View Finders

(gentle music) - [Narrator] SIGMA is proud to support photographers and filmmakers around the world, and we believe creativity and sustainability go hand-in-hand.

(gentle music) (water rushing) (birds chirping) (water continues rushing) (pensive music) - [Narrator] MPIX is a proud supporter of View Finders.

From our materials to our American photo labs, we believe your adventures are worth celebrating.

MPIX, print what matters most.

- [Narrator] Support is provided by Visit Oconee, home of View Finders, with historic landmarks, parks, and year-round events.

Learn more at VisitOconee.com.

- [Narrator] Troncalli Subaru is a proud sponsor of View Finders.

(gentle music) (airplane whirring) (country music) Singing Fleetwood Mac Reading Kerouac With an old Kodak on the dashboard Carolina Pines Georgia on my mind Crossing state lines through the Gulf shore Or a gateway to the West Colorado's blessed - Here we are.

- Yeah.

- In the Faroes.

- First time here.

- There's sheep.

There's old buildings.

There's mountains everywhere and tons of water.

- This is what you call quintessential Faroe, right?

- It's quintessential Faroe.

I've only been here for about 30 minutes, but I still think that's probably quintessential.

Got a lot of sheep here.

(sheep bleats) Comprised of 18 main islands.

- A world renowned location for bird watching.

- More than 20 undersea tunnels connect the islands.

- These are the Faroe Islands.

I'm Paul.

- I'm Chris.

- [Both] And we're the View Finders.

(upbeat country music) (upbeat country music continues) (upbeat country music fades) (mellow country music) Put on your sunglasses Yeah we're striking matches To all this madness behind us There's no guarantee We got everything we need Gonna chase the sun Make a little a fun While we're willing and able Got to shoot your shot Give all you got Laying all our cards on the table Got to carp5 the diem Road trip museum Burn up all the gas in town Put your money, money Money in a memory bank - I have a feeling this boat's gonna go kind of fast.

- Yeah.

- Just the warnings we've gotten so far.

- Oh, doughnuts!

- Oh my God.

Oh, we're hauling.

(upbeat country music) Chase this sun Make a little fun While we're willing and able Gotta shoot your shot Give it all you got Laying all our cards on the table (upbeat country music) - It's the second smallest island in the Faroe Islands, and it's the smallest inhabited island in the Faroe Islands.

And half of the year I live here.

The first settlement we know about is where we're standing right now.

It's from around year 800.

They have found some burnt barley from that time that can be used as evidence for that.

And even though people have been living on this island for at least 1200 years, the touch, the human touch that we haven't ruined as much on this island as we have on other islands.

- Well, Paul, welcome to the Faroes.

- [Paul] Yeah, I know, right?

This is a nice welcome.

- Literally!

We get off the airplane and now look at where we are.

Like, this is pretty incredible.

- [Paul] This is like some postcard stuff, man.

- [Chris] This is a very different world.

Does anyone Hear me when I speak - [Chris] We actually have pretty decent light, all things considered.

I like the way the sun's hitting that distant island.

The sun is warm I don't feel a thing - [Chris] What are you seeing, Paul?

Anything jumps to your mind?

- Yep.

Right here.

These rocks.

- Yeah.

- [Paul] Leading right into the grass roof structures.

- Yeah.

- Maybe some lambs in there, but then the big guy right there in the back.

- [Chris] Yeah, this is really cool.

- [Paul] Just need the sun to come out of the clouds right now.

- [Chris] Definitely need to polarize this.

I love those turf roof houses.

- Turf roof houses, that's it.

- [Chris] Turf roof houses.

Maybe someday I will get out I will get what I want (camera clicks) (mellow music) Maybe some day (camera clicks) I will get I will get what I want - The first settlers are believed to be Irish monks.

And after that, the Vikings.

Most of the Faroe's people, they are descendants from the Vikings, so.

- How incredible is this, man?

Like this looks nothing like the United States.

I mean, I'm not even joking.

I could probably spend... I could spend the next two hours just in this area taking pictures, and I would still be coming up with new compositions.

- Yeah.

- Oh, look at this.

Look at the sheep right here.

Look at me.

(imitating sheep bleating) There we go.

- Now we used to wear sheepskin coats back in Brooklyn in the 80s.

(chuckles) Oh, there's a couple.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

- At home, I whisper to cows, but evidently it translates quite well to sheep.

(camera clicks) Maybe some day I will get I will get what I want (camera clicks) (mellow music) - Now the National Museum takes care of the island and the project that they're working on right now with the biologists and everybody, yeah, 80% of the island will be conserved and there will be no access for sheep to come to that area.

The main thing is to see, like, what did the Faroe Islands look like before the sheep came?

