Myself and two other photographers (Graeme and Pat) were heading to Iceland.
We were going to visit key locations along the South coast which would mean revisiting some but not all of the locations I visited last year on a photography workshop.
Following last year’s trip and doing a few days with Kathryn straight after as tourists, I did not expect to ever return.
But with a strong sales pitch, and the lure of travelling with likeminded friends with the flexibility of choosing our own destinations and timings, plus potentially capturing different images, I was interested.
I had to sacrifice some days off at Christmas to preserve what was left of my annual leave to use for this trip.
This is a long blog post so buckle in and suck it up buttercup…
Travel and Itinerary
We were to fly from Luton to Keflavik at 06:00 on Sunday morning and return the following Friday evening.
We hired a car – as it turned out, a Toyota RAV4 which was about right for three of us with suitcases, camera gear and tripods. There was an additional benefit to me as I am familiar with the controls on Toyota cars.
On arrival at Keflavik and retrieving our cases from baggage reclaim, I saw that my case had been tossed about as there was a huge crack on one corner, which meant it would not stand upright.
Pat suggested that the dent should pop out and some duct tape would be a good idea before we were back here at the end of the week for our flight home.
This advice was spot on so all was ok, and Icelanders would not have to witness my pants blowing around the gorgeous landscape! Pants would feature again very soon… (not a sentence I thought I would be writing)!
Target Locations
Target locations were Brúarfoss waterfall (new for all of us, Pat’s suggestion), Vik Beach (and possibly the church), Dryhólaey, Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon and Diamond Beach, Vestrahorn and Eystrahorn. If time allowed, a waterfall, glacier, or Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon.
In this single blog, I’ll write about what I was looking to achieve and whether or not I bagged what I wanted.
Hopes and Expectations
I was looking forward to visiting a new location as well as familiar ones, and my main aim was to try and get something different, a theme which I’ve been trying to achieve back home too.
I was hoping the snow would stay away as I really wanted to see the black sand and golden grasses, particularly at Vestrahorn.
Day 1 (Sunday) – Brúarfoss and Vik Beach
About Brúarfoss
Brúarfoss means “Bridge Falls” and the name comes from a natural stone bridge that once stood over it, making it possible to cross the river. This stone bridge is now long gone and today you’ll find a footbridge by the falls. The bridge also works as a viewing platform as it gives you the perfect angle for your epic photos of Brúarfoss.
The water at Brúarfoss is famously blue due to glacial meltwater from the nearby Langjökull glacier. This water carries fine suspended volcanic, or “glacial silt,” which absorbs other light colors and reflects a vivid, turquoise-blue light.
The Shoot
This was a new location for all of us.
When planning this trip, we had talked about visiting this location at the end of our trip on the way back to Keflavík but we decided (weather permitting) we would visit it on our first day, on our way to Vik.
We left Keflavik and would need to need to venture North then East. Despite having a windshield mounted satnav, we discovered it had taken slightly off track and we were too far North.
We decided to use both the windshield satnav and the in-car satnav to cross check directions. We had a couple of other occasions on this trip where the satnav on both systems had gone a bit doolally so where required, we would reach for Google maps on our mobiles.
It was snowing and the roads were a bit of a challenge to start with – see photo below.
We initially drove past the turn off but double-backed and did a mile or so down a dirt track laden with potholes.
Our first car park and our first experience of the ‘Parka’ app which is what you use to pay for car parking in Iceland.
I have to say the mobile and data signal in Iceland is really good, and puts to shame some black spots at home. 👍🏻
We got our gear ready and walked the short distance to a bridge where you can hear the water running before you get to it.
The bridge was packed with tourists but we got a spot and my first shot is below showing the whole scene from the view point of the other end of the wooden bridge.
A close-up of the waterfalls at the centre was in order, and although it seems crazy to convert to mono, I think it works well. But it feels wrong to take away the viewers eye from the stunning aqua colour tones in the water.
Moving back to the first part of the wooden bridge, I shot down towards the whirlpool which was really addictive to just stand and watch.
My first post from this trip at the end of the week was a close-up of the water and rocks from a shot like the one above.
