The Wild Magic of Iceland Book Review

Iceland is unlike any other place on Earth. While the incredibly dramatic landscape of this volcanic island country changes faster than most places, this still happens slowly relative to human life. What change at an observable pace is the light. The Wild Magic of Iceland: A Photographic Journey Through the Seasons embraces the cycle of light and gives it a story.

The book is organized in six chapters, each covering a two month period of the year, starting in January, when Iceland is plunged in complete darkness. By the time July arrives, it never gets dark, then the light becomes rarer and rarer until the cycle repeats. It is incredible that Norris Niman manages to awe with outdoor photography untouched by any ray of sunlight! The necessary result is a series of virtually monochromatic images that eventually show a faint green glow from the Northern Lights as spring approaches.

The author leans very much into expectations of a winter that is equally dark and cold. While it works to convey emotion, Iceland never gets really cold. The historical record there is -38°C which occurred in 1918. Since the 21st century, it has not gone below -30°C, something that happens in Canada near its southmost border every year for weeks at a time. Here, even temperatures below -40°C are not uncommon and feel so much colder. Less than 12 months ago, a remote region of Canada recorded -55°C!

Spring, where the equinox makes North Lights stronger due to proximity to the sun, slowly gets grazed by sunlight. A hazy orange tone blends into photographs during these months. Everything is duo-tone, leaving scenery feel drab and heavy. Photography is quite difficult under such conditions, where the lack of shadows makes images appear flat like paintings. Norris introduces some depth in his images with carefully selected camera angles.

©2026 Norris Niman

The heavy weight of darkness we see in images up to this point is overtaken by the spectacle of volcanic activity as Iceland literally roars back to life. With the orange tone replaced by deep red lava, photographs of the May-June chapter are absolutely spectacular! Shown as a mix of aerial, drone and land photography, every image is spectacular and absolutely unique. Many look like abstract paintings while others put the huge scale of volcanoes front-and-center.

Chapter 4, titled Midnight Sun Party Forever, should celebrate the bright light and incredible hues of a sunset that lasts for hours before turning into hours of sunrise without night in between, but it does not. The photos in this chapter add a little green and occasional glimpses of life yet stay disappointingly duo-tone. For all his mastery of shooting without light, the author misses the opportunity to convey the feeling of being enveloped by sunlight.

The progression towards more light is shown to reverse during September and October. Imagery in this chapter resemble those taken in the Spring. While they all remain duo-toned, these ones have a lot more depth. Here, we get our best view of Icelandic landscapes. The sea and sharp rocks collide to dramatic effect.

©2026 Norris Niman

In the final chapter, images showcase ice caves that were formed during summer. As the warmer Earth melts the bottom of glaciers, magical worlds get revealed. Light filters through the ice to give everything a pale blue hue. We get photos of the tops of glaciers too. Norris Niman delivers here the view of Iceland as a land of ice and describes how people retreat indoors with the light. It is a journey that every person in Iceland repeats year after year.

The Wild Magic of Iceland does a great job at exposing the cycle of Icelandic life with impressive images and brief words to support them. This is a great read for anyone who is interested in knowing Iceland. It completes the picture, so to speak, for those who have only gone once or twice. Photographs in the book have weight to them, emphasizing the harsh land with the duo-tone colors. The summer chapter is clearly the weakest one. This book would have been even better if the crescendo of ubiquitous summer light was fully celebrated before it vanishes again into darkness.

The Wild Magic of Iceland is available right now directly from Amazon: