Andrés Kolbeinsson

Andrés Kolbeinsson is a documentary photographer from Iceland. He is at the moment the subject of a retrospective show (an yfirlitssyning - the last 'y' should have an acute accent on it, but this computer ain't doin' what I want it to at the moment) at the Reykjavík Museum of Photography. He's most well-known (according to the retrospective) for his photographs of a) cultural figures in Reykjavík during the 1950s and 1960s, b) evidence of the Icelandic economic boom - lots of photos of cement works and herring-processing plants, c) family life. He's very good. There is one great photo (used as the lead image for the yfirlitssyning) of an artist friend of his in the cafeteria of one of the cinemas in Reykjavík. She's eating skyr, a sort of healthy low-fat Icelandic yoghurt made from cream and sugar, and looks as if she has a naturally ironic personality. I particularly like the HP sauce bottle on the left-hand-side of the image. And the conical light-fittings.

You can find a link to lots of his photos at this site.