Goodbye Iceland, hello England!!

Well the day of departure is here. It's 5am and I'm waiting for the taxi to take me to the airport. The last three days could only be described as EPIC. 

Waterfalls, glaciers, black sand, crashing sea, great company and many laughs. I will miss this place but am so excited and happy to be going home. Special shout out to Steve, Lizzie and Matthew for being the best family I could ask for. I haven't had time to edit any of the photographs so here's a quick (bad quality) selection from my phone. 

Sorry they're not up to standard but I've got lots on my camera to look at when I'm home. 

Thank you for reading and making comments. I've had so much positive feedback and support and it's all helped to keep me linked to home. 

What an amazing, wonderful, fantastic opportunity. I would love to come back and show it off to everyone. 

Thank you Iceland, Skagastrond, all the artists and Nes. So, so happy to had done this. 

For all the crowdfunders, I'll be in touch with a gallery of images for you to choose from. Please bear with me as I'm stupidly busy for all of March, so realistically, things will happen in April onwards. 

Again, thank you all. 

Love,

Aly X

Ending experience...

What can I say? I have 3 more days in Iceland but leaving Skagastrond is such a significant wrench. In the midst of bingo at Borgin the best, and only bar in Skagastrond, Penny and I made the final walk home to Manabraut along the seafront, past the servo and the supermarket, the ice piled high from the snowplough, the sad house, a little vandalised because of the acts of its previous tenant, the harbour and the small businesses lining the end of the village, back to our little house - over the snow steps Penny dug out in a moment of ferocious exercise and into the warmth (always warm) of the outer porch, inner porch and main rooms. 

It's hard to explain how I'm feeling right now. It's a real mixture of excitement to see my gorgeous loved ones, anticipation for the coming 3 days of adventure and a real sense of loss for those burgeoning friendships formed from the mix of isolation and shared passion. 

I would love to come back here, to continue what I've started, although to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what that is. I do know that it came at a time that was right, for lots of reasons. I am so thankful for Steve being the person he is - shooing me into whatever new adventure captures my heart. I have been here for a month, safe in the knowledge that my family are safe and understand (put up with..) my need to experience new challenges. 

Iceland is a honeypot for tourists but still they tend to come in the summer months. The concept of the midnight sun is a massive draw and although I can see this in some ways, I have gained so much from being here with such limited light. Making the most of every ounce, walking for miles, seeing the stars - unpolluted by artificial light or industrial influence is totally magical. Add to that the Aurora Borialis and there's no competition. 

From an artistic perspective, there is the opportunity to completely immerse yourself in your practice surrounded by likeminded people - good people who will support and suggest and constructively criticise if you want them to. The environment is so positive, almost a rite of passage, particularly to emerging artists. 

As you can probably tell by this, I am melancholic about leaving and feeling very reflective. I need to sleep,ready for the further adventures of the next 3 days with Louise, Arthur, penny and yujin. I'll try to post but can't guarantee it as I'm not sure about wifi. 

I may have posted some of these already - apologies but in blogging from my phone and that's my best excuse!!

Shaye and Andy's amazing light piece in a quarried area of the village. The quarried stone was used to build a harbour, but once it was built, the elves were so angry that the herring left...

Last walk back to Manabraut

My favourite bridge. I was about to walk over the ice when someone appeared and told me it was a river and it was deep and dangerous...

Last nights show. Best yet. 

Moon over Skagastrond. 

The view from my exhibition space today....

The sublime beauty of the sea

Ditto!!

Best seat in the house. 

Move over Mam Tor, this is Spakonufell. 

Can I just say that getting images like these means walking for half a mile in the pitch black, standing outside for hours in minus 6 degrees waiting and wondering if anything might happen. Then freezing all body parts while waiting on numerous 30 seconds plus exposures, just for you. 

Have a great weekend!! 

Can't believe it's nearly over,

Love,

Aly x

Last day in Skagastrond

It's now late Thursday night and tomorrow will be my last day in the village I have called home for the last month. Skagastrond is not raved about in the Iceland books neither is it really an obvious stopping point in the round trip, being a good 45 minutes off route 1. It is however, to me and to the locals I have spoken to, a place of industry, community and sublime beauty. Watched over by a majestic rock with the look of a miniature table mountain, it nestles in farmland on the very edge of the sea. It's black beaches and inky sea lead the eye to the fjord and the next peninsula west, ever changing with whatever the weather decides to spin up on any given day. Every day has been different and it's no myth about the Icelandic weather changing in the space of minutes. I have experienced so many variations of snow and ice - wet, dry, powder, slush, sheet, hard on the surface and soft underneath (as witnessed by the numerous bruises from falling...) and I'm sure there are still more. 

I have been lucky enough to experience the extravaganza that is the northern lights around six times, each different from the last, as well as sunrises and sunsets that redefine beauty. 

