Director of Photography Services

Here is how this works in practice. We place Directors of Photography who can pre-light a production around Iceland's defining variable: light that swings from steady June daylight to a brief, low midwinter window. Our DPs build shooting schedules around the golden hours that, in summer, stretch for most of the night, and they plan glacier and Highlands days with weather spares because a clear shot at Jökulsárlón can close within the hour.

Here is the short of it. On set, the DP leads the camera department through cold-weather realities — condensation when gear moves between heated cars and sub-zero air, battery drain in wind chill, and ND running for snowfield glare. We pair each DP with assistants familiar with ARRI Alexa, RED and Sony Venice bodies, and set up rental support from the Reykjavík crew base.

Here is the breakdown. For larger shoots we supplement the camera team with operators and trainees from the UK and mainland Europe, all working to the lighting plan the DP sets during the tech scout, so the look holds whether you are on a the capital stage at RVK Studios in Gufunes or on a remote black-sand beach.

Here is what that looks like on the ground. Iceland gives a DP a palette found almost nowhere else: a subarctic island on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where lava fields, glaciers and geothermal steam sit within a single drive. Productions from Nolan's 'Interstellar' at Svínafellsjökull to 'Game of Thrones' beyond-the-Wall sequences around Mývatn chose the country for exactly this. The light itself is the draw and the discipline — the long, raking sun of summer and the soft blue midwinter hours each demand a different lighting way, and a skilled DP plans the day to match.

Here is how the picture comes together. Eligible spend on camera crew and rental can attract the country's production reimbursement, administered by Film in the country, of 25 per cent rising to 35 per cent for qualifying larger projects. This directly affects how a DP scopes gear budgets. Filming in covered areas such as Þingvellir National Park or the Vatnajökull National Park is set up with the Environment Agency of the country. Our DPs plan camera positions that respect the 'leave no trace' principle on terrain where moss and lava recover only over decades.