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Iceland: a 4x5" Portfolio

Vieri Bottazzini

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Joined
May 6, 2008
Messages
94
Location
San Quirico
Format
Large Format
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
 
Yes, very pretty once again!
Two minor technical remarks: I have the impression that #1 and especially #3 are tilted to the left a bit. Also, the compression on the jpg images results in posterization artefacts in the skies; with the dominant smooth gradations, this stands out noticeably.
Have you tried printing these in the darkroom? If I were to be handed these negatives to print, I would be tempted to work with some selective emphasis on contrast relationships in parts of the images, starting out with a somewhat high contrast grade and then selectively burning in areas of the prints. I have a feeling this may emphasize the drama that's inherently present in the compositions.
 
BrianShaw said:
Very nice!
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Thank you very much, Brian!
Hey koraks, thank you for your comment, glad you liked the set!

About tilting, the photos are actually perfectly straight, it's the land and the riverside that are curving, perhaps giving that impression.

Yes, I can see that between jpg compression and forum sharing quality degraded a bit, and I am sorry about that, but there isn't much I can do about it short of exporting them at a size that would make SEO quite unhappy, I am afraid

About printing, I don't do wet printing, sorry about that. Of course, a more "dramatic" approach can be followed also during digital post-processing and printing - and my native digital B&W work is normally more on that direction - but for some reason when working with film I feel more drawn towards a gentler, less "full-on drama" approach... maybe is the medium, maybe it's me, maybe it's just a phase, but currently this is what pleases me the most...
runswithsizzers said:
Very nice set!
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Thank you very much indeed!
Paul Howell said:
Great work.
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Hey Paul, thank you very much, glad you enjoyed it!
GregY said:
Some eye-catching images
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Thank you very much Greg, glad you liked them!

Best regards,

Vieri
 
Very nice images. FP4+ and Pyrocat-HD are one of my favourite combos.
 
Hi Vieri, thank you for sharing the wonderful photos and your experience with 4x5. Very inspiring.

I did my Iceland trip many years ago in August, which was already challenging sometimes. I was only using 35mm SLR and slide film then. And I can imagine the condition will be so much worse in November. Kudos to your good tripod skills. I was using my tripod to ford river too.
 
Definitely of the aesthetic, compositional and technical oeuvre I would expect from a studious, contemplative 4x5 monochrome photographer. These are beautiful; richly moody and evocative. This series also deftly masks the fact that it is no easy feat to wait out, much less tame, the wild Icelandic landscape, in other words, 'nothing is as easy as it looks and everything takes longer than you expect!'.

More please!
 
Plus one on your photographs. I visited Iceland a few years ago and despite the rain and fog managed some good images. I came prepared with extra large ziplock bags that I had rigged to protect my cameras and a waterproof camera backpack. The rain wasn’t heavy mainly a drizzle or mist. The wind was more of an issue. The Icelanders were great. Getting around was easy but if you are driving filling the vehicle requires a system. The first time I decided to fill when half a tank was down. We found a pump by a closed diner. The pump was in the Icelandic language and you had to put in how many kronors you wanted. Fortunately a young man happened by and made a suggestion. There after I would fill for that amount and it worked well.
Definitely put Iceland on your bucket list if you haven’t gone.
 
Very nice work. Thank you.
 
jeffreyg said:
[...]
Definitely put Iceland on your bucket list if you haven’t gone.
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Indeed yes, easy for UK people (4 hours abouts), but in Australia, think carefully!
Reykjavík is a 36-40 hour one-way trip from Australia. A few have done this epic, and arrived knackered 'up north', resting up for four days! I went over in 2005 (when I was much younger and nimbler!!) and rested for 2 days. Twenty years on, my tolerance for very long, multi-sector flights is long gone; I fly interstate for work from Tuesday, each week, which is 3 hours one way, just like to New Zealand. Anything longer than that is a firm 'no'!
 
We went to New Zealand from Florida with two stops and changing planes and airlines. It was still well worth it as well.
 
Thank you everyone for your replies and kind words, happy you enjoyed the work! My apologies for the very late reply - I am traveling since late January with either no time or no good internet connections.

Best regards,

Vieri
 
Stunning images! Do you develop the film in Iceland? If not, how did you manage the X-ray scanner issue at airports?
 

We live in New Jersey by NYC on the US East Coast. My wife keeps pestering me to go to Australia, but unfortunately, I just can't fly that long anymore. Hawaii was far enough. G'day.
 
bluechromis said:
Stunning images! Do you develop the film in Iceland? If not, how did you manage the X-ray scanner issue at airports?
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Thank you very much, happy you enjoyed them!

No, I developed them back home - Iceland is great for traveling with film, I went there a few times already since going back to film and they never once x-rayed my 4x5" boxes. Same at Heathrow T5, Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate. Ireland (Dublin), Scotland (Glasgow), Faroe, Spain (Bilbao & Madrid) on the other hand are totally firm on having you scan your film (or open the box to check what's inside, which of course is a no-no).

Hope this helps, best regards

Vieri
 

Beautiful set, have been to Reynisfjara as well! The curve of the coastline is very strong and the exposure is well-judged for the water texture.
 
JonnyDS said:
Beautiful set, have been to Reynisfjara as well! The curve of the coastline is very strong and the exposure is well-judged for the water texture.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much Jonny, glad you enjoyed the set! Love that spot, the curve of the coastline, and the relationship between the close stack and the faraway, are always very inspiring for me.

Best regards,

Vieri
 
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