For ‘Day for Night’ I travel to Iceland twice, in the Summer of 2009 and Winter 2010. For part one I leave the Netherlands on 18 June 2009, take my car on the ferry from Denmark via the Faroe Islands to Iceland, and travel around for two months, retuning home on 30 August 2009, driving 7200 km in all.
When I arrive in Iceland I don’t know anybody:
I trust
I act
I meet
As I travel all around the island, 32 people from all walks of life, are willing to take part in ‘Day for Night’, openly sharing their thoughts with me. The people I invite to take part in ‘Day for Night’, are those I meet along the way or are recommended to me. It is great fun meeting them.
We talk at kitchen tables, a power plant, in gardens, nature parks, harbours and restaurants. We talk in English, the global language, which most Icelandic people speak well.
My car and I are getting really close these days.
I know it is one of the ugliest cars seen on the roads today and I would rather drive a Volvo Station Cross Country, but Caddy is doing so well.
The sky bed and underneath storages – specially put in for ‘Day for Night’ - are very practical. Because of the extension for my head I can fully stretch my 1.68m and sleep well.
When I tease my pensionado neighbours at the campsite with their ‘villas on wheels’, they quickly reply: ‘Mind you!, we started out like you.’
Sometimes, when I am up in the mountains at night, photographing, I see my car, a tiny white dot out in the open, waiting for me to return (is she really?), I feel inclined to wave at it.....
.... gosh...
Should I be telling you this, or will you now leave me forever?
Nightscapes
I use the Reykjavik Almanac to determine what time of night to photograph. The Almanac contains the precise positions of the sun for each day of the year. Each phase of the day is indicated by a term: Dögun, Birting, Sólris, Hágedi, Sólartad, Myrkur, Dagsetur.
In June and July the sun does hardly set and because of the midnight sun the nights stay bright and energizing. In late August, however, it is only around 6.00 a.m. that there is enough light available to photograph. Soon there will be a change of seasons.
It is absolutely fascinating to photograph at night, but the nightscapes take their toll:
During the day I spot suitable locations for the nightscapes, as well as taking the portraits and doing the interviews. As the weeks pass by, it takes more and more time to recover from my photographing at night. Some hard days’ nights!
Travelling in this spacious and timeless scenery reduces me to an inner silence, which gets deeper each day.
Plenty of time to think about my own answer to the first question I ask the participants of ‘Day for Night’:
‘What in life is most precious to you?’
‘Love & beauty’
That’s what I would answer. But exactly what do these words mean to me? And, moreover, do I live up to my own answer?
In January 2010 I return to Iceland to finalize the project and photograph during the winter light.
Although the winter days are short, with only 4-5 hours of daylight, the light reflected on the snowy mountains is bright and full of colour.
I portray and interview 6 new people, amongst them the Minister of Finance Steingrimur Sigfusson, whom I meet on a domestic flight.
I was invited to embark on this fishing boat named Örn (meaning ‘Eagle’), to photograph the stunning beauty of the Westfjords as observed from the sea. As we slowly progress, the sounds of the icy, crispy, crystal clear water, tinkle in my ears.
It is extremely nice to meet old friends again and enjoy once more Icelandic hospitality….…. fun and freedom!