Day 1 of the “Incredible Iceland (South)” photography trip with Justin Minns was underway.
Just before I get into it though, a quick description of the prep for this trip and what I did the day before on arriving in Iceland.
Preparation
I booked the workshop in January 2024 as soon as it became available. I had thought about booking the previous November but had procrastinated and missed my chance.
The flights (or at least the one outbound) was booked in March 2024 via EasyJet from Luton.
I and some other attendees booked to travel the day/night before and stay in a hotel in readiness for the workshop. If you can do this, it’s much more relaxing and gives you a little protection against any cancelled or changed flights.
I booked a one-way flight as Kathryn suggested so that she could join me after the workshop ends and we could do a few days touristy stuff so we subsequently booked a return flight together.
In the few weeks beforehand, and helped by Justin’s handy list, I bought what felt like the UK stock of thick thermals (not just *any* thermals I hasten to add) along with the following:
- Bridgedale thick socks and same brand liner socks (expensive, but highly recommended)
- Far too many snoods, hats and gloves.
- A pair of snow boots (but I wish I had taken my wellies)
- Ice grips
- Down jacket with hood
- Lambs wool jumpers (although fleeces would’ve possibly been better)
I also bought a second tripod but I’d been planning that for some time, just so I can service one while using the other.
Day before – walk around Keflavík
We met our fellow workshop attendees who had arrived like us the day before the start of the tour at the exit end of Keflavík airport, had a coffee while Justin and Steve collected the hire van from which we then made our way to the hotel.
We arrived and checked in at the Hotel Berg, and I and two other photographers wandered around Keflavík for an hour or two and took some snaps.
We enjoyed wandering around the town and had to endure a couple of snow showers.
There were some interesting things to see and photograph.
There was a very stormy sky and I quite liked the isolated scene with this bench.
A few more interesting sights are shown below.
We had a peek at the harbour and observed a couple of boats arriving which then had their catch lifted out and straight onto the back of a lorry.
During this trip, I fired a few shots in the rather lame hope it might meet a forthcoming club competition for photos under the theme of ‘traffic’. That harbour scene above just would not be good enough.
We had an interesting wander around the area as well as a bit of exercise and made our way back to the hotel for a chill out and then supper.
Next day, after a good breakfast, we collected our stuff and loaded the van for checking out.
We all hopped on the van and we were off!
There was a lot of snow around including on the roads but with the knowledge that all vehicles in Iceland by law have to be fitted with studded tyres, and with Steve at the steering wheel as an experienced driver, we knew we were in safe hands.
Icelandic horses
En route to Vik, we stopped at the roadside to photograph some Icelandic horses.
I quite liked the following character as his stare made me smile.
Hopping back in the van, we made our way to Vik.
Vikurfjara Beach
On arrival at the town of Vik, we made our way to Vik beach.
For me, this was my first experience of one of Iceland’s black beaches. The sand is very fine and gets into everything. However, I had my new tripod or the second copy of my existing one.
To start, we took a few images of Vik church at distance.
We set up and started taking images of the famous Reynisdrangar sea stacks.
According to Icelandic folklore, the Reynisdrangar rock formations were once trolls. While trying to pull ships from the ocean to the shore, the trolls took too long to reach land. At the break of dawn, they were turned to stone.
The aim for me was to capture a decent wave and the significant water spray spinning off these waves. The shot below is my favourite with a combination of a good wave and spray with some backlighting.
For a bit of variation, I grabbed a wider shot of the stacks.
As the light was fading and sunset approaching, we made our way back to the van and onwards to the church.
Parking behind the church, we spread out and looked for a composition to take a shot.
Below is my favourite image of the church.
If you’ve seen this image on Instagram, you may notice the above image has had the distracting part of the mountain that stuck out from the left of the church as you look at it cloned out.
I also toned the warmth down as it was a little over-cooked.
I’ve left the person in for that ‘sense of scale’ although unsure it works as the person looks the same size as the sea stacks!
I’m not sure it’s a fantastic composition as probably moving right and in front may have separated the church completely from the mountain but it is a very pleasing image.
A shot taken much later and higher up the hill is below.
And that was a wrap.
We were staying at the Vik Hotel so after a drive by visit to the shop https://www.icewear.is/uk/ we unloaded our bags and gear from the van, checked in and got ready for supper.
Justin gave us a presentation of the week ahead, where we would be visiting and examples of the shots we might wish to aim to capture.
We had all enjoyed the day and were looking forward to day two.
Onwards and upwards…