After a 30-day journey across Iceland covering more than a million steps — 1,066,113 to be precise — the need to stop and gather one's thoughts becomes paramount. Mattia Vettorello, a young Italian explorer, did just that by creating a photography book entitled Materia instabile. It is an attempt to push anyone — even first-time travellers — to challenge themselves, to step outside their comfort zone. Because life is short, because there is too much to see.

Waterfalls of the Skogar river © Mattia Vettorello

Myrdalsjokull glacier © Mattia Vettorello

Abundant moss coverage — 50% of Iceland's terrain is covered in moss © Mattia Vettorello

First light of day and Lake Alftavatn © Mattia Vettorello

Wide open spaces: Lake Alftavatn and Myrdalsjokull glacier © Mattia Vettorello

Cold summer, still heavy snow cover © Mattia Vettorello

Snow-covered hills of Landmannalaugar — tiring, slow going © Mattia Vettorello

The pastel colours of Landmannalaugar © Mattia Vettorello

Hot water pool, pervasive sulphur smell and vivid chemical colour © Mattia Vettorello

Interplay of light and shadow — clouds are essential for bringing out these contrasts. Landmannalaugar © Mattia Vettorello

First encounter with Icelandic wind. On subsequent occasions it stopped me from moving forward. 1km/h on foot © Mattia Vettorello

Lava field — walking across it is no easy task, with sharp, cutting rocks that crumble easily © Mattia Vettorello

The fascinating branching patterns of water © Mattia Vettorello

Ropy lava © Mattia Vettorello

A glimpse of the Askja caldera © Mattia Vettorello

A fantastic colour palette — rhyolitic rocks © Mattia Vettorello

The silence of the frozen lagoon and the icebergs at different stages of age © Mattia Vettorello

Icelandic green. Highlighter © Mattia Vettorello

The interplay of lines and colours within Iceland's geology © Mattia Vettorello

A brushstroke of northern lights. Elegant in its simplicity © Mattia Vettorello

Vettorello's passion began thanks to a project, Frostscape, which is a declaration of love for nature, for discovery. At a slow pace, as he puts it. "The figure of the explorer has changed. If in the eighties Walter Bonatti, rucksack on his back, was pursuing the unknown, today's traveller relates to a world already perfectly mapped, inspected and examined. But not, for that reason, known," writes Vettorello in the introduction to Materia instabile. "To be able to say that one knows something, the journey should be given back its introspective and anthropological connotation. This is the ultimate goal of the Frostscape project."

And Iceland was the inevitable destination from which to start channelling the adrenaline, a place where matter is unstable given the intense subterranean volcanic activity.

The book is available to purchase online and part of the proceeds will go towards funding the construction of schools in Nepal that were destroyed following the 2015 earthquake, through the Finale for Nepal project. And it is precisely the small Asian country that will be Vettorello's next destination. A choice driven by the desire to go and see how life is continuing exactly one year on from the devastating earthquake. To meet people, gather testimonies and photograph faces. All of it, strictly, at a slow pace.