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Author Topic: Iceland Summer 09  (Read 21128 times)

Jon Meddings

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Iceland Summer 09
« Reply #20 on: January 14, 2009, 09:32:02 am »

Quote from: Josh-H
I am in the process of preliminary planning for a self drive and camp photography tour of Iceland this June/July.

I had actually booked to go on one of Daniels tours, but the Australian dollar took a spectacular nose dive against the US dollar and the cost effectivley doubled for me - so now I am still going, but self guided. Sorry Daniel.. I REALLY wanted to go on your workshop. Hopefully if the A$ picks up there is always 2010.

The whole purpose of the trip for me is photography only - so I am a little gun shy of most of the tourist books/guides out there. What I really need is a list of must go to locations and how to get there. I have seen some wonderful work from Iceland, much of it with its location untitled and no notes of how to get there.

I will have 3 weeks on the ground, a 4WD and camping gear [hiring it all] - only travelling into iceland with one bag of clothes and 4 bags of camera gear   .

I would really appreciate anyone who has been there posting their hot spots and how to get there. I would also be interested in hooking up with anyone who might be there on a photography trip who has on the ground experience there. I am leaving the wife and kids at home this time  

Josh, I was there last September and had started a thread (now on the second page http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=26748 ) that had a lot of very useful information on it. I don't think you can go wrong with your tent, cameras and a 4WD. The country is spectacular and some of the best information for us was included in the 'Lost in Iceland' book which now has a series of successors. I have not looked at these but suspect they may be equally as good and I'd try to get a copy of the series. Great photographs and a map of where they were taken. With that you can get other location information quite easily. A short selection of my photos from last year are on a pbase site http://www.pbase.com/meddings/iceland&page=all

Have fun and take your time - it is a wonderful country to visit!


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Rhossydd

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Iceland Summer 09
« Reply #21 on: January 17, 2009, 04:31:49 am »

Another interesting book for travellers in Iceland is “Adventure in Iceland” by Pall Asgeir Asgeirsson, published by Heimur. This is a cross between a road atlas and travel guide that just covers the four wheel drive only highland roads. Not only does it give good descriptions of the roads, but also has details of the technical difficulties on the particular roads.

Pay particular attention to the warnings about driving alone into these territories.
In a 4x4 you can easily get to some very remote and rarely traversed roads. Having a problem there can easily become very serious indeed, no mobile phone coverage to summon help and little chance of anyone passing to help can make things grim indeed.
It’s also worth noting that Icelandic hire cars are often very well used. In Europe and North America most hire cars are virtually brand new, Icelandic hire cars have to keep earning for many more years, so often have had a few knocks and have some potential problems.
As an example on our last trip we hired a Land Cruiser, it had done over 62,000 kms and the rear tailgate was difficult to close. Although I’d checked it had a jack & wheel brace to deal with a puncture I hadn’t checked the spare as it was behind a locked cover. On the last day we had a puncture on a rear tyre (which turned out to be nearly worn out anyway), only then did we discover the lock on the spare wheel cover was jammed and broken. It was only because we were in a town when this happened that we were able to contact the hirers and get someone else to help with extra tools to smash the lock off. The final indignity was being charged £150 for the puncture and a huge mobile phone bill arrived soon after too.
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Daniel Bergmann

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Iceland Summer 09
« Reply #22 on: January 17, 2009, 01:20:27 pm »

Quote from: Rhossydd
Pay particular attention to the warnings about driving alone into these territories.
In a 4x4 you can easily get to some very remote and rarely traversed roads. Having a problem there can easily become very serious indeed, no mobile phone coverage to summon help and little chance of anyone passing to help can make things grim indeed.
It’s also worth noting that Icelandic hire cars are often very well used.
It's true that some of the roads in the interior are difficult to travel and if you're alone you should not try to cross glacial rivers. But there is mobile phone cover virtually everywhere. All you have to do is walk up a nearby hill or mountain and you'll have full coverage.

Rhossydd

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Iceland Summer 09
« Reply #23 on: January 18, 2009, 04:33:36 am »

Quote from: Daniel Bergmann
there is mobile phone cover virtually everywhere.
Although it's remarkable quite how far mobile phone coverage penetrates into the interior wilderness of Iceland, saying there's cover "virtually everywhere" doesn't match my experience of two years ago. Even parts of road 1 had no signal.

Quote
All you have to do is walk up a nearby hill or mountain and you'll have full coverage.
I really don't see having to walk up a mountain as an acceptable form of getting mobile phone coverage. This also assumes you're fit and capable enough to tackle such a "walk", which might involve having to struggle miles over trackless rough terrain. All the advice I've read is to stay with your vehicle in an emergency rather than wander off alone.

