Iceland review - 2012, Qupperneq 22

20 ICELAND REVIEW
W
hile people gener-
ally embrace the latest
digital technology with
smart phones and insta-
gram being all the rage,
Hörður geirsson looks to
the past, taking pictures on wet plates on a 130-year-
old camera. “In my work at the Akureyri Museum
I’m responsible for some two and a half million pho-
tographs, including pictures taken on wet plates in
1882,” he says. An electrical mechanic by education
and photographer by passion, Hörður has worked as
curator of the Akureyri Museum photography divi-
sion for 27 years. “I’ve been interested in photogra-
phy all my life. My granddad, Hörður Sigurgeirsson,
was a photographer in the Westman Islands, as were
his brothers. He died when I was young but it seems
to run in the family, this photo craze,” Hörður says
when asked whether his grandfather taught him the
ropes.
Six to seven years ago Hörður started seeking
means to take photographs on wet plates him-
self, coming into contact with Will Dunniway in
California, who teaches the technology. “I attended
a course of his in 2010 and he has since helped me
out when I’ve run into difficulties. He’s my men-
tor,” Hörður states. Subsequently, he acquired a wet
plate camera on eBay that was made in the U.S. in
1885. “The owner was very happy about it being put
back into use.” Hörður had a new bellow made for
Old, Older, Ancient
This year the attendees of the medieval festival at the historic marketplace Gásir
outside Akureyri in North Iceland were in for a treat when local photographer
Hörður Geirsson put his 19th-century wet plate technology to the test.
By Eygló Svala arnarSdóttir Photos By Hörður gEirSSon
Hörður, the photographer, is behind the curtain.
Skúli Gautason poses for a picture.