Portfolio
For our final portfolio, we were to create a collection of 7-10 images connected through a theme: in my case, extraterrestrial landscapes.
From the earliest use of a telescope to the first photo of Mars’s surface in 1976, the unknown void the universe presents has mystified and intrigued humans for thousands of years. Inspired by the American’s use of Iceland’s diverse terrain to simulate the moon landing, this collection showcases Iceland in the form of canyons, lava fields, beaches, natural hot spots, and glaciers in a way that highlights their untouched and almost extraterrestrial beauty. Throughout a race to find signs of life on other planets, this collection finds signs of other planets where there is already life.
As someone who has always wanted to explore the universe, and realized the impracticality of this, the creation of these images has given me comfort in the unexpected elements our world must have to offer if these examples of otherworldly beauty exist in just the small country of Iceland.
The Final Days
Our last few days in the land of the midnight sun were still busy, but less so than the first half of the trip. On Wednesday we drove back to Thingvellir national park where we went snorkeling towards the beginning of the trip, and this time went caving in a dark lava tube cave, which is also the first time we had seen darkness the whole trip. After critiquing project 6, we packed up and headed back to Eyrarbakki where we had a printing workshop and more time to finalize our portfolios. On Friday, we presented our portfolios, went horseback riding along the dark atlantic coast, packed up, and stayed up to watch our last midnight sunset, which was one of the most beautiful from the trip. Saturday, we were out of the hostel by 5:45 and made our way to the airport where we said our final goodbyes. It's been good Iceland!
Photo Assignment 6
For our 6th assignment, we were given the challenge of staging two portraits and two still lives.
Borg-amazing
Sometimes lazy days are the best days. We have officially rounded the ring road, and as our trip is almost coming to a close (we leave Saturday), we are trying to spend these last few days enjoying elements of Icelandic culture, and finishing up projects and our portfolios. Since our current projects is on portraits and still lives, we were given the morning to spend shooting, which was greatly appreciated considering how busy we have been. After that, we embarked on a day adventure to the small town of Borgarnes, and ate lunch at a beautiful vegetarian buffet, while some braved the cultural divide and tried horse meat! Apparently it tastes like a really good steak -Josh, who hates horses. After lunch, we had an hour and a half to explore the town, where we saw 3 adorable cats, a few cute dogs, many playgrounds, and practically no people. As we wandered in and out through the few quaint stores they had, we found a super cute yarn store with some of the cheapest yarn I have seen, let alone that of 100% wool. On the way out of Borgarnes, we stopped at a craft market to pick up ice cream, and somehow Charles justified the purchase of a 200 dollar knife made of Reindeer and Ram horns. When we arrived back at our guesthouse, we had more time to work on our projects before gearing up for dinner- Hamburgers for our meat eaters, and pesto pizza for me! Later we will be sharing all of our blogs over farm fresh ice cream. Tomorrow, we are ready for a day of lava caving!
Whale-less watching
We have experienced an "interesting" past few days. On Sunday, we spent our morning doing academics and lessons, and after lunch, we drove to Husavik where we planned to go whale watching. After a group of us made the mistake of buying milkshakes before our tour, we embarked out to sea. The first 30 minutes was fine: we saw puffins swimming by, and a huge island where thousands flocked. After that however, things went downhill. Charles was the first to lose his lunch, then Josh, then about an hour later, Hannah. Luckily, some of us who felt sick never made it to that point, but needless to say, it was a very painful 4 hours, especially considering we never saw whales, which is EXTREMELY rare for Iceland.
Yesterday, we left Lake Myvatn, and drove 6 hours to Laxerbakki where we are staying for 3 nights, near the town of Borganes. We stopped in a cute town, and other than that, not much interesting happened. Our last few days should be filled with our last assignment, getting our portfolios ready, and some more fun activities.
Elves, gay photoshoots, freezing weather, yoga, and swimming.
After a few days of fun adventures, yesterday served as a day to focus on our photo projects as well as catch up on our academic lessons. After a pretty nonchalant morning other than me getting our trip leaders to interlock their toes (see photo assignment 5) and braiding Trinity and Hannah's hair together, our trip to the community pool is where the day started to get interesting. Before entering the pool, I actually had a chance to lead our group in a super quick yoga session, which felt amazing. Once we reached the pool, we were all greeted by mandatory communal showers and very descriptive signs telling us exactly what to wash (lol). We braved the cold coming out of the showers and quickly jumped in the warm heated pool which still happened to be outside. Despite the fact I think we scared some of the Icelandic's there with our loudness, we all had a great time. When we were walking back to our guesthouse from the pool, we saw a group of blonde young icelandic girls, which our whole group knows are my favorite subjects. When we approached them nonchalantly to take their picture, they all ran screaming away which was pretty funny, and luckily I got a few photos of them before they were gone. After this, walking back on the street as a group of 12, we got honked at a bit, and almost got run over by a truck who didn't seem willing to stop. When we returned, we had breakfast for dinner, which although was not amazing as Bryndis's breakfasts (the woman we are staying with), was very good. After dinner, I created the last image for my 5th assignment series, which was quite the ordeal as it involved Devon and Charles going shirtless in freezing weather and having them pose seriously with flowers, while the whole group giggled watching. After that was finally over, we all posed for Kelsey's project, and the group took a trip up to the elf stone. The woman we are staying with strongly believes in elves (as do many icelandics) and talks to them and interacts with them regularly. She told us how the elves have certain power spots, usually stones etc. that are especially powerful and sacred. She took us up a mountain to an elf stone where we all had a reflective hour, which was really nice, even though the weather was in the low 30s.
