About Marco Di Marco

Visual journalist, photographer, videographer and tour guide based in Iceland, documenting volcanic activity, environmental change and their effects on people and communities.

Marco Di Marco, photojournalist, watches lava fountains produced by fissure #5 during the 2021 Fagrdalsfjall eruption, April 27th, 2021
Photo by: Kerstin Langenberger

Who’s Marco

Marco Di Marco is a Sicilian visual journalist, photographer and videographer based in Iceland. His work combines field knowledge with visual storytelling, with a particular focus on volcanic activity, environmental change and the communities living around them.

He works across photography and video for Associated Press and other international media, as well as documentary productions and research teams. Alongside his visual work, Marco is also a licensed driver-guide in Iceland, a role that complements his field experience and knowledge of the country.

It’s very nice to feel you’re nothing… when you’re near a volcano.

Katia & Maurice Krafft, volcanologists

HOW EVERYTHING STARTED

Origins

Raised at the foot of Mount Etna, Marco experienced volcanic eruptions not as distant events but as part of daily life.
He first stood near active lava flows as a child, early encounters that shaped his instinct for reading the Earth’s signals and respecting its scale.
Trained in geology and field interpretation, he developed a practical understanding of how landscapes evolve, later combining that knowledge with the discipline of visual documentation.

By his late teens, he was spending days and nights on the slopes of Mount Etna observing eruptions first-hand, guided more by curiosity than by career ambition.
Those years built the observational foundation that would later shape his reporting style: precise, patient and grounded in evidence.

Marco's (in orange jacket) first lava flow, with his little brother Alessandro and his father Alfio. 
Etna, October 1999
Marco Di Marco reporting from volcanic terrain wearing a high-visibility press vest.

HOW IT DEVELOPED

Professional Path

What began as personal field exploration gradually evolved into professional reporting.
Marco moved to Iceland in 2018, where his long-standing interest in volcanic systems developed into a broader practice centred on visual documentation and field-based storytelling.
In 2021, with the onset of Iceland’s Reykjanes volcanic sequence, he began collaborating with Associated Press, producing photography and video distributed internationally across television, digital and print outlets.
Since then, he has continued to document successive eruptions alongside severe weather, environmental events and national stories, following events beyond the immediate breaking-news moment whenever the story requires it.

CORE VALUES

Work Approach

Marco’s work moves between photojournalism, documentary film and field-based research.
He often operates in remote or hazardous conditions, relying on careful preparation and close coordination with local authorities, scientists and production teams.
His approach values clarity over spectacle, with composition and tone serving the story rather than becoming the story.

He treats visual journalism as a form of long-term observation.
Whether documenting volcanic activity, environmental change or wider social and community stories, the aim is to build an accurate visual record and provide context as events develop.

Marco in front of fissure #2 during the 2021 Fagrdalsfjall eruption, April 5th, 2021
Photo by: Kerstin Langenberger

To know ahead of time what you’re looking for means you’re only photographing your own preconceptions

Dorothea Lange, documentary photographer & photojournalist

current focus

Present Work & Outlook

Now based in Iceland, Marco continues to report on geological, environmental and national events for international media, with much of his work centred on the evolving Reykjanes volcanic sequence and its effects on landscapes, infrastructure and communities.
His practice also includes documentary production, aerial cinematography and collaboration with scientific and media teams working in the field.
He remains closely connected to Sicily and southern Italy, returning regularly to document Etna, Stromboli and other Mediterranean volcanic systems.

Alongside editorial assignments, he is increasingly developing longer documentary projects across a broader range of subjects, particularly where sustained fieldwork and long-term observation can add depth to the story.
He continues to work internationally across photography, video and documentary assignments, with a particular interest in stories where field knowledge, continuity and visual precision matter.

Perspective

Marco’s perspective is shaped by long-term observation. Photography and film are tools for paying attention to processes that often unfold more slowly than the news cycle, from the evolution of an eruption to the way communities adjust around it.
The camera is not the protagonist. Its role is to record, explain and preserve evidence of what happened, while keeping both the scale of the event and the people living through it in view.

For editorial assignments, documentary collaborations, interviews or speaking engagements, get in touch through the Contact page.

Sicilian visual journalist based in Iceland since 2018, documenting volcanic activity, natural phenomena, environmental change, and field science.
Contributor to the Associated Press and international media, available for assignments and documentary collaborations worldwide.