Elo Vázquez is 26, afraid of the sea and allergic to beards.

MOSSLESS: How long have you lived in Iceland now and what made you like it so much?
ELO VÁZQUEZ: The first time I went there was in 2005, and since then I’ve been living between Reykjavík and my hometown in the south of Spain. Iceland is a wonderfully eerie place. I absolutely adore the landscape, the endless lava covered with moss, the icebergs, the waterfalls, the grey bubbles, and all that smoke coming from the weirdest places. Reykjavík is a very very small capital with colorful houses and galleries and lots of trees and nice cats. But what really made me like Iceland so much is their invention of mixing liquorice and chocolate. It’s absolutely delicious.

ML: What’s it like compared to Spain?
EV: Probably the main difference between Iceland and Spain is the lack of sunlight during the winter and the lack of darkness during the summer. Your body starts working in a very funny way, you almost feel like a different person, very confused and tired. Another basic difference is that Icelandic people are usually inside, and Spanish people are usually outside. Meeting no more than ten or twenty people in the main street of Reykjavík is the normal thing in there. But being inside has its advantages though: now I’m really good at playing Cluedo and making puzzles.

ML: What camera do you shoot with?
EV: I own lots of cameras, but I usually shoot with an analog Canon EOS 3000v, and lately I’ve been using a small Canon Pixma that my boyfriend found at his home. I still don’t feel comfortable with digital photography. I can’t function if I have the possibility of shooting the same thing or person or place hundreds of times. I prefer the gut feeling and imperfection of analog pictures.

ML: What do you look for in a photograph?
EV: When it’s me the one taking the picture, I usually don’t know what I’m looking for. Suddenly I just feel the urge to press the shutter button. It can be something funny or something that doesn’t belong or something that I want to keep just because. It can be a red mountain, an extremely flowery hall or a beautiful arm. Or a Russian girl holding a Russian map. It can be anything. Sometimes even nothing.