Magic of Iceland

The landscape photographer in me has always dreamed about Iceland.  I decided to do an exploratory trip there this June so that I could add a workshop in 2014. I spent two exhaustive weeks covering the southern part of of country and to say the least, the scenery didn’t disappoint.  The image above was my most memorable of the trip.  This waterfall near Mt. Kirkjufell was something that was very high on my list to photograph.  At that time of year, sunset is at 12:30am and sunrise follows shortly at 2am!  The experience of photographing a magical sunset and sunrise within a few hour of each other is something I will never forget!

There were literally 100’s of waterfalls everywhere you looked.  One of the big ones is Gullfoss pictured above.  It is what I call a “tourist trap waterfall” because during the day, there are 1000’s of visitors, buses, and cars!  At midnight, there were only 2 other photographers! I have to admit  that it was quite an impressive waterfall and you could feel the power of it even far away!

 

The one landscape location that had me the most excited for my trip were the lagoons at Jakursalon.  I was so impressed at how the ice constantly was in flux as the tides were moving these massive bergs around and no two images were ever alike!  The bergs had a very different look when it was overcast and sunlit…..something we didn’t get much of at this location and that is why I intend on spending 4 or 5 days in the area on the tour in 2014!

 

 

 

No tour to Iceland would be complete without photographing the puffin!  I didn’t need the long lens at all and even used my 17-40mm a few times!  This was with the Sigma 120-300mm.

 

I am pleased to announce my tours to Iceland in 2014!!! I have announced the tours to my advanced notice list and the June 28th – July 13th, 2014 tour has sold out!!!  I have now added a tour that will run from July 13th – July 30th, 2014 and I only have 4 spots left for that!  Your tour starts with your arrival at Keflavik airport on the evening/afternoon on the 13th. We will be photographing stunning waterfalls, lush flowery landscapes, historic churches, barns, horses, oystercatchers, puffin, and more!  Iceland is truly a landscapers paradise!!!  At this time of year, Sunset is around midnight with sunrise following shortly after around 2am!  We will be out for both those times so just be prepared to alter your sleep schedule! We will have plenty of time to sleep during the day and I will move the group when the light is at its worst.  Unlike other tours, we will not be covering the entire country and I will limit the number of moves we have to make with our luggage.  It’s a big country and we will focus on southern locations to insure you get the best possible images.  Remember…..this is a photography tour and not a road trip!  The cost for this tour is $6,400 and includes your breakfasts but not your other meals.  Your flight to Iceland is also not included in the cost.  Below are just a few more images of the more than 10,000 that I took there!

 

 

 

 

 

If you would like to be added to my advanced notice list please send me an e-mail at; rkurywczak@gmail.com

If you can’t join me on this trip please consider coming to one of my lectures or events which you can find here.

Don’t forget to check out my latest gear review as well on the Gistec Led light that I use for macro!

Sigma Blogs

Just wanted to share with you some of my latest Sigma blog posts covering everything from choosing the right ISO for wildlife photography as well as one on the budget friendly Sigma 150-500mm lens.  I also have one on the latest addition to my arsenal, the Sigma 120-300mm lens.  Follow the links and let me know what you think and make sure to check back often to the Sigma blog as I add more tips and offer you some gear options!

Newest Member of the Sigma Pro Team

I’m using an image from my just concluded Iceland exploratory trip to announce that I am the newest member of the Sigma Pro Team.  I used the Sigma 12-24mm lens to craft this image. You can see the mugshot here with a few of my images.  I have been using Sigma lenses for over 8 years so it is a thrill to be recognized and be part of this team!

I am honored to be joining such a talented team and look forward to meeting you all out in the field during my lectures and presentations.  Next one up is the New England Camera Club Council conference next weekend. Stop by advertising table or one of my lectures and say hello!

