Reykjavik Bacon Festival

This is Iceland. It likes to party. 

Whether it be the packed bars and clubs every weekend, the seemingly bazillion work holidays off, BBQs in the middle of winter, the enormous downtown-closing celebrations that are peppered throughout the year, or, you now, a big, fat, awesome festival devoted to bacon. Yep. Bacon. It was beautiful. The sinful aromas of bacon inspired dishes wafted through the sea of happy people as bacon fell from the skies. Literally. They threw bacon attached to little parachutes off the tops of buildings. Yep. Delicious parachute bacon. Oh, did I mention the festival was partly sponsored by the hospital's cardiovascular association? Iceland FTW.

We sampled around 6 different dishes and left completely packed full of salty, fatty, artery clogging goodness. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Zoo

On Saturday I was begged by two cute little blond girls to go to the zoo. It was windy and rainy and cold, but how could I say no? So we went.

The zoo in Reykjavik isn't so much a zoo in the San Diego sense as it's a big park with farm animals, some fish, a couple seals, and a few carnival rides. It's really affordable to get in (cost about $10 for all three of us), and actually quite pleasant for an afternoon stroll... even in the rain. 

"And then I said to her, why such the long face!" (Har har har)

I think this is the inspiration for my next hairstyle. What do you think? ;-)

Look How They Shine For You

I was feeling a little grumpy about not having seen the ever-so-famous Northern Lights in the 5 weeks since I arrived here in Iceland. "Oh, you'll see them," people said. And see them I did not. Not after braving multiple nights alone on the lava rock, and not after positioning myself next to a window to glance outside every 5 seconds on a clear night. I was starting to think they were a fantastic Truman Show style hoax my entire lifetime in the making.

And then... it happened.

My whole life, soul, and being was filled with complete and unrelenting happiness while I watched the iridescent dance in stark-raving awe. We are the luckiest creatures in the universe to experience such ecstasy in these moments of truly organic and raw beauty. I felt like shouting to the sky my thanks for it's willingness to share such a precious thing with me.

And, none of it would have been possible without help from my friend Hilmar who kindly drove me out to this excellent location, went back to lock the car because my camera bag was in it, went back again to get the remote I left in my camera bag, and kept me good company in the piercing cold while he patiently listened to my passionate bi-minutely reminders that we were looking at the freaking northern lights among other crazed verbal vomit. Being around an excited photographer geeking-out about a seemingly average thing is never an easy task.

I will never forget this night. Even if decay rots my brain in my old age, this memory will be unable leave my existence for it is within my soul to be cherished forever.

DesignMarch 2013: DesignTalks

This weekend is DesignMarch in Reykjavik. In 2008 a group of foreign journalists asked the question "what is Icelandic design?" and in 2009 DesignMarch was born, or so the story goes from my DesignMarch catalogue. Although the conceptualization of Icelandic design is young, fluid, and uncertain, artists and art appreciators alike flock to Reykjavik to share and inspire creativity from Iceland and beyond.

There are graphic, fashion, furniture, interior, artistic, abstract, music and jewelry designers showcasing their works all around the city in various shops, galleries and forums just ripe for the browsing. And on Thursday, it all opened with DesignTalks, a day of lectures about the magic of creativity. H, because of her infinite coolness, hosted these talks and generously put me on the guest list to attend.

Side Note: Thinking I'd be inside most of the day, I left home with only my Sony 5n. Although a good little camera, it didn't quite satisfy my needs of the day. I would have gotten better images with Markus the Third, but I'm still thankful to have brought it.

While I waited in the lobby for the doors to open at the National Theater, I was given a baked rock to warm my hands with. This made me gloriously nostalgic for childhood camping trips with hot rocks put in the bottom of sleeping bags for warming cold little toes with through the night. 

The first speaker was German designer Inge Druckrey. She discussed the art of seeing, and how learning the theoretical forms, compositions, etc, in books is not enough in an artistic education. We have to really and physically study it. We must see everyday things in terms of form and look for abstract in reality. Later on in her lecture she also mentioned the destructive nature of producing work based on deadlines and mass quantity because it might limit the resolve within the artist. I found that especially resonating and a interesting way to think about my discontent with being a commercial photographer.

