Iceland

Any place where more than half of the population believes in fairies, and where they advertise themselves as the land of seals and poets--yet the landscape and people are incredibly reminiscent of the best of the American west--is a place I can't help but love. Great music on the radio didn't hurt my mood either, nor did the excellent coffee.  Outside of Portland, and maybe Seattle, why doesn't the USA have the same wonderfully prepared coffee I always find in Europe?   Sure, most US cities have a great coffee shop, but you have to search for it.  Here, it's everywhere.

The land is gorgeous.  Geysers, snow covered mountains and beaches within sight of each other.......not to mention the delicious thermal spring baths.  Peter Brodin from Nikon Nordic took us straight to Blue Lagoon Wednesday after we got off the plane - the perfect way to relax after a long journey across the Atlantic. The warm water coupled with the chilly air and shocking landscape was refreshing in an uncommon way.

Then yesterday Laura and I took a road trip east to Geysir - a small town about an hour and a half outside Reykjavik that consists of a gas station, a motel and the world's largest geyser. Geysir, the geyser (they are clever with names here)  has not erupted since 2000, but when it does it is twice the size of Old Faithful in Yellowstone. However, a smaller geyser 50 yards away called Strokkur erupts every 8 to 10 minutes and, unlike Yellowstone, Laura and I were the only people there to enjoy it. Watching something like that is like watching the world begin. It's beautiful in a primordial way.

After the sweltering heat, and the intensity of the Kentucky Derby, the chill air and thermal hot springs of Reykjavik have been an extremely pleasant salve.

Just the right tonic to revive me before I head to Baltimore to continue to document the quest for a horse racing triple crown at the Preakness Stakes.

Backstage at Nikon Solutions in Germany

What a wonderful weekend in Germany. Old friends, new friends, lots of toys, terrific food and chance to learn from some impressive teachers.

Yasuo Baba from Nikon Professional Services Germany invited Laura and I to come to Dusseldorf to spend five days doing workshops and giving talks at Nikon Solutions in Essen.

I was excited about having a chance to work with some great folks, and spend time interacting with the 11,000 photographers who would be attending the expo.  Plus with plenty of fine German beer for Laura, I knew it could only be a happy environment.

Before anything else I need to talk about Yasuo for a moment.  This was a mammoth undertaking. I think it has to be the largest event of it's kind in the world.  With his team at Nikon Germany, he put together not only an impressive group of speakers, but also filled a giant hall with a wide range of corporate friends and provided a brilliant environment for everyone to learn and share.     He had time and kind words for everyone.  Gracious and generous while under so much pressure and stress is a lesson we can all learn from.

The last month I've had a chance to work often with my long time friend Joe McNally.  Every time I hear him present it's an education.  He is not only incredibly knowledgeable about photography, he is just flat out fun to listen to.

Laura and I were backstage with Anne Cahill right before Joe's first presentation on Saturday -- he was lighting an elephant and a lingerie model with small flash -- and there was a lighting diagram/sketch Joe had drawn on a piece of cardboard lying on one of the shipping cases.   Some of the group--and I am not naming names here,  but it wasn't me, were discussing selling it on Ebay.

I got the chance to make a new friend this weekend who spends significant time with some of my old friends.  Florian Schulz is a contributor to  National Geographic with a world of talent.  Seeing his work on display and meeting his young family was a joy.   I hope to see more of him down the road soon.

The guys from Profoto Germany knocked themselves out to help us with various lighting solutions.  They  introduced us to their ProDaylight system for our shoot with the body builder and gymnasts.  These are an extremely powerful continuous light source -- they will be very helpful particularly for video solutions.  These lights allowed us to show the audience exactly what the light would look like, why we placed the lights where we did and -- more important -- allowed the photographers in the audience to join and shoot with me.   At one point I was struggling to make a point so I invited some of the crowd to come and sit on the floor with me to see things from my, literal, point of view.  About 150 flooded out of the seats and surrounded me.  This was really fun for all of us.

Photo by Carsten Bockermann

Nikon Solutions was a 2 day festival.  Each of the days, we did three presentations: one on DSLR video, one on a Love of Photography and a live shooting demonstration with multi remote cameras.

I always learn more than I can teach at this type of conference.  I have shot about 150,000 frames now with the Nikon D4 but every day I get new information that helps me make the images I want to make.  Each of the other presenters opened my eyes to useful solutions.

It's time to take the inspiration and information and get back to work.

Tomorrow first thing, we are loading up 20 cases of gear and heading to see another group of old friends at my favorite yearly event, the Kentucky Derby.  The only place to be the first weekend of May, every year.

I Witness

A new exhibit I Witness at the Bernice Steinbaum Gallery in Miami will feature images from Bill Frakes. The show opens March 10 and will run through April 4. The photography exhibit will bring together the works of twenty-five global contemporary photojournalists/artists, exploring conflict, as depicted by the artists, in terms of experiences that are personal, internal, psychosocial, military, cultural or religious.

Imagery Using the D4

The D4 is here. You can see it on the Nikon Web site. The photographers who worked on the launch are posting their imagery.

Corey Rich used the D4 for his film "Why".

Joe McNally has some of his photographs with his always fun commentary on his blog.

Our short documentary, Istanbul and Its Many Faces, shot exclusively with the D4 will available soon. The trailer for the film is available online now.

Nikon will be exhibiting the D4 at the 2012 International CES, Tuesday, January 10 through Friday, January 13 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ken and Esther Bonham

Ken and Esther. Esther and Ken. Last month, we had the privilege of interviewing this incredible couple with an incredible story. You only find people like this once or twice in a career. It is important to savor it when you do. Check out our short film with the Bonham's.

Bassano Fotografia Exhibition

From exciting action moments captured to iconic portraits, Bill's exhibition, Emotional Motion will be featured at Bassano Fotografia 2011 beginning October 13 at Libreria Palazzo Roberti. Learn more on the Manfrotto Web site.

Venice Film Festival Interview

While at the Venice Film Festival for the premier of Imagine More, Bill did an interview with one of the Manfrotto Imagine More Manifesto Twitter contest winners, Frédéric Bernard-Payen.

Bernard-Payen's winning tweet was "imagination is to art what the truffle is to the egg - a catalyst of emotions that put our senses in turmoil without distorting the beauty of the original inspiration."

Check out Bill's interview here and see all the winning tweets and images in Bill's original short film Imagine More now online.

Imagine More Film - Now Online

This summer, Bill and Laura created a short film, "Imagine More," as part of a world-wide campaign for Manfrotto. To help define imagination and what inspires us, thousands of people submitted their photos and tweets to the International Imagine More Contest. The winning images and tweets were voted for online and then given to us for use in the film. Combined with our own original images and video, we created a this film to bring to life the passion and emotion of imagination. The music in the film was exclusively created for the project by Jim Fairchild.

Click here to watch it now. We hope you enjoy it!

Venice Film Festival - Imagine More Premier

This summer, people from all over the world submitted photos and tweets conveying their opinions on imagination for the Manfrotto Imagine More Manifesto. With the winning images and tweets in hand, Bill and Laura created a short film about the meaning of Imagine More.

We are so excited that the film will premier tonight  at the 68th Venice Film Festival.

To learn more, about the project visit http://www.manfrottoimaginemore.com/en/. The full video will also be available to watch soon online, so check back for details.

Bill visits The Grid on Kelby TV

This week Bill joined our friends at Kelby TV as a guest on The Grid, a live talk-show about photography, Photoshop and other industry-related topics. For Episode 19, Bill discusses with Matt and RC "What's on Your Wall?" Watch Episode 19 now on Kelby TV.