2018: Recap

I can’t really believe another year has passed already.
2018 was a year of so many things. Good and bad.

Late January, Atli and I started our own company, since we both freelance we can keep all the finances in one place, which is pretty handy.
I’m finally feeling like a grown up - haha

February was pretty big for videos.
I directed, lit and edited the first music video for Ingileif.

In February, Dagurinn sem baunirnar kláruðust got into the Stockfish Film Festival.
Guðný and I did an interview on Framinn.is about being young women in filmmaking in Iceland.
Later that month Andvari did a music video for the Icelandic Eurovision Song Contest to the song “Gold Digger”.
We shot, edited, graded and delivered the video in 72 hours so it was kind of hectic to say the least.

In early March I shot and edited a video for Amabadama, “Gróðurhúsið”.
I really love the colours and the dance in this video.
It later got nominated for the Northern Wave Festival.

In March we also had to look for a new home once again.
We found a beautiful home in Reykjavík and moved there in the beginning of May and once again it was just me, Atli and the bunnies again - but more on that later!

In April I shot a short-film for my friend Alda Valentína who was graduating from the Icelandic Film School.

I also did a new collection for Sprey Hárstofa.

May rolls around and we move.
Within the week of moving we fly out to the Cannes Film Festival. It was our first time in France and we loved it!
The festival is so much fun and we met sooooooo many good people!

In June I bought myself a new camera, the Sony A7iii and absolutely fell in love with it!
The first project it was used on was a stop-motion music video for MIMRA.

In June I also shaved my head and started taking selfies again - that sounds so vain but I found it to be a simple creative outlet to have for myself.
I started buying wigs and more makeup and love my me-time. After around mid-November it started to get tough because of a loss in the family as well as projects piling up so I took a break that is still underway as I feel like I am currently working 3 jobs. I’ll get back to it though, refreshed and fully charged.

With the A7iii camera I can also do a lot more then I could when I was shooting the selfies 10 years ago. It’s amazing to have technology help you achieve so much more.

Many might be curious about the bunbuns and they are pretty good!
Lúlli still has the bacteria in her eyes as it’s incurable but manageable with eyedrops and all around care.
Kalli had to undergo anesthesia twice this year because of his teeth. We are trying to enjoy our time with him as you never know with such a small animal like a rabbit if he will wake up after going under.
They love each other so much and are such cuddlebuns!

I did so many portraits in July apart from just my self portraits haha - might as well share some!

At the end of July Jón Atli turned 30! Happy days for my main man!

In August I traveled around parts of Iceland I have never been to before.
I also shot a Viking-Western that will be premiered in January 2019, it’s called “Once upon a Time in the North”.

At the end of August I saw and photographed my first boxing match where my sister was fighting. She won the match and now in December she got the title “Female boxer of the Year 2018” - I couldn’t be more proud of her!

In September Andvari shot a music video for Benny Crespo’s Gang.

Weirdly enough, late September/early October was the busiest time for weddings for me this year.
We flew to Stockholm for the wedding of Katrín and Sveinn, but a couple of days before our flight, I met again with Ingileif and we shot a simplistic music video for her second single. I edited the video, sent it to her and kind of had to run to the airport.

But yeah, weddings.
I LOVE fall weddings! The colours are so amazing!
And if you think they are beautiful in Iceland then you have obviously never been to Stockholm in fall.

I photographed an editorial for the shop Kjólar&Konfekt for their Christmas catalogue this year.

I also had an interview in the newspaper for the West of Iceland, Skessuhorn, where I was asked about filmmaking, photography and everything else.

As I mentioned briefly before there was a huge loss in my family in the end of October.
In the beginning of December there was an event in Crossfit Reykjavík where Einar Hansberg Árnason rowed 500 km to raise awareness for my sister, her kids and suicide prevention. The Crossfit community came together in solidarity and the atmosphere was amazing.
I can’t help but start welling up thinking back on it.
I rowed 5 km and there were people there basically 24/7 rowing with him and when I was there you had to wait as the rowing machines were all busy with people rowing with Einar!
All and all there were 8000 km rowed that weekend, and that is not including Einars machine!

November was kind of numb. I took time off photography for a little while to appreciate the people around me. The ones I love and care about.

Later in November I did a couple of family photoshoots for Christmas and photographed the Light Walk for UN Women.

I wish I could say that December was just chilling but it has been stressful. I had been sleeping 4/5-hours a night, day after day since I was often waking up early, editing, working at Kukl and back to editing when I came home, picking up Jón Atli, eating dinner late, more work, sleep way too late.
I kind of crashed right before Christmas, getting really sick and even losing my voice. I have gotten plenty of sleep and rest now over the holidays so I will be back refreshed and more mindful of my health.
Here is a photo of us from Christmas Eve since I haven’t taken even one photo on my camera.

There is always something and someone I forget when writing this as I don’t plan it ahead as I maybe should. I used to rely on my Facebook timeline to help me remember things but as I use facebook less and less it gets harder to remember it all.
I did shoot a “1 second per day” video where I shoot a video every day and edit it together so it’s 1 second from each day. I haven’t edited it together yet but it will be up in January - no stress, remember?

Anyway, thank you all for an amazing year. I have grown oh so much, and I feel like some things that happened this year happened a couple of years ago.

Time is so messed up sometimes.

Thanks to you all and here’s to an better 2019!
Birta