We did lots of shots of these falls and it was a fantastic location – thanks Pat for suggesting it 👏🏻
We got back to the car and made our way South towards Vik, stopping en route at a garage and shop were I was able to buy some duct tape for my suitcase.
We checked into Hotel Vik and made our way back out to the nearby beach for sunset.
We drove up the road from the hotel and what a difference to last year where thick snow meant we parked a short walk away. This time we drove into the car park and right up close to the path to the beach.
I decided I wanted an ultra-wide angle scene and we were being treated to lovely sunset sky colours.
A trip to Vik beach can’t be had without being mesmerised by the spray emitting from the succession of waves.
I took a lot of shots of the waves and haven’t really spent any time looking at them all in great detail. I put this down to having a lot of decent images and last years most satisfying capture.
The light was now fading so I bagged another super-wide image and quite like a monochrome of it.
I quite like the shape of the water in the above photo.
Day one of our trip had come to a close so it was back to the Vik Hotel for supper, and to discuss our day and plans for tomorrow.
Pantgate
Graeme made the mistake of owning up to forgetting his pants when packing, which immediately led to Pat and I trying to make comical pants references whenever we could.
Of course, we both generously offered some pants from our own collection. They were laundered and clean but there’s something very unappealing about wearing another bloke’s pants. I guess wearing the same pair for a week, turning them inside and out over and over or just not wearing any oddly seems more appealing!
Disaster was averted next day as Graeme did find his pants, safely vacuum-packed in the depths of his suitcase. One can only imagine his private relief at finding those precious undergarments.
Day 2 (Monday) – Sunrise at Dyrhólaey and Sunset at Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon
We were on our way to Dyrhólaey for sunrise and I was looking forward to returning to this location.
We parked up, paid up, and made our way down the short path to the main viewing points on the clifftop where we observed a whole row of photographers lined up with their tripods.
Thankfully, there was room for more, so we set up and could already see from the early signs in the sky that this was going to be a good sunrise.
To start, I decided to photograph the whole scene, although I’ve come to dislike that huge stack on the beach, because it’s in the way. What an ungrateful bastard I am!
Disliking the stack is a bit daft as it’s wonderful of course and a feature I could spend a bit of time on. But for this shot, it’s a major distraction.
I then grabbed some scenes of the stack as the sunrise colours were popping bright orange and the sun was clearly rising behind the cliffs.
Below is one of two favourite captures, and for this first one I really like the wave as a leading line.
When you get golden hour colours like this, you can’t help getting excited and firing off shots.
My next favourite doesn’t have a leading line, but what it’s got going for it is mood with the sun just peeking round the cliffs, the misty aura of the spray from the waves. And a bird flying just over the top of the water is something most pleasing too.
It would’ve been even better if the bird could’ve been a little higher – how dare it fly with freedom and no care!
The sun had risen up higher now and was going to be almost impossible to capture without awkward filter placements (I try really hard to minimise my use of filters).
Despite us observing many photographers staying put, we moved on.
Many photographers like capturing images with bright sun or softer artistic scenes, or maybe don’t fuss about blown out highlights as we are obsessed by.
Pat wanted to look further along the cliff from a different vantage point. I had done that last year so joined Graeme the other side to spend more time at different scenes.
I grabbed this shot deliberately keeping some foreground in the image.
I photographed a few scenes keeping in mind my ‘something different’ objective.
It was time to launch the drone…
Following an image review evening with Justin after last year’ workshop attendees, and with the opportunity of another visit, I had an objective to grab a similar scene from out at sea, but this time trying not to cut off the circular edge to a water channel on the right hand side.
And here is the one this time round…
I think I’ve achieved not cutting of the edge, although a little wider still would’ve been ideal, which means I needed to have done a pano.
What is enjoyable is observing the difference to the scene of complete snow coverage to only snow on the mountains.
I had one more image from the drone which is something special, only marred by a blown highlight in the sky, despite my capturing a three-image bracket.
I really like this composition and I hadn’t spotted initially the reflections of the snowy clifftop in the water on the beach.
