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Jérôme Chapuis
@picturesbyjerome
Landscape photographer based in Iceland
I was lucky to be able to do the studies that I wanted and that could fulfill me. In high school, I was in the Plastic Arts section, in a European establishment in Montpellier, France. For nearly 3 years and for 12 hours a week, I could draw, sculpt and immerse myself into the history of Art. We even had a photo studio and a darkroom to develop our images and film. My father gave me his camera and advised me on how to shoot and develop the photos since he himself took photos too and had his own darkroom. These were good times!
Nevertheless, once I obtained a phone with a proper camera, I set shooting with a camera aside for a long time. I didn’t feel a real need for a camera as I was satisfied with the photos I obtained with my phone and I didn’t enjoy importing everything to my computer and then editing them.
"So, for me that was enough. Until I traveled to Iceland."
The first time I set foot in Iceland, in 2015, was one of the most memorable moments of my life. It was a shock. It’s very strange to feel so at home in a place you are visiting for the first time. There is something different in Iceland – another world, on another planet. Or the very same one, but in its original state, uninhabited, with moss, lava, fumaroles, rugged mountains, fjords…
"It was as if life had not yet evolved, away from the hustle and bustle of the modern world."
You feel very small in front of the powerful nature, vulnerable, and at the same time you feel secured and incredibly nourished by the very same forces. It is almost reassuring to be immersed in nature and to say that it has the right of life or death over you. That this right is not given to polluting industries or to city life but that it is returned to the hands of nature where it’s supposed to be.
In Iceland I felt complete. I felt whole. I believe that there are very few places that are welcoming us with such magic that you feel you belong there. I came back twice a year, as if I was testing whether that feeling was going to go away after several visits. But it stayed, and I became convinced that it was always going to be there.
"So one day, in times I was facing adversity, I decided to go. To stay. To settle where I really feel happy and home."
"Leaving is never an easy decision. You leave behind a family and people who care about you."
But when you feel deep within that you are not complete, and that you lack something to be, then you have to change something in your life, or everything. I believe that it is possible to turn your life upside down by choice, and settle in the place you feel you belong if that makes you truly happy, with the greatest respect to what and who you are leaving behind.
Coming here was not an easy decision. But it was what I had to do. I couldn’t keep going back and forth like nothing had happened. I wanted more; I wanted to live here, to feel the ground moving during earthquakes, to smell the sulfur smell near geothermal areas, to feel the extreme cold when it is there, to be afraid of getting lost in nature during storms… To find my place as a human in an environment of extremes.
The living conditions can be harsh but the advantages are so numerous that they allow me to bear them. Often, we meet in the hot baths to chat and none of the expats I meet consider returning – those who I know that did, regret it long after. This country is truly captivating. The inhabitants are bon vivant who take advantage of what life has to offer.
It was only when I moved to Iceland that I bought myself a real camera and decided to go in search of a form of truth. I think I’m trying to shoot what makes me vibrate. I try to capture the essence of these so special lands, the souls of the people I meet. Everything here is super photogenic. Missing a photo in Iceland is difficult. We see a lot of beautiful photos of Iceland on Instagram, but taking a mundane photo is super easy (I know it since I collect them too). Though, I’m trying to find a different point of view. Use another approach. Sometimes it is quite difficult because there are so many shots taken, edited, retouched and published. And as social media networks are overwhelmed by shots of Iceland, it gets more difficult to find virgin places.
"I moved here 2 years ago and last year I was discovering the highlands. It is truly magical."
Even with the gloomy weather the Kerlingarfjolls were magnificent. I’ve never seen it with a blue sky, just covered in mist – What an atmosphere! It’s something incredible, especially since now and for the moment, all the sites are deserted, which the local photographers of Iceland obviously take advantage of.
In the beginning of my story, I said that I didn’t feel like editing my photos and was happy even with the shots my phone could take. For a long time I believed that photography should absolutely reflect the world around us. I did not want to retouch and edit my images. I even thought that I would betray the place and the moment by editing photos. It took me quite a while to come to terms with the very idea of editing a photo – until the end of summer 2020.
Finally, I decided to delve deeper into the whole process of photography, including the post-processing. I worked a lot more on my photos in the framing but also with the intention that I wanted to convey. Today, I try to emphasize moods and textures. I try not to change the colors too much but rather to work on the contrasts. And I try to play with composition and a human being in the frame as that can add a lot to the photo.
"Now, after a few months, I can see a real difference in my feed. But there are still some difficulties that I encounter."
