 |
| Ice on Jökulsárlón Beach |
 |
| Bruarfoss Waterfall, Iceland. Manfrotto Pro Light Camera Backpack & Manfrotto 190 Go Aluminum Tripod with the Manfrotto 498RC2 Ball Head |
 |
| Kirkjufell, Iceland. Manfrotto Pro Light Camera Backpack & Manfrotto Aluminum 190 tripod with the Manfrotto 498RC2 Ball Head |
 |
| Here is Me, Ben, Jonny & Mark all hyped up and ready to explore Iceland in our Camper Van. |
 |
| Random Stop & Shoot on Highway 54, Iceland.
My settings were:
Aperture: f/14
Exposure: 0.8 Seconds
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO: 100
Edited in Lightroom 5
|
 |
| Kirkjufell, Iceland. |
 |
| Our camper van parked up in Grundarfjörður, Iceland. |
 |
| Camera setup Kirkjufell, Iceland. |
 |
| Kirkjufell, Iceland.
Same set up as before but with a 0.9 hard grad pulled all the way down with the soft grad placed over the clouds and tip of the mountain. Slightly different settings due to the light being brighter.
My settings were:
Aperture: f/18
Exposure: 16 Seconds
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO: 100
Edited in Lightroom 5
It was now time to head towards one of our next destinations Hveritserkur, Vatnsnes peninsula, in northwest Iceland. Hveritserkur is a stunning rock formation on the beach. The rock has two holes at the base, which give it the appearance of a dragon who is drinking.
 
We stayed in a town called
Hvammstangi. It's here we found out we could use the local swimming pool facilities to get showered. After being in Iceland for 2 days we all needed a shower. It really boosted morale, feeling clean and smelling good is a great feeling.
Morale boosted, we set off for Hveritserkur for sunrise the next day. It had snowed overnight and we knew we would have to go on a track that wasn't exactly camper van friendly in the snow.
We took it slow and managed to get to the car park just as the golden hour was starting. We didn't know exactly how to get down to the beach so we all set off to explore and also at the same time a snow storm hit.
None of us could see a couple of feet in front, so we decided to head back to the van and wait out the storm.
If you've ever been to Iceland then you'll know the weather changes very quickly. As soon as we took our kit off the storm had passed.
Knowing time was now crucial, we promptly headed back out to look for the route to the beach and where the rock formation was. We now know we took a long route down but never the less we got there.
There was a beautiful morning approaching but also another snow storm. This is why you can see 2 images above. One set up without the storm and another as the storm hit.
Unfortunately Jonny missed this shot as he realised once he set up he had forgotten his camera. Hahaha so Jonny took the long walk back to retrieve his camera from the van.
I shouldn't laugh but I did find this quite amusing ;)
Once we achieved our objective of shooting Hveritserkur we headed back towards Highway 1 (the main road which circles the whole of Iceland) and set course for a few photography stops towards Arnarstapi.
The weather really did give us an Icelandic welcome. With strong gusts of wind and snow storms where you couldn't see a few feet in front, our journey to Arnarstapi took longer than anticipated.
The journey to Arnarstapi may have taken longer than we expected but it was definitely worth it. Arnarstapi was without doubt my favourite place to shoot. The landscape was truly something else. Very prehistoric and like a scene that wouldn't be out of place on Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. As soon as we arrived here (just as the sun was setting, AGAIN!) we all split up as we didn't want to have to flex muscles to see who got the best composition spot. When you're with a group of photographers it's inevitable to see someone else's position and think "damn it, they have the best comp" ha. So it can be quite amusing to see who from the group starts walking that slightly bit faster as you approach to hopefully see the best comp lol.
A great place to sit and watch the drama roll in. I'm definitely a photographer that enjoys drama within an image. If it isn't there then I can be known to edit in a style at where I can bring the drama out. It did feel great to see a landscape/seascape where I didn't need to edit any drama as it was there in abundance.
My settings were:
Aperture: f/14
Exposure: 221 Seconds
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO: 100
Lee Big Stopper
Hitech 0.9 Soft Grad
Edited in Lightroom 5
I was in my element walking along the cliff watching this magical place. We all split up here as we knew there was much to see.
My settings were:
Aperture: f/14
Exposure: 2 Seconds
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO: 100
Hitech 0.9 Soft Grad
Edited in Lightroom 5
It was here in Arnarstapi we found out that the Northern Lights were going to be out by using an app called Aurora Forecast that showed you how intense the lights will be and this awesome Icelandic Weather Website which we used religiously to help navigate to where the best weather will be. Take note though because the weather changes quickly, more than 24hrs predicted can be incorrect. That's not the websites fault, that's just how the weather is. We found 95% of the time the readings were correct and very helpful.