Had I spotted this while flying, I would’ve taken some more images and turned the drone left to try and capture more. I’m going to have to back again aren’t I? 🤔
After landing the drone, we called a wrap as we were all very keen to get back for breakfast, where I absolutely stuffed myself with food and coffee / fruit juice.
We checked out of the Vik Hotel and were on our way to Fosshotel. We thought with full bellies we may as well drive past the hotel and call in at Diamond Beach.
As the middle day light was harsh, we went for an explore leaving our gear behind. As you’d expect, the beach was packed with tourists, some of which were enjoying climbing on the ice rocks – how dare they enjoy themselves! 😡
We wandered under the bridge and up to Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon and continued to grab a few shots with our phones, including a group selfie.
The difference with our selfie shots is there’s no climbing over things, being stupid. We’re proud grumpy old men with decorum, at least that’s what I’m claiming!
We decided we would check-in at the hotel, get a snack and come back to the lagoon for sunset.
We made our way back to the car and drove to the hotel where we ended up in the bistro for what was effectively a bar snack, but what a snack. Described an an open sandwich, it was a massive lump of bread with cheese, bacon, and other stuff with a very generous portion of fries.
That snack would mean we could return to the lagoon for sunset and skip evening meal.
We agreed a time to meet in the hotel reception and off we went back to the lagoon.
We wandered up to the top of the first small ridge to find the muddy path roped off. This was disappointing as we wanted to walk further up alongside the lagoon expecting to see more significant ice structures.
The disappointment of the closed path was offset by some promising early sunset colours.
I wasn’t feeling this vantage point was working for me so I wandered halfway down the slope we’d walked up thinking I could get a shot from there, but it wasn’t working so I went back up the slope where Pat and Graeme were in their groove.
I looked behind us and spotted what could be a decent shot with pylons along the side of the road.
I tried some shots of the lagoon looking right.
The ice structure in this scene reminds me of the spaceship in Space 1999.
I really wanted to grab a shot with the broken ice slabs in the lagoon, and with the sky now turning a vivid pink colour, time was of the essence.
I made my way down the slope to the shoreline and set up for a scene across the lagoon. I fixated somewhat on a single ice rock floating in the water, and tried various short and long exposures, with the two images below my best.
As the light faded, we made our way back to the car and drove back to the hotel.
Day 3 (Tuesday) – Diamond beach sunrise and Vestrahorn
Diamond Beach Sunrise
We were heading back to Diamond Beach for sunrise such that we could do our shoot and then head back for breakfast at Fosshotel before checking out.
There were a few people already there when we got there, and we made our way to the beach quite quickly.
I was shocked as there were very few ice rocks compared to my visit last year. In my naivety, I hadn’t considered that the volume of ice rocks present was entirely due to nature, to how much ice had broken away and to what extent the tide could determine what we see.
More and more people were arriving so I decided to walk along the beach East and I did try and position a medium size ice rock myself to get a shot I wanted. It wasn’t epic, and deserved not to be with me trying to force a good shot.
I was feeling a little flat and lacking inspiration so decided (under my current aim of trying different things, getting different shots) to wander.
I walked away from the beach towards the road and starting taking images with the pylons. I shot a few different angles and some ICM shots.
After a while, I grabbed the shot shown below which I really like.
This pause from trying too hard to get something on the beach had helped me a lot, and I returned to the beach with a refreshed outlook.
I had a good look around and grabbed the shot below which to me the ice rocks looked like a seal.
I had noticed earlier patches of the black sand with patterns potentially making leading lines or interesting shapes.
I was in gear now and motoring – the next shot I’ve converted to mono as I think it looks more dramatic.
I noticed my next ice rock scene presented me with streaks on the sand each time an inbound wave receded? Again, a mono version is really striking.
Below are a selection of other shots, or the colour/mono versions.
My favourite ice rocks shot is below.
The beach was packed at this point, and our time window to get breakfast was shortening so we called it a wrap, and headed back to the hotel for a good breakfast feed.
We packed up, checked out, and were on our way to Hofn.
I was really enjoying taking in the landscape on this trip because last year, everywhere was covered in snow.
It was interesting to see the different shades of golden brown grasses, the barren landscape and roads.
