From rocky outcrops overlooking modest, brightly painted houses, photographer Dennis Lehtonen captures an astonishing nordic phenomenon. Innaarsuit, Greenland, which sits more than 430 miles north of the Arctic Circle, sets the stage for a series of images highlighting dramatic visitors to the area’s waterways.
Lehtonen moved to Greenland in April 2023 to work in a local fish factory. Fascinated by polar regions, he previously spent time in Lapland, the northernmost region of Finland. The minimal light pollution meant fantastic opportunities for photographing aurora borealis, which remains a steering interest as he continues to explore the snowy far reaches of the Northern Hemisphere.
When he arrived in Innaarsuit, he heard about an incident in 2018 when the village of around 160 Inuit residents had to be fully evacuated due to a giant iceberg settling near the shore. Estimated to have been around 100 meters high, its presence threatened people’s safety due to the dangers of pieces breaking off and causing waves large enough to hit some of the coastal houses. While inherently a tense situation, it was also astonishing to see, and Lehtonen couldn’t help being curious “what it would look like to have a skyscraper made of ice on your backyard.”
A couple of weeks ago, Lehtonen and locals spotted an iceberg floating a few miles away, and even from the distance, he could tell it was large. Days later, it—actually a pair—slid into Innaarsuit, dwarfing the fishing village’s modest wooden houses.
The municipality was warned to be careful when on the coast and not to travel in large groups. Fragments occasionally broke off as the iceberg moved, creating a reverberating sound akin to thunder. Many locals also documented the phenomenon, despite being more accustomed to icebergs. “They would also tell me that this is the highest they have ever seen an iceberg rise above the houses,” Lehtonen says. “So it was definitely a special event.”
Interested in eventually documenting remote regions of Alaska, northern Canada, and Siberia, Lehtonen is happy to continue exploring Greenland for now, as it still stokes his curiosity. “The (nomadic) lifestyle doesn’t seem to make sense to most other people, but I feel like it creates the best memories,” he tells Colossal. Find more on his website and Instagram.
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