I have worked alongside amazing people: Penny, Joe, Zata, Megan, Hannah, Chelsea, Masumi,  Yujin, Louise, Arthur, Shaye, Andrew, Nadiia and Toshiaki. All of these have taught me something and we have shared so much - a sense of wonder at this place, the experience of seeing Aurora for the first time, eating, drinking, singing(?!?) and simply enjoying each other's company. 

I will miss seeing this every day when I arrive at the studio. 

So today was the open house and we had a bus load of 16 to 18 year olds from the next village (45minures away..) as well as local people visiting the studio to look at the works in progress. I ran a slide show of around 200 images which was well received, but the highlight was definitely Louise's singing!

It's not a video - sorry! Just a screen shot of a video. The performance was superb. 

It was really good to see people's work, particularly as at the beginning of the month each artist talked about their ideas, motivation and what they hoped to achieve. To be honest, I wasn't really sure what I would get from this experience. My proposal was along the lines of my previous works of layering images to create new narratives from a place, it's people and their history. I have the raw materials to do that, but I'm not sure if I will work in the same way as before. Much of my previous artistic language was dark and monochrome - very much pathetic fallacy. This experience has an overriding sense of light and more light and I can't imagine making images using shadows and darkness as I have before. 

The fabulous Penny has just brought me my very own Japanese home cooked meal as I'm now going to attempt to eat after having an upset tummy all day. 

Well, that was delicious. Now I just need to stay awake long enough to see if the beautiful aurora makes an appearance around midnight. 

I'll give a shout out to Nadiia who took the best photograph of me ever! I was busy trying to grab sunset images a couple of nights ago and she got this one of me. I love it. 

Well. It's now 1.18am, Friday morning and I need to report that I have just spent an hour and a half in the company of the most impressive dancing sky I have ever seen. What a privilege to experience. Photographs to follow at some point, but for now I have so much to be thankful for.  

Thursday started with the total (if temporary) happiness felt after gaining Bruce Springsteen tickets in the mele that is Ticketmaster. (Temporary because of the price...) This was followed by the most beautiful, crystal clear, crisp, sunny day imaginable after which we all got to share our work with the community and some lovely kids. A sunset walk in the beach, some Japanese food and finally the best light show for miles. I know how lucky I am and I'm taking none of it for granted. 

I'll try to put up some of the aurora photos tomorrow but I have an exhibition at 5, the opening of a fantastic piece of public light art at 7.30, saying goodbyes as well as packing ready for the final leg of Iceland 2016. I'm not sure if I'll have wifi over the weekend but I'll try to post something after the black beach and the ice lagoon in the south!

Sleep well. 

Love,

Aly x

Happy Birthday Mam 24.2.1924 - 6.6.1994

I know it's a very long time ago that she died, but I can honestly say there's not a day goes by without me thinking about my mam. She wasn't perfect, no-one is, but she taught us four a lot about life, doing things properly (all the grand children probably suffer from this as we parents criticise their house cleaning efforts....), how not to be 'common', how to treat people and how to be compassionate. Parents are a massive influence, whether you want them to be or not. I am very grateful for mine and how I have some but not all of their characteristics. I wish my kids could have met her and my dad, but hopefully they 'get' something about them through me, Linda Elaine and John. I can't stop thinking about her today, so this blog is in memory and I have chosen images that I think she would like.

I am gearing up for the open house and another exhibition over the next two days and then off travelling before flying home on Tuesday morning. I promised photos, so here is a selection - dedicated to the memory of our brilliant mam.

For some reason, the photographs are not showing properly on may phone, but perfectly on the computer. Choose your viewing point! 

I haven't only been taking photographs of the sea, promise, but I have had some fantastic walks on these beaches and lots of thinking time. So, not too many words today, but lots of thoughts for people living and not, loved and cared for. 

I hope Wednesday has been a good one.

Love,

Aly x

Happy Tuesday. A day of beautiful sunrises and sunsets - and wishes for Aurora later

Well the countdown has truly begun. One week before I am back in Blighty. 4 more nights in Skagastrond, 2 in Vik and 1 in Keflavik ready to get on the plane home.

I have just been bustled into a strangers car and taken to a beautiful beach where the sunset was hitting the wet sand and the crests of the waves were catching the final rays before it becomes dark again. Thank you so much for the lift!!

Yesterdays light was not what I'd hoped for and I spent all night getting up at 2 hour intervals as it looked as though there might be aurora. There wasn't. No show and I have been so tired all day today. There is an ongoing dilemma for anyone wanting to make photographs because there are 2 key factors in play. 1. Is the sky clear or mostly clear? 2. Is there an aurora forecast, and if so, how strong is the forecast on a scale of 1 to 9. I have had some really good photographs at '2' but found it difficult to get anything registering at '3'. So tonight's dilemma is that I have a potential lift to a non light polluted area at midnight when the sky is clear, but the forecast is 2. Whereas tomorrow night, the forecast is 3 and the sky is partially clear... Oh decisions decisions. Perhaps I could have a little nap!

