(wind blowing) (wind blowing) (wind blowing) All right, as soon as we cross, we go low so we don't scare them in the beginning. His head is under the snow. (camera clicking) That is nuts. (camera clicking) I just find it quite unique to see the reindeer digging down through the snow to get to the grass. So I'm just trying to document that story, because normally I don't get this kind of closeup opportunity. I feel like, just, the stars aligned today. And we got really lucky to see them. Sometimes we have to go on proper hiking missions just to find them around here, but not today. They're just right there, making it easy. (camera clicking) So I'm trying to get a straight on angle here which is proving difficult because they're soon to be tracking along right where we're going. You know what, this could be cool. (camera clicking) Sometimes it's hard to really have a plan or a strategy when they just kind of appear like this. So it's kind of going with their movements trying not to get...

obviously too close to make them freak out. Really looking to get that straight on just down the lens view. But if they keep tracking alongside, it's gonna be difficult. This is just so amazing. Right now I have quite similar settings to the seal shoot, actually. Using ISO 500 to give me a one five hundredth of a second. Just enough, I would say. Normally, we like to double the focal lengths to give us kind of a bare minimum in terms of sharpness. If you have a stable hand, you can kind of go a little bit below that and get, you know, down to even one, one hundredth. If you're really stable, if you're mister gimbal arms. I also just like to lay down very stable sometimes. So thankful that these ones didn't cross, because we can just keep tracking them. What focal length you got? 560 or more maybe. (photographer laughing) I got 800. Nice. This is daddy's night. Trying to manage aperture. So the F10, yes? Yeah, it's pretty rough. Reindeer on the beach. (photographer laughing) There's, like, breakers behind them. I'm trying to get an interesting foreground. Trying to blur it out, because it's all really white. The Bazooka, that's my setup: ESR 100, 400, with the two times extender, does the job. (photographer laughing) Whatever we do, we don't wanna get too close. We don't wanna scare them away. Man, it's amazing. I've been trying to see reindeer in Iceland for three years now, and day one I just show up after lunch, meet these guys, and there's reindeer on the beach, and it's like, perfect, sunny. (photographer laughing) This is not the real Iceland. This is like false advertising. It's not, it's never been like that. (photographers laughing) Just giving my sensor a little dust off. (camera scratching) I changed lens a few times and I kind of forgot before. (camera scratching) So now we're stepping it up, going to 800 millimeters, which is extremely important in that case to make sure you're dust-free, because every piece of dust on the sensor is just magnified so many times. So I decided greedily that I wanted to be closer. So I put the two times convertor on, and it proved to be just way too close for the shot that I am trying to get now. And as animals move, we can never really know what's gonna happen. In this case, they're in a completely different spot to what I thought, but they happen to line up perfectly with this really beautiful foggy mountain in the background. So we'll see if we can get the two lined up. Always keeping that low angle if I can. Yeah, we've had, like, top seal experiences and top reindeer experiences in one trip. Yeah, I mean, look at that. You have the whole freaking glacier as a backdrop. I don't know the standards you have- Ah, look at this! But for me, it's unreal. So for you- I can't believe it. Okay, for you too then. I'm just losing my mind, sorry. It's 10 out of 10 in the Ben scale. And this, like, foggy mountain. That's the best part, it's the light on the mountain. There's light creating this, like, natural, like, contrast in the snow. Yeah, and they seem to wanna walk in the light too. Yeah, it's kind of almost too good. Like waiting for the catch. What's gonna happen? (photographer laughing) Basically, I know I'm done when either the memory card is full, because, hey, we use digital cameras. Why not use them to the fullest extent? Or I literally have taken, like, 700 photos of the exact same thing and I'm just waiting there kind of for no reason. So then I'll decide, okay, I have the photo. And maybe that is the time to go home and spend the time on editing instead of getting the same shot over and over. Switched to the 200 on the premise that I have achieved the kind of dream shot from this shoot. And that has been to compose the foggy mountains of Askja in the background of the reindeer walking along this snowy ridge right in front of us. So I achieved that by compressing the landscape down with the 400 and then trying with the 1.4 and the two times converters, but I had a little bit of issues getting a sharp photo. So I've then been back stepping, going down now to 200 just to cover myself, because I don't wanna leave and then regret not having the shot later. So by having the mountain behind, we can really show the scale of this place, especially with the longer lenses. We've essentially applied kind of a basic rule of thirds principle in that we have like, you know, snow in the foreground, you have your subject kind of in the central part of the image or on the lower third. I like to break the rule a little bit and put my subjects in the center. That kind of stems from using social media and just kind of the balance of an image, how they look when they're next to each other on, say, Instagram where you have them in like a feed layout. So yeah, I've been centralizing, or if there's two reindeer, I've been putting them maybe on each third line or bunching them over to the bottom right third line. And then, of course, having the mountain in the top third and leaving enough sky above. So then, by doing that, I've been running through all of the different focal lengths that I have with me just to make sure that when I get into the edit, I'm not thinking, "Damn, I wish I did something different." May as well just do it now and then leave happy. (ambient music begins)

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Benjamin Hardman

Five years ago, Benjamin embarked on his first photographic mission in an Arctic winter climate. Ever since, Benjamin’s passion for the cold has grown to lead him in search of the North’s most obscure landscapes.

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topics covered in this class

Adventure & Sports Outdoor Post-Processing Aerial & Drone

Ratings and Reviews

Matt Grandbois

Very Informative & Awe Inspiring Both Benjamin and Alex have played huge roles in my photographic style development over the years and it is great to hear first hand exactly what inspires and drives Ben to keep pushing his creative boundaries. Personally, I love his minimalist approach and it was super insightful to watch him explain how he developed that style and how he actively produces photographs in a cohesive manner. 10/10 recommend this workshop to anyone looking for a very unique and profound perspective with the intent of expanding your creative horizons.

Alec Brown

First Workshop The first workshop I have ever purchased. I've always been hesitant to invest in a workshop, however this went above and beyond my expectations. Fluid in progression, great insight and a super relaxed learning curve full of information. I feel this has prepared me to take my own personal photographic journey to the next level. Executed to perfection. Nice work guys! 10/10 recommended.

Janelle Dransfield

Moving to Iceland now...? Loved this workshop! I really liked the way the modules are split up, and the way you watch Benjamin go out on location for a shot, then immediately sit down and watch his editing process for that specific shot. So much editing to learn too, since he doesn't use presets! The workbook is also super thorough, so printing it out allowed me to pay close attention and just add little notes here and there. The Iceland road guide is also SO helpful and in depth. Can't wait to use it. Also loved that Ben talked about printing your own work. Would be cool to maybe see something from Wildist in the future that goes even more into depth on that (calibrating your own printer, working with a print shop, dropship sites, etc.) Awesome course. Thanks, Hardman.

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Photographing the Elusive Reindeer

Photographing the Elusive Reindeer

Lesson Info

16. Photographing the Elusive Reindeer

Lessons

Series Hello & Introducing Benjamin Hardman

Coffee with Alex - Benjamin's Story

Benjamin's Workshop Introduction

High-Resolution Setup

Lightweight Gear Setup

Backpack Breakdown

Aerial Photography

Gear & Clothing

Research & Preparation

Seals of Glacier Lagoon

Editing: Adobe Lightroom Basics

Capturing Glacial Detail

Editing: Macro Detail

Exploring on Foot

Editing: Image Stitching