Because right now, the sheep are eating everything, but they're also such a huge part of our history.

And yeah, I don't know if it's true, but they say Faroe Islands means the sheep islands, from the old Norse language, so yeah.

- Paul?

I don't know how I feel about myself right now.

I just helped him.

He asked me to help him herd the sheep to their final resting place.

- Somebody's gotta do it.

(laughing) - The sheep are gonna be a meal tomorrow, and I just helped make that happen.

- You're an awful guy, man.

- I felt like I was getting to know the sheep.

I took a lot of pictures of 'em, and now- - You used it.

- I used it?

- You used it.

- I got a good image I liked, and now I think he's somebody's dinner.

- Hopefully, mine.

I'm kinda hungry, man.

(both laughing) - Yeah, I'm a little hungry, too.

Maybe someday I will get I will get what I want - Well, when it's like really big storms, then I stay inside, because when you're alone, it's stupid to do anything outside.

If you get injured or something like that, the helicopter can't come and pick you up.

I'm pretty sure that some of the strongest winds ever measured in Europe are here in the Faroe Islands, and yeah, and the waves are quite huge.

- All right, so you just walked us all the way up here from those turf roof homes.

We are what feels like impossibly high for waves to hit, but you're telling me that waves come over this and wash all the way down the island?

- Yeah.

Yeah, you can see all the rocks and the grass.

They're brought there by waves.

A lot of rocks all over here.

And also the stone fence that you can see made?

If you see it from up high, you can see it's made almost like the tip of a ship to break the waves before they hit that part of the village.

(ambient reflective music) (ambient reflective music continues) (ambient reflective music continues) - [Chris] Well, Paul, this looks like a cool place to stay.

- Oh, yeah.

I see.

- This is cool.

This is really cool.

- It's nice.

Pretty modern and kinda traditional.

- Well, you know, from my understanding, it's pretty old.

- Yes.

- Like, I guess 1800s old, but we're smack dab in like the historic town.

- District, yeah.

- Yeah.

- [Chris] And that's kinda cool.

- [Paul] Right in the middle of everything.

- [Chris] It gives us, like, this walkability factor.

- Yeah.

- Where we can kinda go out, walk around, get some shots.

It's just crazy, 'cause I'm afraid one of us is gonna get our head here.

They say that the big Vikings didn't stay in the Faroes.

They moved on to Iceland.

That's what I've heard several times now, so maybe this was for the smaller Vikings.

- It had to be.

(both laughing) (ambient reflective music) - It's funny how a good scene will make you forget about food.

- Yep.

We should be eating right now 'cause we haven't eaten in 12 hours, but that is super pretty, and we're trying to figure out where to shoot it from so.

- You still got the town there, too, with the light.

- [Chris] Yeah, this is getting better.

That's really good.

- Yeah, this one, I like the best.

- Look at the clouds light.

- [Paul] 'Cause like this leads you right to the- - Yeah, man.

- Thing.

And then you got that in the background.

- [Chris] The clouds are like lighting- - Chris!

- Before our very eyes!

- Thanks again, man.

- Faroes, man.

Like Chris said before, we were supposed to go get something to eat, but honestly, when this is in your blood.

- This is good.

- And you see a scene like this, this is not something that we can come back to next week.

- No.

- So.

- We get it.

We get it while we can get it.

- Worst case scenario, we get out the fishing poles and we got a lot of salmon out there, so.

(camera clicking) (ambient reflective music) (ambient reflective music continues) (ambient reflective music fades) - The origin of the turf roofed houses is quite pragmatic, really.

It stems from not having a lot of building materials in the Faroes.

There's no natural trees here so wood has been an extremely valuable resource, and therefore, most of the traditional houses are timber structures, but they are sort of surrounded by this turf and stone walls, these walls, and then they have turf roofs as well.

And this provides really efficient insulation, the turf, and obviously, it's also locally sourced, so it's also quite sustainable.

(gentle music) - [Chris] Paul, this is quintessential Faroe Islands.

(Paul laughing) I mean, it's good.

It's really good.

- The Q word.

We need to refer to that as the Q word from now on.

- It's the keyword, quintessential.

- In this case, I'll give it to you.

- I think you got it.

- 'Cause you're 100% correct.

- I think it's- - Yeah.

- And we both looked at it and were like, "Oh, that's a shot."

- [Paul] You know what's funny though?

- Yeah.

- I'll tell you what.

As two photographers, we come out, we just look at these spots, and it's funny how so many times we end up at the very same spot.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- We looked at this one building.

- Yeah.

- From the other spot.

- Mm-hmm.

- Then we came over here.

- Yes.

- And it's like we both see the same thing, and it doesn't always happen.

