Valdi the wheel cap dealer..

Valdi the wheel cap dealer began selling wheel cap's in his mother's garage 25 years ago in the "countryside" of Reykjavík Heiðmörk, witch is today almost in Reykjavík because of all the neighbourhoods that are surrounding his house. I always wanted to make a little documentary about this strange man who has been selling wheel cap's for so long. When i got his number i had to work up the nerve to call him because i was not sure of how he would take it when i would ask
him to let me photograph him in his home and at his workplace.

I made the call and after a few rings he picked up with a rough but friendly voice saying "Yes, Valdi speaking"... I explained to him why i was calling him and after i had explained what i wanted to do he said "have you ever photographed old and classic cars" and i replied "no i haven't" he was very amazed to hear about that and said that he could set me up with a local club that evolves around old classic cars. We set a date to meet at his place and i was very happy finally getting to do this project.

When i was driving to Valdi's home i was excited and a little worried, because i knew that he was a loner and quite the exentric. Finally i see a sign saying "wheel cap's for sale, contact Valdi" i turn in and see this old rundown place, it looked like the houses they use for the horror movies but it was eary charming. I knocked on the door but nobody awnsered. I walked around the back following a ticket saying to go there. When i came to the back there i saw him smoking his cigar looking to the mountains very relaxed. We sit down i light me a cigarette and we talk about old cars for about 10 minutes then we begin......... it went really well and i photographed him with all his wheel caps, there are probably millions of wheel caps there i have never seen so many wheel cap's. And then i asked if we should go inside and photograph there but he said that his mother did not want that..... so i shot some photos of him outside and inside the garage. Then we said our goodbyes and i promised to return with some photos of old cars for him.
I love to meet people who are different from the norm and life like this without the big city glamour and all the stress in the city, tough i am afraid in a few years time he will be surrounded by new fancy buildings and big roads. I wish Valdi and his mother all the best and hope they can be there in peace for many years to come.




Here are some more photos...