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Author Topic: Iceland in the Spring - Part One.  (Read 4203 times)

Wayland

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Iceland in the Spring - Part One.
« on: August 29, 2014, 04:27:49 am »

Iceland is a country still in formation. Sitting on a hotspot over the Mid Atlantic Ridge where the Earth’s crust is literally being torn apart by monumental forces, the evidence of that drama is written in the extraordinary geology that presents itself at every turn but it seems like many of the pictures I see of Iceland seem to be in the Summer which is the main tourist season.

Our plan was to make a circular tour of Iceland to get a real flavour of  the landscape, not just the tourist hotspots but some of the less well known places as well. We wanted to travel "out of season" to avoid the  crowds and we would hire a camper van to give us flexibility and a loose schedule.



Our flight brought us safely into Keflavik International and we were met by a cheerful representative from "Happy Campers", the company we were hiring the vehicle from. He responded patiently to the barrage of questions I pestered him with as he drove us into Reykjavik to collect our mobile home for the next two weeks and we got our first look at the landscape.

It has to be said that the Main road on the North of the Reykjanes Peninsula does not offer the finest views Iceland has to offer.

The camper van we had booked was the smallest one available and although rather compact it gave us all the essentials we needed for the trip. On future occasions we may consider something a little bigger but it was  sufficient and good value.



Now, call me a wuss if you like but I hate getting into a new vehicle on the wrong side. I like it even less when I find the steering wheel is on the wrong side as well.

They drive on the right in Iceland of course and to a Brit that is always unsettling. Add to that our departure from the yard in  the middle of the rush hour, trying to read signs with too many consonants and a very hairy drive over the flanks of Skálafell in the thickest fog I have ever seen, on a road with an indeterminate number of lanes. I was far from relaxed on arrival at Geysir, our first overnight stop.

The original “Geysir”, from which these features now derive their name worldwide, erupts very infrequently now. Fortunately it has a slightly smaller neighbour that makes up for it by bursting into action every 5-10 minutes or so.



The first tourists of the day stared arriving as we were packing up to leave so we set our course for Gullfoss, just a short distance up the road for our next stop.

At Gullfoss, the Hvítá plunges 32m in two stages into a narrow, steep canyon before flowing away in a completely different direction. It’s impressive.



Bruarfoss is not a huge fall and not easy to find either.

I had come across a few pictures and descriptions and it sounded interesting.

Armed with map and compass we set out in the right direction only to be confused by a second stream, not featured on our map, that cut across our path.

Undeterred, we checked our position, crossed the first river and eventually found the falls just where they should be.



The next day we visited Anarstapi. A grey drizzly day.



This part of the coast is well known for it's sea cliffs which are pounded by the waves and populated mainly by kittiwakes.



We settled for the night further up the coast at Londrangar hoping that the weather would clear for some wider shots of the landscape.



I cannot begin to tell you how angry I was to find the first litter here that we have seen since we landed on Iceland. What really made my blood boil was that it had obviously been left by photographers.

Wrappings from a memory card, a flight luggage label complete with the name of it’s owner, who flew in from Frankfurt, a battery, a piece of broken tripod and two tabs from professional 120 film, so certainly not all from general tourists. What sort of scumbags fly to such a beautiful place and then start to foul it up for everyone else?

There really is no excuse for it. I've been a photographer for over thirty years, film and file, and never left anything but my footprints at a location.  People like this are an absolute disgrace and drag the reputation of the majority of responsible photographers down and though the mud with them.  

Needless to say I cleared it all up of course.



With the whole of Iceland to choose from, a bunch of clowns in another Happy Camper van turned up, parked right next to us, and played loud music late into the night. At 1:20 am they started flashing their hazard lights and waving torches around to attract the attention of two more vehicles. I got out of bed and suggested, in no uncertain terms, that they adjusted their behaviour. I was certainly not a very “Happy Camper” at that point.



By morning there were six of the idiots wandering around like lost sheep.

They had come, like so many before them, to capture the landscape that they had seen and read about in books but regardless of their expensive cameras and rather cheap flimsy tripods, they obviously didn’t have a clue about what they were doing.

One of them even started waving his mobile phone around pretending it was a light meter when he saw that I apparently did have some idea of which end of the camera to point at the subject.



After breakfast we left them to it and moved East to a dramatic lava field we had spotted the day before called Berserkstraun.

There are far too many pictures to put them all up here in one go so if you want to see more and the full unedited report, I'm afraid you'll have to see them on my Photo Expeditions web site.

Part Two can be found here.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2015, 08:58:44 am by Wayland »
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Chairman Bill

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Re: Iceland in the Spring - Part One.
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2014, 06:05:11 am »

Some great shots there. All grist to the mill, as I try to persuade my wife that Iceland is a suitable place for a holiday, so thanks for that  ;D

Tony Jay

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Re: Iceland in the Spring - Part One.
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2014, 06:10:04 am »

I promise you that if I got an opportunity to go to Iceland (particularly if I could combine it with an Arctic Cruise) that I would be there with bells on!

Tony Jay
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Wayland

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Re: Iceland in the Spring - Part One.
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2014, 06:37:41 am »

I've wanted to go for years and I can tell you it didn't disappoint.

Every time we saw something and thought, "how do you top that?" and then round the corner would be something just as spectacular in a different way.

I'm putting the pictures up in sections otherwise they just get overwhelming.
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luxborealis

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Re: Iceland in the Spring - Part One.
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2014, 10:48:16 pm »

Lovely images. Great control of light and long exposures. Looks like you had some beautiful weather.
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Kevin Raber

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Re: Iceland in the Spring - Part One.
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2014, 11:25:21 pm »

Nice Images, well done!  Iceland is one of my favorite places.  LuLa will do a workshop there next June.  It will be a different look at Iceland for any of you that want to experience it.  Gary, these images are something to be proud of, nice job.

Kevin
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Wayland

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Re: Iceland in the Spring - Part One.
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2014, 02:48:14 am »

Thank you, The weather was pretty mixed in fact but one of the great strengths of digital photography is it's ability to work well with conditions that were once considered poor in the days of film.

I'm not exactly sure of my position regards the forum rules on this issue, I'm choosing my words carefully here as I don't want this thread to appear like an advertisement, but there will also be some "Partner workshops" in the spring run by "Photo Tours Abroad" who feature in the LuLa Workshops section.


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Wayland

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Re: Iceland in the Spring - Part One.
« Reply #7 on: February 22, 2015, 09:11:50 am »

Just discovered all the picture links were broken due to a web site revamp.

Sorry about that, all repaired now.
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Iceland in the Spring - Part One.
« Reply #8 on: February 22, 2015, 11:39:18 pm »

Thanks for fixing the links. I do enjoy revisiting your Iceland photos.
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