Where should I even begin ?
March, 2020. We as a human race had just heard about this “Corona Virus”. I had prior to this trip, gone on a Tour with Thy Art Is Murder, Fit For An Autopsy, I Am, and more bands, photographing them and seeing the world, like I have done many times with them. In that trip I got sick. No, hear me out, SICK. Worst fever ever, my lungs felt like they were deflated and everyone on the trip had felt something similar a few days prior to me coming there. I had lung problems for months. For sure had the Virus, and my doctor agrees. Well, enough about that. I then went to New York with my wife, still a bit sick but I was about to do a big job in Columbus, Ohio. Where my friend Hafthor “The Mountain” Bjornsson was competing a the Arnolds Strongest man. I was going to film everything at the competition and photograph aswell. Also was going to meet up with my great friend Andy from Norse Fitness and do some business/work.
Well, we take the trip, we get an Uber, check into our hotel, smack in the middle of Manhattan. Me and my wife have 2 little boys and we never have time for ourselves, so we are excited to just love each other, see stuff and rest easy. I sit down at the edge of the bed, excited. When I get a voice message from Andy. It said “Hey! Uuuuuuh, don´t come to USA, Arnold just cancelled the entire show, no spectators and maybe no competition”- I had my phone up to my ear listening and I could see my wife knowing something was off. I call Thor, he says yeah it is cancelled, “Where are you?” Well, I am in fucking New York already……..
The atmosphere on this trip was strange, we are learning about a new existence, new way of life, an invisible virus taking over the world. We are scared, enjoying and not holding back, but respectful of the unknown.
There is a saying in Iceland, “Þetta Reddast” or “It will all work out”, I live by this, maybe even a little bit to much. You won’t ever see me stress about things beyond my control, there is no reason to. Things will always work out. I said to my wife, “We are in New York, alone, let’s go out RIGHT NOW, somewhere, anywhere, I dońt give a fuck, let’s have the best time ever, extend the trip here if needed”
I took a chance in bringing only one camera on this trip (apart from my video work camera), that was the newly released Fuji X100V. A tiny compact travel camera, the fifth version in that line. I had all the versions before. At the time I had about 10 cameras and easily 30-40 lenses. I kept it simple, to get better. So, everything you will see on this blog, is captured by only one camera. The legendary 100V
The iconic bridge I was desperate to photograph, you can see it here above. We picked the best forecast and then waited as long as we possibly could for the sun to set and we got beyond lucky. I am extremely happy with the end results !
After the New York adventure, we go to Columbus, Ohio. Where we meet our friends and family, see our friend Hafthor destroy the Arnold competition. No spectators were allowed, a strange atmosphere surrounded the whole competiton. We saw and met Arnold himself but being so Icelandic, we didn’t ask for selfies. I was pretty angry at him calling the competition off at the time, turns out, he did the right thing and I applaud him for that. This marks the end of the trip.
