Photographing Iceland, Day One

If you take a flight to Iceland, chances are it will arrive around 6:30 am. Two friends and I met up there last year, one from Florida, one from Denver and me from San Francisco. We all arrived within 20 minutes of each other, right around 6:30 am. This meant we flew all night and had a full day ahead of us, so we decided we would stay up, make the most of that day and then get a good night’s sleep before embarking on our planned travels.

Area Adjacent to Blue Lagoon Pools

We wanted to photograph Hraunfossar, a beautiful set of waterfalls northeast of Reykjavik, so rented a 4x4 Jeep from Blue Car, took a quick trip over to the Blue Lagoon to photograph there.  Afer a couple of hours at the Blue Lagoon, we set off for Hraunfossar, not completely sure of which way to go, we decided to go northeast to Pingvellir and from there north on highway 52 to 550.

Wide Open Spaces

Image Taken with Tripod in the Wind.

 We had no idea how desolate these roads were nor how devoid they would be of other travelers. Yet there was beauty everywhere. It was a different kind of beauty than I am used to, a baren, stark, open, middle of no where beauty.

iPhone Image

Continuing north I noticed a scene in the distance to our right. It needed to be shot! The problem was the wind. I was the only one willing to get out of the car, and the use of a tripod was out of the question – way too windy. So with iphone in hand I used the car to block the wind and grabbed the above image.

Beautiful Clouds

iPhone Image

And then the sky began to develop.  Oh, my.  But once again iPhone images, this time from inside the car.

Storm Coming, iPhone Image

Driving in this part of Iceland is like driving on a giant geode. The surface is stark, desolate and although it has its own beauty it is mostly pretty boring. Then you find a crack in the surface, in the form of a canyon or valley, and you find this amazing familiar beauty. Just like finding crystals inside a geode. At the end of our several hours drive through wide open spaces we dropped down into a canyon and found this little gem.

From here we began moving westward and found ourselves at Hraunfossar within a short while. Hraunfossar is a series of waterfalls spanning several hundred yards. While it looked to me from viewing images of it prior that the water flowed over the upper surface and spilled into the river I discovered that it doesn’t do that at all. It is coming straight out of the side of the river bank.

(This is only a portion of Hraunfossar)

Driving Tips In Iceland

When driving in Iceland there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, if you want some latitude to choose where to go, a 4x4 is very handy. Second, get wind insurance. Wind is seemingly ever present and when it gets really strong it creates sand storms and your usual insurance will not likely cover it. And finally, when opening the door of your car, hold on tightly. The wind can grab the door, swing it violently open and damage the car.  Better yet contact Nature Explorer in Iceland or Andy Cook with Rocky Mountain Reflections in Colorado and join one of their photographic workshops, you won't be disappointed!

If you enjoyed these photographs you can see more of Bob's fine art landscape photography at bobhartphotography.com