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Látrabjarg in Iceland's West Fjords
is the westernmost point of Europe. It's
the largest bird-cliff in Iceland, home
to millions of nesting seabirds. There
are kittiwakes, fulmars, razorbills, guillemots
and puffins, that call it home for a few
months every year.
In June 2000, I met Joe Van Os up on
Látrabjarg, where he was leading
a group of photographers for his tour
company, Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris.
He had agreed to meet me there for an
interview, which was published in the
Sunday edition of Morgunblaðið
(daily newspaper). What follows is an
excerpt from our talk.
For how long
have you been offering this kind of tours?
I've been doing this for 20 years
and I presume my company is the biggest
in the world, in this specific kind of
tours. As far as Iceland is concerned
it's just starting. Iceland has been ignored
as a prime destination for a long time
because people don't really know what's
here. It took me a while to find that
out myself by coming a few times and visiting
different locations. And I've been discovering
this place, Látrabjarg, which is
the most impressive puffin-cliff in the
world, there is nothing like it.
Have you been up here before?
Yes, this is the second year that
I'm leading a tour to Iceland. Americans
really don't like to go to places that
don't speak English since we are not multi-lingual.
This is a location that they can come
to that on one hand is a slice of Europe
and on the other very familiar. It's comfortable
and like home and yet European enough
to be interesting plus it's got good wildlife.
We Americans are lucky, as we have a lot
of untouched nature at home, so it's got
to be pretty spectacular for us to want
to travel there and Iceland is as spectacular
as it gets.
What made you decide to include Látrabjarg
in the itinerary?
This is not any condemnation of local
habit but this cliff is not harvested.
They are not netting these puffins and
that is what makes it all the worthwhile
for travelers to come all this distance.
Before coming here the first time I asked;
why would you want to go all the way to
Látrabjarg just to see puffins
when you can fly over to Vestmannaeyjar
(the Westmann islands) or more accessible
places. Actually we did go there but that
was the day after the earthquake (a
6.5 Richter earthquake had just hit the
area) and there were no birds to be
seen. I have been there before and know
how good it can be but it's nothing compared
to this. That man (Joe points at a
man laying at the cliff edge) who
is hanging over there on the edge with
the lens stuffed in that puffin's face,
you could never conceive of that in Vestmannaeyjar.
There is no place like this in the world
for shooting puffins and I've been to
all of them. All these people have been
to the Pribilofs or some other small colony,
and when I told them that there is a place
where you can virtually touch the birds
they didn't believe me until they were
out here themselves. I've personally touched
puffins here so I know it's possible.
People love this kind of experience.
Why do you like the puffins so much?
I have a strong affinity for them
ever since I worked with a program at
the coast of Maine in the eastern US,
where I was helping a group from the National
Audubon Society that was reestablishing
puffin colonies, that were destroyed there
two centuries ago. It was a man named
Steve Kress that was responsible for it.
I worked with his team for a while, and
they have now successfully established
two different puffin colonies off the
coast of Maine. They brought thousands
of chicks down there from Newfoundland
and reared them in artificial burrows.
And a lot of those that didn't come back
to colonize what would then be their natal
colony, wound up in the Pribilof colonies
that were somewhat weak and they boasted
those populations.
It seems that more and more people
are doing wildlife photography these days.
Do you think that it's helping to raise
environmental awareness?
Yes, sure. What people can't see they
don't know? And what you don't know you
don't love, and what you don't love you
don't protect. Wildlife photography and
birdwatching are two activities that have
really picked up in North America and
related travel has opened up quite a bit.
People have been away from nature for
so long that it's a time to come back
to it. And once you discover it for the
first time it's very addicting, you want
to be out there the whole time.
What kinds of people come on your
tours?
It's very mixed. There are people
that have been saving because they always
wanted to go to a certain place, and in
this particular case there are a couple
of them who just love puffins. There are
professionals, meaning doctors, lawyers
and such. Professional photographers come
on these trips as well because we arrange
everything for them and there are pensioners.
And we see ages from about twenty to seventy-five
or so.
 Will
you be coming back?
Yes. Next year (2001) we are
doing nothing but a puffin trip. It will
be just one colony after another and this
will be the favorite one. At this location
we will be spending four days instead
of three, like now. I just don't get tired
of photographing these birds.
You can get information about Joe's tours
at: www.photosafaris.com
Photo captions:
Upper image: Puffins at Látrabjarg,
photographed with a 35 mm focal length.
Lower image: Joe lying on the grass, shooting
puffins with a 28 mm lens.
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