Whenever possible, Ursula and I travel to an exciting location once a year to photograph without a particular concept—a kind of carte blanche. Through photography, we perceive our surroundings more intensely. We observe and sometimes take a long time to notice and record changes in the light. I edit the images afterwards without limits. In other words, it's about conveying a mood, not showing what the situation was like on site. Interestingly, I edited some photos almost nothing, while others were heavily edited. Just as with photography, I let my intuition guide me when editing. Anything goes.

The photographers

Even before we met, Ursula loved taking photographs, "albeit without any sense or reason," as she always says. Well, I don't entirely agree with that, because she always thinks very carefully about what she does. She acquired all the technical knowledge herself. On this trip, she took photographs with her own camera equipment for the first time. I'm very proud that some of her pictures made it into the selection of the best photos.

The cameras

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a big fan of Leica cameras. The outstanding quality of Leica lenses and the ease of use make them my first choice for almost all projects. Furthermore, the cameras and lenses are very solidly built, which is particularly advantageous in challenging weather conditions. Ursula shot with the Leica SL2. The camera delivers outstanding images with almost 50 megapixels and a huge dynamic range. I shot with the Leica S3. In my opinion, this medium format camera delivers the most beautiful image files, but it's not very forgiving. You have to work extremely precisely to exploit the full potential of the 63 megapixels. Practically all of my images were shot on a tripod. I also love the slower pace of composing subjects with the S3. When I then heavily edit the data in post-production, you get a grain that is very reminiscent of analog images.

On screen, you can't see any difference between the SL2 and S3 images. However, when you print the images at a larger size—and by that, I mean prints at a size of, say, 150 x 100 cm—you're overwhelmed by the wealth of detail in the S3 images.

When you look at the galleries, you will notice that a few motifs were shot with a drone.

The pictures

Iceland is actually visual overkill. For me, the barren landscape with its ice-blue, olive, and anthracite color schemes, with their infinite nuances and splashes of color, is always overwhelming. Choosing from the realized motifs is sometimes difficult. Perhaps you would favor completely different images than I do. But that's one aspect I love so much about photography: everyone finds their own way of approaching the images. These two galleries are therefore my very personal selection. Some images will definitely find their way into our long-term project "The Power of the Elements."

Iceland in color