Kris and Ilya walk through an Icelandic valley beneath a snow-covered ridge, reflected in shallow water.

SNÆFELLSNES PENINSULA, ICELAND64.8000° N, 23.8000° W · OCTOBER · ELOPEMENT

ONLY THE WEATHER WATCHING

There was no audience. The weather showed up anyway.

About a year before we met, Kris had already saved my website. When he finally wrote, he opened with: “damn I want this guy to photograph our wedding.” Still one of the better ways an inquiry has started.

They chose the date because it marked eight years since they met. The legal part happened in Copenhagen. A few days later we met again in Iceland. No ceremony left to repeat. Just time, several changes of clothes, and no useful reason to hurry.

Kirkjufell rises above small houses in the deep blue light before sunrise.
A dark Icelandic mountain slope cuts across a snow-covered ridge.
Ilya walks from a lit building toward parked cars before sunrise.
Kris and Ilya change clothes beside the open trunk of their car.
Kris and Ilya stand close together behind a blurred foreground.
Kris and Ilya hold hands in silhouette beneath a stormy dawn sky.The couple touches foreheads in silhouette against the first light over the sea.
Kris and Ilya walk across the top of a dark coastal stone arch.
Still water and a low horizon meet beneath a wide Icelandic sky.
A deep moss-covered fissure leads toward Kirkjufell under grey clouds.
Kris and Ilya stand in pale suits beneath Kirkjufell.
The couple stands shoulder to shoulder looking across the Icelandic coast.
Low sunlight catches the grass as Kris and Ilya face the horizon.
Kris kisses Ilya's hand with Kirkjufell behind them.
Kris and Ilya sit close together on a wooden bench facing the evening light.
An empty wooden bench sits between dark coastal cliffs.
The couple sits with their backs to the camera between two dark coastal cliffs.Kris holds Ilya close as they sit together on a wooden bench.
Kris and Ilya walk through an Icelandic valley beneath a snow-covered ridge, reflected in shallow water.
Two small figures sit together beneath a wide glowing Icelandic sky.
Kris and Ilya walk toward the camera in suits with a dark mountain behind them.
We decided to elope since we want our wedding to be about us and our bond together.
Kris and Ilya appear in a layered reflection through a car window.
The couple changes clothes beside their parked car in the open landscape.
Kris and Ilya stand together on the coast in red and white outdoor jackets.
An empty road runs between dark hills across Snæfellsnes.
A vertical view of jagged basalt formations beside the sea.
Kris and Ilya stand small among dark volcanic rocks.
Kris and Ilya climb a grassy path toward the light.

On the second day, we got stopped for speeding.

I don't remember the exact amount anymore. If my memory is right, Kris and Ilya had to pay the equivalent of something close to 500 dollars on the spot. Definitely several hundred. Either way, it was enough to turn an ordinary stretch of road into something none of us will forget.

Was it funny at the time? Probably not. It is now. At least to me. I didn't have to pay the fine.

They had packed several versions of themselves into the car. Suits. Outdoor clothes. Kris's Barong Tagalog. Ilya's traditional Kazakh headdress.

Both garments came from somewhere specific. I didn't want them to become props simply because the place around us was unfamiliar.

Kris and Ilya walk in traditional shirts and embroidered caps across an open field.
A white lighthouse stands beyond the couple in a wide field under grey clouds.
Kris and Ilya stand before the lighthouse wearing a Barong Tagalog and traditional embroidered clothing.
Their hands meet between the embroidered sleeves of their traditional shirts.
Kris and Ilya stand side by side in embroidered caps against the coast.
Kris and Ilya stand as tiny figures beneath a white lighthouse.
The couple stands on a low ridge with the white lighthouse behind them.
Kris and Ilya walk hand in hand beneath a pale blue-grey sky.
Side profiles of Kris and Ilya in their embroidered caps.
Kris and Ilya look at each other in traditional shirts against the open sky.
Kris and Ilya lean close indoors wearing a Barong Tagalog and embroidered Kazakh headwear.

