THE GUY BEHIND THE SHOTS!
So… I was born in the westfjords of Iceland… the most remote part of the country… Back in 1977 when kids roamed free around the village without a care in the world. And we basically stayed out from morning until dinner… If we even remembered to go home for dinner… It happened more than I can remember that our grandma came out looking for us to tell us to come and eat.
My childhood was full of adventures.. We made our own world back then.. No computers or phones to distract us… But my childhood was not always a happy one… I lost my father when I was 3 years old and I was bullied a lot by the older boys in the village.
We travelled a lot around Iceland, me and my cousin Addi, with our grandparents. And each summer we went with them to a cabin in the south of Iceland. And it was before a trip like that, when I was 9 years old, when my grandparents gave us our first cameras! It was one of the best gifts that I have ever gotten…It is because of that gift that I took this path many years later.
When I was 16 I decided that I wanted to be a fisherman.. I started out on a longliner in Flateyri, the village we lived in back then, and I actually liked it.. It was very physical and I loved being at “the hatch” when the weather was bad! The hatch is where the line comes into the boat again with the fish and your face and body get smashed by waves! Later I worked on trawlers and then ended up on a small boat for the last 7 years of that carrier.. In 2008 that all changed…
I was riding my snowmobile on a beautiful easter day in 2008.. I went over a frozen lake but turned around when I saw my brother on the other side, on the way back I lost control of the snowmobile and it snatched one of the skiis on a pole on high speed… I ended up flying through the air and landing up on the road, I stopped around 20-25 meters later with a broken collarbone and a messed up shoulder… That took quite a while to get through.. I had a headache for 6 years… could not use my right arm properly and my body is still all crooked… I had to stop working as a fisherman and ended up living in Reykjavik city managing a bar.
About 6 years ago.. I was unhappy, in bad shape, depressed and overworked with almost no salary… That is when I decided to drop everything and go after my passion! I quit my job and decided to go all in… Soon after that I saw that it would be difficult to build a career in Iceland as a photographer and not having a steady job on the side. So I talked to my friend and he hired me on the spot… That friend, Joe, is one of the people who supported me so much when I was starting out!
I had my first kid back in 1997, a beautiful girl called Aníta Ösp. She showed up with a bang 5 weeks before time.. We had to be air transported to the capitol for her birth because she was so many weeks before time, but it all went well thankfully!
Then in 1999 my older boy came with a rush into the world! Hermann Svanur. I had actually taken 2 weeks off the boat to be there when he was born but then things got messed up and I had to go for 2 days… of course he showed up the next morning"!
Then …in 2021 our little boy Brandur Hrafn came into the world… And as his siblings he had to make a point and decided to turn himself the wrong way few days before the birth… So a C section it was!
My life would not be the same without those 3 and I thank the makers everyday that I get to enjoy their company through my journey!
Ok… Lets jump a few years… 2 1/2 years ago I met the love of my life…Marita. The amount of support that I get from her is like no other! And with that support I… The little dude from the westfjords of Iceland…Basicly a nobody… Became a Fujifilm X photographer! An ambassador for a global EPIC camera brand! It was always a dream of mine to be working with an amazing brand… But honestly… I thought it would just be a dream.. But I gave it all and with all the support I got it happened on the 5th of march 2021!
I dont know if people realize it, but when I am saying go after your dreams, make it happen… It is actually something that I did… I knew what my passion in life was and I knew that I wanted exactly that! It was NOT easy and it took soooooo many hours of hard work… But it was SO worth it!!
I hope this story makes sense and you maybe got to know me a little bit better after reading it… If you got this far…Thank you for being here and supporting my journey!
Now…go look at these epic selfies down below!! haha
