View Finders

(gentle music) - [Announcer] Sigma is proud to support photographers and filmmakers around the world.

And we believe creativity and sustainability go hand in hand.

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

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Learn more at visitoconee.com.

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(no audio) (uptempo music) - [Announcer] Previously on "View Finders."

- [Chris] Well, Paul, welcome to the Faroes.

I have a feeling this boat's gonna go kind of fast.

Oh my god!

- Donuts!

It's funny how a good scene will make you forget about food.

- They're small, but very sturdy.

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

- This is not something that we can come back to next week.

- No.

Paul, this is quintessential Faroe Islands.

(Paul laughing) - A self-governing territory of Denmark.

- 70% of the land is more than 200 meters above sea level.

- With a population of over 55,000 people and 75,000 sheep.

These are the Faroe Islands.

I'm Paul.

- I'm Chris.

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

(uptempo thrilling music) (uptempo thrilling music continues) (uptempo thrilling music fading) (gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) Driving down these winding roads As smoke fogs up the car windows You're blind - So we were driving, and this is our day of just exploration, and we came across this.

I mean, this is just insane.

You hide behind your smile As she whispers in your ears It'll be all right - One, two, three, four, five, six main falls, and then some other small ones.

You heard what she just said But she don't know That you have never Traveled blind Oh She looked at you again Then grabbed your hand And said, darling, look into my eyes It'll be all right - We have driven to a very northern part of the Faroe Islands, and we're in this tiny, abandoned ghost town called Mula, and I'm just gonna tell you a couple things about it.

One, it was settled prior to 1350.

It was off the electricity grid up until the 1970s.

But, here, this is kind of cool, back in the 1650s, supposedly a sorcerer lived here.

So safe travels blind (gentle music) My lungs are burning My heart's still grieving I can't do this sober Do this sober Do this sober Do this sober So farewell - Paul, this is excellence.

- This is the real deal.

- We walked out from where we parked to this, and I was like, "Ooh, that's so dang good."

It's so dang good.

This is just so dang good.

We've driven to a really isolated town.

It's just tucked back in one of these mountains right on the water.

And this turf-roof church, where's your mind right now, Paul?

- I got a bunch of different things I wanna try here.

- Mm-mm-mm.

- I got some things I wanna stay away from, too, but I do have some stuff I wanna try here.

- This is good.

- Yeah, this is really good.

Chris.

- Yeah?

- This is the one time I would say I'm not very interested in the sky.

I think this image with the church, the grass roof, I think this is strong enough to carry the image and not have to worry about a beautiful sky, or clouds, or anything above.

Black, green, white.

The colors are wonderful.

They go together.

- I totally agree with you.

And I feel like this compulsion to get a great image, 'cause I think there's a print here, like a portfolio shot here.

- What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to keep the stream of water coming down here.

I wanna keep the larger body of water in the shot, too.

And I want those mountains in the background.

I think they all kind of compliment the black and green that we see on the church here.

- You're right, the sky doesn't even matter.

But we're lucky that the sky has a little bit of texture.

Underexposing it is gonna give it a moody feel, and so I'm doing that as well.

But, again, this was so worth the drive.

The town has incredible charm, 'cause it's so remote and it's so small.

But, like, my mind just goes to, what was it like probably hundreds of years ago for them to be sitting in this church while a storm is roaring outside.

It's, like, January.

It's dark out.

I mean, just, that's where my mind goes with these, like, historic structures like this.

I can't do this sober (uptempo music) As you travel blind Just remember to keep in mind On the other side lies paradise But my thoughts are racing My lungs are burning My heart's still grieving I can't do this sober - So we have around 70,000 sheep roaming in the Faroe Islands, and have done so for the past 1,200 years since the first settlement.

We know that it's being heavily grazed in the majority of the islands, and we can see that there are small landslides happening.

So we're standing in the latest Lendisbati area, which is translated to landaid, Lendisbati.

It's a restoration initiative that the Faroe Islands National Museum has started on five years ago, I would say.

And this one here, we set up together with two farmers.

So, yeah, we are walking in one of the only secluded areas that have the possibility to regenerate.

And what I like about this area is that it's quite diverse if you look closely.

