Stuart Franklin : Narcissus

The meditative tranquility of the Norwegian landscape is tangible in these extraordinary photos

Stuart Franklin (*1956 in London), a member of Magnum Photos and a geographer, travels around the world as a photojournalist, capturing historical events—from the massacre at Tiananmen Square to the Intifada—on film. But a trip to the region of Møre og Romsdal on Norway’s west coast prompted him to pause: Franklin bought a cottage by a lake on the island of Otrøya, spending a great deal of time there over the next two and a half years. Narcissus documents his experience in this remote place, which led to a deeper understanding and sensitivity for the abundance around him in an environment that at first seemed barren. These very tranquil, contemplative, and introverted landscape photographs time and again seek references to human beings—a path, a chopping block in a far corner of the property, the reflection of the silhouette of a mountain in a lake that seems to melt into a human portrait. An urbanite encounters a small, special piece of nature and sees his own reflection in it.