We reached Hofn, topped the car up with fuel and checked in to our hotel.
We drove out to check out Vestrahorn for a reccé as we had an opportunity to visit it today and tomorrow… or so we thought…
Vestrahorn afternoon visit
We arrived at the Vestrahorn café, famous for its hot chocolate – this is also where you purchase your ticket to get though the barrier for the road up to Vestrahorn itself.
A snack and drink were consumed, and then we decided to purchase two tickets, one for today, and one for tomorrow.
Once through the barrier, we drove up to the car park – this seemed different to last year and it appears that they’ve made a larger car park further away from the dunes area. This is good because I would imagine some folks park their vehicles too close or on the dunes and damage the area.
Unfortunately for us it was raining so we sat in the car and pondered what to do.
Graeme and I wanted to abandon this visit and head back to the hotel for a rest whereas Pat seemed determined to wait it out and see if the weather improved.
What we know now (but didn’t then) was that if Pat had not pushed for us to stay put, we would not have got another chance to photograph here! (More later).
The rain eased off and we got protective layers on, our gear ready, and off we went to explore.
We walked over to the rocky ledge for the customary shot across the beach.
I grabbed a few shots from the clifftop and decided to go straight to the dunes.
I had been really hoping for, and looking forward to no snow, or less snow than last year so I could experience the black sand and grasses of Vestrahorn and this visit did not disappoint.
I took quite a few shots, and originally felt I had failed to get anything decent because I didn’t shoot downwards from the top of the dunes, but this turned out to be a worry about nothing.
I also decided to take an zoomed image of the Vestrahorn mountain top and am very pleased with the mono conversion.
I decided to shoot a panoramic – if you’re reading Steve, Yes, a panoramic mate! 🤪
It was time to launch the drone and I wanted to do something different so I tried a wide panoramic.
I’m really pleased with this capture and there’s a print of this image on the wall at home which looks awesome framed up.
I’m actually in the shot although you’d never know – see below.
We packed up and headed back to the car.
On checking in at the hotel, we spotted a special pizza deal and happy hour for drinks and we were there like a greyhound out of the traps.
I had a black crust pepperoni pizza with two pints of Gull beer so as happy as a pig in sh*t!
Day 4 (Wednesday) – Eystrahorn Sunrise and Vestrahorn
We met super early in the hotel lobby to make our way to Eystrahorn for sunrise, with the same strategy to get out and do sunrise then get back for breakfast.
We were aware that the weather forecast for later in the day and the remainder of the week was not looking favourable, with wind gusts and rain, but that was something to talk about later.
Eystrahorn sunrise
There were quite a lot of single file bridges en route as well as a lit tunnel for a small part of it. Last year, it was dark, full of snow and I was probably too busy chatting to fellow workshoppers on the bus to notice anything as we were travelling.
We arrived, parked up and got our gear ready.
We observed a stunning partial reflection on part of the mountain in the water beside the roadway we had just been on. Within a few moments, the reflection was interrupted by a slight breeze.
Pat went to one of the hills to shoot the mountains which I think if you haven’t been before is the obvious go to choice.
Graeme and I went looking for the grasses and water that I had observed from a shot he had grabbed on one of his previous visits.
It took a while for us to find it, but we did, and it looked really good.
I moved to the left slightly as I spotted a more grasses (and less water) composition and I liked the way they the grasses create a leading line.
It was time to move and look for something else, something different – have I mentioned this theme before? I feel it’s going to last…
Graeme was moving around and would then move to the Eastern edge of the rocks do some drone photography.
I wandered around back towards the mountains and noticed one other photographer (other than the three of us) walking in the opposite direction, who appeared to have left the lower area from the rocks and shoreline.
I thought this would be worth a look, and I had my wellies on. I needed to be careful and take my time as there were plenty of slip and trip hazards as I climbed down.
I spotted a ridge of rocks that looked flat enough for a tripod, made my way over there and set up.
I was excited because this would be swooshery Iceland-style and definitely ticking the something different box.
I did quite a few shots here, with different elements of foreground rock and varying shutter speeds to get my preferred level of swoosh and detail from the inbound sea.
