Blanche Montemard stands in front of the Icelandair "Diary of a Really Bad Photographer" tour bus in the Icelandic countryside, its side panel reading "Caution: A really bad photographer may emerge, pose at own risk."

Icelandair set out to find the world's worst photographer and prove a point: even Iceland's worst photos are good photos. See the results from Blanche Mortemard's ten days chasing the country's landscapes.

Icelandair set out to find the world's worst photographer and prove a point: even Iceland's worst photos are good photos. See the results from Blanche Mortemard's ten days chasing the country's landscapes.

Icelandair set out to find the world's worst photographer and prove a point: even Iceland's worst photos are good photos. See the results from Blanche Mortemard's ten days chasing the country's landscapes.

Blanche Mortemard, seen from behind in a raincoat spattered with mist, raises a phone overhead to photograph a wide, cascading waterfall in Iceland.

The backstory. In April 2026, Icelandair issued a call. As part of its mission to celebrate Iceland's real unreal experiences, and take a stand against the rise of AI-generated travel images, the airline set out to prove a simple point: even the world's worst photographer can take great photos in Iceland.

They invited truly awful photographers to nominate themselves (and others). The response? 127,642 applicants from around the globe, and a staggering collection of bad photos.

After screening, interviews, and shortlisting, Icelandair found their match: the very best of the worst. Meet Icelandair's really bad photographer, Blanche Mortemard.

Blanche, aged 28 and from Paris, stood out for her remarkable ability to take consistently poor photos. But beyond the technical mishaps, her personality and refreshingly honest approach to travel sealed the deal.

In June, Blanche travelled around Iceland for approximately 10 days, with flights, accommodation, and transportation covered. Her mission: capture one of the world's most photogenic countries.

Now, at Taste of Iceland, you get to see the results. Did Iceland do all the heavy lifting, or did Blanche somehow out-chaos the scenery?

Join us for an exhibition where every shot tells a story, some of them just slightly out of focus.

Read more from The Diary of a Really Bad Photographer


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Icelandair flies to more than 50 destinations worldwide.

By uniting passengers traveling to and from Iceland with passengers crossing the Atlantic via Iceland, Icelandair has continuously expanded and reinforced its network over the last decades. Our Icelandair route network is the core of our operations, with our hub in the North Atlantic playing a key role. 

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