- You're right.

- But it's just funny when it does, you know?

- Well, we saw this.

We liked it on that side, but then we came to this side and we saw the little path and saw the leading line.

And then we also saw the sea down there, and so then it really started to come together.

So there's different compositions here.

- Mm-hmm.

- I mean, this is the type of scene, 'cause I just love this, that we could work this for the next hour, honestly.

- Yeah.

- [Chris] Like, work our way around it, get some detailed stuff, some wider stuff.

- They actually have to be watered sometimes because back in the day they didn't, the houses weren't as warm as they are today, and now they get dry from the inside.

So sometimes we actually do have to water them during the summer months.

But upkeep in general, I would say that the traditional buildings are very, very smart buildings.

They are built on a tradition of carpentry and craftsmanship and the knowledge of the climate, as well.

This is Suna, our carpenter.

- Hi.

Hi, how are you?

Very nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- Extremely talented.

It's not the easier way.

(chuckles) It is because we try to do as little as possible.

- Mm-hmm.

- To preserve.

- Yes.

- So they are traditionally being placed, they were being placed to last.

As opposed to today, we also build on hillsides and mountains to achieve the best views.

You never do that, traditionally.

(pensive gentle music) - So what I did on that first shot is I kinda stood back there and incorporated a little bit of this house with the barn, just to give a different perspective, because to me, the obvious shot that I know both of us want to get is, like, just the barn by itself, the sky in the background, and this leading line kind of leading you up to the barn.

- So now I've got a different composition.

I'm going vertical, and that is to help with the leading line that I've got kind of going up through the frame from the bottom right up to the structure, more on the top left.

I've included some sky, but I think all of this grass and the leading line is definitely a big part of a successful image here.

Anyway, that's my approach to this particular composition here.

(camera clicks) (ethereal music) (camera clicks again) (ethereal music continues) (ethereal music continues) (gentle music) I believe I read that this is the only roundabout in the entire world that's inside the tunnel.

(gentle music) And which way do I go?

Oh, my gosh.

I don't know where to go now.

Because my GPS (laughing) is very confused.

I don't know where to go.

(laughing) Oh, my God, dude.

I'm just gonna have to guess.

- Let's go that way.

- All right.

We're going this way.

Oh living waters Grace this land Oh living waters Grace this land (bright country music) - And that, I think what just happened there illustrates what travel's all about, and it's like representative of getting outside your comfort zone, and being in a new place, and sometimes a completely different culture.

- Yeah.

- And to me, that's the part of the appeal of travel.

- [Paul] Well, yeah, experience something different, taste some new foods, meet some new people sometimes.

- Yeah, listening to their experiences, their viewpoints.

- Yeah, see what their daily life is like.

(gentle country music) - My name is Harriet, and I'm a sheep farmer in the Faroe Islands.

It is interesting.

It's a full-time job, but I love it.

I love the animals and nature, so for me it's... I like it.

For our farm, they are in the mountains in the summer.

They are free to go in the mountains in the winter as well, but I do feed them every day, twice a day during the winter.

So then they do come closer to the house or the barn, but they are free to go anywhere.

We don't lock our sheep in ever.

We have an open barn, but they are free.

They're don't have a GPS or anything, so you have to go out and actively see where they are.

We do keep an eye on them especially in the winter because winters are rougher than summers.

In the summers, the weather is nice and there's enough grass for them to eat.

So in the winter, I count them every day just to make sure that they are all there and accounted for.

And if one is missing, I go looking for them.

- Thank you for inviting us in.

- You're welcome.

- Did I just spot the cake right there?

- That's chocolate cake, yes.

- Oh my gosh.

- And we have coffee and tea as well.

- [Chris] Oh my gosh, Paul.

- For me, photography is, I'm sure it is for you guys, as well, it's telling a story without having to say anything.

It just... The picture says everything.

- [Chris] Yeah.

Yeah.

- [Harriet] And for me, the sheep portraits, of course they were a fun way to learn photography and to picture my sheep.

- Mm-hmm.

- [Harriet] But for me, they were also a way to show that even though you always say don't be a sheep, which means don't be like everyone else.

- Sure.

- Sheep are all different.

They're not all the same.

- What do you all do in the winter?

Like January, February, it is just pitch black most of the day.

Like what are those activities like here?

- We eat a lot of coffee cake.

- Okay.

- You know?

(laughing) - So you're inside a lot?

- Yeah, we're inside a lot.

We play board games sometimes, at night.

Well, we have a saying in the Faroes, there's no such thing as bad weather, it's just bad clothing.

(Paul chuckles) So you still have to be outside.

(laughing) - Yeah?