With the morning light developing and plenty of shots in the bag, I decided to make my way off the rocks and catch up with the chaps to see what was (in Norfolk slang) ‘gorn on’.
My belly was also now thinking of that breakfast back at the hotel as we would need to leave soon to feast on the food.
As I walked onto another set of rocks with a flat level, I unearthed a rock pool with a partial reflection of the mountains.
I could not believe my luck and was starting to unnecessarily panic at the scene in front of me, and the urge to capture it as a photograph ASAP.
It was a challenging scene because:
- The light was challenging – bright sky, snow on mountain tops but darker lower sections would mean using filters which I try very hard not to use
- The scene would likely mean I’d have some post-production highlight reducing or shadow lifting to work on
- I had to use filters (both GND for sky, and a polariser for the reflection) – I figured a bracketed shot would be awkward due to the occasional breeze moving the water and further diminishing the reflection
- I wanted to ensure any leading elements were as equal as possible left and right bottom corners
- The scene needed to be ultra-wide to get everything in
- An occasional breeze meant the reflection was either really good or not that great
I took a few shots with different settings as I really wanted this shot as a keeper, as I felt this would be the one… my best shot of the trip.
An odd quirk with the image (which I didn’t notice until later) was that in the foreground, it looks like a dog with its tongue out. You may not see it, as several people I’ve asked cannot see what I see!
I packed up and walked up to the grassy area where I thought I may get my drone up.
I could see Pat waving at me which I thought was a signal we were getting ready to leave so I abandoned that and took one more shot of the mountains handheld, but an ICM.
I quite like this shot, to me it looks like brush strokes, and is the one and only ICM shot I took at this location.
We packed our stuff into the car and drove back for a hearty breakfast.
While we had breakfast, we reviewed the weather forecast as we had heard that bad weather was coming in later today and over the next few days, mostly high winds.
We decided to meet in the hotel lounge area at lunchtime to discuss it in more detail, effectively a risk assessment of the conditions and what it would mean for our remaining time in Iceland.
We had this (Wednesday) afternoon planned for Vestrahorn, all of Thursday albeit with the need to travel back to Vik, the Friday up until our evening flight out.
Changing plans
We met in the lounge and pooled our knowledge and research we had gathered, which included any information family or friends had sent back.
In summary, we were going to see high winds arriving by evening such that roads could be closed next day. This was confirmed by the hotel reception staff who also told us that the road between Hofn and Vik is the first one that gets closed due to how open and exposed to the elements it is.
We reluctantly decided that we should check out a day early and make our way to Vik. Graeme phoned the hotel to see if we could switch our booking and fortunately we were able to do that. He also booked us a night at Hotel Keflavik so our earlier return nearer to the airport was now complete.
We packed up, checked out and got on the road – we were unable to get a refund for that night, but the hotel staff did agree that moving westwards and reducing the risk of getting stuck was the best decision.
What this meant was that we had lost our day at Vestrahorn which was a big blow, however, Pat’s insistence we stay the previous afternoon was a masterstroke because if we hadn’t of stayed, we would missed this epic location altogether.
While we had been talking about the here and now, we were also discussing our scheduled flight back on Friday, which was now looking at risk of not flying.
Our research knew no bounds as we debated different options, looked up what wind speeds result in flights being cancelled, even the direction of winds and how that may affect an aircraft’s ability to fly!
It seemed a reasonable likelihood that the flight might be cancelled and we knew that if that were the case, it might be that we can’t depart until Tuesday.
We debated booking an alternate flight on Sunday to have certainty, but that would involve additional costs for flights and hotel.
In the end, we decided to stay with the plans as-is, and hope that our flight would proceed as scheduled.
We arrived back at the familiar Vik Hotel early evening, checked in and got some supper. We knew the forecast wasn’t good so had no intent to go out in the morning.
Day 4 (Thursday) – Vik to Keflavík (a day earlier than planned)
Leaving Vik
The next morning at breakfast, we could see rain and mist outside so decided we would check out and head to our hotel in Keflavík.
With very poor weather (mist and that showery rain that doesn’t look much but soaks you), we were on the road to Keflavík.
