Iceland delivered a full and stunning photo adventure:
…more Icelandic waterfalls
My list of places to visit has increased as a result of the trip. I plan to visit again soon. Thanks for your comments by e-mail – would love to hear from others about their travel and photo plans!
Small village north of Reykjavik
Back to usual programming next week!
Harry
The big city is Reykjavik – at 200,000 people it is small by world standards but a bustling, thriving, friendly city. If you find a safer city you’ll be lucky. It’s also a party place on the weekends. You may hear people singing on their way home from the bars at 4 or 5am …in an orderly fashion, of course.
The city is clean, colourful and is the central hub of the booming commercial economy. Fishing, tourism, shipping and oil all work through the port city.
Colourful houses – Reykjavik
The city has a popular beach – Nauthólsvík – nestled close to the city centre where people lounge on the golden Moroccan sand – yes, imported – and swim in the thermally fed North Atlantic / Arctic ocean. It’s packed when the weather is fine! It was close to 30C (a scorcher for Iceland) this day:
Nauthólsvík Beach
It’s a pretty dreamy place – Iceland. Mild temperatures – some say cool – spectacular, exotic, safe, enchanting, legendary.
Sigh.
Want to hear more? Let me know…
This is the continuing post of my recent Icelandic photo adventure. We traveled for two weeks – some was vacation with my wife – some was work for my agencies after my wife returned to Canada.
Viking Trolls
There is a lot of Viking lore and history in Iceland, of course. Icelandic people descended from Scandinavia and Ireland/Scotland and have provided a hotbed of genetic research as the people are quite isolated, genetically. Research has shown most of the men descended from Scandinavia while most women descended from Celtic regions. Very curious!
The Icelandic people have written literary masterpieces – the Icelandic sagas. Recent authors are winning awards, too! There is also much suggestion of trolls and mythical creatures. Ahem:
Icelandic Photo Adventure – HarryNowell.com
Fermented Shark
We visited a farm on Snæfellsnes and saw their small fishing and shark museum. Icelanders still catch the Greenland shark – an arctic, cold water species that thrives in sub-zero water. The shark is toxic to eat because of the ammonia based, natural ‘antifreeze’ that allows it to survive its habitat.
Icelandic Photo Adventure – HarryNowell.com
It is edible after being buried or cured for four months. We got to taste this delicacy – Hákarl. It is disgusting – the overpowering ammonia drowns out any other flavours. If you are there you have to try it!
Icelandic Horses
Icelandic Photo Adventure – HarryNowell.com
The horses are small, stocky and hardy. Beautiful and curious, they emigrated from the celtic and nordic regions with the Icelandic people. Spectacular animals!
Harry
“Wow,” I gasped.
Iceland Photo Adventure – HarryNowell.com
I added “I know I keep saying ‘wow’ but it keeps being true!”
That sums up most of Iceland and especially the waterfalls. It seems everywhere you go there is water falling – sometimes thunderous, sometimes melodic.
Iceland Photo Adventure – HarryNowell.com
Iceland is a photographer’s paradise. Everywhere you look there is something pretty spectacular. The weather changes so much you can shoot the same subject many different ways on three very different days.
Iceland Photo Adventure – HarryNowell.com
Stay tuned for more photos and stories all week.
Harry
This week I will be highlighting the trip to Iceland while it is still very alive in my memory.
Trip Summary
I have wanted to go to Iceland for almost twenty years and I proposed the idea to my wife – she was excited! We traveled together for ten days while I stayed longer for some stock photo work and researching future trips. Iceland was fantastic.
The Agenda
We divided our time between Reykjavik, Snæfellsnes peninsula and south Iceland. We traveled by car, bicycle and bus.
Gulfoss waterfall
Weather
True to Iceland’s unpredictable nature we had a wide range of weather:
Some Highlights
This week I will be recounting some of the adventures of the trip:
Stay tuned this week for pictures, stories and the possibility of photographing there.
Harry
We are back. The R&R involved 10 days of holiday in Iceland. My wife returned home and I stayed longer to do some work.