After shooting the amazing views in Arnarstapi during sunset we headed on back to the camper van to wait for the Aurora to appear. We said we would take it in shifts to stay awake to look for the lights. Because I was the only one to have ever witnessed the lights I took first shift.
The guys started to unpack and I went outside into the dark to have a look. If the light's aren't that strong then it's useful to set your camera up on a high ISO for about 20-30 seconds exposure. If the light's are there your camera will pick it up. As I placed my tripod down I looked up and BAM!! the lights were above putting on an amazing display.
I rushed back inside and said guys don't get too comfy, the lights are above and looking pretty spectacular.
We all grabbed our gear and rushed out of the van whilst getting stuck in the door as we were all keen to shoot this magical event and we didn't know how long it would last for.
We must have shot loads of pics with different comps. This was our first time and we knew shooting such an event would prove difficult as you have to work with high ISO's to get the best out of the lights and this causes a lot of noise.
We were all like big kids looking at their first firework display with sounds like Ooooo, Arrrrrrr, look look over there, wow.
Mark in particular was so happy to witness the lights and to shoot them. Personally, it was a great feeling to see a friend so overwhelmed with happiness by nature's beauty above.
Here's me capturing Jonny above shooting the magical lights. The clouds as always added a lot of drama to this colourful night sky.
My settings were:
Aperture: f/6.3
Exposure: 30 Seconds
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO: 2500
Edited in Lightroom 5
After shooting the lights until 03:00am we headed off back to the camper van for some much needed shuteye. I couldn't help but take one last picture before going to sleep and what better focal point to use, than the camper van.
My settings were:
Aperture: f/6.3
Exposure: 30 Seconds
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO: 2000
Edited in Lightroom 5
Next morning we finally awoke to carry on our journey. But as it was such an epic night we decided to stick around and do some editing. Not a bad place to chill and edit some pics and enjoy breakfast ;)
 
Top picture is me eating some cereal with the fantastic Arnarstapi cliffs in the background.
Below is Jonny and Ben (looking ruined) at the breakfast table.
Editing now finished we needed to carry on with our epic journey. Next stop Vik.
We arrived at Vik under the cover of darkness and in extremely bad weather. We found somewhere sheltered to park up for the night as we knew we needed a good night sleep for sunrise.
Morning broke, it looked like it was going to be beautiful. So we slowly made our way to Reynishverfisvegur in very windy conditions and roads that still had a lot of snow on. The sun was rising and the waves from the North Atlantic ocean were very fierce. So much so Jonny, Mark and Ben were all hit by the unpredictable waves. I felt so lucky not to have the same thing happen to myself.
When you arrive at Reynishverfisvegur, you can see 2 fantastic rock formations protruding out of the ocean. These were going to be my focal points within my shot.
I seemed to be moving slower to everyone else as I was taking in more of this amazing view. This benefited me as Mark and Ben had walked in front and unknowingly created a great leading line of footsteps within my shot. This would definitely make the shot more appealing as leading lines always draw people into the image.
My settings were:
Aperture: f/8
Exposure: 100 Seconds
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO: 100
Edited in Lightroom 5
Mark was in the middle of the shot but as it was a long exposure and he wasn't in the frame for to long, he ended up disappearing from the final image. This is something to think about when doing long exposures. If someone walks into the shot, don't worry too much as if they move out they could disappear from your final result.
The main focal points were I guess 2 things, the rocks and the footsteps. It was the footsteps I focused on and I made sure that the rocks protruding from the sea were centred within the frame. This gave a good balance to the shot.
As the sun appeared from the horizon behind the clouds it produced some stunning colours. My exposure had to be spot on for this as I wanted enough to expose the footsteps on the black beach but not too much to blow out the sky. To help me I used my Lee 1 x Big Stopper and my Formatt Hitech Neutral Density (ND) 0.9 Soft Graduated Filter.
Now I cant express how hard this shot was to take because of the severe gales. It may not look it but we were being blown all over the place and to keep my tripod secure and still for a long exposure was very testing. Thankfully my Manfrotto Aluminum 190 tripod was up for the challenge.
If there was still one thing that I found fascinating and that was snow on the beach. It's something I've never seen in real life before. I had to shoot a From Where I Stand Shot.
