Iceland: a 4x5" Portfolio

[vieri]

In mid-November 2024 my wife and I went to Iceland, for our 9-day Workshop there and an extra 8 days dedicated to my personal work.

Out of all our late 2024 destinations, Iceland was the one that worried me the most. Snowy and icy grounds, high speed winds, sand, moving water when photographing in rivers, waterfall spray, ocean spray, snow and rain, made Iceland possibly the destination least friendly to 4×5” photography of all those we visited since I started working with 4×5” film in September 2024.

To prevent this, in Iceland I was even more careful than usual about my tripod technique. I used all the tricks I knew, and that paid off. We found seriously difficult conditions, and while I did end up losing some long exposure photographs to micro-movement, I lost way less than I feared I would.

I just posted a blog article about this trip, including a 16-photographs Portfolio and my recommended Workflow for maximising results when shooting in adverse conditions. You can find it following the link below:

ICELAND: A 4x5" PORTFOLIO

Below you'll find a few photographs out the Portfolio for you to enjoy:

All photographs have been taken with Ilford FP4+, rated at 100 ISO, and developed in Pyrocat-HD for 12 minutes and 30 seconds, 30 seconds of agitation at start followed by 2 agitations per minute. The film has been pre-washed in water for 5 minutes prior to developing.

Best regards,

Vieri

 

[bags27]

Wonderful phots and great report. The photo on your blog of the church is perhaps my very favorite.
Both here and on your blog you mention that to counter the challenging elements you had to rely on your tripod techniques and tricks. But you don't specifiy what those were. It'd be interesting to learn.
thanks!

 

[vieri]

Wonderful phots and great report. The photo on your blog of the church is perhaps my very favorite.
Both here and on your blog you mention that to counter the challenging elements you had to rely on your tripod techniques and tricks. But you don't specifiy what those were. It'd be interesting to learn.
thanks!

Hey bags, thank you for your comment, happy you enjoyed the photos! About the tripod, I wasn't sure about how much sense it would have made to explain on paper, which is why I didn't go into it - best I can say is a combination of rubber feet and spikes, mixing them too when needed; scratching ice to make it more "grippy"; not extending the smallest section of the tripod to make it more stable, when needed; opening the tripod wider than normal; and various combinations of the above... hope it make sense!

Best regards,

Vieri

 

[tenmangu81]

Beautiful shots, Vieri ! I rarely use my tripod, as I shoot mostly handheld, but when I have to do it, it's a real challenge to me. And I can then imagine what challenge it was for you in so hostile conditions...

 

[vieri]

Beautiful shots, Vieri ! I rarely use my tripod, as I shoot mostly handheld, but when I have to do it, it's a real challenge to me. And I can then imagine what challenge it was for you in so hostile conditions...

Hello Robert, thank you very much for your kind words, glad you enjoyed the Portfolio! When I work in the landscape I always am on a tripod, and I am very used to working with it in any conditions - also, I have been to Iceland maybe 20 times before, so I am also used to the conditions there. Despite all that, I gotta say that going to Iceland with 4x5" I was seriously worried about micro-movement and I have been so careful with my tripod technique as I never had before!

Best regards,

Vieri