Solfar - the Sun Voyager
The gleaming steel sculpture on Reykjavik’s splendid waterfront that resembles a Viking long-ship is the ‘Solfar’ or ‘Sun Voyager.’ The striking landm...
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The gleaming steel sculpture on Reykjavik’s splendid waterfront that resembles a Viking long-ship is the ‘Solfar’ or ‘Sun Voyager.’ The striking landmark was created by Jon Gunnar Arnason and honors Viking travels.
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Feb, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
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"This gleaming steel sculpture on Reykjavik’s waterfront that resembles a Viking long-ship is the ‘Solfar’ or ‘Sun Voyager.’ It was created by Icelandic sculptor Jon Gunnar Arnason. It is a common misunderstanding that Sun Voyager is a Viking ship. It is quite understandable that many tourists think this when travelling in Iceland, the land of the sagas. Nonetheless, it should be stressed that this was not the original intention. It is a dream boat and an ode to the sun. Intrinsically, it contains within itself the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom". Source: icelandtravel.is. It is easily accessible from Reykjavik centre, not far from the Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre - also worth photographing.Time
This image was made at around 11:30am in early January. Dawn had only broken about 30 minutes before. At that time of year there is only daylight from about 11:00am to 4:00pm, so there's limited time available for natural light photography.Lighting
The sunrise was off to the right and slightly behind me. It lit up the sculpture and the distant mountains, beautifully.Equipment
My camera was my Nikon D610, fitted with a Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 with a focal length at 28mm.Inspiration
My trip to Iceland was inspired by the thought of making some great images of this sculpture, plus trying to capture the Northern Lights. When I saw the sculpture 'in real life', I was amazed at how big it is and loved how the light on it changed, in the 10 minutes while I was shooting, as the sun moved in the sky.Editing
In Camera Raw, I reduced the shadows (to bring out the detail on the sculpture) and boosted the whites (to emphasise the snow in the distance). This image is one of a series of the sculpture that I shot and edited. I enhanced this particular image by using a 'bokeh filter' from Smart Photo Editor, specifically to use it as a print for a friend and fan of Iceland.In my camera bag
Since then, I've switched from Nikon to Fuji X. I needed to reduce weight and size of my kit because I became the owner and friend of a Labrador puppy. So now I spend most of my time in the UK, shooting images of Bruno (dog) and some of the UK's beautiful countryside. My kit these days is a Fuji X-T1 with an old Fuji X-E1 backup and an array of X-mount lenses. My 'go-to' lenses are my XF 55-200mm and my XF 18-135mm. However, for specific uses such as portraits I have the wonderful Fujinon 18mm - a great little lens. I also have a great 'super-wide-angle' Samyang 8mm that helps make amazing images of architecture and is also really good for street photography - I can walk among crowds of people and get really interesting candid shots. I don't use flash much, so have enabled my old Nikon SB600 to work with my Fujis, for the odd times I need it.Feedback
For iconic subjects like this one, I always spend the time to shoot a lot of images from different angles, light conditions, zoomed in/out, different depths of field etc. Even though I always shoot in Raw (so a lot of post processing flexibility) getting a poor composition would be bad news, once back home in front of the computer screen. Its not like I'm likely to go back to Iceland for a while, even though I could happily live there - apart from the cost!