Today was certainly more action packed, and after a quick but beautiful breakfast from Bryndis and a discussion on our textbook reading, we geared up for our day. Our first stop on the trip was to crater that resembled mars as parts were orange, and others mountains of volcanic ash, all framed by the white icelandic mountains. From here we went to another group of bubbling craters which again felt extraterrestrial. Since we were all absolutely freezing on what had to be our coldest day so far, we made our way to lunch at a small bistro where I had the best vegan burger I have ever had. Finally after lunch it was time for the hot springs. Once again, we survived European communal showers and really enjoyed the quintessential bright blue icelandic hot springs, which felt great on our skin. When we got back we had some last minute work time before our Photo assignment 5 critique/ pizza dinner, where we got to see what came out of all the fictional stories we wrote for each other.
Tomorrow is whale watching, so wish us warmth. brrrrrrrr.
Photo Assignment 5
For photo assignment 5, we were told to write a biography of a fictional photographer (the weirder the better) and then trade with someone else in our group, who would then take the biography and create a series of 3 photos based on the work that photographer would have done, but of course, putting their own creative spin on it, and making unrealistic things work. The photographer bio I ended up with was written by Sydney Wiswell:
"Butch van Huestan was born in Canada on June 17th, 1981. When he was two years old, a traveling circus smuggled him away from his family to claim his incredible talent on the flying trapeze in their act. Van Huestan soon became the headlining act, and the circus traveled all around the world to show off his unusual skill. By the age of seven, van Huestan escaped the spotlight and the abuse of the circus, only to find himself in the unfamiliar french countryside. He traveled for weeks, sleeping in fields and anyones home who would let him in, After many a nights without food and without bed, van Huestan made it to Paris where he got a job as a bread boy at a bakery under the name of George Washington. Van Huestan worked there until he was seventeen. During this time he began to experiment with technology. He could be found building strange contraptions in the attic where he slept both day and night. One late night when he finished one of his inventions, his life changed forever. He excitedly grabbed the old film camera he had fixed long ago, flipped three switched up, and two down, then pushed the start button. There was precisely thirteen seconds of anticipation before van Huestan found himself in a completely different place all together. Van Huestan was so ecstatic that he began to jump around and dance. It was only when he saw strange creatures starring at him a few feet away that he stopped abruptly. The creatures resembled humans very much, but they had bird like beaks, feathers for hair, wore very little clothing, and some seemed to be bound together in various ways. As van Huestan later discovered, it was traditional for Voulganir, the creatures, to be sewn to their partner at marriage. Some were sewn at the torso, others the wrists, some the shoulders, and others the feet. Van Huestan began snapping photos of the strange little world. Little did he know that at home, three years had already passed, and that George Washington had already been presumed dead. Van Huestan continued to document his findings as he helped revolutionize the world. Once he showed them technology and how to build a few simple things, van Huestan began to make another version of his dimension device from back home. When it was done, he said goodbye to his newly found family, and promised he would return. When van Huestan, found himself back on earth he was astounded to find that he now existed 1,500,630,297 years into the future, He tried to get his film developed, but no one knew what it was. Van Huestan set up his own darkroom to develop the photos and then managed to have a small exhibit on his photo at his local art museum. Soon, word got out about his strange photos. People became increasingly interested in the subjects of his photos. The popular belief was that he created them either with elaborate makeup or small detailed clay figurines and landscapes. Van Huestan knew no one would believe the truth. He soon disappeared, and has not been seen since."
I wanted to put my own spin on it, and due to my lack of resources, used items like grass for feathers, and made beaks out of paper.
Photo Assignment 4
**If you are wondering about photo assignment 3, you are reading it right now! Our blog was our third assignment, and isn't due till the end of our trip**
For photo assignment 4, we were lead on a walk blindfolded to an unknown destination. When we were there, we were to remember the sounds, things we touched, and how the place made us feel. Based on these observations, we were to create 3 images that conveyed these things, though we were encouraged not to take it so literally.
For my photo describing what I touched, I took a picture of hair, with a narrow depth of field because I felt stringy grass, with soft areas on the edge of where I was sitting.
