Iceland, Time-Lapse, and Dustin Farrell
As has been happening for the past 3 years, this summer I flew to Iceland to run a time-lapse workshop – this time in the South coast of the island. I go to Iceland at least three times a year. Since last summer I have been happy to share this experience at least once a year with a prestigious college. Last year I had the pleasure to work with the commercial photographer Jason Lyndsey with whom we taught a workshop about making video with DSLR. This summer I had a chance to cooperate with the renowned time-lapser Dustin Farrell.
From the first moment I knew that travelling with Dustin Farrell along the South shore of Iceland, one of the most photogenic places in the world, was going to be an unforgettable experience. Not only because of the opportunity to share the knowledge, technique and workflow with him and the other participants but because of having a chance to spend an entire week with a fantastic guy. He has great sense of humor and humility that seems only be found in the greatest professionals, those who don’t have to prove anything to anyone, because their work speaks for itself.
We started shooting the same day the participants arrived, we picked them up at the airport and drove to the nearby Reykjanes Peninsula. There are numerous beautiful locations to shoot time-lapses, such as beaches with impressive rock formations, areas of high geothermal activity with fumaroles and bubbling craters, and of course the Blue Lagoon, a fantastic turquoise lagoon which flows from the volcanic rocks.
Without a doubt some of the major attractions that both workshop participants and Dustin Farrell enjoyed the most were the waterfalls in the Southern coast of Iceland. The majestic Seljalandfoss welcomed us with fantastic light and Skogafoss, as always, amazed us with its impressive flow and the beautiful shapes of the rocks.
But the true highlight was located a bit farther, the Jokulsarlon lagoon. It is unique place in the world – a lagoon formed by the melting glacier, the largest in Europe, Vatnajokull. Many of its icebergs break off and are washed to the sea where they stay stranded in the black volcanic sand beach.
Whenever I go to Jokulsarlon someone asks me how many times I’ve been there. The truth is I’ve lost count, maybe 15 or 20 times, maybe more. But I must say that it’s always different – the icebergs, light, and the weather change quickly and it is almost impossible to predict how it will look or if the conditions will be favorable.
It doesn’t really matter much if it is cloudy or if the sun shines. It is a magical place where it is almost impossible to take a bad photo as Dustin joked when he saw the place. But is true that we were specially lucky this time. We had one of the most fascinating sunsets I’ve ever seen, certainly the best light I’ve seen so far in Jokulsaron. That allowed us to shoot for more than 3 hours with tones that barely last a few minutes at any other latitude.
I remember Dustin came with multiple cameras, sliders, etc, but was so amazed by the light and landscape, that he just mounted a camera on a tripod and left it shooting continuously, astonished by the indescribable beauty of the uniqueness of the scene.
Tours and workshops in Iceland are taking place in November 2012 and March 2013, when we will have the chance to photograph the Aurora Borealis – another great phenomena of nature that every photographer should capture with their camera at least once in their lifetime.