When one reaches a certain age the event needs to be celebrated with some pomp and in the last week of August I managed to get away on a tour of Iceland with Nature Explorer. With just 6 clients we were very comfortable in two huge modified Nissan Patrol cars and for a whole week we bounced around southern Iceland on 42” wheels, crossing rivers and remote desolate plains, driving on a glacier and going up and down impossibly steep inclines to some breath-taking locations. What follows is a brief summary of the photographic fun that we had.
An Iceland Photo Tour by Adam Pierzchala
October 20, 2011
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Adam Pierzchala
12 Responses
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Neville Stanikk
I’ve wanted to go to Iceland for decades but still haven’t managed it. What would you say is the likelihood of getting any sunshine during a week? Did the locals say “Oh you should come here in Xxxxxxxx?”.
Still lovely pics though
On October 20, 2011 at 2:37 pm • Reply -
Thanks very much Tim for publishing this! I just discovered that clicking on the photos opens up the image as a separate window which fits neatly on the screen – a lesson for me to keep the images smaller than the ones I submitted! Incidentally, the “E100” code on some of my Mamiya shots refers to Ektar 100 colour neg film, not Ektachrome transparency.
Thanks Paul for your positive comments; Veidivotn is a large region of crater lakes. We had bright sunshine most of the day and I felt that the vista approach didn’t work well in the strong light, though some of the other participants were making panoramic stitches. However, I feel that the vastness of the landscape tends to be diminished with such imaging and I prefer to home in on selected scenes – my 35mm camera with a 70-200mm zoom at maximum extension worked well to isolate some of the stunning details. There are a couple more images of the black sand on my website.
Hi Neville, do make the effort, save your pennies and go to Iceland – not cheap but oh so inspiring! Nature Explorer run the “Fire and Ice” tour in the late summer because it is supposed to be milder and drier. The weather is probably as changeable as that in Scotland, though rather cooler on any given day. During the 8-day trip we had only one day really badly affected by the weather, but that’s when I got my moodiest images (such as the glacier view). The rest of the time it was dry apart from just one or two light showers. So no complaints on that score. The real difficulty photographically was bland overcast sky and featureless blue when we were at Veidivotn. Rgds., Adam
On October 20, 2011 at 4:55 pm • Reply -
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Hi Neville
I went to Iceland the second week in June (2009) and we had good weather on all but a couple of days. A whole week cost in the region of a grand, which covered flights, car hire (4×4) and their excellent hostels. Do make the effort, its a fantastic place, and I’d love to get back their myself one day, a week just wasn’t long enough to see all their is to see.
On October 24, 2011 at 2:09 pm • Reply -
LensView
Wonderful travelog and beautiful pictures, Adam! The images are fine proof of Richard Childs’ article in this same issue about rubbish weather.
On October 25, 2011 at 11:34 am • Reply -
@ Giant Squid (love that name…) you are right about the ease of getting a 4×4 and having a wonderful time, but a word of caution: some of the places we visited cannot be reached with a standard 4×4 as the water you need to cross is too deep or the ground really rather too rough. We did see some standard jeeps turn back having watched our super-jeeps literally wade across a couple of rivers. Also prices have gone up. But yes, you can still have a lot of fun! Rgds, Adam
On October 25, 2011 at 9:48 pm • Reply -
@ LensView: thanks for the positive comment! Rubbish weather means finding subjects that suit the conditions you have. What I really dislike is totally overcast flat features skies or conversely bright blue cloudless skies. I usually try to crop these out. But let’s say in bright sunshine I still can’t resist taking a scenic shot just as a memento even though I know it will have little or no photo-artistic merit. It’s a running debate and not for this post. Having seen much of Richard’s work, he is quite a master at extracting a fine photo from the dark and dismal! Rgds., Adam
On October 25, 2011 at 9:48 pm • Reply -
You’re quite right Adam. On our return leg we headed inland to Lannmannalaugar, but our path was blocked by a heavy stream. We considered crossing but the thought of a hefty repair bill when we got swept downstream was enough to send us back in the direction from whence we’d came!
On October 26, 2011 at 8:17 am • Reply -
Hello Craig, you were perhaps unlucky with Landmannalaugur as I did see several “normal” 4×4 there. But I can well imagine that the stream just before you get to the campsite could easily be too deep after heavy rain or when the snows melt earlier in the year. Adam
On October 26, 2011 at 10:21 pm • Reply -
Great work and a nice lecture too. It is a set destination for me since already 3 years but for the moment I did not manage to go there yet. I hope that next year it will be possible.
On October 28, 2011 at 12:22 pm • Reply -
Some very alluring scenery there and an interesting travelogue – thanks! My name is firmly on the ‘must go to Iceland sometime’ list, and has been for about fifteen years now….. it’s about time I got my act together. Your ‘Black Blue’ image is very nice indeed, as is ‘Dawn’, and those furrows look amazing, both as features and as photographic subjects.
On October 31, 2011 at 10:28 am • Reply
dwaindibbley65