The high wind gusts were noticeable and we drove over the mountain pass which was a bit hairy, and we arrived at Hotel Keflavik and checked in.
Keflavik
We had a wander later on and stopped at an Italian restaurant called Anton’s Mamma Mia which Graeme had visited last year and said was good.
We had a decent meal washed down by a glass of Gull. The perspective of this image is amusing as it looks like the beer glass is as big as our bodies!
We walked back to the hotel along the snow laden streets wondering whether or not our flight would be on tomorrow or not.
Day 5 (Friday) – Staying an extra night in Keflavík
As we got up for breakfast, plenty of message exchanges were in effect as we’d been informed by EasyJet that our flight was being delayed overnight due to poor weather conditions – this notification email arrived in the early hours of the morning.
We chatted over breakfast about what to do and agreed that we should try and extend our hotel book here for another night.
Graeme warned us that hotels book up fast as delayed travellers look to secure accommodation, and we could see a build up of people in the hotel reception.
We got ourselves extended for another night which was a relief.
We drove the car back to the rental company and were lucky enough to get a lift back to our hotel.
The RAV4 had been a good car for three of us getting around.
A wander around Keflavík in the afternoon really demonstrated the strong wind gusts almost blowing us off our feet. It really did demonstrate why the flight had been delayed.
We had a wander around, and I thought it was ironic that unexpectedly I was wandering around the same area of Keflavík at the end of this trip, in the same place I started last years trip.
We walked past Anton’s restaurant and we agreed it was good so let’s go again tonight, so I noted the phone number and once back at the hotel, made a booking.
When we got back to the hotel, we observed the lobby rammed with people as plenty of folks were rocking up hoping to get a room for the night – we were pleased we had secured our extra night.
Our re-scheduled flight would be at 16:25 tomorrow and we figured it would be sensible to get to the airport early as there were likely to be crowds.
Day 7 (Saturday) – get to the airport
We met in reception in the morning to check out and book a taxi to the airport to find the hotel was laying on taxi bookings for airport transfers which the hotel paid for, and would presumably claim back from EasyJet.
We had a bit of delay trying to get the guy on reception to print three individual receipts for extra night booking as it was a group booking, but he got there in the end.
At the airport, we got a coffee and got ourselves a seat to begin our wait. We found the check-in line entrance and observed the estimated opening time so planned to be there a little earlier and get to the front of any queue.
We checked in our bags and went through security before having more refreshments and food.
We went to the gate to board our flight and it was a bit manic. Confusing queues, people trying to get into the Speedier boarding line when they didn’t have that ticket booking.
The announcement finally came that we could board and on we went. Bit of a panic as Pat and I boarded because Graeme got held back while they allocated him a seat.
We were being given random seats where there was a space so any pre-booked seats were of little use now.
They asked Graeme if he would take up the offer of compensation to fly a different plane to Gatwick but obviously like us, Graeme had his car at Luton, and eventually got on.
It was over an hour delay as EasyJet got people on-board. What made the delays longer was there was a school trip and EasyJet were ensuring all the kids and teachers got a seat.
We finally got going and arrived in Luton, got to the car and made our way home.
Reflections
This trip was really good, and I’m pleased I went back.
It was good being in a small group of friends, being able to flex plans as we went along.
It was a shame the last part of our trip had to be abandoned but thanks to Pat, we didn’t miss Vestrahorn and we did the main locations on our list.
Unbelievably to some readers, I’ve not experienced a delayed flight before so I now realise how disruptive it is and the uncertainty it brings.
These situations leave you in a dilemma whether or not to wait for the airline to offer alternate arrangements (which mean waiting until the last minute and not knowing where you’re staying) or taking matters into your own control, spending extra money, and hoping you’ll be able to claim it back.
We all put claims in our return and got reimbursed for the extra night hotel stay and I think some of our food expenses.
I enjoyed revisiting the same locations as last year because it gave me a chance to look for different scenes, compositions and something different. I really enjoyed Brúarfoss and of course the great company Pat and Graeme provided.
I have a good set of images and some wonderful memories. Will I visit again? Well, let’s see what happens! 🤔
Onwards and upwards…