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Not long before the world shut down we had a chance to visit the beautiful Faroe Islands, which are located about half way between Iceland and Norway. One of the first places we headed out to once we settled in was Tjørnuvík, a small village in the north of Streymoy island. This is the view on a gloomy day overlooking a waterfall that was flowing right towards the local beach with the Risin og Kellingin sea stacks and cliffs of Eiðiskollur visible in the distance.
I guess you could say it was a typically North Atlantic kind of a day with windy overcast conditions and frequent rain passing through. If we had not been to Iceland, I might have been upset about the weather but by then I knew that was to be expected and we still drove out to see as much as we could. When we arrived in Tjørnuvík, this was the scene that immediately caught my attention. There was a waterfall pretty much right up on the beach and beyond it was the wonderful view towards the northern tip of Eysturoy island. It was cold (for an Aussie) but the wind did not quite reach that far in and it seemed relatively calm most of the time. That allowed for the beautiful sound of the flowing water to fill the silence and it was the prefect soundtrack to the surrounding scenery.
After walking around a little bit I knew that I wanted to take a photo with the waterfall leading in and for the distant headland to anchor the composition in the background. I took a few different frames to see how best I can position the stream in the foreground and what elevation made for the most interesting angle. Being higher allowed for the beach to be visible in the midground and it also revealed the little curved stream that connected the waterfall with the sea. I really liked that because I try to look for connections in my compositions that guide the viewer between different elements of the scene and I found that it took my eyes onward towards the background.
In terms of exposure and shutter speed I was looking to retain some texture in the flowing water. I did not want it to be completely washed out as I did not think it would work well in this photo. There are scenes where milky smooth looks fantastic but in others it can just create a big mass of white nothingness. The final decision is of course based on individual artistic vision. The water was actually flowing slowly to the eye and shorter shutter speeds made it looks really rough and messy, which also did not work with my vision for this scene. Sometimes I wonder whether I overdo the slow shutter speed and I did compare all the exposures I took thinking if I should keep it looking as natural as possible. In moment like this I ask myself what would enhance the mood the most and that is what guided me in my final image selection.
I hope you enjoy the first image from Faroe Islands. I have few more lined up to process and post. It was great to make it there in 2019 and I can say that the Faroes are definitely very high on the re-visit list should the world return to any kind of normality in the future.
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