After we shot Reynishverfisvegur we decided to head further east along the south coast towards one of the places Stian Klo told us about, Fjaðrárgljúfur. A beautiful canyon not far off the main route. It was via a smaller 'F' road which in winter are predominately used by 4 wheel drive vehicles and not a 2 wheel drive camper van. But we tried and failed. Thankfully we didn't get stuck for long and got ourselves out.
We parked up on some hard standing just off the road and we decided to walk the 2-3k to the canyon. Mark & Jonny stayed behind as they wanted to dry out after being soaked by the waves at Reynishverfisvegur.
After a 20-30min tab (very fast walk) we arrived at the canyon. Oh I didn't mention, Mark works in London and Londoners are VERY fast walkers. I live outside London so I like to walk slower and take in everything I see.
It was still very windy so we had to be very careful not to fall off this stunning canyon.
I couldn't stand here for too long as I was slightly exposed to the gale force weather. But here I am wearing my Manfrotto Pro Light Camera Backpack & The North Face Mens Peak Guide Jacket from Manfrotto & Cotswold Outdoor.
Next destination was Jökulsárlón for sunset. As we like to leave it until the very last second we just managed to arrive as the sun was setting. Can you see a pattern here? (always late) lol. Thankfully Iceland's 'Golden Hour' is more like Golden 2-3 hours. We found that the colours seem to hang around a lot longer in the sky in Iceland than anywhere else we've traveled to in the world.
We parked up in one of the car parks around Jökulsárlón and proceeded over the little hill towards the Ice lagoon. I wasn't happy with my first composition so I quickly got into the camper van and drove to the other side of the Lagoon. A lot better comp and so glad I did. The sun was a fiery sunset and with the ice in the lagoon it captured the Fire & Ice which is what the island is famous for.
My settings were:
Aperture: f/16
Exposure: 1/10 Second
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO: 100
Edited in Lightroom 5
Filters used were Formatt Hitech Neutral Density (ND) 0.9 Soft Graduated Filter & Lee 0.6 Hard Grad pulled down to just the top of the image to darken the top of the clouds.
We loved the different range of sizes in the ice that were scattered along the beach. This place was truly amazing. The glacier is just off to the right of this image, the ice breaks away creating icebergs in the lagoon, that then move down an opening to the sea where they drift out before being swept on to the beach.
My settings were:
Aperture: f/4
Exposure: 1.8 Seconds
Focal Length: 28mm
ISO: 640
Edited in Lightroom 5
To capture this shot of the Ice I had a Formatt Hitech Firecrest IRND ND3.0 stacked with Formatt Hitech Neutral Density (ND) 0.9 Soft Graduated Filter.
It did make it rather dark and in hindsight I probably would have changed this setup to not be as dark with the filters on. The wind was that bad I had to make sure once I set up, I wouldn’t change it or not as often as it’s difficult to do when the winds are as strong as they were.
Because it was quite dark with the filters on, I made my aperture as wide as it could go f/4 and changed my ISO to 640. This looked like it was good enough to do what I wanted to do.
The end results came out a little noisy than I wanted but overall I was still very happy with it.
Just means I need to go back and do it all again after learning from this experience lol
My settings were:
Aperture: f/8
Exposure: 1/6 Second
Focal Length: 40mm
ISO: 100
Edited in Lightroom 5
I only used the Formatt Hitech Neutral Density (ND) 0.9 Soft Graduated Filter for this shot as it was still reasonably dark to get away with just a grad.
Another place we were desperate to go to was one of Iceland’s most iconic & haunting photography locations. The United States Navy Douglas Super DC-3 airplane which was forced to land on Sólheimasandur’s black sand beach in the south of Iceland after experiencing severe icing on Saturday Nov 24, 1973.
Luckily all crew members survived the crash, but the airplane’s fuselage was abandoned. Now it’s become a photography dream location.
If you need directions to get there then click on this link as it's not the easiest of places to find and you can drive by without knowing.
My settings were:
Aperture: f/22
Exposure: 200 Seconds
Focal Length: 24mm
ISO: 100
Edited in Lightroom 5
I used 3 filters here Lee Big Stopper, Lee 0.9 Hard Grad pulled all the way down and a Formatt Hitech Neutral Density (ND) 0.9 Soft Grad pulled down to just covering the clouds and a bit of the planes fuselage. Because it was the middle of the day and the sun was very strong. I wanted a long exposure to get the clouds looking all whispy as they were captured moving across the sky. This adds great drama to the shot, as its already quite haunting due to it's nature.
Manfrotto Pro Light Camera Backpack & Manfrotto 190 Go Aluminum Tripod with the Manfrotto 498RC2 Ball Head
Mark had a place he wanted to go to from the beginning, Stokksnes. Later to be renamed by us "STUCKsnes".
