So looking back does help by Gerry van Roosmalen

“Looking back doesn't help,” says a quote from the Dutch poet Bergman (1921-2009). The quote continues; “It is impossible to look ahead, we don't have a leg to stand on.” Every photographer knows that looking back really helps. Those who only look ahead miss half the world, according to the quote from the photographer Gerry van Roosmalen, 1963-20 ??.

Recently I was on the road with the Icelandic guide Einar Rúnar Sigurðsson. Einar has a sixth sense for finding the most beautiful ice caves in Europe's largest glacier, Vatnajökull.

Due to the onset of thaw, there was nothing to do a kilometer before the glacier tongue but to leave the car behind and walk the last part. Walking across the swampy terrain was an adventure in itself. If you had solid ground under your feet at one step, you suddenly had to sprint at the next step to prevent yourself from sinking far above your ankles into the slushy ground.

It felt good to stand on the thousand-year-old ice of the glacier tongue Breiðamerkurjökull. Slip-free thanks to sturdy crampons, we headed for the ice caves. Like a kid walking in a candy store and crawling through the caves. Incidents of light, ice structures, waterfalls and a color palette from clear white to deep blue. A space that commanded respect, a space where you don't speak to each other, but where you nod to each other in understanding instead of shouting how beautiful it is. A space where you don't talk but whisper.

At the entrance to a second cave, Einar asked if I might be claustrophobic. Now I think I'm not, but the moment I have to murmur myself through narrow corridors, or crawl low on the floor to get to another room, disturbing thoughts sometimes flash through my head. Especially "what if", or "imagine that". All those thoughts disappeared this time when I arrived in one of the somewhat larger rooms of this ice cave.

At the end of “my time” I packed up the camera and crawled back through the narrow caverns and under hanging ice formations. When I stood up I was face to face with the image above. I had walked under it and hadn't seen it.

So looking back helps.