FujiFilm GFX50S Medium Format Camera, 24 locations in Iceland
So we found over 24 fabulous shooting locations in Iceland. We know this as I was given the task of creating 24 spectacular stand-alone images for the Lambertz Calendar and we visited these plus many more. Some of the locations we visited are listed below and if you are going to Iceland, make sure to visit
1. Sólheimasandur Plane Wreck
2. Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
3. Skógafoss Waterfall
4.Westfjords
5. Dynjandi Waterfall
6. Rauðisandur Beach
7. Hornstrandir National Park
8. Vatnajökull National Park
9.Snæfellsjökull National Park
10. Kirkjufell and Kirkjufellsfoss Waterfall
Working on location in Iceland with the Fuji Camera for an Iceland Photoshoot was a challenge but when you have one of the best cameras for location work, it was not too much of a problem. This article is an interview by Fuji UK about my epic adventure shoot over three weeks in one of the world’s most famous Northern Polar regions
Working on location in Iceland with the Fuji Camera GFX50s for an Iceland photoshoot was a challenge but when you have one of the best cameras for location work, it was not too much of a problem.
This article is an interview by Fuji UK about my epic adventure shoot over three weeks in one of the world’s most famous Northern Polar regions
I was invited to shoot the Fine Art Calendar 2019 for the prestigious German biscuit manufacturer Lambertz in Iceland, the land of fire and ice. It was a fantastic opportunity to explore the country (something I had long wanted to do for my workshops) and it was a great honour to be invited to shoot for the brand for the second time. The high-quality, limited edition calendar entitled ‘PURE’, was Lambertz’s means to express their concerns around global warming, especially in the North Polar Regions.
24 images were required for the calendar, shot over a 14-day period with a multi-national production team of 24 people. The models were mainly Bulgarian but two key models were celebrities: Nena, who is a famous German singer, and Rurik Gislason, who is a leading Icelandic national football team player who also plays in Germany (pictured below).
SEE MORE: CLICK BELOW
http://silvergumtype.com/2019/06/14/retouch-rurik-gislason/
For me, the Fuji Camera GFX50S system was my first camera of choice and really offered me the quality I am familiar with and needed for this challenging shoot. The files were to be enlarged for exhibition quality but also the calendar is A2 size and would need to stand up to close scrutiny not just by the fine art community in Germany but also by the German PR machine.
The quality of the images from the Fuji Camera GFX 50S, with the image size and the dynamic range, gave me the flexibility to process the final images into works of art. While I am shooting, I am always pushing the camera to its limits, capturing at very high ISO’s and in extreme weather conditions. If you would like to see more of this shot, then please read this blog post, which shows behind-the-scenes footage from the shoot
Iceland offers great landscapes and opportunities to shoot
The medium-format camera GFX50S was perfect for my style, and the controls’ ergonomics meant that I had complete control over the camera. The extreme weather conditions meant I had to quickly change the exposure. Some other systems I’ve used in the past haven’t been flexible enough for this quick way of working, with me often losing valuable time going through menus and sub-menus to change the most simple of settings. The Fuji Camera GFX 50S was so easy to use, so I felt comfortable using the camera from the get-go.
CRASHED DC3: A 2-MILE WALK BUT WORTH IT
The art of photography is about light, shape, and form, and I like to move quickly to capture the moment. I’m not keen on tripods or shooting tethered; I don’t like anything that holds the creative process back. Here, the Fuji Camera GFX50S stepped up to the plate and offered the best capture and processing but it was also quick and easy to pack away in a backpack and go.
I wasn’t hindered by the size, as it is very compact for a medium-format camera. I found the rear-screen preview awesome and rendered pretty much as I saw it at the moment of shooting. It allowed me to quickly evaluate the light reading, location, and overall balance of the images on the fly, which I could instantly relay back to the team, lighting, model, and makeup.
As a fashion photographer, I obviously like shooting with a longer lens and a shallow depth of field to make the subject pop out from the background. But in this instance, I didn’t want the beautiful Icelandic backdrop to be too soft; it was important to make the images pop and include the scenery. So although I had a full lens selection to work with, the main lens I used with the Fuji Camera GFX50S was the zoom lens GF32-64mmF4. This was my lens of choice, as it allowed a quick crop but also allowed me to be flexible with my composition while still making the most of the model in the scenery, as was my brief. The lenses overall were great, sturdy, and bright, and they performed superbly well in low-light and challenging weather conditions.
Every location offered a new set of challenges, and I am pretty hands-on when working with the models, so editorially, we would shoot an idea and then run with it. However, with this shoot, many of the images were static, so much more crafting with light, shape, and form was required. The direction was very important to get the idea from the initial concept to the capture. Most ideas really changed on the fly as we worked the location and composition into the shot.
