Going to photograph dogs in Iceland was definitely one of the most spectacular and dreamy things I have ever gotten to do. Sometimes it still doesn’t feel real! I knew that the Style Lab Workshop would be absolutely amazing, but it did even blow my expectations away. The incredible instructors were Craig Turner-Bullock and Charlotte Reeves of Unleashed Education, who have already helped me grow so much as a dog photographer, and Alicja Zmyslowska, who is so brilliant and taught me how to approach things differently than usual. We stayed in cute little triangle cabins at the stunning Eird Retreat, which had the most impressive views overlooking a swan filled lake, with sheep and horses all over the hills. The owner is also a chef, and we had reallllllly great food for every single meal. It’s the coolest place, and it was an awesome spot to spend the week with marvelous like-minded people, immersing in our passion of dog photography.
I knew I wanted to challenge myself to push the boundaries of my style in different ways while immersed in this workshop. I wanted to try to include as much of the unique landscapes as possible, and for me this meant to experiment with wide angles- not my usual thing. We also had separate challenges for each day, and about 12 minutes to photograph each dog or set of dogs, which of course was a challenge in itself. We shared our images as a group the day after each shoot and it was so amazing to see what everyone had created and how different all of it was. It was so inspiring to learn from the amazing instructors, get to shoot with them, and get their focused attention on how to improve our own work in our own style
We braved some pretty wild weather conditions over the week we were there, which also pushed me way out of my comfort zone because normally I would always just reschedule if there was going to be rain. A lot of the photos you’re about to see were made in the rain and howling winds, or in bright mid-day sun when I wasn’t expecting it. In a couple locations there were a lot of people around, especially at the black sand beach, so I had to work around like 200 people standing behind us, waiting for their turn to take photos. There were a lot of challenges, but that was the point- to work in ways you normally wouldn’t, in different conditions, with different lenses, different starting points. I learned a lot and continue to implement things to keep me growing as a photographer here in Oregon. This experience definitely made me want to travel more to photograph dogs because it made everything even more FUN, so that will be one thing I focus on in the coming years. I shall never forget this amazing experience and I hope to go back sometime to explore all the areas of Iceland I didn’t get to see, and bring some beautiful dogs with me to really dazzle those landscapes further!
