The Big Chill

THE BIG CHILL
Skógafoss, Iceland – 2024

We have an intimacy with this location in Iceland and, over the years, we have learnt what does and does not work from a composition perspective. There are dangers in being too far away from the waterfall but there are issues with the huge volume of spray if the camera is too close. My mindset is to be close and then to be extremely selective as to the times when the camera is facing the wall of water. In other words, don’t point the camera at the water until it is a necessity.

I prefer a winter foreground as it simply adds narrative, especially if the horses can kick up snow in their gallop away from the thunderous noise behind them. The local famers brought four horses to the set and one in particular had attitude and an appetite to put on a show. If the handlers could get that horse to turn in mid gallop, the greater the chance that he could kick some snow.

The weather was brutal that day and there was only a 15-minute window of light between the storms. It was cold, wet and windy and the camera lens needed every bit of love to remain operable. It was all low percentage work, but then again, I only needed one shot.

We only print about 5% of our work in colour, but this seemed a good candidate, as there is only one small piece of colour in the whole image and highlighting it seemed to add to the kinetics of the story.
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