ICELAND 2018: 50 shades of blue

We return to “winter-wonderland” only 2 years after our first trip. This time in the company of my sister & brother-in-law, and in possesion of our own 4×4 Jeep Cherokee, no limits to the driving- and photography times ! If only the weather plays along and my sis doesn’t kill me…

P.S. Click on the blue links in the following text for more information

We spend our first evening in Reykjavik, drop everything in our room at the very nice Storm Hotel in Reykjavik. Soon we are off to shoot the Viking ship and Harpa. Unfortunately we are a little late for sunset, and the ship is lit at night which gives the whole thing a yellowish glow, it almost looks golden. In the Harpa there is some sort of event, lots of light, music and people. Suddenly a count down, and they all come running our way, wearing colourful bands and shoes that light up in the dark evening sky. That was the northern lights fun run for 2018, where they encourage participants to come wearing illuminating lights, neon gear and crazy bright colors. believe me they did !

A totally different Harpa experience. From there straight to dinner in a very cool little pub on the corner of the square. The place is packed but we manage to get a table. The food is very good and bloody expensive. We’ll get used to that.

Day 2 gets us going in direction Vik.

Since there is a storm blowing and it is pouring with rain we decide to stay on Reykjavik a little longer, do the Harpa inside, which is architectually very interesting. Then a few souvenirs, a cup of coffee and off we go. We take the circle road leading east to Vik.

The one and only stop, as the rain gets from downpour to a mere drizzle is at the Seljalandfoss waterfall. Despite the gruesome weather there are quite a lot of people there, standing all over the place. The fall has loads of water and we can’t even get close because of the spray. Not really a photo motive anyway in this light. We walk the trail to the next fall, turn back because it really starts to piss again and we are all soaked by the time we get to the car. Better hurry now and get to the Icelandair Hotel in Vik where we first of all need to get into some dry clothes.  After that we hit the bar, happy hour, 2 for 1, that must be put to good use considering the prices here. Dinner at Sudur Vik, a little place two streets down and a little way up the hill. The food is good and it’s a nice and cozy little place.

Day 3 we leave at sunrise, which is around 9:00, for the black sand beach of Reynisfjara.

We miss the turn and end up at Dyrholaey, not so bad either. Just the weather is bad again, really bad. It is snowing and storming so bad we can only shoot with the wind in ourbacks in a sheltered spot, and even  then have to clean the lens every few shots.

The waves coming in are enormous, and crash in onto the lava rocks, shooting up 10-15m in the air. Miracles do happen and we even get some light as the sky clears for a brief moment. Marc is our new favourite supermodel, his orange jacket is a spectacular contrast to the grey and black sky and the white foam.

We try out a few different spots now that it has stopped snowing and the wind has almost died down completely. The lighthouse on the cliffs is our next motive. Nice too, but unfortunately the rock arch is a dull brown in front of a black and grey sky, so dull we don’t spend much time there, the lighthouse itself is the prettiest thing up here today, the red roof in super contrast to the sky.

Back to Vik for lunch after which we head for Skogafoss waterfall. The first pics are the best, but it is almost impossible to get a picture without tons of people in. We decide to take the trail and steps which lead up to a viewing platform to the east of the falls. A good way to burn some calories, but the view is not that great and it has started snowing again. We walk a little further to another small fall which would be quite pretty in good weather, then have to head back before we get snowed in.

 

Down the steps is a lot easier, but a little slippery. The drive back to Vik is one big white out, we hardly see where the road is, sight is down to less than 50m, just white as far as you can see….which is not very far. We do go to the black beach which is extremely crowded. Unbelievable in this weather, what are all these people doing here ? Honest, it is snowing like mad, the wind has picked up and sight is down so far you don’t even see the really big rocks just a little of shore. This is too much even for a photographer.

Back home to our lovely hotel and the happy hour. Pizza for dinner at Sudur Vik and then get ready for tomorrow, we want to leave early. Once we start checking the photos, it takes a little longer. We were so lucky, got some really nice shots in between the snow storms.

Day 4 at last we head for Hali, Jökulsarlon and the ice beach.

Plan A was to do a sunrise photoshoot here, we quickly abandon that plan, a snow storm is blowing and visibility is down to almost zero. Marc drives well and gets us through the blizzard safely, only once we almost hit a sign post, but that was merely because we were avoiding a crashed car on the right side. It is snowing so badly we can barely see 10m ahead so we drive along, trying to stick to the straight line on the navigation system, we pray this is where the road is, because we honestly can’t see one. It is so cold we keep having to scrape the ice off the windows… whilst driving, and on the inside !

Further east the weather soon gets better, good for us, we get to do the next stop as planned. The small Stjornafoss Waterfall, only 1 km from the main road but hidden from sight. We have it all to ourselves and it is beautiful !

