‘Ghost of Reynisfjara’ by Vilhelm Gunnarsson.

Photographer Vilhelm Gunnarsson has been shooting the south coast of Iceland, showing a landscape that is battered by the relentless forces of the Atlantic Ocean.

The stark black-and-white photos were taken around the southern coast, including Reynisfjara Beach, where several people have been tragically swept out to sea and drowned.

“The ocean is close to my heart, as it is to many Icelanders,” Gunnarsson tells PetaPixel . “We live on an island in the middle of the North Atlantic, where the sea is our lifeline. Iceland has some of the richest fishing grounds in the world, and the ocean brings warm currents that make our country habitable.”

The aforementioned Reynisfjara Beach, where just last year a nine-year-old German girl died , is where the ocean feels most powerful, according to Gunnarsson.

“High cliffs, basalt columns, and the Reynisdrangar sea stacks create one of Iceland’s most iconic views,” he says.

“Yet this beauty comes with serious danger.…