Well, today dawn greeted us in Reykjavik with some interesting skies and the anticipation of more to come. We had out to start the adventure, and I doubt anyone is starting today without some excitement.
Here is a quick shot of me on the Reykjavik docks by my friend, Joshua Holko.
More to com. We are at 64 degrees and heading North.
Well, I am back from my trip to Iceland. I had planned on sending a series of post blog posts while there, but that quickly became impossible once the trip started. We were, quite simply, shooting too much to update blogs.
How much were we shooting, while the schedule for one day was as follows:
6:30am Leave to shoot Sunrise
9:30 Breakfast
10:30 Morning Shoot
1:00 pm Lunch
2:00 pm afternoon shoot
6:00 pm Dinner
7:30pm sunset shoot
11:00 pm to 2am Aurora shoot
…and you guessed it….Out again at 6:30am for a sunrise shoot….
There were guests at one of the places we stayed who must have through we were some kind of roaming mercenaries. We left and returned at all hours, carrying heavy backpacks of equipment, and looking like we have been outdoors the whole time – because has had been. We got some strange looks while returning at 9:30am and going off for naps before shooting again 
.
However, I did manage to post to facebook on a daily basis. I tried to make sure I posted something everyday after receiving a worried email form a family member because I had not posted recently. It turns out the several family members were using FB to track me and make sure I was OK. A strangely reassuring feeling, so, since every where we stayed had wifi, I was able to quickly upload a photo or two despite a punishing shooting schedule.
Our trip in a nutshell consisted of starting on the western side of Iceland, traveling all the way to eastern side and then back again. If we weren’t eating or sleeping, we were riding in vehicles and shooting. It was intense and I loved every minute of it. I brought a waterproof video camera and a waterproof compact camera and used neither of them. If I was not shooting with the Canon 1Dx, I was shooting with my iPhone. The iPhone really has replaced the compact camera and I don’t think I will even bring the smaller cameras on the next trip. In fact for this blog post, I think every photo was taken with my iPhone. The iPhone turned out to be an excellent tool for capturing the story of the trip. I think I am going to invest in a waterproof case before the next trip, as the elements on trips like this are likely to destroy any unprotected electronics.
Andy Biggs, Joshua Holko, and Daniel Bergmann were our hosts for this adventure. These three spent a long time planning the trip and trying to account for reaching the best sites and the randomness of Iceland weather. Strangely enough, the weather reminded me of Nova Scotia, where I grew up and was strangely familiar. Some people had trouble with how often the weather changed, but if felt perfectly normal to me.
I found carrying my iPhone in it’s belt pouch to be a pain as it was hard to reach with waterproof pants on. I finally began to carry it in an upper pocket and this also convinced me to buy a protective case for it.
It certainly was handy to capture the remoteness and extremeness of this country.
Sometimes it worked quite well to capture my fellow photographers, as Stephen Starkman and Joshua Holko were shot while we were shooting in a frozen lagoon.
As well a shot like the one below is not possible without a rear-facing camera.
It also lets you see what is happening behind you. A car full of photographers becomes interesting during long drives.
People in the backseat can be “ear-itating”, as Mark learned. Note: He did this to me as often as I did it to him .
This is my friend Char. He was my roommate during my 2011 Antarctica trip and it was great to see him again for this trip.
My Gura Gear backpack was indispensable both for traveling by air with equipment and for reaching these remote shooting sites. Truly an excellent piece of equipment that was worth every penny.
My Outdoor Research merino wool gloves failed to live up to expectations and were discarded early in the trip. My Ice Breaker gloves once more stood up to the heavy use in the shoot and were my primary gloves for the entire trip. I found them to be perfectly fine, even in -8C weather and still allowed me to work the camera. During night shoots I was able to setup in complete darkness with my Ice Breaker gloves.
Some of the other equipment that failed was my iphone charger. It toasted itself for no apparent reason and was discarded.
Some of the gear that really stood up during this trip was:
My micro spikes. Without them, I would have been completely unable to shoot in some of these locations.
I am wearing microspikes in this shoot, as it Joshua Holko who took the picture. Without microspikes, this experience would have been a brief slide on the ice you see, a splash and hopefully they would recover my body from the rapids you see in the background. There is nothing but ice between where we are and the rapids themselves. No, it’s not safe. We should probably be roped or at least have an ice axe with us. Of course, this occurred to us as we were leaving…..
The Arc’terix jacket you see me wearing was also an fantastic piece of equipment It withstood every type of weather thrown at us, from rain to snow to freezing rain to high winds and sand storms. It’s a fantastic piece of equipment. In fact, I recommend all their gear. It’s very well built and can take anything you want to throw at it. It’s probably -6C in this photograph, but I have had it in -19C with high winds without difficulty.
