Member’s Forum: (In Person): Faroe Islands―The Other Danish Territory with Wayne Guenther

The Faroes are an archipelago of 18 islands about halfway between Iceland and Norway formed by volcanic eruptions and shaped by multiple ice ages. They were settled by Norsemen in the 800’s. Current residents have eked out a living by fishing, farming, and raising sheep in an environment with lots of rain and wind but with a relatively mild climate thanks to the Gulf Stream. It has one “big” city, Tórshavn (the capital), one airport, and a remarkable infrastructure of roads, tunnels, and ferries making it easy to get around.  It has been an autonomous territory of Denmark since 1814. The population is around 50,000 with half in Tórshavn and the rest scattered around the shoreline in villages. Tourism is on the rise because of the incredible beauty of the sharp ridges, verdant valleys with hundreds of streams, and villages with a mix of very old and new homes.  It’s a landscape photographer’s paradise.

Wayne will discuss how he and Judy planned their trip to the Faroe Islands on their own, a trip easily done over about 5 days with a rental car.

Bio:

Wayne Guenther began his photography avocation in the late 1960s and became increasingly involved with Art Photography in the mid–1990s. Membership in Gallery West and the Art League (both in Alexandria, VA) nudged him to regularly create new work. In 2009 he was a charter member and President of the Workhouse Photography Group (Lorton, VA) and remained active there until 2012 when he fully retired to travel and shoot with wife Judy. In the “Be There; Shoot” philosophy Wayne has subjects associated with wherever he is (e.g. when on African safaris, photograph animals), but his natural style is heavily weighted towards subjects with graphic content; patterns and lines, geometry, reflections, fragments, and abstracts. 

Wayne joined NVPS in 2015 and was Co–VP for Competitions in 2023–2024. He has been accepted in many regional juried art competitions/shows over the past 30 years, including MAPV 2021–2024, and placed in many NVPS monthly competitions.   He shot with Nikon equipment for many years until the aggregate weight of the kit became problematic, leading him to switch to the micro–four–thirds system in 2014. He uses two OM System bodies and two Olympus lenses ( 12–40mm f2.8 and 40–150mm f4). He increasingly uses the iPhone camera as well.