Interview with Jórunn Sjöfn Guðlaugsdóttir

Hi Jórunn! Tell us about yourself in two sentences - who are you?

I'm an Icelandic independent girl based in Reykjavik, Iceland, working in a bank, but also doing private photo day tours in cooperation with Iceland Photo Tours, which I love cos I can combine my passion for photography with my love for nature. My motto in life is not taking things (and myself) too seriously, and going with the flow trusting the universe... and practising yoga, because I love everything about it.

QWhat's the weirdest situation you've found yourself in while taking a photograph?

AThe weirdest situation is when I was shooting a sunrise at Reynisfjara beach in the south of Iceland, and totally underestimated the big waves out there. I set up my gear for long exposure, standing in the water with my tripod. All of a sudden I saw a big wave coming towards me as I was in the middle of shooting. Since I obviously wanted to save myself and my gear, I grabbed my tripod and ran away. My camera was still processing since it was a long exposure. When I later looked at my shot it was, of course, all blurred and abstracted, so I was gonna delete it but for some reason I didn't, maybe because I loved the colour palette of that picture. A couple of weeks later someone saw my abstract shot and bought my picture.

QWhat do you shoot on? What's your favourite set up?

AI shoot with Canon 5D MarkIII and my favourite lens is Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 because it's a great sharp landscape lens and is excellent for Northern Lights as well. I recently bought the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 and can't wait to start using it. For portraits and people I love the Canon 85mm lens. I use LEE filters, mostly the 0.9 soft grad, and the ND little and big stopper to create long exposures. I use a Sirui carbon tripod which is really sturdy and light weight too. My back pack is a one from F-stop. My favourite set up is when I'm all by myself in the middle of nowhere using my little and big stopper, doing long exposure shots and listening to music at the same time. Those are the best moments.

QWhat's your number one tip for an aspiring photographer?

A My best tip for aspiring photographers is to follow your heart and let the camera lead the path for you. Eventually you will end at the right place. Don't take rules too seriously. Just go out there and shoot what you love to shoot, do it your way.