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The people behind Focus on Nature
By John Paul Caponigro
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Einar Erlendsson
One of the things that make a workshop in a foreign destination great is local knowledge.
Focus On Nature’s creator Einar Erlendsson is an Iceland native - his family history in Iceland goes back over 1000 years. Iceland’s is more than geography to him. It’s his personal and family history. He knows all the nooks and crannies to get into, the back roads and the sideways that take you to remarkable places you’d never find without a lifetime’s worth of experience. He’s taught photography for years and knows not only how to make successful images but also how to help others learn to make their own successful images. That kind of insight and guidance is invaluable.
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Even though Einar Erlendsson is an Icelandic native he enlists local photographers who’ve lived their whole lives here to add to his extensive body of knowledge of the terrain and its history. They’ve seen new islands emerge; seen volcanoes wipe out villages; seen Reykjavik grow.
From your trusted information sources, you want to more than experience - you want specific kinds of experience. Focus On Nature enlists the help of many local professional photographers. Professional photographers know what conditions make good photographs. They know not only what’s interesting, but also if a location is interesting photographically. They know when to go; weather and light can dramatically change a location visually. And they know what types of images have been made at those locations - and they’re willing to share it all.
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Ragnar Th Sigurdsson
Focus On Nature’s creator Einar Erlendsson enlists professional photographer Ragnar Th Sigurdsson to help guide us on location in Iceland. A native of Iceland, Ragnar is a highly successful stock photographer (Getty, Corbis, Jupiter ) specializing in arctic images for over 25 years. “If it’s cold I’m there.” Where? Siberia, Greenland, Lapland, Canada, Arctic, Antarctic, and of course Iceland.
You should see his ATV. If anyone can get there, Ragnar can. He uses a specially modified military vehicle; 44″ inch tires, heating, stereo, computer holder, GPS, air pump for deflating and inflating his tires, 220W power supply, strobes, and more. Strobes? Yes. One of his signature style is using strobe on in remote locations. (Oh, and his French cognac is excellent.) Life is indeed an adventure made richer by those you share it with.
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Gudmundur Ingolfsson
Focus On Nature’s creator Einar Erlandson enlisted professional photographer Gudmundur Ingolfsson to help guide us on location in Iceland. Gudmundur is a veteran photographer. His passion for photography started when he was a young boy. He started learning English by reading photographic magazines. So what do you talk about for two 16 hour days while driving through the stunningly varied and complex landscape of Iceland? Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes. Eliot Porter, and Joel Sternfield. View cameras and CCDs. Climate change and vulcanology. Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kourismaki. Vivaldi and Dave Brubeck. You know light conversation. The funny thing is we were always laughing. Gudmundur’s drove us in his modified desert exploration vehicle, an old orange rig high enough to go across rivers and rugged enough to go over volcano beds lying between glaciers. We never would have gone to the places we went without his able guidance. When local’s share their experiences you learn, experience and share more.
My advice? Get to know the locals. And have fun doing it! You might make great friends.
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Ellert Gretarsson
Focus On Nature’s creator Einar Erlandson enlisted professional photographer Ellert Gretarsson to help guide us on location in Iceland. Ellert recently won the 1. price in Nature photography at the International PX3 competition in Paris 2008. He’s enchanted with the colors of nature. So, he guided us to his hot spots in Iceland. It rained all day. We got soaked. And came away with gold, and blue, and red, and green … you get the idea. He was able to describe how the colors changed in varying weather and light conditions. It’s clear that Iceland is not only incredibly rich visually but that it’s also highly changeable. It’s going to take more than one trip to Iceland to experience all that Iceland has to offer - maybe a lifetime. When local’s share their experiences you learn, experience and share more. My advice?
Get to know the locals. They will take you the 20 yards that makes the difference!
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