Creative forced by unspoiled nature.
Katrin Braga (Reykjavik, Canada)
Katrin Braga is a photographer from Iceland who spends most of her time in Europe and Canada. She has worked for publications such as ID, New York Magazine, VICE, Paper and Office Mag. She's travelled worldwide, shooting documentary content for VICELAND and Redbull and casting for commercial clients like Stella McCartney, Adidas Alltimers, Gatorade and Airbnb.
The ongoing photo-series “SHIFTING NATURE” is about the inner turmoil young people deal with because of the shifting nature that is the product of global warming. All the clothes the models are wearing are thrifted or sustainable design.
In this series I focused on wetlands, melting glaciers, clearcut forests and carbon emissions.
You are from Reykjavik, can you tell us abit about the city and how you feel it has influenced your work, if at all?
I actually grew up in a small rural town called Fellabær in east Iceland, with a population of only 400 people. Then I moved to Reykjavik when I was 15 years old.
Living in such a close-knit community on the edge of vast nature forced me to be creative as a kid out of pure boredom.
Living in such a close-knit community on the edge of vast nature forced me to be creative as a kid out of pure boredom.
Icelandic nature is a powerful force, from the heavy winds to the northern lights, it becomes a part of your being. My grandparent's house (the house I grew up in) was on the edge of town so my backyard was kilometres of unspoiled nature and my personal playground.
About a five-minute walk from the house was "elf city", a cluster of tall rocks that I was not permitted to climb on because my grandpa didn't want me to anger the elves. Every time I go back in the summertime I go and sit by those rocks and have a little chat with the elves and tell them to look over my grandparents.
This is all to say that living in such close proximity to nature influenced my work the most and is the reason I almost entirely shoot outside or in nature.
Reykjavik inspired me in a different way, that's where I fell in love with people and storytelling and is the place I socially came to my own being.
Reykjavik inspired me in a different way, that's where I fell in love with people and storytelling and is the place I socially came to my own being.