Born in Iceland 1958

WORK EXPERIENCE:
– Photographer for Morgunbladid, Iceland's biggest newspaper from 1976 -
– Freelance work shooting projects in various parts of the world for numerous magazines and agencies. To name a few, projects in the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Indonesia, Scandinavia, Siberia.

PUBLICATIONS:

– Photographs and picture essays published in LIFE, National Geographic, Le Figaro, Stern, La Vanguardia, TIME, to name a few.
– The Golden Circle. Photographs by Páll Stefánsson, Ragnar Axelsson and Mats Wibe-Lund. Reykjavík: Iceland Review, 1989.
– Reykjavik. A book in color. (Icelandic) (English)
– Faces and figures: Contemporary Scandinavian photography. New York: American Scandinavian Foundation, 2001.
– Through the vastness near Snæfell by Ólafsson, Guðmundur Páll has photographs by Axelsson and also Friðþjófur Helgason and Jóhann Ísberg.
– Faces of the North, a book on vanishing lifestyles in the North Atlantic; Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, 2004.

AWARDS:
– The Annual Icelandic Photojournalists Awards (Est. 1991): More that 20 awards, including Photographer of the year, four times, and Documentary story of the year, six times.
– The Oskar Barnack Award, 2001. Honourable Mention
– Festival Photo de Mare, Vannes, Grand Prix.

EXHIBITIONS:
– The Reykjavik Municipal Museum, 1990.
– Barbican Centre, London, 1992; "Tender is the North, visual arts from Scandinavia"
– Visa Pour L'Image, Perpignan, 2000; screening of North Atlantic Project.
– Rencontres d'Arles, 2001.
– Scandinavia House, New York, 2001."Faces and Figures: Contemporary Scandinavian Photography".
– Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, 2002.
– Un Mondo ai Confini del Mondo, Clic Art, Milan, 2002.
– Festival of Val d-Orcia, Italy, 2003.
– Photo de Mare, Vannes, France, 2003.
– Galerie Argus fotokunst, Berlin, Germany2004.
– Altonaer Museum (Norddeutsches Landesmuseum), Hamburg, Germany, 2004.
– Fnac Italie 2, Paris, 2004.
– Niedersächsischen Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, 2004.
– Alfred-Ehrhardt-Foundation, Germany 2005.
– Austurvellir, Reykjavík, "Faces of the North.", 2005.
– Paris Photo 2005, Louvre, Paris.
– Musée de la Cohue, Vannes, 2007.
– Fnac, Milan, 2007.
– Galerie Argus fotokunst, Berlin, Germany, 2008.
– Numerous group shows in Iceland.