And sheep were also trampling wetlands down, and new studies show that they're also actually eating the eggs of wild birds that come to nest in Faroes.

And you can see already now, it was fenced off I think only a year ago or two years ago.

That the difference, you can see it, the grass is taller here compared to on the other side of the fence.

And we had decided to fence it off from sheep to see how nature will mend when sheep have ceased grazing here.

And it's never been done in this capacity before.

And we truly actually don't know what will happen.

(majestic music) (majestic music continues) (majestic music continues) - Well, Paul, when we first got to the Faroes, we saw this out the car window and just kind of made a mental note.

And here we are, we're back.

- I like this bridge, I see a couple of different layers on here though.

First, what I'm looking at is in the foreground you got this little wooden structure here that's, like, got some character to it.

So I would like to have that in there.

Even if I don't do that, I got the rock over here, two rocks over here with some moss on it, that may work as well.

But, of course, you know the bridge is gonna be the subject.

But looking through the bridge, I wanted to see if there was a way to frame up a barn or a house that would be over there.

And I thought I saw a red one, maybe I didn't.

I think there's a black one on the other side there.

But I'm thinking if we could do a little peekaboo move, look through the hole and you see the house or the barn on the other side, I think that might add something to it as well.

So a couple of different things that I'm looking at on this one.

- I just wanna reiterate like, and I've talked about this before, but I think it's a really important thing to talk about, is movement and literally kind of walking the scene, because I think I've strengthened my composition here significantly by moving about 20 feet along the shoreline of this creek.

So I've kind of artificially brightened this so you all can see what I'm talking about.

But I was further down the shoreline of the creek earlier and this was all empty with just creek bed, and it just felt very unbalanced.

And so what I've done is I've moved roughly 20 feet to my left.

And what I did, I've now placed these boulders here that create a nice balance with the bridge there in the distance, and so I think it's strengthened the shot significantly.

I hear the commotion And that's okay 'Cause we're in motion I can feel the sway There's nothing to fear my friend, oh no It's the natural rattle When the ground is shaking And the thunder roars I wouldn't worry It's just a storm I just let my body pulse To the natural rattle - Opened up my new restaurant now this year, the restaurant Paz, in April.

And, yeah, in 16th of June, I believe it was, the Michelin Guide was released, and, yeah, got two star in, yeah, around two months.

- Is that unheard of to get stars that quickly after opening?

- It has happened before.

But, generally, it is like you have to be known by the Michelin Guide before.

I mean, that most likely not have happened if I just out of the blue opened up my own restaurant and had no history with the guide before then.

So the restaurant's only open four days a week, so I try to do only one, like, in the beginning of the week and collect for the whole week.

But sometimes we have to do a second round.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- [Chris] And everything you're collecting you will use in ingredients?

- [Poul] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Most of the things that we collect here, or actually all of it, it's mainly, like, decorative herbs that we use in the restaurant.

So we don't need a whole bunch of it.

- We are fairly isolated.

So if we want to only eat the homegrown food, which is what we would like to do as chefs here in the Faroe Islands, we have a very small amount of products to work with.

But that is a challenge, also, the good thing about it, I think, because it forces us to be creative in ways that we normally wouldn't be.

- This island is called Sandoy, which means Sand Island, and it is particularly good to grow for agriculture.

So, like, most of the vegetables that we use are coming from here.

- My approach to the Faroese cuisines is largely based on a newer interpretation of the old-school dishes that I usually got from my grandmother, from my mother passed down from the ages.

I'm trying to incorporate the old techniques, doing a little bit of a modern twist with a new Nordic mindset.

- [Poul] I started cooking at one of the kind of first restaurants that, you know, attempted to do fine dining here on the Faroe Islands.

And the head chef there, he knew quite a lot about the different herbs and flowers.

And so started there, and then just, you know, gradually built on.

And, you know, talking to people is usually the best way to go about it.

- So the local dishes we use are fermented lamb, fermented fish, we do a lot of experiment with that.

Normally, in the Faroe islands, you either boil it or you put it in the oven to forget about it.

(chuckles) And then, you will have boiled potatoes and some root vegetables.

So there's a lot to be interpreted with introducing some modern techniques for that.

Chefs, we are pleasers deep inside, we like to please people.