With sunsets like this, it's amazing how they are often disregarded in place of the aurora....

So what have I been up to? 

This was one of my aurora chasing walks last night. The sky was interesting because the moon was full. 

Unfortunately, the reflection is from my phone photographing my computer screen, not some fabulous element in the sky. 

The sunrise this morning was so clear so I went walking, laden down with so much photography gear. By the time I got to my planned destination the light had muddied and I trudged all the way back. 

However, after a day of walking, editing and gathering information on the local historical soothsayer (more about that later..) the sunset was sublime. This was the 'light' on my walk back from trying to follow the sun....

And this was the end of the day. 

So the other part of today was a visit for myself, Louise and Penny to the Spákonuhof Museum of Prophecies. Fascinating stuff and all linked to a strong, brave and assertive woman called Þórdís (pronounced Thordiss) from the late 10th century, who basically ruled the place and gave out advice, drugs, laying on of hands and essentially sorted out the fighting issues of the menfolk. There is a legend related to the finding of a casket of gold and jewels at the top of the Spakonufell mountain, just on the outskirts of the village. The only trouble is that there are conditions..... It can only be found by a woman, who has nothing to do with the church (i.e. not called Christine, not baptised or confirmed and not related to anyone from the church) and finally, a woman who has only ever consumed horse milk.... So, it's pretty safe up there then!!

I haven't processed the images yet and it was very dark inside the museum, but I will put them up tomorrow. 

It was minus 5 degrees today and my cashmere jumper cut up and made into a snood is absolutely the best thing I could have brought on the trip. That and the funny rubber and metal crampon things. One of the things I'm so looking forward to is hair products... Shallow I know, but I can't wait to slap on that mess it up gel...

I have quite a bit to do tonight, I'm still in the studio and I am likely to go out looking for aurora later so I promise that tomorrow's blog will be mostly photographs from the last few days and less inane ramblings!!

Good night and sleep well. I look forward to next Tuesday but hope for many adventures and great pictures here in Iceland between now and then. 

Love,

Aly X

 

After the storm.... Again

As some might have seen from Facebook, it took a little while to get going this morning. The night was filled with whistling snow and wind and it was impossible to see out of any of the windows first thing. (By this I mean around 11am). Each time there's a snow storm the resulting landscape is different, even within the town. The wind seems to be patternless, blowing in different directions and with varying levels of power resulting in something new each time. Higher snowdrifts, whole paths disappeared, beaches black where the water comes in but white everywhere else. 

This is a newly sited drift which the ever present snow plough is clearing. 

My housemate Penny in the recently cleared road. 

Today I am pulling together the black and white images I have made and am attempting to order them in some way for display. This may well turn out to be a book or number of books which are themed in some way. They are also likely to form the basis of any montage works on my return to the UK. 

I'm looking at more macro images today and finding shape rather than a whole image. 

For some reason I can't do the blog on my computer without stretching the pictures so each day I do it on my phone, taking photographs of the mac screen as I go... Bear with me!!

They don't come up as good quality but it gives an idea of the images I'm playing around with. 

Some dramatic skies as well. 

Although I tend to always choose to work in black and white, the colours here merit their own publication. Greys and blues abound however the richness of Browns and oranges are apparent as soon as you venture near the less solid ground. Having said that, the blue grey boiling mud kept me transfixed for a long while. 

I really wanted to go out and photograph today but the weather looks like this:

The camera copes well with getting a bit wet, but not with the whole cold to warm condensation issues. I have used so many silica gel packets but they work wonders. 

I intended that my work would look at some similar themes from previous photography pieces - the idea of the place and the real or imagined memories of the people within it. Although I have few images of people, some of the stories I have heard whilst here, from locals as well as 'incomer' artists are reflected in the images I am making. There is a back story in the village, told differently by each author. The narrative changes depending on the factors affecting individuals. As with other work, I will not explain or define these stories, however the single images as well as future montages tell it in visual terms, to be interpreted at will. Clichéd though it sounds, and is, there is real happiness and sense of community here as well as the current and past traumas which have moulded both Skagastrond and the rest of the island. 

I have a feeling that this image will figure strongly in future work. It may not always be easy to spot but it will be there. 

I would love to start some layering of images to begin creating something but my 13" screen just doesn't cut it, or my eyesight is getting worse! I miss my 27" mac. Not as much as Steve, the kids, Max and best friends, but nearly...!

Some more bubbling mud.

And another empty Icelandic road waiting for the next adventure.....

I'm going to attempt a walk in the next few minutes, so will sign off for today. 

Enjoy the rest of Sunday. 

Love, 

Aly x