On Assignment for Outdoor Life Network
Kent Lárus Björnsson
March 8th, 2003
Reykjavik, Iceland
A simple question/request from Logberg; can you do this photo shoot? I did not ask Logberg where or how they were contacted. Actually I didn’t really believe it at first, I thought there must be a mistake. What does a big TV Network want me to take still photos of? After numerous emails back and forth I realized what they wanted and that they did not have much time to make too many inquiries. As my friend Vilmundur and I were both asked I thought it only right that we do the assignment together. We decided that I would do the digital and colour photography and he would be the artist and take black and white photos. We told them we would do the job and we were told where and when to be on location. We were told to be at the Viking Village, “Fjörukráin” in Hafnarfjörður on Saturday, March 8th at 4pm. I knew the place well but was still kind of eager so I arrived early. Villy was also quite early. We had coffee and were there when the TV crew and producers arrived. We met our contacts and explained what we were supposed to do and they also gave us their ideas and feedback.
I must admit that I had not been following the series at all. Global Extremes, the name did appeal to me though. They were ending their visit in Iceland and moving onto Mt. Everest. They had been on some adventures throughout Iceland. I understand they had been in the highlands and up on some glaciers. They made it into the newspapers here but unfortunately it was not good news. I guess the contestants were competing with some Icelanders on cross-country skis and the Icelanders really beat them. They were even beaten by some senior citizens in the west fjords.
Back to the photo shoot, everything was running a little late but it was decided to do some filming outside, as the weather was great. We packed everything up and headed to the cliffs overlooking Hafnarfjörður. They liked the story about the elves and trolls in the area. I jumped into Villy´s 4x4 with him and we even had some passengers, the director and a vice president of OLN ride with us. We had to show them how to get there and space was limited in the other vehicles. I must mention that Villy and I are both on pretty old vehicles nothing in comparison to the new Toyota 4Runners that the others rode in. Up on the hill, the view over Hafnarfjörður was fabulous and despite being a little chilly the location was perfect. After a few group shots they did some individual interviews with the contestants. We then headed back to the restaurant. It seemed to take forever for the film crew to get set up. The contestants were then called in and positioned around a traditional Viking feast. They were treated to Hangikjot (smoked lamb), hard fish and many other traditional Icelandic delicacies. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the hardfish.
It was truly exciting to see the events surrounding the filming and creation of a TV show. Before the filming started we were able to take photos.
It was actually thanks to Villy who took it upon himself to go to the kitchen and get a special Icelandic delicacy “súr hrútspungur” (sour/pickled rams´ testicles). He brought a dish full up from the kitchen and gave it to the director. He explained the dish and it was used as the opener for the taping. The shows host explained a little what he was making people eat and of course there was another TV series “Fear Factor” was mentioned. Villy was a little disappointed that they did not mention the fact that eating the hrútspungur was also to increase your sex drive but I think that just the fact that he had a little part in the show was enough. We could photograph will they were filming and we could just sit back and watch the action. There were 3 people that were eliminated from the competition and we took the final 5 out for a few photos with the Toyota SUV. It would have been great if we had time to take a few more photos but as everything was running pretty late we were happy to get the photos we did. Afterwards there was a celebration of sorts, various Icelanders that had helped with OLN´s stay here and others were invited for some beers and snacks. We were finished with our assignment so we bowed out gracefully and headed home. We spent quite a bit of Sunday going through the photos and we emailed a few photos to the Network right away. We also did a photo disc and sent it on Monday with Fed Ex so they had the photos in New York by noon on Tuesday. I think they are pleased with the photos and I am not sure where they will be using them but I will keep my eye on their web site.
Thank you Logberg for thinking of us and keep up the good work. We are always open for more referrals.