Born in Iceland in 1958, Axelsson trained as a photographer and soon began working as such for the Icelandic newspaper, Morgunblaðið. Since then he has been documenting the lives of people in the far north. His pictures have appeared in Life, Geo, Polka, Newsweek, Stern and Time Magazine among others. To date he has published three books: Faces of the North (2004, new edition 2015), Last Days of the Arctic (2010) and Behind the Mountains (2013). In 2001 he received an honourable mention at the Leica Oskar Barnack Awards.
