Category Archives: Photography

Steamed | "Steamed" - action shot of the author, by James Chambers

Resolution: 531 x 397

Iceland is a great place for photography, but you need to be properly prepared to get the best of it, and not come away disappointed.

First, unless you’re very good at research, navigation and off-road driving, you need a guide. Sure, you can get to the well-known sites a short drive from Reykjavik or along the coast road under your own steam, but you’ll miss many of the most stunning locations in the interior. However, if you want to spend serious time on your photography you need to be with a group, and guides, who understand your needs. I can’t praise highly enough the great service I had from first contact with Nature Explorer. Hawk and Finn are both great company, skilful drivers, knowledgeable and entertaining guides, and impressive photographers in their own right. Their administrative staff are also excellent, and their resilience to problems comforting. I’m very happy to recommend them.

Next, dump your preconceptions. Even short distances or intervals bring dramatic variation in scenery, weather and lighting. Well known sites may be quite crowded, or almost empty. A classic view may disappoint, and then half an hour later a less obvious subject may be portfolio material. Dedicated dawn-watchers may disagree, but in my view timing isn’t critical – “golden hour” extends well into the morning and from late afternoon, but more importantly the quality of your light is much more likely to be controlled by the weather than the hour. Iceland rewards being prepared more than missing breakfast and supper.

Protect your kit well, and carry spares for everything! Iceland is a harsh environment. You’ll be doing long distances on rough roads. The volcanic dust and ash gets everywhere, and is very abrasive. You will end up soaked by rain, waterfalls and geysirs (in my case, “all of the above”;)). The failure of my 15-85mm lens wasn’t the only hardware problem in our group, although the others were mainly more minor problems with things like batteries, filters, lens caps and retaining rings. Several cameras gained battle scars from knocks and falls. I also managed to destroy a pair of trousers and gave up on a faulty battery. Nature Explorer even had to resort to a spare super-jeep!

As a minimum, make sure you have a second camera body and a second “standard” lens (whatever that means for you). My cheaper Canon 17-85mm lens rescued my trip. Consider carrying three batteries for your main body in case one dies as happened to me. Also remember one of the hidden advantages of using mid-range Canon kit – someone else in the group may be able to help. You will end up shooting in wet or dusty conditions, so a Kata Rain Bag or similar, and cheap filters you don’t mind wiping with anything to hand are both essential!

Iceland is cold, but it’s not the temperature that gets you (for our trip it was consistently above freezing and up to 14C), it’s the wind. The answer is lots of layers. For me the combination of sweatshirt, microfibre jacket with detachable lining, warm hat and raincoat with hood was about right, but others might need even more. I can also recommend carrying a flask of coffee. I ended up buying one on the first day, and leaving it behind, and had to haggle with hoteliers a couple of times about filling it, but it was well worth the effort.

Deep pockets are useful in two different ways. In a practical sense they are a great solution to the ridiculous baggage limits airlines are progressively imposing. If you can shove a couple of lenses into your trousers and heavy batteries into your jacket then the baggage allowances become less of a problem.

In the metaphorical sense you need to be prepared for high prices – Iceland isn’t cheap, especially by the standards of say the USA or southern Europe. That said, by UK standards and given the current exchange rate it didn’t feel that bad. I will comment on the recommendation made by almost every web site and guide book to buy lots of booze at the incoming duty free store. I’m now convinced this is a con trick to get free beer for Icelanders. Unless you’re a real alky, don’t bother.

Don’t expect to get anything done on the go. I had visions of sitting in the jeeps reading, writing my blog on my iPad, or at least preparing for the next location, but despite Finn being a very smooth driver this was absolutely impossible – the roads are just too rough. Not for nothing does my map of Iceland have a road classification I have never seen before: “main road – unsurfaced”.

Be prepared for all photographic opportunities, and for lots of shooting. Although my Canon 7D got most use, the 550D also came into its own for wandering around Reykjavik, and I always had the S95 in my pocket for the unexpected. I shot at every focal length from 10mm to 300mm, and at every speed from 25s for the fireworks to 8 fps for the puffins in flight. I photographed landscapes, buildings, people and action. By the end of the trip I had exceeded my Cuba shooting total, having exposed around 2100 frames, with ~1150 (~30GB) retained for further processing after initial filtering. I used about 56GB of CF cards, plus a small amount on 2 8GB SD cards for the two smaller cameras.

There’s a saying “chance favours the prepared mind”. If that’s ever true, it’s true of photographing Iceland.

If you want to see more of my Iceland photography blog, or get a few specific location ideas, please go to www.andrewj.com/blog/iceland

0811 7D 8521 | Puffin in flight at Dyrholaey, Iceland

Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Date: 28-08-2011 13:15 | ISO: 200 | Exp. Mode: Shutter priority | Exp. bias: 0 EV | Exp. Time: 1/320s | Aperture: 6.3 | Focal Length: 180.0mm | Latitude: N 63°25'4.93" | Longitude: W 19°2'48.67" | Altitude: 46 metres | Country: Iceland | Lens: Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

I was ready for a quiet day of mainly driving on Sunday. I was also ready to report a total of about 1800 shots taken, which is a bit lower than for the Cuba trip, not unreasonable given the slightly shorter duration and the fact that this was mainly landscape photography.