The bottom line here is that if you're planning to explore deeply into Iceland's interior taking photographs, be aware of the risks involved and take whatever precautions you can to ensure a successful outcome.
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Daniel Bergmann

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Iceland Summer 09
« Reply #24 on: January 19, 2009, 01:10:56 pm »

Much has happened since two years ago. Look at the bottom image for GSM coverage in desember 2008: http://www.vodafone.is/simi/staersta

Mike Kenyon

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Iceland Summer 09
« Reply #25 on: February 24, 2009, 04:48:38 pm »

Quote from: Josh-H
I am in the process of preliminary planning for a self drive and camp photography tour of Iceland this June/July.

I had actually booked to go on one of Daniels tours, but the Australian dollar took a spectacular nose dive against the US dollar and the cost effectivley doubled for me - so now I am still going, but self guided. Sorry Daniel.. I REALLY wanted to go on your workshop. Hopefully if the A$ picks up there is always 2010.

The whole purpose of the trip for me is photography only - so I am a little gun shy of most of the tourist books/guides out there. What I really need is a list of must go to locations and how to get there. I have seen some wonderful work from Iceland, much of it with its location untitled and no notes of how to get there.

I will have 3 weeks on the ground, a 4WD and camping gear [hiring it all] - only travelling into iceland with one bag of clothes and 4 bags of camera gear   .

I would really appreciate anyone who has been there posting their hot spots and how to get there. I would also be interested in hooking up with anyone who might be there on a photography trip who has on the ground experience there. I am leaving the wife and kids at home this time  

Hi Josh
My wife and I will also be in Iceland in June/July and hope to do some camping, but I have been unsuccessful in finding anyone who rents camping gear. Can you offer any suggestions?

I also note that rental cars are horribly expensive, and those I find with more reasonable rates don't answer emails. Have you found any good deals (we probably won't have a 4WD unless someone has a really good deal)?

Regards
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Josh-H

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Iceland Summer 09
« Reply #26 on: February 24, 2009, 07:54:26 pm »

Quote from: Mike Kenyon
Hi Josh
My wife and I will also be in Iceland in June/July and hope to do some camping, but I have been unsuccessful in finding anyone who rents camping gear. Can you offer any suggestions?

I also note that rental cars are horribly expensive, and those I find with more reasonable rates don't answer emails. Have you found any good deals (we probably won't have a 4WD unless someone has a really good deal)?

Regards

I am still sorting out what I am taking with me vs. what I plan to buy / hire once I get there - havent found anywhere that I can really reccomend as yet.

As for the hire cars - yup expensive. I am just going to wear the cost and get a quality 4WD.
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jgille

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Iceland Summer 09
« Reply #27 on: March 10, 2009, 04:19:57 am »

Quote from: Jon Meddings
Douglas, I asked a similar question on this forum a few months ago and my wife and I went in early September. We spent 10 days driving around the island and camping at various sites. It is spectacular. Best advice we got was to purchase a book called Lost in Iceland. The best part of the book is that each page has a beautiful picture and at the end of the book is a map with where each sot was taken. We planned out several areas we wished to visit and then searched out others of our own nearby. Great resource.

I've got a few of our pictures up from a couple of months ago at:

http://www.pbase.com/meddings/iceland&page=all

Douglas, you have terrific pictures in your gallery.

Thanks for the tip regarding the book. I saw picture of boreal auroras on your gallery. Was it a lot in early September?

Cheers
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Jon Meddings

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Iceland Summer 09
« Reply #28 on: March 10, 2009, 04:34:12 pm »

Quote from: jgille
Douglas, you have terrific pictures in your gallery.

Thanks for the tip regarding the book. I saw picture of boreal auroras on your gallery. Was it a lot in early September?

Cheers


I think you meant me rather than Douglas! :-)

Anyhow, we were there in the first half of September last year. Remarkable place for photography. We did see one nice auroral show but this was a bit of luck. Living in northern Canada I love to photograph the aurora and have many opportunities. You will not see it in the northern latitudes from May onwards as the nights are just not dark enough. Shortest nights are mid June. However, from late August onwards you stand a chance of seeing it if there is auroral activity, a clear night and limited moonlight - the show is always best at around midnight local time and you just need the absence of sunlight at this time to see the show!
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jgille

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Iceland Summer 09
« Reply #29 on: March 10, 2009, 05:51:52 pm »

Quote from: Jon Meddings
I think you meant me rather than Douglas! :-)

Sorry  
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jeremyrh

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Iceland Summer 09
« Reply #30 on: March 14, 2009, 04:28:32 am »

Quote from: Jon Meddings
J The country is spectacular and some of the best information for us was included in the 'Lost in Iceland' book which now has a series of successors.
What Daniel is too modest to say is that to appreciate what wildlife and landscape opportunities Iceland offers you need to get a copy of his book "Icelandic Wilderness" :-)

Another book I like is "Iceland" by Patrick Desgraupes.

There are loads of Icelandic photographers posting their work on Flickr, including the ubiquitous but annoying Rebekka Gudleifsdottir (rebba) and the more centered Helga Kvam (hkvam)

Err Daniel - on the mobile phone thing - obviously you know a lot better than me what the situation is, but I will mention that even by the coast, in villages, it often took a fair hike to find coverage! And I got home to a truly massive bill!!
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