I don’t yet know how to treat blue skies well and I think that’s why I prefer moody atmospheres. But hey, I’m trying to teach myself. Also, I think lately my biggest job has been on framing. I realized that I took a lot of pictures that were not framed and that I suddenly had to crop during the editing sessions. Now, I frame more and that makes the task much easier for me. It helps to reveal what is important in the scene, it guides me through the editing process and where I will focus on: The places where I will add texture, where I will blur, or where I will work the colors in one way or the other.
Now I believe that editing helps to emphasize and achieve the objectives behind the photo, to get across the intention and vision of the photographer. It is very pleasant to be able to change our images to highlight what marked us, what we wondered about and the emotions we felt. It is not easy to convey these emotions just through pictures. Great photographers like @Itsreuben, @Cathsimard or even @andrijonasson get there. But I’m not there yet.
Therefore, I like to clarify my intentions with the words. By writing a caption for the photos, I feel I can make the photos stronger. I would like to be able to detach myself from it, and convey the very same solely through the image, make the photos speak for themselves, and I know this will come. I am still at the beginning of my path and still have a lot of work to do to reveal the beauty of the world. I think as a photographer you are always in the continuous process of finding a style. Nowadays I am particularly inclined toward the textures and atmospheres produced by Benjamin Hardman or Andri Geir Jonasson.
"And I know that with patience and practice, observing my own work and emotions, I will find my own style I can identify with."
Looking at the photos you really like and breaking down the photo into the distinguished facets that make you enjoy the photo that much, can be very helpful to substantiate your opinion and apply it to other photographs too. In my case, there are three photos I am really proud of.
The first one would be Kerlingarfjoll. This photo is very important to me because we were at this place last summer. It is located on the F35 track and is therefore in the Icelandic highlands. It takes almost three hours to get there and once you are there, you are enchanted! An orange valley opens with geothermal smoke escaping out of the fumaroles and hovering over the valley. The place is magical and mystical. Large stairs allow you to go from one ridge to another – It is really grandiose. For this photo, I wanted to capture a friend, Lucas, who was marveling at the scene. His silhouette dressed in black stands out beautifully in front of the mist and the orange. It’s like the one and only man on Mars.
"The scene and natural light made the photo, I didn’t have to do a lot of post production work, which is why I love this photo: naturally impressive."
The second photo is from Fjadrargljufur, again a moody landscape. We were visiting the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, in south east Iceland, and the weather was horrible. We decided to stop in this canyon and we were not disappointed. When you enter, it’s like watching a Peter Jackson movie. At first, I didn’t know what to do with this shot, which was pretty dark. I didn’t see how to showcase the canyon. And then by working on the colors and the luminosity at the bottom of these cliffs, I managed to bring it to life. Moss and plants appeared and it enabled me to illustrate the length of the canyon.
Also, you can clearly see a troll on the cliff on the right, like a character who gives you the right to enter the place. I like this place because it’s located on the Snaefellsnes peninsula which is the starting point of “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, written by Jules Verne. What if this canyon was the only entrance?
Finally, my third photo is Walking On the Glacial Lagoon. This is one of the last photos I took. We went with friends to discover an entirely frozen glacial lagoon. In the middle, there are icebergs and we decided to go have fun in the ice caves. That day it was snowing and therefore the only nuances that appeared came from the blue of the ice and our equipment. I also had to desaturate a lot of the colors which were garish. This photo means a lot to me because there are all the people I love in Iceland, and they are all on the move. I like the fact that we stand out against the white, having a common goal which is to go have fun in the ice caves and have a good time together. The story and the memory, besides the technical aspects of the edit, composition, and location itself, always plays a huge role in whether I really enjoy the final result of a photo.
I want to make people dream, discover again and again the beauty of nature and our world and trigger the desire to protect it, to really get involved and connected with nature and the places we visit.
This is also reflected in the way I travel, I believe. I am not much of a frequent traveler, in the way people usually understand the concept of traveling. What I like most, is going on foot or on horseback and going for a week-long trip. This is why I know France, my home country, pretty well and have seen little of other countries. Going somewhere in a hurry is not for me. I rather travel slow, enjoy every moment, and be present.
I feel landscapes and nature need dedication, time and attention to be tamed, to be understood. Sometimes we are lucky and we are just at the right place at the right time within the very short and stressful timeframe we have planned. But often, it’s about being there, contemplating, coming back again or staying for a while, that you will experience the moment where everything comes together and you take the shot you dreamed of.
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