely with the natural world around him. His photographic work covers a wide range of geological phenomena and diverse terrains: deserts, glaciers, savannahs, volcanoes, rivers, seas, mountain ranges and uplands. He has visited and photographed locations as varied as Peking, Moscow, New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, the capital cities of Europe, Egypt, Patagonia, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, the Bahamas, Israel, Cappadocia, Constantinople, Malta, Oman, Qatar, Dubai and, most recently, Iceland. His photographs use a keen geometrical sense to interpret the quintessence of the landscape along with all those features that express the genius loci. Through his personal photographic idiom, Fokion Zissiadis communicates his own aesthetic sense of moment and place. The dwarfed human figures almost always included in his photographic compositions create a strong sense of the insignificance of man when confronted with the grandeur and majesty of the natural world. He is accompanied on all of his photographic journeys by his lifetime partner and advisor, his wife, Mata Tsolozidi Zissiadis and his son Leonidas Zissiadis. www.fokionzissiadis.com 181
Š 2015 teNeues Media GmbH + Co. KG, Kempen Photographs by Fokion Zissiadis Artistic direction by Marios Teriade Eleftheriadis
Published by teNeues Publishing Group teNeues Media GmbH + Co. KG Am Selder 37, 47906 Kempen, Germany Phone: +49 (0)2152 916 0 Fax: +49 (0)2152 916 111 e-mail: books@teneues.com
Design by Red Creative Introduction & texts by Hendrik teNeues, Egill Helgason, Thalea Stefanidou, Yorgos Archimandritis Editorial management by Regine Freyberg Proofreading by Dr Suzanne Kirkbright, Artes Translations
Press department: Andrea Rehn Phone: +49 (0)2152 916 202 e-mail: arehn@teneues.com teNeues Publishing Company 7 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011, USA Phone: +1 212 627 9090 Fax: +1 212 627 9511
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On the road, Akureyri, Akureyri, North Iceland
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