Iceland is stunning. And don’t let the name fool you! While there was certainly some rain and mild temperatures we did have some beautiful blue sky and warm temperatures.
Thorsmork – south Iceland
I arrived late last night and am getting back up to speed with life and work. There is a lot of catch-up to do! Next week I will be posting some photos, stories and opportunities from Iceland.
Did I mention it is a stunning place? It is a photography paradise. The people are generally friendly and welcoming – the weather is mild and there are no snakes!
Stay tuned next week.
Harry
I have some work and play coming up that will consume much of my time. Alas, my blog posts over the next two weeks will be sparse. I will likely post a couple of notes but want to limit my time in the office to charge my batteries!
Perhaps in my relax time I will get a chance for a ride in an old roadster:
Blur action in an old roadster – ChelseaGallery.ca
The Photo Story:
I developed this idea of highway summer photos in Chelsea, Quebec. I scouted the highway and found a nice background with a safe spot beside my car to get the fun perspective. Within minutes I was lucky enough to catch this classic roadster on the highway. I added the hint of motion with a slow shutter speed – slightly blurred roadster – that adds to the fun.
A police officer ‘moved me along’ a few minutes later! He was quite nice – no ticket – but a little perplexed at my project!
H
I will be handing in the first installment of a stock assignment with the Canadian federal government. The shooting has been very fun – right up my alley – it involves people and motion.
Stock Photo @ HarryNowell.com
Shooting stock is what brought me into this business of photography. Naturally, my business has progressed to include other elements of work. The freedom and creativity shooting stock is what makes me smile the most!
I have an intriguing photo adventure coming up later this week. I’ll be smiling…
H
I just shot Ottawa Bluesfest for a couple of different media outlets. The festival has grown into an extravaganza of international music festival proportions.
Wyclef Jean
For the last night of the fest I was hired to shoot and file the headline show. I got called in the afternoon to see if I could cover more. That meant twice the work. “Yes,” I said and asked for a larger budget to cover the extra work. “No,” they said.
I stood my ground and said for the original budget I’d shoot the original assignment. Their freelancer’s rates are very low already. They changed the show I was to cover. Fine – same work but I was done earlier.
I saw the staff writer covering the event. “What?!” he exclaimed! He phoned the media outlet – my assigned photos wouldn’t match his review. The office spoke to me again and asked if I could shoot more – “Yes,” if there was a larger budget!
They ended up hiring a student on site at the last minute for the extra work. The student told me he was paid $40 to shoot. Apparently he borrowed a laptop to file the work. Another photographer told the student what just went down. “You just took Harry’s work!” …and accepted almost nothing to do it. The student was a little uneasy! I am not upset with him – but he has some learning to do!
Crowd at Bluesfest
There are many people who see shooting Bluesfest for a paper a great opportunity with great exposure that could lead to great things. With an attitude like that it will likely lead to low, unsustainable wages.
“But he got $40! Better than nothing.”
No! With the amount invested in photo and computer gear, the price of gas and the cost of doing business the student would be far better pursuing other jobs that paid a realistic wage.
“But it’s Bluesfest!” (ie fun). The media outlets know there are many ‘wanna-be’ photographers with stars in their eyes! This scenario often leads to low, unsustainable wages.
I filed my assigned work, enjoyed the show for twenty more minutes and went home to my wife. I filed my invoice and said I was interested in other work “… if the rates were reasonable.” I may never get another call from them. That’s fine – I’ll be working for better clients!
Sam Roberts
If you have a new creative business BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! There are few clients who will pay you a penny more than they have to. They know there is a far greater supply of new photographers (or other new creatives) than there is demand for their services. They can often get away with paying low $. Saying “no” to low $ can get you further in the long run.
How can you learn the ropes of a creative business?
I will be photographing a Canadian Olympic athlete, Sarah Boudens, as part of a feature for a magazine. She is a slalom whitewater kayaker – a very fun sport!
See these photos from a low key slalom race last summer.
Harry
