FLOW OF LIFE

RANNVEIG BJORK GYLFADOTTIR

// Rannveig (Rannsy) is from Iceland, a place of stunning landscapes that have attracted many photographers. These landscapes are also what forms the background to Rannsy´s conceptual and impressionist photography. She shared with us an abstract impressionist series of landscapes produced with intentional camera movement.

Rannsy says, “I’m mostly self-taught in photography, by reading, watching, doing, experimenting and by participating in interesting courses and workshops. My profession is Cancer Nurse specialist’s and then I’m a Mindfulness teacher. I’ve always lived near the seaside in Iceland, so the sea is my big muse along with the lakes, waterfalls and mountains. I discovered soon I wanted to express myself with abstract photography, made most often with Intention Camera Movements (ICM) and impressionist feels. I love different light, colours, forms and patterns.”

“You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the ocean in a drop.”

Rumi

What draws you to the arts?

“I’ve always been drawn to the arts in all forms, but more to watch and enjoy not to make it myself. I decided before starting photographing that I didn’t qualify making art. My “art” has always been taken care of and communicated with people. Many people in my family sing and play instruments very well, but I don’t. I think my interest in mindfulness and meditation practice for the last 15 years have broadened my understanding of myself and life, bringing more compassion and acceptance to myself and others and more sensitivity to nature and its wonders. I’m most often very mindful and go into a flow state when photographing in the nature, feeling calm and filled with joy. My aim is that my works reflect my feelings and evoke some feelings, thoughts and emotions within the viewer.“

What do you like best about this photo project?

“How it came to life by itself. The aim of the project theme wasn’t planned at the start with the oldest photographs in the series. I’m drawn to water flowing in all forms and saw soon a pattern between my photos taken with some time between them. Then the title and content came alive and the series was born.”

Panta rhei (pan-ta ray) in ancient Greek means everything flows and signifies the constant change in everything, from the smallest grain of sand to the vastness of the universe. This doesn’t only apply to physical things, but also to thoughts, emotions, and the human experience. Rannsy´s interpretation of Flow in Life is through a series based on abstract, intentional camera movement (ICM), with pictures of flowing streams of water from the lakes and waterfalls of Iceland. She created all the images in single exposures within the camera, with basic adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Rannsy explains about her project: “I’ve always been curious about the world and how everything in nature and the Universe is connected and correlated, flowing together over space and time, including us humans. We think much too often that we are some privileged elite species and are excluded from the laws of nature, for examples climate changes. All life on the Earth, from plants to animals, is mainly built on moving – flowing water – and is made from the same four basic pairs of DNA (ATCG). Flow applies to many natural cycles; how everything gives birth and dies, how the Earth orbits the sun in one year, the changing annual seasons, the sunrise to sunset, the tides, and so forth. Then we are battling against each other by prejudice, ignorance, violence, and wars, dividing humans into different groups (us and them) instead of showing respect, tolerance, compassion, and making peace. We are hopefully learning the hard way, how bad it is not to take sides with nature, our Earth, the Universe, and ourselves, humankind.”

As Neil deGrasse Tyson puts it: “We are all connected; to each other biologically. To the Earth, chemically. To the rest of the Universe atomically. We are not figuratively, but literally Stardust.”

Click on the photos to see a larger image in original dimensions.