It’s not a well focused photograph, but my Danner boots were fantastic on this trip. You can see the wear the toes took during the trip, as they were clear when I started. These boots are waterproof and have 400gm of thinsulite insulation in them. My feet were never cold during this trip, even when standing around in brutally cold weather. They also kept their grip when climbing over lava rocks and other obstacles. I got socked twice while wearing these boots. Once while standing in a stream and not noticing the depth and once while being hit by a rogue wave at the beach. I yelled for everyone to get clear, but it broke over my knees quickly, so I stood still to keep my balance. Even socked, with my icebreaker wool socks, I was still warm and comfortable. Except for the fact that my feet were wet, there was no other problem. They dried overnight and were ready for the next day’s adventure.
I don’t have many photographs of them, but my icebreaker wool gear performed as expected in these conditions. Long underwear combined with wool briefs (why both you ask? Well one work “Chaffing”. If you’re maile wear both, trust me one this one). I also had gloves and a mid-layer. Icebreaker gear is warm, tough, and can handle anything you throw at it. It is well worth the money. BTW, in cold conditions DO NOT WEAR COTTON anything…
My canon 1Dx stood up to significant abuse, as we were exposed to cold, snow, rain, wind, and sand during this trip. As expected, it performed flawlessly and the more I use it the more impressed I am with it.
Iceland is a fascinating place that I intend to visit again. I think we managed to experience as much as possible during our 10 days of adventure, but like any good adventure, it left us all wanting more. I will close this blog post with some more shots of Iceland. These are all done with the iPhone, but I hope to have the serious landscape work online shortly.
A public school teacher friend of mine found out via Facebook that I had gone to Antarctica and asked if I would come in and speak to her school about it. So, on Wednesday, February 27th, I drove to the J.G. Workman Public school to give a series of presentations to their classes from Kindergarten to Grade 7. This is an ECOschool so the kids are getting information on environmental issues and how people can impact the environment in positive and negative ways. You can find out more about this initiative in Ontario schools here. One of the previous speakers helped start Toronto’s ban on Shark fins, so I had a tough act to follow.
My first presentation was to the Kindergarten class with grades 1 and two also in the room. I gave them a shorter version of the presentation, but they were great with excellent questions. Needless to say, the Penguins were the most popular subject. I used a globe to explain to them where the Antarctica is, as it is better than regular maps to show global distances.
This was a great class with plenty of questions both in the presentation and afterwards. It was brutal on my knees, but easier to talk to them if I got down to their level.
We posed for a class picture afterwards and, as you can see, I accidentally blocked one of the kids in the photo.
(Note: Faces temporarily blurred pending parental permission)
Well, I turned around to see a look on this little girl’s face that most grown men would be reluctant to give me. I’m talking the full squinty-eyed look that you usually see in westerns, just before a gunfight. She was NOT a happy camper. So we posed for another one.
(Note: Faces temporarily blurred pending parental permission)
As you can see, she was a little happier in this one. The other girl in this photo is the one who presented me with an award.
Much to my surprise, they presented me with an award that they had made themselves.
This picture doesn’t do it justice, as it has a tremendous amount of detail and the whole class spent a LOT of time making it for me.
Some of the other classes made a mural that was put up in the hallway by the time I was leaving for the day.
Here is me leaving with my award carefully rolled up for the trip home.
I love stuff like this, as I think an award that someone spends a lot of effort creating is much more important than something simply purchased without much thought. For me, the intent is everything. My nieces make me things all the time that I either have on my fridge or carefully stored in a drawer. It’s creative stuff and means a lot to me.
I put this poster on the fridge for about a day but decided that this was an award and should go on my awards wall. I put the various awards on a wall in my office to remind me on difficult days that I might know what I’m doing, even if my current efforts are a bit of a disaster.
So, here my award from J.G Workman public school in a place of honour.
I had a great time and perhaps I’ll get the chance to speak to them again sometime in the future.
Scott,
Thanks for giving back, these children are the future, Don,t forget to claim your points from PPOC for speaking.
Rob
Thanks Rob,
I agree completely. Besides that, it was a lot of fun.
I hadn’t thought about the points from PPOC. Thanks for reminding me. I guess I can claim my presentation from October as well.
Thank you Scott! The boys and girls in my class were thrilled to see the special place you gave to their work. They were very proud of the fact that you felt it was an award that deserved a place on your award wall! As their teacher, I thank you for making them feel special, important and successful! I think we all need reminders on difficult days that we make a difference! I am overjoyed that the amazing kids in my class can be that reminder for you!!
Thanks again,
Stephanie House
Grade 1/2 Teacher
J.G.Workman P.S.
Wow, thanks for letting me know. They really were a great class. I enjoyed presenting to everyone there.
Thank you Scott for sharing your amazing experience and pictures with our students. Children really got a better idea about a remote part of the world for them, learned more about penguins, which I must say has kept their interests high for a long time, and they still keep asking questions about them. I think making these kind of real connections between what they learn in class and hearing from a person who actually has seen and experienced a lot is very meaningful and valuable.
Thank you again,
Arpine Matnishyan
Kindergarten
J.G. Workman P.S.