No matter where you look you will find inspiration. Home of the everchanging light, the raw lunar landscape, the unpredictable weather that changes every two or three minutes – it all can be both a challenge and a privilege. Amazing waterfalls, majestic canyons, mountains, glaciers and volcanoes are what drives me to leave the city and go shoot with my trustworthy Fujifilm X-Pro2 . It only takes five minutes drive from the capital city, Reykjavik, to feel like you are the only person in the world.
You can define Iceland as a photographers playground.
Even though I majorly shoot weddings in a documentary style, I do share a huge passion for the nature and our natural surrondings. I find inspiration in the light and the beautiful landscapes. Iceland offers many days of gloomy weather, so I try to make a best out of it and create a darker and more dramatic shots. Perspective plays an important role in my landscape shots. I like to give the viewer a scale of the things I shot, so it can have a greater impact. The daylight in the winter time in Iceland is very special and unique, the sun does a little sneak peak behind the mountains starting from 11:00 AM and goes down again at 3:00 PM, giving 4-5 hours of everlasting golden hour. This phenomenon is reversed during the summer months, when the sun actually almost never sets, forcing me to reverse the day and go out to shoot in the late after-hours.
To shoot an amazing landscape you will need luck, talent and technical skill.
Luck is to be in the right spot at the right time with the right light and weather conditions, talent is to spot that location and to frame it the way that the viewer will find it interesting to look at and it will catch its interest, and the techincal skill to know how to use your gear, like shooting in higher apertures (8-16), so you can have a sharp picture throughout the frame, and keeping the ISO as low as possible (well, depending of the style of the photo). Since Fuji is a great ISO performer, this will not be a lot of a headache. Shooting with Fuji is very inspiring. I am sure that you know what I am talking about since you are reading this, I assume that you already are a Fujifilm user, so I will be only repeating what you already know. Its not only for the quality of the files, its also the way the camera feels when shooting. The electronic viewfinder, the way it feels in the hand, for me its truly inspirational. I have taken my Fujifilm X-Pro2 to the top of a glacier in -20 degrees Celsius while driving on a snowmobile, I have traveled with it to the tropical humid climates of South East Asia, and the camera has never failed me, both in extremely cold and hot conditions. Actually the focus ring on my 35mm 1.4 lens froze, but so did my hands, so no problem there.
My favorite time to shoot landscape is early in the morning or late in the evenings when the sun sets down, for that amazing golden light and the pastel colours. I want my images to inspire people to get out of the sofa, travel and go out and shoot!
I want to thank Thomash for giving me the oportunity to have a small part in his amazing project and to share my work with you guys. If you are planning a trip to Iceland, do not hesitate to drop me a line.