Iceland Day One : Reykjavik to Vik

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Looking forward this morning to getting underway on the first day of our winter workshop in Iceland. Last night we had a wonderful welcome dinner at Snaps restaurant in Reykjavic and today after breakfast we are headed to the small coastal town of Vik where we are looking forward to photographing some of Iceland’s amazing basalt columns, black sand beaches and stunning coastal cliffs. Along the way we are planning to stop and photograph the iconic Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls that cascade down the mountainside from the glacier above on their journey to the ocean. Although I have visited and photographed both of these waterfalls many times I always look forward to revisiting them and making new images of what are in many ways the trademark waterfalls of Iceland. The weather today is looking very promising and I can see quite a lot of blue sky from my hotel room as the sun slowly rises over us at 64˚ North in Reykjavik. Time to get rolling…

Leaving for Iceland Winter Workshops

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Bags are packed and it is now time to flee to oppressive and seemingly omnipotent heat of the Australian summer for a much preferred sub-Arctic winter in Iceland. As soon as I finish this post I am heading to the airport to begin the long trek to Iceland (this time via London with a stop over in Dubai). Winter has been unseasonably warm in Iceland this year with temperatures hovering around +5 degrees Celsius during the day and then dropping below freezing at night (and lots of rain). I am quietly hoping for a good Arctic blast to dump temperatures into the sub zero range with some fresh snowfall along the coastline. The great news is from all reports the Aurora has really fired up over the last few weeks and we are expecting some fabulous opportunities weather permitting.  Andy Biggs and I hope to post some updates from our workshops over the next month to our blogs as time allows. Its going to be a very exciting winter month in Iceland and I am looking forward to returning to what is my favourite place in the world for landscape photography. Whoops.. thats the taxi out the front. See you in Iceland!

Capture Magazine – Hues in Control?

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Australia’s top selling Pro Photography magazine ‘Capture’ has an interesting article on colour management titled ‘Hues in Control’ in their latest March / April 2013 issue.  I was invited to participate in a phone interview to discuss the role of colour management in my own photography and workflow and have been quoted at various points in the article. One of my photographs from Námafjall in Iceland (‘Highway to Hell’) of geothermal features belching sulphur at dawn was chosen as the lead image for the article. A high resolution version of this photograph can be seen on my website.

Ice Blade : Antarctica

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One of the great joys of photography for me other than the actual taking of the photograph is the processing and printing of images in my studio.  Every now and again I revisit photographs from a shoot that have to date languished in my Lightroom library and very occasionally I unearth a gem that I had previously overlooked. Sometimes it takes the passage of time and a fresh set of eyes (and a step ladder) to pluck the plumbs that were previously hanging out of reach.

With the temperature in Australia a cross between scorching hot and roasting for days on end I have tucked myself away in the studio with the air conditioner and spent some time going over images from the last trip to Antarctica.  This photograph was taken from the deck of the Ocean Nova ship as we slowly cruised past this unusual iceberg during heavy snow fall. Many of my favourite photographs from this trip were shot when it was either snowing or overcast and ominous. Although Antarctica can look truly brilliant when the sun is shining I personally find it far more evocative and dramatic with some weather. I am looking forward to returning this year in November on the Antarctic workshop I am leading with Daniel Bergmann. In case you missed it Kevin Raber, Vice President of PODAS at Phase One is also joining us on this expedition and we are looking forward to photographing in one of the most remote and beautiful locations on the planet with the highest quality digital medium format camera equipment available. You can read the full post about Phase One and Antarctica HERE. Please visit the Antarctica Portfolio on my website for a higher resolution version of this photograph.