“The problem with driving around Iceland is that you’re basically confronted by a new soul-enriching, breath-taking, life-affirming natural sight every five goddamn minutes. It’s totally exhausting.” Stephen Markley
This story begins with a Rick Sammon-Tim Vollmer Photography Workshop in this terra Wonderland of Iceland. We are 9 students of Photography (and life) who aspire to taking their art and it`s passion for adventure to a new level of discovery, and hopefully accomplishment? We will mark 8 days of travel wrapped in high end Nikon and Canon gear and a devotion to “photo moments” reminiscent of kids in the proverbial candy store!
Luckily, 3 Photo Tour Workshop Guides are dedicated to offering us Iceland`s best possibilities (and fantasies) when they take time from inspiring our photo technique and post-processing potential. This was a 5 star karmic learning event for this photo traveler and our mentors, Rick sammon, Tim Vollmer and Susan Sammon, truly are the “shit”! They had us feeding at the trough of our passions and I`m feeling like a kid learning a new language. Yeah, I know, I`ve become a Photo Geek and a Dreamscape Surfer. And I love it!
Beyond learning Photography, I think that the best of this Global Travel experience is a connection where hopefully Iceland helps us “capture” it`s fantasy and help us realize our special bond with the best of Nature! And discovering how important that the “best of nature” might be to our future is another theme that I`m trying to understand?
This “very special” trip has reminded me that I need to give as much as I receive in this world of discovery. All I can give here are some Photo moments conveying how I`m trying to learn the “Art of Visual poetry” in the Land of Elves. Photography is my way to tell a story of beautiful possibilities!
Here I practice HDR capturing my buddy Martin swept up in his personal passion for Ice Pics! I`m learning like you probably are but it`s not too complicated. Bracket 5 exposures, load into Lightroom and use the LR Photomatix plug in to create HDR. Then I transfer HDR to LR plugin from Nik and use Color Effex Pro to fine tune the look. Voila, I create my karmic vision of an Icy Paradise!
Here I learn the value of a solid tripod and a Nikon Camera with the “timer” activated. Now I have a “selfie” of myself on top of the world! More simple photographic magic in Fantasy Land!
I try and add a little drama to Gullfoss (majestic waterfalls) with a Neutral Density Filter and some Nik software fine tuning (with advice from my buddy, Rick Sammon). I am becoming a big fan of Nik thanks to some inspiration from Tim Vollmer and Rick.
This all advances my road of Discovery through “Travel Photography” as I try to relate thought on culture, inspiration, visual literacy and maybe just the selfish moments of pure unadulterated joy during a global journey. Toss in a bit of HDR, Nikon (or Canon, Sony, Fuji), Nik, a wide angle lens and I`ll be back with more of this.
Karmajungle 