Hans Strand approaches photography analytically, but never mechanically. He begins with signals in the landscape itself: lines, figures, shapes, colors, and sometimes dramatic light. Yet light alone is never enough. What interests him most is how those elements can be organized inside the frame so that the image gains tension, life, and harmony.

Geometry and composition are central to his process. He has said that a good photograph is mostly about geometry and how it is organized within the frame, and that the corners of the image must work together. This attention to structure is what allows him to transform complex, chaotic subject matter into something coherent and personal.

He often works from an established concept. Topics such as water, forests, or human influence in the landscape may guide image-making over long periods, and these bodies of work often continue for years. Iceland, for example, has remained an open project for decades. He collects images until a book or exhibition begins to suggest itself, and a photograph belongs in a project only if it adds a new dimension to the subject.

Technical quality also matters deeply to him. He expects prints and books to withstand close scrutiny, believing that technical perfection helps the image communicate with the viewer more directly.

Hans Strand’s conversation reveals a photographer for whom composition is not secondary to subject but the means through which subject becomes meaningful. Readers learn quickly that he does not approach landscape as a simple record of place. Instead, he is looking for forces, tensions, and patterns that can be organized into a coherent image.

One of the most valuable insights in the interview is his preference for complexity over beauty. He speaks openly about chaotic nature as something that stimulates him, because it demands that he find structure rather than merely admire surface appeal. This helps explain why his photographs often feel both analytical and alive.

The interview also clarifies the evolution of his work. He describes moving away from dramatic “hallelujah light” toward more intimate landscapes and aerials, and he identifies influences ranging from David Muench and Henri Cartier-Bresson to Edward Burtynsky. Taken together, these reflections show a photographer who has steadily refined his language while broadening its subject matter to include environmental and human-shaped landscapes as well as wilderness.

Hans Strand belongs in Voice of the Eyes because his work demonstrates how landscape photography can move beyond description and become a language of structure, force, and time. His images are immediately visual, yet they are also deeply interpretive. They show landscapes as living systems shaped by movement, geology, and human intervention.

His perspective strengthens the publication because he brings unusual clarity to the role of composition. He does not treat it as decoration or refinement, but as the very place where personal vision becomes visible. That makes his work especially resonant in a book concerned with how photographers truly see.

He also contributes an important bridge between wild and altered landscapes. By turning toward aerial views, intimate patterns, and environmental themes, he shows that a mature photographic practice can remain formally rigorous while taking on broader questions about land, change, and the future of ecosystems.