Knowledgeable photographer mixed his love. horses with the gorgeous pure backdrop of the home he selected, Icelandin an enchanting sequence of images the place nature and animals improve one another’s magnificence.
Born and raised in Helsinki, Finland, Petra Marita Leifsdóttir is in her early thirties and lives and works within the Icelandic capital, Reykjavík.
Icelandic Horse
Horse lover Petra has been drawing and portray since childhood. She was given her first digital digital camera on the age of 13 and she or he mentioned that it opened the doorways of a giant world for her. She quickly started taking footage of her family and friends’s horses, not considering that she would mix these two pursuits in a profession sooner or later.
Petra later studied images and media arts at college earlier than beginning her personal images firm in Finland.
He settled in Iceland in 2019 to be in contact with nature and achieve new experiences.
Petra instructed The Epoch Occasions: “We’re fortunate to be surrounded by nature even within the capital area. We now have the cleanest pure waters, contemporary air and pristine nature on the earth… The identical goes for horses. I need to present the great thing about these swish and clever animals.
“Horses are delicate beings with the largest and kindest coronary heart.”
Petra labored on a photograph sequence between 2019 and 2021: The Icelandic Horse. He mentioned the venture, which passed off primarily in the summertime of 2020, paid homage to Iceland’s distinctive horse breed and was “completely one of many highlights” of his profession.
Petra mentioned: “Pictures had been taken at many well-known locations in Iceland, such because the Skógafoss waterfall, the Jökúlsarlón glacial lagoon and the Reynisfjara black sand seaside… many photograph shoots had been accomplished with our greatest pals and our dearest horses. Because of the full lack of tourism that summer season, we had been privileged to go to many of those usually crowded locations with out anybody round.”
Caravanning horses in all places, Petra and her pals used their experience to make sure their horses had been completely happy in any setting, earlier than arranging a sequence of dramatic photograph shoots. Petra mentioned it is essential for a horse photographer to have a “deep understanding” of this delicate animal and its habits.
“I understand how to learn their habits and indicators, I do know what we are able to ask of them, and I understand how to get them to look their finest for an image,” mentioned Petra, who has a lifetime of expertise with horses. “I additionally know in the event that they want a break to graze between pictures or in the event that they’re beginning to get drained. Shoots are all the time accomplished on horses’ phrases.”
Nonetheless, Petra added, “They’re a part of the panorama right here and belong to nature, in order that they all the time felt completely happy and relaxed through the photograph shoot.”
The horses wore specifically made halteres throughout some pictures, which had been digitally faraway from the ultimate footage for security causes. Since working with giant animals may be troublesome on her personal, Petra stored her gear easy, taking pictures with a number of cameras concurrently to remove the trouble of fixing lenses or zooming out and in.
dream shot
One among Petra’s favourite pictures from the sequence was taken on the Skógafoss waterfall on a vivid summer season evening in 2020.
“Usually, this waterfall is crowded with lots of of individuals on the identical time, however this time we had been on their lonesome. It was simply me, two pals and two horses. My very own horse, Héla, was with me, which made this photograph shoot much more particular.”
Petra, with the majestic waterfall within the background, had horses operating down the river.
Sharing extra concerning the shoot, Petra mentioned: “I assumed I might get the very best angle if I put myself and my digital camera in the midst of the river, so I took off my sneakers and stepped into the knee-deep, freezing chilly water. The water was operating straight down the mountain from the glaciers, so I can guarantee you it was the coldest water I’ve ever stepped into, however I managed to get my dream photograph… It was positively price freezing my toes!”
One other of Petra’s favourite pictures was taken at 2 a.m. within the discipline subsequent to her home, underneath “magically tender sundown gentle.” He sat for an hour within the tall grass, watching the two-week-old colts befriend one another.
“These two colts within the image had been making contact with one another for the primary time, which started with a delicate greeting and ended with a full play session a couple of minutes later,” Petra mentioned.
One other picture taken on the Hálsanefshellir cave on the black sandy seaside of Reynisfjara showcases the cave’s distinctive and luxurious basalt rock pillars and is Petra’s hottest print.
Aspect of Shock
The photographer claims that one of the vital magical elements in his photograph sequence is a present from Mom Nature: pure gentle.
Through the summer season months, Iceland experiences 24/7 daylight because the solar by no means totally units, and pictures may be taken within the heat gentle in the midst of the evening. In the meantime, through the darkest days of winter, Iceland has solely three hours of “daylight”; it is a tender sundown gentle the place the solar stands near the horizon.
“I do not use synthetic gentle sources and even reflectors, I work with obtainable ambient gentle,” Petra mentioned. “I believe Iceland has a pure gentle like nowhere else… there’s all the time a component of shock and you must be actually artistic… no photograph shoot is ever the identical.”
Sharing extra concerning the historical past of horses in Iceland and their evolving position in individuals’s lives, Petra mentioned: “Horses will not be native to Iceland, however the first horses had been first delivered to Iceland by the Vikings. On account of Iceland’s desolate location and harsh local weather, these little horses have develop into extraordinarily robust and resilient.”
All through historical past, these horses have performed an enormous position within the each day lifetime of the Icelandic individuals.
“Horses had been used as a method of transportation and for every kind of farm work and had been crucial to many individuals,” Petra mentioned. “Most horses today are leisure horses, however they’re nonetheless a giant a part of Icelandic tradition in the present day and maintain a giant place in our hearts.”
Petra mentioned it is laborious to not see 100, if not 1000’s, of horses in giant fields, even when taking a visit throughout the nation.
“They’re an vital a part of the panorama,” he mentioned. “These little horses belong right here and thrive right here.”
Thus, Petra feels obliged to share her beauties.
A True Blessing
Petra mentioned a horse born in Iceland will spend the primary few years taking part in, consuming and napping exterior in giant herds. But there are not any “wild horses” in Iceland; All horses have house owners who guarantee they’ve entry to meals and water and keep wholesome.
“In any other case, they’d develop very naturally, interacting and studying from one another,” Petra mentioned. “They do not begin their schooling earlier than they flip 4.”
Naturally curious, pleasant and social, Icelandic horses are desperate to work with individuals. They like optimistic reinforcement within the type of hugs and scratching and “all the time verify their pockets for potential treats.”
Alongside horse images, Petra presents getaway wedding ceremony photograph shoots, marriage proposal shoots, household classes and an Icelandic equine encounter the place individuals can meet and greet horses and have their pictures taken. She shares her work with him Web site and plans to host images excursions and occasions in Iceland and on-line sooner or later.
“Having the ability to dwell and work on this lovely nation with its easy nature and magical environment is an actual blessing,” mentioned Petra.
Listed here are extra unimaginable footage of majestic horses within the breathtaking panorama:
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Louise Chambers is a author born and raised in London, England. It covers inspiring information and tales that interact individuals she.
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