THE conversation kept drifting back to Iceland, despite photographer Tom Grasso’s protestations he didn’t have a favourite amongst the many wild and beautiful countries he’d visited recently.
A photograph of an Icelandic glacial lagoon drew elegant words from the normally taciturn 27-year-old, telling the Voice it was the top location on his list and a famed locale amongst photographers worldwide.
Fed by glaciers, Jökulsárlón lagoon is dotted with variously sized and shaped ice chunks, flowing from the lagoon to the ocean, as a result of climate change.
“I arrived with only a few other photographers on the beach, capturing their chosen piece of ice and left with a quick count of 20 photographers stretching across the shore line. Very popular indeed,” Grasso says.
The Success local’s only photographic training was a 12-month course at Central Tafe and he mastered his art studying others’ works and through experimentation
His interest in photography was sparked as a teenager when he volunteered amongst his skateboarding mates to be the one to take photos of tricks.
“When I travel I always take my skateboard and camera with me,” he smiles.
Action shots have been replaced by landscapes, and after scrimping and saving for 12 months his trip through Norway, the US, Canada, Chile and Argentina resulted in his exhibition Lure.
“All these places I have been to, I had read about, seen photos of. It was the bait used to lure me to taking photos.”
Catch Lure’s bait at Central Tafe Gallery, Aberdeen Street, Northbridge, March 5–24, 10am–4.45 Mon–Fri, noon–4pm Sat.
by JENNY D’ANGER
Perth Voice Interactive 
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