Chers amis lecteurs, photographes, voyageurs, c’est avec émotion que je vous annonce la naissance d’un projet que je mûris depuis des années et qui prend forme à présent.

Cela s’appelle INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER, vous en trouverez la genèse ici :

www.international-photographer.com/

Pour l’instant nouveau né, ce projet grandira sous vos yeux.

Vous découvrez ici la typographie et le logo.

Pour nourrir ce projet, une bonne nouvelle n’arrivant jamais seule et toujours dans l’idée de vous faire vivre des aventures, je prépare un voyage en Ecosse au mois de mai, puis un retour en Islande de 4 semaines en juin — juillet 2012.

Oui, pas moins de 4 semaines, tout cela est rendu possible grâce à l’offre de mon sponsor Islandais Geysir qui me fournit un 4x4 gratuitement.

Je vais pouvoir explorer l’Islande que l’on a pas l’habitude de voir, pendant la meilleure période qui soit :  les jours sans fin du mois de juin.

Chers lecteurs,

Il est grand temps que je vous propose un nouveau TIMELAPSE d’exception, tant par son travail iconographique que typographique, (auquel je suis sensible), sans oublier la musique choisie avec soin, et qui approche sans surprise le million de spectateurs en quelques jours.

Tout le monde en parle, dont des médias américains aussi prestigieux que the Washington Post, USA Today, VH1, Newsweek, Gizmodo, io9, Universe Today, France24, The Atlantic…

Le voici :

Ce TIMELAPSE vous est proposé par JOE CAPRA, qui habite Los Angeles.

Je l’ai découvert comme tout le monde sur le web, et réalisais à la 3e lecture — avec une certaine fierté je dois l’avouer — que Joe est un de mes lecteurs !

Il a en effet préparé son voyage photographique en lisant mon ROADTRIP, et en achetant mon eROADBOOK en janvier 2011, 6 mois avant son départ.

Je lui ai envoyé un email de félicitations pour son travail, et en profitais pour avoir un précieux feedback sur mon eROADBOOK, afin de savoir s’il avait été utile à son expédition ?

Voici sa réponse :

“Hello Michael ! Yes I did use your eROADBOOK during my trip and it was a HUGE help ! You did a great job and I am glad I had it with my on my trip and to use for planning the trip. It was my main book to use for planning the trip. The images you included were very helpful, and your photography is amazing! It was good to be able to relate an image with the names of the locations.

The eROADBOOK was exactly the type of information I was looking for to plan and use on my trip! I spent along time though trying to convert it to English because I don’t speak French. I highly recommend your eROADBOOK to any travelers to Iceland.”

Toujours curieux des expériences de chacun, j’en profitais pour lui proposer une petite interview, Joe s’y est prêté de bonne grâce, la voici donc, en exclusivité :

JOE CAPRA / SCIENTIFANTASTIC /
INTERVIEW  

How old are you Joe ?

I am 33 years old.

Where do you live ? 

I was born and raised in Santa Barbara California. I lived there until I left for college at the University of Southern California (USC) which is in Los Angeles California. Since moving to LA for college I have never left. I still currently live in Los Angeles.

How long do you practice photography ?

I have been into photography and film ever since I was young. I had a few simple cameras when I was younger, but I got my first real SLR camera (Canon Rebel XT) in 2005 and that’s when I started getting more serious about photography. Since then I have had many cameras, lenses, and gear. I mainly do photography as a hobby, but hope one day to make it my fulltime job.

What decided you to go in Iceland ? Was it your first trip to the north ?

The main inspiration for my trip to Iceland was watching Michael Reichmann’s (from luminous-landscape.com) video journal on his trip to Iceland. It looked and sounded like the perfect photographic location, especially for landscapes which is what I primarily shoot. I love to be away from people and crowds when I shoot and Iceland seemed to offer me amazing landscapes with hardly any people around.

Also the fact that it would be light out 24 hours a day giving me hours of golden light. Iceland seems like the most ideal location for me and it did not disappoint.

Why going there in june ? Because of the light ? and why alone ?

I went in June (June 17-July 3 2011) because it is a little early for the tourist season, which meant there would be less people and crowds at some of the popular locations. I also went in June because of the midnight sun and the 6 or so hours of golden light that it offered me for photography. I went alone because I was planning on shooting pretty much 24 hours a day, hiking in the middle of the night, sleeping in the car (tiens, ça me rappelle quelque-chose… NDA), and just eating whenever I had free time.

I don’t think anyone I know would want to go on a vacation like that.

I am the type of person who does not want to go on vacation and just walk around cities or just lay on the beach all day long. I like to get out and see and experience the countries I visit. Going alone also allowed me to go where I wanted, when I wanted, and stay at locations as long as I wanted without having to worry about the needs of another person with me. It allowed me to take my time and get the shots that I was able to get. Photography, especially Timelapse Photography is not for everyone and is very demanding both physically and mentally.

Why planning a timelapse instead of still photographs ?

I actually planned on doing still photography, timelapse, and shoot video while I was there, but my main focus was timelapse and still photography. I would shoot still photographs and video in between timelapse shots. I came back with 38,000 images total from Iceland. I wanted to process and get the timelapse video completed before I went through all of my still images from the trip.