We had sun for both days, which sounds like Iceland behaving itself. It wasn't.

A place can be clear, bright and still refuse every attempt to control it. The road takes longer. The ground changes. The sea reaches farther than expected. Something that looked close on the map turns out to be nowhere near you.

That was good for the photographs. Less useful for keeping everyone dry.

A dark volcanic rock formation rises from moss-covered ground.
Empty black-sand beach and dark cliffs meet a pale Icelandic sea.
Kris tosses a black stone into the air on the beach.
Kris and Ilya walk across the black pebbles in white and red jackets.
Kris and Ilya stand with their backs to the camera facing the Icelandic sea.
Waves break around a tall black sea stack.
White surf crashes around black volcanic rocks beneath an overcast sky.
Kris and Ilya laugh while walking back from the rough sea.

The sea had behaved until one wave reached considerably farther than the others and caught Ilya's feet. I felt terrible. This had been my idea, after all. Ilya seemed much less concerned. I don't remember his exact reaction anymore, but I do remember that the moment was over faster for him than it was for me. We left the photograph immediately after the wave out of the sequence. I like it better that way. The water arrives. Then they return laughing. Whatever happened between those two frames belongs to them.

The couple stands small inside a dark moss-covered rock hollow.
Kris and Ilya kiss beside a dark volcanic rock formation.
Kris and Ilya sit together on the grass in their outdoor jackets.

At some point Kris told me that Ilya loves forests. My first thought was: okay, I like this guy. My second was that Iceland had done a remarkably bad job of providing one.

I still don't know whether that small group of trees counts. It was enough for a few photographs. Then came the waterfall, bare skin and the point where cold stopped being an interesting photographic idea.

Kris and Ilya stand bare-chested among small evergreen trees.
The couple walks along a narrow road toward a small white church with a red roof.
Kris and Ilya walk toward a small black church across open ground.
A small white church with a red roof stands alone beneath grey clouds.
One of the couple stands close beside an Icelandic horse.
Kris and Ilya meet an Icelandic horse in an open field.
A broad waterfall drops into a rocky stream between mossy slopes.
Kris and Ilya embrace bare-chested in front of the waterfall.
The couple kisses on dark rocks while the waterfall fills the frame behind them.

Kris had found a hot spring for the final part of the day. When we arrived, nobody else was there. Just the two of them in warm water, with the hills around us and absolutely no need to hurry back out.

Sometimes a place gives you exactly what you hoped for. It just makes you pay a speeding fine first.

Fog hangs over dark Icelandic hills.
A wooden path leads through the hills toward the hot spring.
Kris and Ilya stand chest-deep in a small natural hot spring, talking face to face.
The couple leans together against warm stones at the edge of the hot spring.
Kris and Ilya sit in the small hot pool surrounded by rolling yellow hills.
Black-and-white view of Kris and Ilya with only their heads above the hot spring water.
A tiny hot spring with the couple sits beneath wide, empty Icelandic hills.
Ilya brushes wet hair from his head while standing in the hot spring.
A narrow stream winds through empty golden hills in late light.

There is one photograph from the hot spring where only their heads remain above the water. It still makes me laugh, mostly because I have no idea what was going through their heads.

Maybe nothing. They had been together for eight years. They didn't need to fill the silence for me.

Kris and Ilya continued their elopement in Iceland after getting married in Copenhagen. Across the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, the photographs move from Kirkjufell and the volcanic coast to a black-sand beach, a waterfall and a small hot spring. Kris wore a Filipino Barong Tagalog for part of the session, while Ilya brought traditional Kazakh headwear. Their clothing gives the story a personal and intercultural layer without turning it into costume or spectacle. This LGBTQ+ elopement story combines documentary attention with deliberately constructed portraits, leaving room for quiet, humour and photographs that became a little strange once nobody needed to hurry.

EXPLORE LGBTQ+ ELOPEMENTS ACROSS EUROPE

Ready to write your own story?

Get in touch