Back from Iceland

We're back from Iceland. It was a good trip, covering more than 3000km on the island. The weather was predictably variable, with a good dose of rain and cool (to very cool) temperatures. I love the radical purity of this land. Its ruthless minerality attracts me enormously, feels even (despite the barrenness) a bit like home. We did a lot of the must-see sights - lots of falls, cliffs, canyons and desertlike highlands. Perhaps a little bit too much of "places to go" instead of "places to be". But we've got a good grasp now of the general layout of the island and we know where to go for deeper, more serious explorations.

In terms of photo opportunities I can't complain. I shot around 600 medium format frames, 60% of which with the 6x4.5 Bronica (on 220 rolls of 320 Tri-X, pushed to 800 asa) and the rest with the Hasselblad set (on chromogenic B&W emulsions, both Fuji and Ilford). The C41 stuff has already been developed and at first sight the results are promising. But the project will come out differently from what I first thought. Rather than a family travelogue I think it will be a more sober, more graphic collection of images.

Above is the first scan of the series. It's somewhat a cliché picture of Dettifoss, one of Iceland's key attractions, but I like it nevertheless. We rose at 6am that morning in order to be at the falls before the throngs. That worked out fine. We had the whole spot almost to ourselves. I love the rough, crayon-like texture of the image. The Ilford XP2 delivers a surprisingly attractive grain. The picture was taken with the 250mm Superachromat tele at a shutter speed of 1/2 s (with a handheld 8x neutral gray filter in front of the lens). More to come in the next couple of days.