We spend quite some time, in and out of the water trying to get the best angle. Our Viking ice fighter boots are worth their weight in gold…and they are rather heavy ! Next is the narrow canyon called Fladrargljufur we drive back a mere 10km and are glad we did, it is a pretty scene. Unfortunately rather hard to photograph, half of it being in the shadows. We move on and stop again at a big roadside waterfall, the Foss a Sidu, on private property so we can’t get too close, but pretty it is. Shortly after that we are awed by the first big glacier we pass, the Skaftafellsjökull. We try to get closer, shit it’s a a private road again. As one of the big megatrucks comes our way we ask, and the guy tells us to drive right on, there is a parking spot at the end of the road where they start the glacier tours. Just be careful and don’t get too close.

We walk along the morane right up to the glacier, this is cool and again we are all alone. At last by 15:00 we get to the ice beach, only 2 more hours of light left. The weather is bright and sunny, almost too sunny, clouds are missing ! We make the best of it but the beach is loaded with huge chuncks of ice, so many it is hard to find a single good one or a small group, rather messy as Hougaard would say. Of course we get wet, but with the boots, thermal underwear, skipants and raincover it is almost hot. Marc is the first to fill his boots in a really big wave. Even all the layers can’t compete with a big wave covering you to the hips twice, once coming in, then again when pulling back. He’ll spend the evening with his boots and a hairdryer !

The next four nights we will stay at the Hali Country Hotel in Hali, only 5-6 min drive from the lagoon. Since this is the only clear night according to the weather forecast we head out after dinner hoping for some northern lights and otherwise a nice starlit sky and a milky way. The aurora forecast is 1-2, which is about as low as you can go, we give it a go anyway. About to do some lightpainting suddenly there is a very faint glow on the horizon, can’t really call it northern lights but green it is. So we set up and compose and play, it is a very minor one but we did see it !

Day 5 starts with snow again.

We postpone breakfast a bit to 08:30, which still is an absolute luxury on a photo trip. We then head for the ice beach again, this morning it is sensational, beautiful glazy blue chuncks are spread out on the beach, not too many, not too close, just perfect ! Now find the right one and have fun. After a hot chocolate at the Jökullsarlon lagoon we decide to head for Fjallsarlon, much less known and quieter. Once again we have it almost to ourselves. This, as well as the lagoon are not nearly as scenic as the ice beach, but the weather is so nice we take our jackets and gloves off and  simply enjoy a photoshoot in the sunshine. After a tasty soup in the little restaurant there, we give the lagoon another go before heading back to the ice beach again.

This time it is really crappy, no ice ! It is low tide, all the pretty chunks are washed out into the ocean and new ones are slowly being brought in by the tide. Too slow for our liking, we find one or two good ones and even add a few smaller ones ourselves, unfortunately these are often washed away by the next big wave, so we are quite busy being creative.

Ready to leave by five when the sun has set and no more colour in the clouds. It is getting cold again, not as cold as yesterdays -7, but with the windchill still cold enough. After a lovely dinner, archtic char, which is very similar to salmon, we spend the rest of the evening in our rooms with the hairdryer trying to get our boots, which everybody got “just a tiny bit flooded” in one of the bigger waves, dry again.

Day 6 we start with a morning at the beach.

We know whats best right now, high tide, just before or after (today at 08:39) and lucky as we are, it is not snowing and sometimes the sun makes a short appearance. After  10 min I get swept off my feet by a big wave, saw one coming held my ground at a sensational „composition“, but then a second wave came from the side. I had to keep my camera up, but the waves were pulling at my feet, a big chunck of ice hit my one leg, the water was churning, just as I thought I was okay, the waves started to pull back. I was down on one knee, tilting sideways, put my hand down in the freezing water, holding my camera up at all times of course. Pfew, a wet glove was the only damage. Much worse is that the photo wasn’t even so great at all, never made the selection. Today is truly a hit and run experience, hit the shutter, run from the waves, follow them back in, hit the shutter again.

A little more careful after that, but today everybody got wet till their hips and a few boots were filled once again, meaning not just ours but a lot of the silly chinese got very wet too. After 3 hrs at the beach we went back to the hotel for a quick lunch after which we drove about an hour to Höfn, to a place called Stokksnes. This was the only place we had to pay an entry fee so far, ISK800 each.

We drove a little bit till we reached the funny little black dunes with tufts of yellowish grass on them, not big dunes, just a whole lot of little black bumps. Good thing they still had some snow on them, that made for even more contrast. In the background the big mountain called Vestrahorn. We spread out and everybody found a cool spot, or more than one, with grass, dunes, snow and mountain view. Right in the end we went down onto the beach to get the reflection of the mountain in the shallow water. The beach was sloping very gradually and the wet sand with just a minimal layer of water made for a perfect mirror.

Dinner in a great little log cabin in Höfn called Kafi Hornid, super food and a very nice couple running the place. On the way home we were hoping for aurora but halfway home we even got into a snowstorm so our chances are down to zero. Well, maybe… by the time we get home we can see the stars again and the aurora forecast is a 3 compared to the one we saw which was a 1. The bad news, it will come at 05:00, so we will have to set the alarm a little earlier than planned. This is our last chance because from tomorrow night on it will be cloudy. Just as we are in bed there is a knock on the window, Marc holds out his camera, quick, the whole sky is green ! So we race to our pre-selected spot and set up. Seems we have missed the best part of it, but it still is green. We sit in the snow and press the shutter button every few minutes hoping for more green. After 2 hrs at -10 degrees we are frozen through, no more green, so we give up and go back home.

