Hi

I have started uploading all images from my latest trip to Iceland September 2008. During this trip I traveled across most of Icelands interior landscape.

I would be glad to have your opinion about my recent work: http://www.pbase.com/rune_molnes/iceland

Best Regards,

Rune Werner Molnes
http://www.runemolnes.com
Photographer

Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing it.

I have visited Iceland only once, in 1974. It is a fantastic country for photography, and it was a pleasure to see your excellent images of many familiar places, and a number of unfamiliar ones.

One highlight of my 1974 trip was hiking up Mount Hekla (which was well between eruptions.) I was hoping you might have some shots of Hekla as well.

Yup. Iceland is definitely on my 'places to go' list!

Mike.

Lovely photos. They make we want to get on the next plane to Iceland.
The watermark is incredibly irritating, though.
I do understand the wish to prevent folks from stealing your images, but this is really obtrusive. I'm happy just limiting the size of the images I post, figuring I'd never get anyone to pay for a thumbnail anyway.

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback.

Eric M: Sorry, no images from Hekla, but I will be adding images from Askja which is a larger volcano in the middle of Iceland, the volcano which with it's first erution marked the beginning of Iceland and many years of colder global climate. This area was used during training for the Apollo program to prepare astronauts for potential lunar conditions. I will also be adding images from the neighbouring explosion crater, Viti.

Mike: I would be curious as to know what places are on your "to go list"? Perhaps you could give me some recommendations for places to go?

Geoff: Reagrding the watermarks, they irritate me as well. But they are there because of the images that have ben ripped off my website. Some for unauthorized use in commercial settings, others posted on Photobucket etc. presented as ones own work. And these are just those that I have been tipped about or stumbled across by coincidence. Many were actually watermarked, but the watermark had either been cropped off or edited away (!)

Best Regards,

Rune Molnes

Wow, I'm new to the whole topic but looking at your pictures makes me want to go to Iceland. They are amazing, great job.

Beautiful images.

I wonder if you are still using the Leaf/Hy6 combo?

Best,

Mitchell

Thank you.

And yes, I am still using my Leaf AFi7 paired with the Schneider 40, 80 and 180mm lenses. I am very happy with it, but hope that they (Leaf/Sinar/Franke & Heidecke?) will come out with a wider lens option soon, preferably with better corner performance than the current Schneider 40mm.

I have found the AFi7 to be the best camera for my requirements. (Ultimate image quality and resolution with regards to both sensor and lenses for those large canvas prints, relatively light weight, open file format, the view camera option, easy handling ++) I only wish it would handle like the Canon 1D range with regards to battery cold temperature tolerances, weather resistance, AF when needed etc, but then again one can not find all the best qualities packed into one camera solution as some attributes are mutually exclusive. With regards to the shortcominngs there are for outdoors applications, I have found ways to work around them.

For both trips my backup camera was a Canon 5D, mostly used for shots > 200mm. One example would be this one: http://www.pbase.com/rune_molnes/image/84907333 If I remember correctly this was shot with a 5D/EF 400mm f/5.6 combo


Best Regards,

Rune Molnes

Rune,

This image is great:
http://www.pbase.com/rune_molnes/image/112793162
Great tones, and love the wave motion, good timing.

This one also struck me:
http://www.pbase.com/rune_molnes/image/112795243

Great lines and tones in this shot.

All great work, and hope I can get there someday.

-Andy

This is just my take on your images, from someone who appreciates landscapes work but am not myself a LS photographer. I think you could improve your final presentation if you find a way to add more context to your project. In this late time, those of us who appreciate our remaining natural spaces are always curious to know how those locations fit into the world. For example, if I'm looking at a photographic project of a national park, having some photo's that tell the story about the stewardship of what is inside and outside the boundaries of the park adds immensely to the project. That gives me a take-away that I don't get just by looking at some pretty pictures, void of any context.

Specifically, in your project there are a mixture of pure natural settings and a few with what looks like abandoned buildings and what may, or may not be, feral horses. What I see is a confused motive for many of these image. Am I to think that perhaps the unknown land stewards have purchased an old farmstead to return the land to a natural state? Then there are a few images with what would look to be the signs of habitation. As it is, I think these images confuse your message. It is as if some images from two disjoint projects got shuffled together into one presentation.

In summary, I think your images are technically top shelf. You have obviously spent a good deal of time honing your picture taking skills to a high level. Considering this, I think the next step in your progression as a landscape photographer might be learn to prescript your projects to allow your final presentation to tell more of a story. Lacking this discipline you invariably will return home without the images needed to unify your artistic or professional statement and instead end up with something that is merely scientific, requiring the viewer to look outside of your work to create their own story.

Denis K