East Coast Florida Tour/Workshop Report

OK…..so I am a bit behind on my tour/workshop reports so I decided to start from my last one! The east coast Florida tour is very different from the west coast Florida tour I do earlier in March as we concentrate more on the chicks. What got my attention in the image at the top was the dark green background that I could isolate with my Sigma 300-800mm. I tried to repeat the same scenario with the images below of the Cattle Egrets and the Tri-colored Herons (which were also photographed with the Sigma 300-800mm). You have to take many images when photographing nests as getting 3 correct head angles is difficult to say the least!!!

One of the highlights of the tour had to be the black necked stilts and their chicks. The clouds didn’t cooperate on many of the mornings but I did get a one really good chance with the Sigma 300-800mm.

There was still some mating activity going on with the egrets and I wanted to concentrate on the cattle egrets that had some pretty spectacular breeding plumage which you can see for yourself in the image below. I used the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 for this one.

To get a bit more variety on this tour we also visited butterfly world for some macro photography. Besides the butterflies we got an opportunity at some flowers and even some finches! I used my Sigma 180mm macro and the Canon MT24 twin lights for all the macro images below.

One afternoon, I wanted to travel a bit lighter so I used my 120-300mm when I had an opportunity to photograph this fledged spoonbill still pestering mom and dad for food. It was almost comical to watch as he shoved that large bill into the parents’ mouth!

On one particular morning we had cloudy conditions and not too much activity when I spotted a Ruddy Turnstone attacking a crab. I sure wish we had better light although it is the ones that I miss that keep me going back for more!!!

I had the good fortune of watching the tricolored heron chick pictured below take his first flight just shortly after he posed on this branch for me.

I will be announcing my 2014 east coast Florida workshops shortly so stay tuned to my schedule or e-mail me at; rkurywczak@gmail.com  to be placed on the advanced notice list.

Yellowstone/Tetons 2012 Tour Report

Hope everyone has recovered from the holidays!  With my back going out just in time for Christmas, I have had some time to ponder on the year that has just passed and remembered I needed to share my tour report from Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons!  The image above of Great Fountain Geyser is a good representation of why, as a landscape photographer, I love going back to the same locations.  I have stood at that spot countless times over the years and am always amazed how every day is different and this allows me to look for different or unusual compositions and even take some risks.  Photographing into the sun is always challenging, but my job was made a bit easier by simply using a 3 f/stop, soft step graduated split neutral density filter and the Darryl Benson reverse graduated neutral density filter; both by Singh Ray.  This allowed me to keep the sun and sky in check and expose for the foreground and bring out all the details in it.

This year we had many more opportunities with the moose.  While the biggest bull we came upon never got to a good light angle, the youngster shown above gave the group a bit of a scare/thrill as he ran into the open among a herd of buffalo!  We even had a bit of time to follow him along the river as he made a dash for a female that was about ½ mile away.  The two images below show the same young bull jumping over a tiny creek and then ”sniffing” the scent of the nearby female who wanted nothing to do with the youngster!

 A few moments before the moose came charging out, a pronghorn sheep bull came casually sneaking up on us to within 30 feet!  The Sigma 300-800mm was way too much lens at that range but we did get many more opportunities to photograph them at a bit more comfortable distance.

As usual in Yellowstone and the Tetons at that time of year, we had many opportunities for both the elk and buffalo although I have noticed that they have moved away from their usual locations from the past.

 

What always makes the Yellowstone ecosystem so unique is the variety of subjects you have to photograph; from dramatic landscape to wildlife and even birds……that tour always lands on the top of my list for favorite tours! Below is an example of some of the variety we had in photographing the landscapes but no tour would be complete without at least one nighttime shoot!!!  I used DxO Labs Optics Pro 8 to reduce the noise in the night image.  I look forward to using it a bit more and reviewing it in the near future.

The Yellowstone/Tetons tour is one of my least demanding physically as most of the shooting is done close to the car. I hope you can join me on the 2013 tour and let me share my years of experience and knowledge of this magical place. As always if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at; rkurywczak@gmail.com