For my photo describing sound, I used a photo of a bee, because I heard a general buzzing of sounds.
For my photo describing my feelings, I used a photo of a woman in a cave because I felt like I was stuck in one place being blindfolded, and like I was being watched by the people walking by.
Photo Assignment 2
Our second assignment was to create 3 original images:
1. Replicate an Image you like, but put your own twist on it.
2. Choose another photographer's photo, and use it as the beginning of the story, then continue the story with a photo of your own.
-My story was about a child sent away from his parents unwillingly to a home for children.
3. Choose a photo you have taken on this trip, and take another photo that rhymes with it visually.
Finally ice in Iceland?
I'm pretty sure we've all heard the saying that Iceland has more green than Greenland, and Greenland has more ice than Iceland, and although I've never been to Greenland, and it is summer, I have yet to see much ice outside of small snow capped mountains. That is, until yesterday.
Our day began with a two hour drive from the small costal town of Vik around the east coast and up to Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Europe which, once we donned crampons and geared up with icepicks and more hot tour guides, we proceeded to spend five hours scaling. The glacier made for nice contrast against the green hilly landscape, and on top, had the freshest air and water we had experienced on the trip. After another long car ride, we arrived at Jokulsarlon, Iceland's famous glacier lagoon. The lagoon was impressive, but smaller than I thought it would be, so I drifted my way across the street to the black sand beach which also had large floating icebergs, and was scattered with small ice chunks and beautiful rocks all along the sand. So far, it might have been my favorite place we have visited in Iceland. We left for one more long drive that day and arrived in Honf where we camped out in tents in what turned out to be literally freezing weather.
Once we woke up this morning (not that any of us slept much in the cold tents), we packed up and embarked on our six hour drive to Lake Myvatn. The drive, along with yesterday's, wove in and out through the eastern fjords, and was by far one of the prettiest drives we have had, which is seriously saying something in Iceland. After a lunch stop, we arrived at our guesthouse where we are staying with a sweet old lady who seriously believes in elves. Once we unpacked, the whole team worked together to make a great pasta dish, and now finally, after barely any sleep last night, we have the chance to rest our eyes.
Waterfalls, Canyons, Puffins, Black Sand Beaches, and Super Hot Tour Guides
**This post references the 6th and 7th of July when we did not have wifi**
Since we arrived ten days ago, we have witnessed the true diversity of the Icelandic climate and landscape. We have driven through endless moss fields, by countless waterfalls, foggy mountains, glaciers, sheep, small cities, and rocky coastlines. The last two days have served as another reminder of Iceland's variety and have filled our cameras with computer wallpaper worthy images. Yesterday morning, we departed Thorsmork, and were picked up by what can only be described as a mix between a monster truck and a jeep, and what may just be the world's hottest tour guide ever. We drove through huge rivers (and watched a biker try to) before arriving at a beautiful canyon with a waterfall, where everyone was thankful for waterproof hiking boots (despite their insignificance when a few from our trip failed to jump over a river). Later in the day we went to Seljalandsfoss, where we were able to walk behind the waterfall, and also to a nearby waterfall hidden in a canyon. From there, we departed to Vik, famous for black sand beaches, puffins, and the rainiest weather in Iceland. When we arrived at our guesthouse, we looked out the window to see sheep about 5 feet outside our rooms, and promptly chased them with our cameras (they have yet to return sadly).
This morning, we made our way to the black beach to find the puffins, how ever, the tide was way too high to get anywhere close to the grassy cliffs where the puffins live. After a quick change of plans, we went to a wool factory where we were able to see how the wool being processed into sweaters before I bought one. After this, we all jumped back into the vans to another black sand beach edged with basalt columns and covered in small pebbles. After lunch, we made our way back out to the first beach of the day to try our puffin hunt once more, and everyone became very jealous of my 100-400mm lens when I was the only one able to capture photos of the puffins. Our night has ended with a great night of spilling water and lots of pizza and breadsticks before heading back to our guesthouse. Half way through our trip and not a bad day yet.
Photo Assignment 1
For our first assignment, we were given the challenge to create three images based on written word. We were given a Hans Christian Anderson poem that we had to use, and the other two quotes were up to our choosing.
The Icelandic life thus far...
Iceland is crazy. Like get-out-of-the-airport-and-kinda-think-you're-on-the-moon crazy. Crazy is also a pretty accurate word to describe our group, which has made this trip very fun. For those of you who may be unaware, I have been given the fabulous chance to travel through Iceland with a group of ten other very talented teenagers and two teenagers at heart, and earn college credit for photography in the process. All of our group members will be making blogs like this one to document the rest of our adventure in Iceland, and also share some of our photo assignments. Since we are already 8 days into a 21 day trip, my blog won't be able to cover everything we have done already, but I will do my best to post some pictures of the highlights!