Next was Maja Kuzmanovic and Nik Gaffney, the founders of FoAM (you can read more about it here). She spoke about invoking a feeling of freshness ("breath in... feel fresh... breath out... be here") in our every day lives, and also the importance of letting go of judgements and predications before starting a project as to better explore the present moments.

Talented curator Juliet Kinchin used a lot of fantastic visuals to explain her points which would be hard to describe in blog-form, but the overall message that stayed with me from her lecture was the magic gained from playing. Artists (and people in general) need to play.

Last was fashion design duo Mark Eley and Wakako Kishimoto of Eley Kishimoto (most famous for, but not limited to, the design "flash"). I really appreciated their down to earth look at the industry, something I wasn't expecting when I first saw them. They shied away from the pompous ideas of the fashion industry to embrace doing what they love. I always admire successful artists who choose not to play the games of the self-serving and self-indulgent industry.

After the lectures and Q&A session, I was kindly given the rest of the day off to explore the rest of what DesignMarch had to offer. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to feel supported to seek inspiration in my environment.

I walked through some of the exhibits, my brain digesting the feast this day was, and I felt compelled to take some photographs of abstract forms I found pleasing (among some other inspirations still growing which may blossom into other blog posts eventually). Sometimes the commercial wedding photographer in me feels digressive to look around for abstract forms of everyday objects, as if my time to do that was in high school with everyone else, but I figured if it's not my first impulse then it was especially important to do. So many things to unlearn, and so many habits to break...

As the air grew chilly, and the bottom of my maxi dress quite wet (again, wasn't planning on being outside that much when I prepared for the day), I stopped into the ever-touristy Cafe Paris for a hot chocolate. Definitely not the best Reykjavik has to offer, but good enough to warm up with.

After a rainy bus ride home, I met up with my dear and patient friends to study my Icelandic. While at their house, I had some berry soup with cream. There was something about the composition in the bowl before me that was quite lovely and needed to be photographed (probably to the confusion of my friends).

"Find the abstract forms in the everyday."

We are pretty lucky little mammals on this rock flinging around space to have such beautiful things all around us.

Soggy Saturday

Last last Saturday, while H, SJ, S, and R were out of town on a ski trip, I went to Reykjavik to take pictures and go to the Kolaportið flea market. Of course right as I tried to snap my first shot, I realized I was a dummo and left my CF card back home. That is probably only the second time in my life I've ever done that, and it quite a shame to do it on that particular day because I found a glorious old cemetery just waiting to be photographed. *sigh*  I love old cemeteries. 

Last Saturday (as opposed to last last which we were just speaking of), H told me about another flea market that is also every Saturday, but was lesser-known and better than the Kolaportið. Sounded like my sort of deal, so I grabbed my camera (with card inserted), and headed off to the Kex Hostel in search of said hipster flea market.

As someone who enjoys the art of traveling, I've seen a fair amount of hostels. Though I wouldn't count myself an expert, Kex is one of the best I've seen. Just from the very fashionably decorated bit I walked through, and the huge amount of people occupying the bar, I'd recommend it to all of you wanting to visit the island as a safe bet. Not to mention it does have a pretty darn cool flea market on Saturdays.

After annoying people by not-very-stealthily taking their picture at Kex, I headed over to the Kolaportið by way of the rainy and foggy ocean front walking path. 

The Kolaportið is fairly decent sized, has a lot of crap and a few gems, is kind of stinky (but a great place to try the fish, I'm told), and definitely not as hip as the Kex flea market. If you're visiting Reykjavik on a Saturday, it's worth a gander, especially if you need to buy more layers and don't want to spend your life savings in the tourist shops.

By this time it was quite rainy, so I took refuge in a Syrian kebab shop called Habibi in search of a good doner. I did not find one there, but the food was very tasty anyway. After the rain let up a little bit, I took the streets once again and found another flea market. Coincidence? I suspect this is a thing to do in Reykjavik on Saturdays...

After I got my fill of flea marketing, I found a political demonstration/protest having something to do with the constitution, though I couldn't find out anything else beyond that from my "source" (ie, some Icelandic guy standing next to me). 

    
And then about a half of a block away, I found some snowboarders jumping over a car on artificially made snow. 

Let's laugh at my attempts to photograph action, while standing on ice, with a manual focus prime lens...

I walked around for a few minutes more until I could tell the weather was not going to get less wet, so I headed home to babysit R and S feeling soggy, yet satisfied.