So now that the timelapse video is complete I will be focusing on my still images and some of the video I shot while I was there. So stay tuned for some still image galleries and maybe a short full motion video.

I wonder Joe… how do you manage the workflow & the post-production process for a timelapse ?
I mean : Do you adjust colors, contrast etc. for several photos at the same time ? Do you use Lightroom before importing them in After Effect ?

My workflow was a little different for this video because I was using LRTimelapse (lrtimelapse.com). LRTimelapse allows you to adjust raw processing settings over a period of time. I would open the timelapse image sequence in Lightroom and process only a few of the images in the timelapse sequence. For most images I did the usual processing required for raw files such as exposure, contrast, and saturation.

Then I open the image sequence in LRTimelapse and allow it to make the raw adjustments for the rest of the images. When LRTimelapse was finished I would import the image sequence into Adobe After Effects to combine them into a movie file and edit the video. I used the Warp Stabilizer in After Effects to remove any camera shake and movement from the wind. Overall it worked out pretty well, but there are a few things in my workflow I could improve on for the next video. It took me a lot longer then I expected.

How was the weather ?

The weather was both good and bad during my trip. When I first arrived I had perfect weather. It was warm (maybe 60 degrees fahrenheit), the sun was shining bright, and there was not a cloud in the sky. Although this was great weather, it was bad for photography and especially timelapse. Clouds in the sky show movement during a timelapse, and without any clouds or other moving objects the timelapse shots I could do were very limited. You can see a few shots in my video where not much is happening other then the camera moving. As I moved to the West Fjords the weather started getting better photographically. More clouds appeared in the sky and the sunsets and sunrises gave me very good colors in the clouds. The Northern part of the country is where the weather started getting bad, but never really bad.

At first the weather was pretty good in the North, a good mix of sun and clouds. After a day or two it started becoming overcast with clouds covering most of this sky. This was kind of a disappointment as the sunset and sunrise was not that great because of the clouds. I did manage to get some decent shots though during periods where there were breaks in the clouds. The eastern part of the country was very similar to the North. Then as I moved to the South the sun started coming out again and offered a good mix of sun and clouds. At the end of my trip it started to rain and I was not able to shoot much at all during that period.

Overall the weather was very good and offered great shooting conditions. I found the saying “If you don’t like the weather in Iceland then wait 5 minutes” (Ce fameux adage ne se vérifie malheureusement pas toujours ! NDA) to be true because the weather conditions changed so often. Wind was the biggest issue with weather on my trip. There were many locations where it was just too windy to shoot timelapse or stills. The wind is really bad especially for timelapse.

Any special  (good or bad) memories about the trip ?

The entire trip was one amazing memory ! Nothing bad happened luckily. One thing that really stands out is the story behind the vertical shot of the Lupin flower field at the 1:00 minute mark in the video. This was a day that had been cloudy, windy, and a little rainy all day. It was about half way through my trip and I had decided to stay in a hotel. I think I checked into the hotel at around midnight, took a shower, and then started transferring images off my camera and onto external hard drives. It was about 2 am in the morning and I was still transferring files to my hard drive when I decided to look out the window. I pulled the curtains back to look outside and I was completely blown away by what I saw.

Somehow the clouds cleared out a little bit and the most amazing and colorful sunset I have seen was happening right in front of me inside my hotel room. So I grabbed all my gear and jumped into the car to try to find a location to shoot at. I drove maybe 15 minutes down the road and I came upon this amazing field of Lupin flowers on the banks of Lagarflot Lake. So I setup a couple timelapse shots in the Lupid field. This sunset was one of the most amazing I have ever seen, and I had almost missed it by staying in a hotel for the night.

Any idea of your Next trip ?

I have not thought to much about my next trip, but a friend just came back from Patagonia and some of his images were amazing. So I may research Patagonia more. I would also love to go back to Iceland during the winter time.

Thanks again for offering such a great eROADBOOK, it really really helped me out.

Joe.

» La page Vimeo de Joe se trouve ici : http://vimeo.com/30581015

NEW ! Buy THE ICELANDIC eROADBOOK FRENCH and ENGLISH VERSION on this page :

https://international-photographer.com/en/maps-guides/

C’est toujours avec un grand plaisir que je reçois des retours sur mes roadtrips.

C’est grâce à cela que je réalise l’impact de ces aventures sur mes lecteurs dont souvent j’ignore tout.

Ce matin j’ai eu mieux qu’un email…

Un colis arrivé par la poste, contenant une excellente bouteille de Bourgogne !

Dans ce colis il y avait une lettre manuscrite, et j’ai réalisé combien il devenait rare et précieux de lire un texte écrit à la main.

Anne et Sebastien sont des lecteurs fidèles, de mes récits en ligne, mais aussi de l’eROADBOOK (guide de voyage) qu’ils ont acheté avant de partir en Islande.

Ils tenaient à me remercier pour le partage, l’aide… et le plaisir qu’ils ont peut-être eu à parcourir ces pages ?

