It all started on the farm when I was a kid. I was taking pictures of the farmers and people. I was ten years old crossing glacial rivers alone, riding horses and measuring the river's depths, because they were changing. I sensed something was wrong. The glaciers were getting thinner and thinner, so  I kept on photographing and 35 years later I think I did something that matters.

35 years, that’s a long time. Where does your persistence come from?

All my friends were saying, “You're crazy. This is stupid. It's just snow.” It made me so stubborn because I grew up playing football and I hate to lose the game. You fight till the end. Dick Rowe once said to the Beatles: “Guitar groups are on their way out.“, and see what they have become.

Lots of publishers, I spoke to in my early days had no interest in making books about the Arctic, because they could not see the importance and issues that would come up. That attitude has totally changed by now. I'm not the Beatles, nothing close to that but the rejection was definitely something that has kept me going.

It all started on the farm when I was a kid. I was taking pictures of the farmers and people. I was ten years old crossing glacial rivers alone, riding horses and measuring the river's depths, because they were changing. I sensed something was wrong. The glaciers were getting thinner and thinner, so  I kept on photographing and 35 years later I think I did something that matters.

35 years, that’s a long time. Where does your persistence come from?

All my friends were saying, “You're crazy. This is stupid. It's just snow.” It made me so stubborn because I grew up playing football and I hate to lose the game. You fight till the end. Dick Rowe once said to the Beatles: “Guitar groups are on their way out.“, and see what they have become.

Lots of publishers, I spoke to in my early days had no interest in making books about the Arctic, because they could not see the importance and issues that would come up. That attitude has totally changed by now. I'm not the Beatles, nothing close to that but the rejection was definitely something that has kept me going.

I always feel I haven’t done enough, actually. I always have to run faster and do better. That is my drive. During my exhibitions I'm usually hiding in a corner, nobody knows who I am because it is not about me, it is about the things that I feel that matter. Before my work got some recognition, nobody knew what I was doing. I didn't say a word about what I was working on for years actually.

If you have a dream, don't let anybody tell you, “You're doing something wrong”. Follow your heart. I was in such a huge fight with a lot of people and myself, but I never gave up. I won many awards and it has been always a good feeling but I also feel a bit shy about it. Sometimes I just want to be like a fly on the wall.

It's hard to photograph climate change. When you're on the ice you can't see the difference because it's all white. But the ice is getting thinner and thinner, sometimes so thin, you can't put a monkey on it. That's the truth.

Weather in the Arctic regions might change a lot. We might have much more rain in the summers. It warms up. It's not gonna be sunny. It's not going to be like Spain. People say: "Oh this is great for us, it's gonna get warmer“, but warmer means it's gonna rain.
I was in Greenland 20 years ago, when the fjords were completely frozen. Back then, the Arctic communities had many hunters. Now they are declining and getting fewer and fewer. Old traditions are fading away and smaller communities are moving to bigger settlements. They feel their time is nearly over.