We drove there with plenty of time to spare. I know amazing right? haha. We parked up on a hard standing next to The Viking Cafe. It was closed due to it still being winter. There was a long gravelled road probably about 1-2k which turned into sand. We walked down here to recce the area and look for compositions before the sun set's so we wouldn't be rushed like we have been for pretty much most of the trip.
On our way back we were stopped by a local farmer who said we have to pay to proceed down this road. Not sure if it was a con we reluctantly paid a small amount in a box that was left outside a cafe. I've learned since then that it is illegal for this guy to charge us but as it was such a small amount each we actually didn't mind paying. Plus it was a location Mark was desperate to shoot and after viewing it ourselves I think we all were.
We decided that we were going to take our camper van down the 1-2k dirt track and park up just before the soft sand started.
The sun started to go down and we began our short journey towards the sand dunes at the end off the dirt track. Mark asked how far should we go down and I told him stop and turn before the light sand started. But whatever he does stay on the dark sand to turn as it was firmer for our vehicle. As soon as I said that Mark turned the vehicle onto the LIGHT sand which was soft and deep. NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! we came to an abrupt halt as our camper van wheel span in the sand. MARRRRRRRRK What You Doooooooing!!!!
We were well and truly stuck. The sun was setting with a stunning golden colour which was shinning all over the sand dunes.
Mark wasn't in any mood for jokes as he was disappointed with himself.
Now what do we do? Do we try and dig our way out or do we shoot the sun setting and come back to it when it's dark.
We decided on the first one.
We tried digging our way out but it was proving to be impossible as we just got deeper and deeper.
We all decided to give up and shoot the last bit of the sunset as we wont be here again or at least not for a while.
Ben volunteered to go with some tourists to see the local farmer to give Mark the opportunity to shoot his No1 location. Thanks Ben ;)
Me Jonny and Mark started to shoot various comps but you can see Mark wasn't feeling it, and when you're not in the mood you can struggle to be inspired no matter where you're shooting.
Mark just wanted to rectify his mistake by getting us unstuck.
Ben returned with no farmer. Probably in the pub with our money we generously donated.
Mark phoned for help to a local recovery service and it came about 2 hours later in a 4x4 truck. They got out of their vehicle and took one look at ours and smirked. It was at this point we all moved away from Mark whilst coughing and pointing at him lol.
Anyway within 20 minutes we were free and the recovery guys had a good laugh at our expense, well MARK'S expense. We all had to contribute to a fee of about £60, Totally worth it, but in Mark's defence he did choose a great spot to get us stuck.
Some wise words of advice, if a sign says 4x4 only, believe it, or just don't let Mark drive hahaha. He did take the ribbing we gave him very well for the rest of the trip though.
OK I'm going to finish off this blog with a picture of me enjoying the view at one of the many stunning waterfalls in Iceland. It's also one of the most famous one's, Skógafoss. We did stop off at many waterfalls, check out my Instagram or Facebook page to see more images of my trip to Iceland.
My settings were:
Aperture: f/20
Exposure: 0.8 Seconds
Focal Length: 60mm
ISO: 100
Edited in Lightroom 5
A spectacular waterfall. The spray was proving difficult so I had to shoot this a little way back. I had Ben take this for me. It was around 07:30 in the morning and Ben had only been asleep for a couple of hours as he was up doing star trails. So thanks Ben.
I used no filters here as it was quite a gloomy morning, so 0.8 seconds was a perfect exposure before blowing out my shot.
This image captures my emotion I felt for the entire trip. Happy, excited and feeling so lucky to be there. Iceland was everything I expected it to be and much much more.
I can't say it enough, but everyone should add this country to their list. When you do visit you'll totally understand why if my images haven't done that already.
Me and #beardedtogs crew (this is what we called ourselves) are already talking about revisiting Iceland next year as we still didn't shoot everything we wanted to shoot. So there is definitely unfinished business here.
It was a very tiring trip and towards the end of the 10 days we all felt it. It was proving to be difficult to stay motivated because of the long nights, early starts and over 3000k's travelling around Iceland.
But we all agreed we made the most of it.
I would like to say a big thank you to Mark, Jonny and Ben for making this trip one of the best if not the best trip I've ever been on. We had so many proper belly laughing moments that still tickle me today.
Until we meet again my friends.
Last but definitely not least. A MASSIVE THANK YOU to my sponsors
Your support means a lot!
Until My Next Adventure!
|
