Behind the Scenes: Innocently Damaged

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

The Svartifoss Waterfall, in Skaftafell

We left Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon bright and early. We said goodbye to the glaciers and hit the road to Skaftafell. We reached the campsite, did a little maintenance to the RV's, had hot showers, regrouped and started our hike to the Svartifoss Waterfall. Photo props, outfits, gear, and all, we hiked up the mountain path, with beautiful views of the Icelandic landscape for miles and miles. Snowcapped mountains in the background, budding tress all around, fresh air in our lungs, it was amazing. 

I did happen to, which is totally like me to do, bring way too many things with me in a giant IKEA bag. After first 20 minutes of the hike, that thing weighed me down and I needed a little bit of help. I get indecisive sometimes when I'm shooting spontaneously or without a concrete idea in mind. Sometimes, when you're there in the moment and it's coming together in front of you, you know what works and what's going to tell a story. Funny thing is, I didn't even use one thing I brought up with us to the waterfall. 

When we reached our destination, we were a bit swarmed with other travelers and visitors coming to see the amazing sites of the basalt rock formations in the cliffs of the waterfall. It looks absolutely otherworldly and I love it for that reason. You look at place like this and you immediately see an Impressionist painting right before your eyes. The colors and the bold pastel-like presence of the shapes is one of the most unique things I've ever seen. 

It was misting with a bit of spray from the waterfall above, and Jen (Jen Brook) sneakily changed into one of the outfits Brooke brought up on the hike as well. It seemed like this was going to be a bit of a challenging place for everyone to shoot. There were many other photographers at the waterfall wanting to shoot the location too. We all did the best we could to let everyone finish the shots they needed or were shooting before we got our own shoots going for our visit. Jen stepped into action and literally all eyes were on her. I think it may have been part of the largest shoots I've ever been on with the number of photographers that were there, taking an opportunity to capture the amazingness the spills out of Jens movements when she's in character. 

I had some difficulty finding the right spot to frame my shot. I was looking for a low angle, but I didn't want to be under some of the other people there or blocking someone's perspective. I was really happy I found a spot on the side, which required my left foot to be a bit submerged in the chilly water, but I survived. I couldn't stop drooling over the background and the energy of the shot I captured of Jen. I would absolutely love to revisit this place one day and shoot here again and again. 

RAW File

The Fromagi's!

Behind the Scenes: A Crack in Reality

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Photo Credit: Tom

A little fun behind the scenes of Marisa's beautiful concept.
(Click to see the final image).

You Haven't Lived Until You're Squishing Your Toes Between the Moss

We were having the trip of a lifetime. Our Icelandic adventure brought us to the south for a few days and took our breath away around every corner. This for sure was a long day, but it was worth every second. 

We woke up this morning surrounded by the sounds of icebergs breaking and falling into the water at the glacial lagoon. We made our way to the Svartifoss waterfall for another shooting location, in Skaftafell. We hiked and explored the campgrounds, and replenished our mobile homes with any necessities needed. As a small rain storm passed and we grouped back together, and we were back on the road. 

At this point in the trip, we were traveling back towards the RV site, so we weren't really on a tight time constraint. Driving through the country we were constantly having fun talking to one another on our walkie-talkies, playing music, making meals, having laughs, and sharing stories. I took a nap on the road and woke up to us parked in the middle of nowhere, but it was a beautiful nowhere. 

My friend Tom woke me up and told me the group wanted to stop on the side of the road for a quick shoot. I looked out the window and jumped to my feet. I gathered my equipment and set out with intentions to create some concepts I was working on earlier. As soon as it was raining again and I jumped back into the RV, I had shot two brand new images in record time for me, which brought my concept count to 3 for the day. That doesn't happen every day! 

We were back on the road and we finally were passing through a landscape I was overjoyed to see, the Eldhraun lava field. I've heard stories of this magical place and it was one of the locations I was extremely excited to see on this trip. It's hard to put into perspective how large this lava field is, but we drove miles through it until we all found a spot that had amazing potential for everyone in the group. 

Instantly, as soon as our RV's parked, we ran out onto the field. Some of us, including me, threw off our shoes and ran over the mossy landscape. Try to imagine stepping on a floor of a 4-inch thick pound cake, that's really the best description of this place I could give. 

The clouds overhead were overcast and the lighting outside was defused and absolutely perfect. As soon as we knew it, camera equipment, dresses, and props were making their way out of the RV's. We scattered the fields, scouting the perfect spots and helping each other bring our concepts to reality. 

A few weeks before the trip, I was prop hunting home in Philadelphia. In an antique shop, I found this oversized syringe, and immediately knew it was something I needed to bring with me. It begged me to use it in a surreal and unique location and inspiration struck. 

It was so fun to run in the field, it was almost like bouncing around. Marisa, Emmanuel, and I circled around this very interesting rock formation. It jutted out from the ground and had cracked in two before hardening. It felt so powerful and really spoke to me. All this force and then over time to be overgrown in an emerald blue moss. It was amazing. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

Marisa was my human remote for this self portrait, while our friend Kelly hid behind me to set off the smoke bombs at the right time for the shot. Even the subtlest wind would've called for a do-over. We soon gave in the last call for shooting, before coming together for a group shot together in the thick mossy landscape. One of my favorite group shots ever with my Fromagi's. I love these people so much! 

Behind the Scenes: A Simpler Life

View fullsize

View fullsize

Expectations vs Reality 

I’m not really a materialistic person, except when it comes to drooling over an amazing photo prop I've found. All I really need in life is my art, good friends, and an the occasional adventure. When you imagine growing up, you sorta have all these expectations and dreams of what it’s going to be like… then reality starts hitting in. You start learning about bills, taxes, insurance, all these things that you never had to deal with before. It’s easy as a child to have such exaggerated expectations of adulthood, it almost seems like a freedom you've longed for, to only discover freedom is a lot more work than you could’ve ever imagined. So, sometimes I imagine what a simpler life may be like. 

Last year, I had the amazing opportunity to go to France for a week and attend a wonderful photography retreat hosted by my good friend, Brooke (of Brooke Shaden Photography). A few months before the retreat, everyone attending started chatting online in our group, working out travel plans and car pooling arrangements. When we finally met, it didn’t seem like we were complete strangers. We instantly clicked and became best friends. We activity stayed in touch in our group and now call each other the Fromagi’s.

For months, we teased each other with beautiful images from around the world, but Iceland was almost popping up in our feeds on what seemed to be a daily basis. The idea of an Icelandic adventure was pitched to the group and everyone was immediately onboard! We were over the moon with having an anniversary trip to a place which I have longed to explore for many, many years.

This was my first image that I shot on my Icelandic excursion across the country and it's the first image I shot with my new D810! It was a really exciting morning as our group all met up at the RV site and we were once again together as a whole group after an entire year! We gave tons of hugs and said our hellos, got settled into our RV’s and officially started our road trip across the county. 

First, we drove up across the north west, along the coastline with waterfalls littering the mountain sides to the left of us. After coming across two abandoned sites that didn't spark any real creative juices, we kept driving until some of us noticed a little hut in the hillside around what looked to be a lava field engulfed in a thick spongey moss. This spot definitely deemed itself worthy of something truly amazing and creative when we started exploring, after a quick group photo of course. 

This Icelandic adventure was definitely a taste of a simpler life. Traveling with friends and creating art in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The distractions of home life were gone. We were almost entirely without internet connection. We were off the grid, but we had everything we've ever needed with us. I feel so lucky to have these amazing people as friends - my photo family, the Fromagi's.