Then we got to the puffin colony…

Having visited a couple of interesting rock formations (basically basalt columns like Staffa or The Giant’s Causeway), we drove a short distance to the top of the cliff, which was essentially home to thousands of puffins, which were variously sitting quietly or diving off into the sea to catch food. They seem to be quite unafraid of humans, and because of the prevailing wind onto the cliff they had to glide slowly at take-off and landing, sometimes very close to us, which made photography feasible, if still challenging.

Of course, this is what my kit, consisting of the Canon 7D and 70-300 IS lens, is built for. Any minor inferiority complex relative to the 5D and medium format brigade vanished in the face of my 8 frames per second and high performance auto-focus, and I got a number of good shots. The above is probably one of the best, although there are several other good candidates.

It did put the shooting total up a bit. In less than an hour I took well over 300 shots, filling a 16GB memory card and flattening a battery, but who cares. Together with the other shots from the day the total now stands over 2150 – even higher than Cuba!

Our hosts had organised a wonderful end to the day. In the outskirts of Reykjavik we diverted to the hospital where Gruni (Finn’s wife, who had joined us on the tour) works. There we were doubly treated, both to a celebratory glass of champagne and a couple of chocolates, but also to an exhibition of the best of Finn’s photographs, in wonderful large prints. Definitely something to aspire to.

I’m back in the hotel, and busy packing for an early start. I’ll do a final post when I’m home, summing up and listing my tips for any future travellers, but it’s been a wonderful trip and highly recommended to anyone else who wants to try.

0811 7D 8205 | Fireworks over the Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon, Iceland

Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Date: 27-08-2011 23:13 | ISO: 200 | Exp. Mode: Manual control | Exp. bias: 0 EV | Exp. Time: 8.0s | Aperture: 8.0 | Focal Length: 13.0mm | Latitude: N 63°59'32.08" | Longitude: W 16°54'11.97" | Altitude: 105 metres | Country: Iceland | Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM

Saturday was when our tour really delivered on its “fire and ice” moniker. We started the day at the Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon, where an edge of the enormous Vatnajokull glacier calves off into the sea. Whereas 100 years ago this was happening quite close to the sea’s edge, the point at which the icebergs fall from the glacial edge has progressively moved back, and they now fall into a lagoon of mixed salt and freshwater where they tend to hang around for a few days before drifting out to sea. Apparently the edge of the glacier is retreating by a massive 200m per year (due more to the effect of the incoming salt water than global warming), making this the fastest-changing glacier in Europe.

This has famously been used as the location for two Bond films, most notably the car chase in Die Another Day. The problem is that due to all the salt water, it doesn’t usually freeze even in mid-Winter. So they temporarily blocked up the lagoon outlet to stop extra salt water coming in, and waited three weeks for the lagoon to freeze. Why they couldn’t just find a suitable frozen lake somewhere is a good question, so far unanswered.

It is a very dramatic location for photography, with all the shapes and colours in the ice, and under constant change as the ice moves, often twisting and tumbling suddenly as the balance of the mass above and below the surface changes.

After lunch we headed up the coast via another, much calmer glacial lagoon to a waterfall surrounded by basalt columns. Unfortunately we got there just the same time as a bus load of grockles who all wanted to sit right in the middle of the stream for about 1/2 hour having their photos taken… Grr

The last stop before dinner was a quick walk up alongside the glacial tongue right behind our hotel. This was useful to get a sense of the enormous scale of these, and then try and imagine that each is only a tiny corner of Vatnajokull.

After dinner it was back to Jokullsarlon for the “fire” part of the day – a once a year fireworks display over the lagoon. This was brilliant, and I hope I’ve done it justice.

Sadly, it’s the long drive back to Reykjavik tomorrow, with limited photography, and then home. However, it’s been a wonderful trip, with an amazing and unexpected variety.

0811 7D 7993 | Iceberg at Jokullsarlon, Iceland

Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Date: 27-08-2011 10:06 | ISO: 100 | Exp. Mode: Aperture priority | Exp. bias: 0 EV | Exp. Time: 1/250s | Aperture: 10.0 | Focal Length: 180.0mm | Latitude: N 64°2'35.69" | Longitude: W 16°16'34.76" | Altitude: 15 metres | Country: Iceland | Lens: Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

This is a small iceberg floating in the Jokullsarlon galcial lagoon – see post above for details.

0811 7D 7979 | An edge of the Vatnajokull glacier reflected in a pond

Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Date: 27-08-2011 09:30 | ISO: 100 | Exp. Mode: Aperture priority | Exp. bias: -2/3 EV | Exp. Time: 1/60s | Aperture: 10.0 | Focal Length: 47.0mm | Latitude: N 64°2'27.27" | Longitude: W 16°18'11.43" | Altitude: 19 metres | Country: Iceland | Lens: Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM

Saturday consisted of various views of the Vatnajokull glacier.  Here’s one taken by shouting “stop” at Finn when we saw a puddle which reflected this glacial tongue in good light. Thankfully his quick reactions didn’t cause an accident.

0811 7D 7971 | Hut adjacent to the Foss a Siva waterfall, Iceland

Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Date: 26-08-2011 18:12 | ISO: 100 | Exp. Mode: Aperture priority | Exp. bias: -2/3 EV | Exp. Time: 1/25s | Aperture: 10.0 | Focal Length: 28.0mm | Latitude: N 63°40'28.62" | Longitude: W 18°25'32.43" | Altitude: 74 metres | Country: Iceland | Lens: Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM

Here’s another view of the field beneath the Foss a Siva. I loved the light, and the simple colour palette, and just wanted to share this with you.