Stunning Visuals of Isolated Arctic Locations

Images shot by Brit artist Reuben Wu who is based in London give us some gritty images of abject desolation as he shares some surreal landscapes. An avid solitary traveler and extremely passionate for his photography, Wu is also an accomplished musician, being a producer as well as DJ, keyboardist, songwriter and violinist. Wu is also a graduate of industrial design. A man of certainly many talents and skills, his latest series of photographs called Ultima Esperanza, shows some stunning visuals of isolated arctic locations.

Wu says that he is drawn to “dark and hidden things which most people have forgotten about.” He adds that he likes to shoot places that seem to be unfit for human occupation. He documented these images while traveling on foot on what’s known as the W trek in Southern Chilean Patagonia.  Wu crossed a grueling path of close to 60km over a span of four days. He carried with him his trusty tent, sleeping bag, some food rations and of course his camera. The trek ended at Lago Grey, where the photogenic Grey Glacier can be seen releasing blue icebergs into the lake as it slowly crumbles into the water.

“When I left the security of the earth and stepped out onto this eerie blue expanse, I found that my sense of light, scale and time had been taken away. There was nothing familiar in the landscape to recognize.” This disconnect is a recurring element in Ultima Esperanza, “how the unfamiliar can heighten and amplify experiences,” recalled Wu.

Wu’s fixation with forsaken places is inspired and influenced by the works of JG Ballard, Philip K Dick as well as the movies of Andrei Tarkovsky which collectively share the theme of ruin, decay and time.Wu is one to always acknowledge the temporal nature of just about everything on the planet.  A thought to take with you as you view his images that are almost mystical, in Wu’s Ultima Esperanaza