Day 7 it is now or never, up at 05:30 and head for the lagoon.

Well Jürg and Marc, I spend the time on the toilet, bad case of diahrrea, and Karin stays in bed. Turns out there was not much of an aurora and they gave up and did the ice beach by moonlight. Good thing us girls stayed at home. After breakfast we meet Einar and his big red truck, which will take us to the start of our ice cave adventure. After an adventureous off road drive, which really is a road according to Einar, we stop in the middle of no where and put on our safety belts, crampons and each get an ice pick. Start of our ice cave tour with Einar, the founder and owner of FromCoastToMountain. If you are a photographer and seriously intersted he’s the guy to talk to, he’s been discovering caves for the past 30 years or so, his son now runs his old company called Local Guide which does all these trips too.

We walk about 30 min over the Breidamerkulljökull glacier till we get to the back shoreline of the ice lagoon. On the way we get lessons in how to behave on a glacier, what to do when you fall, how to walk up and down, how to walk at all with the bloody things on. First we go into the „Lightroom Cave“, it is beautiful and really wide and long, all along the roof there are bigger and smaller madens where the light shines through. Imagine, at the furthest point we are about 300m into the glacier ! Jürg and Marc do their light painting stuff, the girls try to find a cool spot. Again Marc in his orange shirt is a great model, Karin too, once she takes off her jacket, red pants and an orange sweater, great contrast to all the blue ice !

The next cave is the “Treasure Island” cave, it is just about as long but 10x narrower, at one part we have to crawl and remove the backpacks from our backs to get through. It is very dark and most definitely not for claustrofobic people, at times we barely manage to squeeze through, have to bend sideways, then duck again, at the end it finally widens again and we are amazed at the incredible blue colours, shapes, lines and patterns.

Way over our heads are narrow winding madens, letting in light an creating an eary feeling, this is out of this world. It is really hard to photograph here, it is so narow you can hardly find a good position, set up you tripod but no more space left to even get your head behind the camera and look at the screen. We do our best, but to tell the truth, the part just on front of the cave is my favourite and I am glad to finally get out of there after a lot of creeping and crawling, sliding along ice walls and squeezing through corridors which won’t allow you to walk up straight.

The walk back is strenuous, the backpack seems to have gained in weight and the boots with crampons are awful heavy. Good thing the wind has changed direction and now comes from our backs, at least this pushes us forward a bit. Happy to reach the car at last, we are all so tired, lets get back to the hotel and have a well earned cold beer.

Day 8 we have to return to Reykjavik, a 400km drive lies ahead of us.

We can take it easy, have breakfast at 08:30 and leave when we are ready. Then the lady at reception tells us they expect extreme storms, a new weather phenomenon to us: they have something here called “blowing snow”. The snow here is very light, combined with winds of up to 40m/s which is 144km/h, the snow is blown over the road reducing visibility to a few metres, almost like driving in a sandstorm, just this time in white. Gusts of wind almost wipe us off the icy road. Well the lady was absolutely correct, shit it was bad ! We looked for the posts at the roadside, at times we could barely see the next one which wasn’t more than 25m ahead !

We reach Vik where they are blocking the road to the east, no passing that way for a while. We got through just in time. To give our driver a rest and stretch our legs we go for a coffee and then to the black sand beach. The waves are enormous and the spray gets blown away by the storm, so doomsday photography it is, this will look good in black and white. We dare not stay too long in case they close more roads. Passing by Skogafoss we can’t even see there is a mountain from the road, and it is not 500m away, so no use getting out for a photo, we keep moving, this will be worst than our first photo shoot.

Our luck stays with us, some light at the beach and once we reach Seljalandfoss the sun even comes out for a while. A whole busload of people leaves as we arrive and we can enjoy it almost privately. From our scouting on the first day, we know there is a second smaller fall which is 500m further on and mostly hidden behind rocks. This is the part where our boots come to good use, we simply walk through the riverbed in the narrow gorge to where the water comes crashing down. Hell of a lot of spray so shoot once, wipe twice, but it is so cool !

We photograph the little houses near the fall and a lonely house in the big open snowy landscape then its time to move on. One more stop for a couple of cool iceland horses, they look much better now in the snow, than they did on the first day in the green. The driving is slow, the wind is bad, the sight terrible. After Hella the road is closed, we are forced to do a detour, go by Reykjavik and from there to the airport at Keflavik. If it wasn’t for the lamp posts along the road we wouldn’t know where to go, creeping forward at 20km/h or so we finally reach our hotel. The boys take the car back and are stuck there, loads of people, bad roads and when they are finally in the shuttle back to the airport the shuttle gets stuck in the snow. What a day.

Day 9 we fly at 07:45, good thing for the snow and storm are getting worse, worse than yesterday they say. I can’t see how that can get worse, but as it seems it can, and then they will close the airport. We are on our way home.

To see our favourite photos : go to gallery

copyright photo and text: Astrid & Jürg Blümel for bluemelphoto 2018