We like to create an atmosphere, create an environment, create some food where people can bond and have a good time, which is at the root of all of the things that we do.

I want you now (bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music stops) (bright upbeat music continues) Yeah Yeah, yeah (rainwater dripping) (grass ripping and crunching) (waterfalls whooshing) (gentle acoustic guitar music) (horse whinnies) (gentle acoustic guitar music) (water whooshing) (bright upbeat music) Long drives and summer days First loves and first heartbreaks New years with old friends Hold on, honey, even good things end - Paul, it is cold.

- Very, very cold.

- Cold, like winter cold.

Take your time, don't wish it away Don't you know we're living in the good old days So hold on tight, say what you need to say Don't you know we're living in the good old days Don't you know we're living in the good old days - You got a huge scene here.

Okay, it's really not that complicated, but it does offer you a lot of different compositions you can take.

For one, we got this road that's leading you, as the leading line, right down into the water and showing you that mountain in the back there.

There's just so many different elements going on here.

But the one key thing I'm trying to concentrate on with this shot is, since we got the light, I know we got that big mountain back there and I know we got the leading line leading you down to that mountain, but, to me, the star of the show is that sky.

So all I'm concentrating on right now is making sure I expose properly for that sky, 'cause when I get it in post, I wanna see as many colors as I can pull out of it.

So, in the colors, I see orange, and blue, and yellow.

The dark places that you'll see in the frame, I'll be able to bring those up.

I'm not worried about those.

The only thing I'm worried about right now is that sky, because I think that's what's gonna attract people to the photo along with the mountain, which is our subject out there.

Take your time, don't wish it away Don't you know we're living in the good old days So hold on tight, say what you need to say Don't you know we're living in the good old days - All right, folks, so we're gonna try something a little different.

It's a little cold, it's a little windy, and it's spritz and rain.

But we are staying in downtown Tor-vuh-shan, which is a cool, little village here in the Faroes.

- Say it again.

What's the name of the town?

- Tor-vuh-shan.

- Okay.

- Is that right?

I guess.

(both laughing) I just know it was hard to pronounce.

- Just say things with authority and people believe.

That's my motto.

So we're gonna go out, it's nighttime, we're gonna try to get some shots.

We're just gonna walk around and see what we can get.

And it's kind of fun.

It's a challenge.

You got any thoughts before we head out and do this?

- Something that shows the personality of the city?

That's what I'm looking for.

- Yeah.

That's a good way to look at it.

That's a good way to look at it.

- Yeah, when I do street photography for cities, I mean, it's always something, there's always something in the personality of that city that has to be shown in the shot.

So that's what I'm looking for on this one.

- It's a little different.

It's nighttime.

We're in an urban environment.

But, hey, I mean we're in the Faroe Islands, so let's see how it goes.

So you've been going on some little early-morning walks, so you might already have an idea of a good place.

- Yeah, but something else might pop up.

- Yeah, there's lot.

- It looks different.

There's a lot.

Yeah.

I mean, at nighttime you get to see the lights come on.

And the city does look different.

(soft music) Yeah (soft music) Oh Ha, ooh Ooh, yeah Ooh, yeah Ooh, yeah Ooh, yeah Ooh, yeah Ooh, yeah Ooh (soft music) (soft music fades) - Well, Paul, this is one of those spots where you just come around the curve, and you're like, "Wow."

- Holy cow, right?

"Look at what we just stumbled upon."

- I know.

I mean, I saw it online, you know, I poking around.

But until you're in front of it, you don't really know how enormous the scene is.

But this is really cool.

The conditions are challenging, I would say.

- Yeah, it's not the best, but.

- [Chris] It's gonna be another moody Faroe's shot.

That's okay.

- Still looks like it can be something good though.

- [Chris] I'm thinking with my composition, just walking along the road here, seeing what I'm seeing, I like these grass-roof huts here.

And so I've moved to a spot where I get all of the white windows and I have them all very visible.

I don't have any of them partially obscured.

- Yeah, I think I wanna do the same thing with the huts in the front here, I like that.

But for the little star that I see, which is the, I can't pronounce it, but, you know, the one with the hole in it on the left.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- I think for this shot, I'm gonna take that out and just concentrate on that peaking mountain that's in the middle there.