(gentle music) (sheep bleating) - These are all Faroe resources and.. - [Chris] And did I read somewhere that they're actually endangered?

Or that there's not many of them left?

- Yes.

There are 98 left in the world.

- 98 in the world?

- Yeah.

- Wow!

So we're looking at roughly 4% of the world's Faroe's horse population right now.

- Yeah, yeah.

We only started working with preservation of the breed around five years ago.

They're small, but very sturdy.

They are very strong as well, so a grown Faeroese horse can carry up to around 100 kilos, even though they are very small, but they're very muscular.

We call them horses because they're built like a horse.

They're not built like a pony.

They're stronger.

They're sturdier.

And they're also very calm and very gentle horses.

In the older days, they would just roam the mountains and whenever people needed them, they would just go up the mountain and get one and sit on it and then use it.

So they didn't really train them in the same way that you would today.

(pensive music) (waves crashing) (pensive music) If they're low, then it hits the cliffs and the house will, we will feel the vibrations in the house.

If it's high tide, then they will, like the sea spray will splash on our windows.

- [Paul] Chris, how does this look?

I mean, how powerful does this feel down here?

- [Chris] It's just immense power.

- We've had multiple guests now tell us that waves can hit this cliff that we're standing on here, and they feel it in their structures, like their homes, their barns and stuff like that.

- [Chris] Yes.

- And you just feel the vibration.

It just gives you a sense of how strong mother nature is with this water just hitting this cliff and being able to rock it like that.

- The power of the storms here, the size of these cliffs and knowing that the waves come over the top- - Yes, yes, over.

- But just walking out here and seeing it, I was like there's pictures here.

- Yeah.

- There's pictures here.

To me, this is gonna be a game of composition and shutter speed.

- Right now, it's a little playground.

- It is.

- And just see which toy I'm gonna play on now.

There will be another There will be another one Something new to fall into And it'll be a better one There will be another There will be another one - I found this one spot.

You're kinda shooting down.

You've got a contrast between this dark rock with waves kinda slowly coming over it inland, but then massive waves crashing against the surface, just firing foam into the air, probably 30 to 40 feet, just awe-inspiring spot here in the Faroes.

I'll remember this for a long time.

(waves crashing) There will be another (camera clicks) There will be another one Something new to fall into (camera clicks) And it'll be a better one There will be another There will be another one (camera clicks) Someone you can hold onto And there will be a better one (gentle music) - Well, Chris, I don't know about you, but after a long day of wonderful shoots, nothing beats a very good meal.

- [Chris] Two days in, anything stand out?

- Yeah.

Actually, before coming here, obviously, I checked the internet to see what kind of images were out here to be had.

But when you come to this place, my advice would be look for the unobvious opportunities because I think we ran into some locations today where we did not see them on the internet.

- Mm-hmm.

- And we just drove by, we passed by, we saw them, we thought they looked good, scouted them out, and I think those are the opportunities that I would probably go with more than, I guess, the advertised ones that you see on the internet.

- I absolutely concur with that.

It has been an incredible day of photography, one that I'll remember for a long time, and I get the feeling I might remember this meal for a long time, too.

Cheers, man.

(gentle music) - Good.

Very good.

(gentle music) - That's pretty good There will be another There will be another one - [Paul] Looking back on our time here in the Faroes, it isn't just the sheer scale of the landscape that we love, it's the spirit of the people we've met and the stories etched into these islands.

- [Chris] For photography, this place is a masterclass in light, shadow, and grandeur, offering moments we'll be processing long after the gear is packed away.

- [Paul] But our exploration of this land is far from over.

- [Chris] Still to come, we're heading deeper into the Faeroese way of life, from the unique flavors of their traditional cuisine to the vital conservation work that protects this fragile landscape.

- [Paul] The journey continues next time on View Finders.

(gentle music) Hollows in the woods call out Trails up mountains climb Waves and sand keep beat and time Mossy blankets, swirling streams Over rocks and dirt Run at pace with all the Earth Could we capture nature's wonder Find our way to getting lost Freeze a frame to save (gentle music) - [Narrator] SIGMA is proud to support photographers and filmmakers around the world, and we believe creativity and sustainability go hand-in-hand.

(gentle music) (water gushing) (birds chirping) (water continues gushing) (ambient music) - [Narrator] MPIX is a proud supporter of View Finders.

From our materials to our American photo labs, we believe your adventures are worth celebrating.

MPIX, print what matters most.

- [Narrator] Support is provided by Visit Oconee, home of View Finders, with historic landmarks, parks, and year-round events.

Learn more at VisitOconee.com.

- [Narrator] Troncalli Subaru is a proud sponsor of View Finders.

(gentle music) (bright music)