À mon tour de les remercier infiniment pour ce geste… une bouteille de vin, venu tout droit de leur terroir, je ne pouvais rêver meilleur cadeau !

Je vais suivre leur conseil et la laisser vieillir un peu…

En attendant vous pouvez jeter un oeil à tous ces messages laissés sur mes livres d’or, comme par exemple ici

Un nouveau “projet” sur lequel je travaille depuis des mois va voir le jour, sur qu’il leur aurait été bien utile durant ce voyage.

Stay tuned, je vous en parlerai très bientôt !

Voyage fantastique : mode d’emploi

Ce premier SOUTHWEST eROADBOOKen PDF Haute définition, au format A4, qui contient toutes les informations utiles du voyage. Contrairement au ROADTRIP, le eROADBOOK est imprimable, transportable sur n’importe quelle clé USB, lisible sur Laptop, Iphone, Ipad… Imprimez les pages qui vous intéressent, prenez-le avec vous aux USA !

Plus détaillé que la version online, vous y retrouverez :

- Toutes les cartes jour par jour en HD
+ un lien vers la Google map pour chaque journée

- Le déroulé de chaque journée avec un timing précis du temps passé sur chaque site

- Les adresses des lieux où nous avons dormi

- La liste du matériel photographique utilisé

- La liste des vêtements et équipements de camping utilisés

- Un récapitulatif du budget

- Les statistiques du séjour

Vous pouvez acheter le SOUTHWEST eROADBOOK ici

Vous trouverez l’ICELANDIC eROADBOOK ici

L’Islande est un fantasme. Je le réalise cette année.

Nous allons parcourir 5200 km, en volant, marchant, roulant, flottant, et démarrer de nombreuses collections : des chutes d’eau bien sûr, mais aussi des bateaux, des fleurs, des champignons, des oiseaux, des arbres, des chevaux, des églises, etc. etc.

La météo fut sévère au point que cela surprenne même les islandais : durant ce mois d’août, pas un jour sans pluie ou presque, et 8 premiers jours de tempête. Nous avons payé le prix de la clémence exceptionnelle du mois de juillet.

Mais, si les conditions sont parfois infernales pour le photographe que je suis (ces gouttes de pluie sur la lentille de l’objectif sont un poison sans antidote ! ), il n’en reste pas moins que l’Islande reste un des plus beaux endroits sur la terre. J’espère en témoigner à travers ces images.

Je vous invite à partager ce voyage, et vivre au jour le jour notre cheminement sur les pistes de l’Islande. Avec un premier conseil : couvrez-vous !

Retrouvez l’intégralité du CARNETS DE VOYAGE EN ISLANDE ici 

Jour 1 — Paris > Reykjavik

Jour 2 — Reykjavik > Road f 208 north > Landmannalaugar

Jour 3 — > Landmannalaugar > Road f 208 south > Vík y Myrdal

Jour 4 — Vik y Myrdal > Reynisdrangar > Cape Dyrhólaey > Skógafoss

Jour 5 — Glúfrafoss > Seljalandsfoss > Hvolsvöllur > Sólheimajökull > Vík y Myrdal > Kirkjubæjarklaustur

Jour 6 — Foss á Siðu > Ingólfshöfði > Skaftafell National Park > Kirkjubæjarklaustur

Jour 7 — Road F 206 > Lakagigar > Fagrifoss > Jökulsárlón

Jour 8 — Jökulsárlón > Breidarlon > Höfn

Jour 9 — East fjords : Djúpivogur > Fáskrúðsfjörður > Neskaupstaður

Jour 10 — Neskaupstaður > Egilsstaðir > Gufufoss > Seyðisfjörður > Hallormsstadur

Jour 11 — Litlanesfoss > Hengifoss > Road F 910 > Askja

Jour 12 — Road f 88 > Jökulsárgljúfur National park > Dettifoss > Selfoss > Hafragilsfoss > Hljóðaklettar — Rauðhólar > Asbyrgi

Jour 13 — Húsavík whale watching > Myvatn > Leirhnjukur > Námafjall

Jour 14 — Kröflustöð Krafla Power Station > Viti > Grjótagjá > Hverfjall > Dimmuborgir > Höfði nature reserve > Vindbelgjarfjall

Jour 15 — Goðafoss > Akureyri > Tröllaskagi peninsula > Glaumbær > Blonduos

Jour 16 — Vatnsnes peninsula > Hvítserkur arch > Illugastaðir > Ánastaðarstapi > Road F 35 north > Hveravellir

Jour 17 — Kerlingarfjöll > Road F 35 south > Geysir

Jour 18 — Geysir > Gullfoss > Thingvellir > Eldborg

Jour 19 — Snaefellsnes peninsula South > Hellissandur

Jour 20 — Snaefellness peninsula North > Hellissandur > Kirkjufell > Stykkishólmur > Westfjords > Flókalundur

Jour 21 — Látrabjarg cliffs > Dynjandi > Sandafell > Ísafjörður

Jour 22 — Ísafjörður > Road 1 > Akranes

Jour 23 — Reykjanes peninsula > Reykjavik

Jour 24 — Reykjavik > Paris