- Yeah.

- [Paul] The one that almost looks like a ramp.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- With these in the foreground, I think that can do something.

- We got time, you know?

- Yeah.

- We can take our time here.

We're not in any rush.

I think we'll come away with something we really like.

Oh Oh Oh Oh - [Poul] I'm born and raised here.

I grew up here.

I had a very good childhood here.

And, you know, it's the closeness of the community.

- I love the way that we feel connected to nature.

- I love, like, the Faroe Islands is that I can go out in the mountains, I can gather my own food, I can be self-sustainable if I want to.

- It's an amazing place to live.

It's a strange place to live.

But, you know, it's really nice to be close to family.

- Small communities, they often stick very well together, are quite social.

Here, if I meet someone, we stop and say good morning, and talk, yeah.

- For me, I love the freedom and the nature.

Of course, the nature can be rough.

But we always say on the best summer's day we have that one day a year is the reason we choose to live here.

- Everyone enjoys going out into nature and having nature very close to our houses and to our homes.

- What's not to like?

It's beautiful.

Good old days Don't you know we're living in the good old days - What a place.

- An experience, man.

- What a place.

- This was an experience.

- I'm glad the really cold, frigid, windy weather waited until the day we left.

- Yeah, 'cause I don't do well in cold weather.

- I don't either.

- This is not my type of climate.

- And it is cold.

It is cold and the wind is howling, and it feels like January.

And it's not, it's still summertime where we're from.

- But outside of that, the shots we got here, the scenery, I mean-- - [Chris] World-class place.

- [Paul] To me, this place looks like a painting.

Everywhere you turn, it just looks like someone just took a brush with some paint and just made a landscape.

- [Chris] Yes, like a landscape that's hard to even believe is real.

- Yeah.

- [Chris] Like a fantasy-world landscape.

- Yeah.

- This is, I think, a really under-the-radar place for a lot of people, 'cause when I said I was going here, so many were like, "Where is that?"

- Yeah.

- [Chris] But I hope it doesn't get so popular that it loses its charm.

- Yeah.

- [Chris] Because it has a lot of charm.

- [Paul] I mean, it's like we passed through villages that looked like they were out of a, you know, another century.

- Yeah.

- You know?

- Yeah, I mean, the pace of life, and just the setting, and the lack of crowds.

And then, of course, these impossible cliffs and waterfalls.

- Waterfalls.

It looks like the waterfalls are just coming out of the sky.

I mean, the cliffs are so high and there's water dripping right out of them.

- And then, you got these rock formations.

Like, literally behind us right now, just coming straight out of the ocean.

- Yeah.

- It's just, it's a photographer's playground.

- [Paul] I mean, this is a really nice place to be.

- [Chris] They were really friendly, and they fed us so well.

- Oh, yes.

- And I gotta ask, are your shoes dry?

(Paul laughs) Are your shoes dry?

- Yes, they are right now.

- Are they dry?

Okay.

- Yes.

- 'Cause we've had multiple incidents.

Okay, true behind the scenes.

Paul, how many times have you soaked your feet on this trip so far?

- So many times that now I have to walk with both pairs of shoes and extra pairs of socks, and it just happened.

It's not really my fault.

I bought a pair of shoes that did advertise as being waterproof, and I found out the hard way that it wasn't exactly waterproof.

And it's a very good manufacturer, so.

- I'm glad they're dry, 'cause the flight home might be miserable otherwise.

- Oh yeah, it would be.

(both laughing) - Well, speaking of which, let's go someplace warm, but boy, I'm gonna miss this place.

- Yeah, well, we gotta find another view now.

- Let's do it.

- Step up the game.

- Let's do it.

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 a way to get lost Freeze a frame to save forever Adventure worth the cost Bees and dandelion grain dance in sun-soaked fields Wind and gleam together yield (gentle music) - [Announcer] Sigma is proud to support photographers and filmmakers around the world.

And we believe creativity and sustainability go hand in hand.

(gentle music fading) (waterfalls roaring) (waterfalls roaring) (birds chirping) (gentle music) - [Announcer] 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.

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

Learn more at visitoconee.com.

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

(gentle thrilling music)