The Beaching, Iceland 2021

The Peripheral Vision Portfolio are works connected to the “Peripheral Vision” blog from Bill Schwab, where he shares stories of selected alternate photographs from his archives of never before-made-available prints. All come as high-quality pigment prints signed by the artist.

Title: The Beaching, Iceland 2021

“It’s October 2nd of 2021, and I am leading one of my many groups trips of photographers to Iceland. We have just returned to our hotel from lunch, and as we arrive, Eva, the hotel owner, is on the phone. She is also the local “Mayor” and the call is regarding some whales coming ashore at a place where, coincidentally, we had just been. She tells me, and several of us decide to go back to see what’s up. As we round a turn in the road, we are faced with a stunning and desperate sight. Long-finned Pilot Whales, some the size of small buses, were scattered on the shoreline. Many were dead already, and others were writhing about in the frothy waves, calling out in distress. It was awful in both sight and sound. It was cold, the waters dangerous, and one strike of a Whale’s tail could kill. There were only 7 of us, none of us professional and there were 51 of them. We were not going to make an already sad and dangerous situation sadder, and none of us entered the water. There was no way we could have even begun a rescue, and calls were made to alert authorities. Sadly, the remoteness of our location meant it was nearly a day before professional biologists and marine experts arrived on the scene.

What began as a wonderous day in Iceland became a horrible reminder of how brutal and sad nature can be. All we could do was bear witness, and this was the most respectful photograph I could make of a devastating scene that I and other members of my group will never forget.”

Edition: Peripheral Vision – open
– Pigment Print
– 8 x 6 -inch image size
– 8.5 x 11 Hahnemühle Baryta
– Signed, titled, and dated by the artist on reverse
– Unmounted