I woke up before sunrise and took a look out of the window. Clouds. Lots of clouds. I thought the evening before was bad, but this took it to another level. I couldn’t see the mountains I had planned on shooting at sunrise, and I was on the near side of the bay. I had planned on shooting them from across the bay. “Stranger things have happened”, I thought, and started the drive around the bay. I pulled in and began the waiting game. Nothing. Sunrise time came and went, and the pure, low cloud cover didn’t budge. Oh well, can’t win them all. I had plans for two waterfalls that day, and the Northern Lights forecast was strong for that night.

I began my drive towards Egilstadir, the next town of any size. It had snowed just enough to make the road white, so I wasn’t in a hurry. I move along, noting the diminishing scenery. I don’t think the scenery was getting worse, but the visibility sure was. The clouds  got lower, blending with a thickening fog, and it was now snowing. I slowed more and the road got worse.

I pushed on, hoping it would get better, but mother nature is going to do whatever she wants. I grabbed my phone and snagged a quick shot before I had to turn my focus (mental not camera) all the way up. Thankfully they place yellow markers along the road for travelers and the snow plow, because it was soon after like driving into a sheet of paper.    The fun meter was pegged at zero.

The visibility dropped to two sets of those yellow markers. On top of all of this, the road was now climbing steadily and started up switchbacks. The snow was 6 inches deep. The fun meter was now well below zero. I honestly wanted to turn around, but there was no place to pull in, and 3 pointing it on the road would have been really stupid, as someone could easily ran into me. I pressed on and soon was at the top of the pass. I knew that it was likely to get better as I made my way back to lower elevation.

Things did gradually improve on the way down, and as I got closer to town, I finally met a snowplow. I pulled into town, needing a break. It took me twice the time the GPS said it would.

I fueled up even though I was only down between 3/4 and half a tank. I wanted all the weight I could get if the roads were going to be like that. I grabbed a coffee, and checked the weather. I asked one of the girls at the counter if she knew the road conditions. She said she would check and ran to the back and came back with a print out from the computer. It actually showed the locations of the 4 snowplows working 100 kilometers or so of road. She told me that they don’t start plowing until after 8, that’s why it had been so bad coming over from the coast. I felt like a dumb ass. I thanked her and made my way to the camper.

The roads still were not what you’d call good, but they were at least being plowed. I just took my time and headed for parts west. Things improved as I went along, and the clouds started to break open a bit, clearing out the fog and gloom.

I reached the first turn off to go up the east road to Dettifoss. Dettifoss is one of the larger waterfalls in the country. If you saw the movie Prometheus last summer, it was the waterfall at the beginning of the movie.

I took a look at the road, marked with a sign that stated that the road was not plowed in the winter. It had one set of wheel tracks going through the snow. I went about a half mile up the road before I saw a drift and said no way. I turned around, guessing that I wasn’t going to get there.

I turned west on the ring road and drove a little ways. Here came the second road to Dettifoss, this one on the west side of the river. There were a couple sets of tracks through the snow. I checked the sign. 25km. I did the rough math in my head. 17 miles? “I’ll give it a try” I thought, “If it gets bad I’ll turn around”.

Up the road I went. The sections that were north/south were not too bad, but as the road turned more east/west, the drifting was obviously deeper. I stayed in the wheel tracks and pushed on. I figured that after that morning, it wasn’t going to be worse than that. At least I could see.

I made my way north/northwest. Some sections here and there began to get deeper. I’d have to quickly calculate whether to quickly stop before it got deep, or push the accelerator down and plow through. Over half way there, the answer was always the latter. The Happy Camper’s turbo diesel 4 cylinder would spool up, and I aimed the camper through the wheel tracks. It was honestly pretty stupid. Getting stuck in a rental camper in the middle of nowhere Iceland wasn’t on the to do list, but I forged ahead.

After an hour, I found myself at the makeshift parking area near the falls. There sat the two other crazy people’s vehicles. One guy was leaving as I pulled in, and he had a big grin on his face as he looked at the camper van. I’m guessing he had a good laugh that somebody was goofy enough to drive something like that back there.

I could hear the falls, but it looked like a half mile hike on the snow. I ate quick for energy and grabbed my gear. I made my way towards the water, quickly realizing that the clouds had mostly burned off. My black coat and pants suddenly didn’t seem so cool, as I was soon pouring sweat. The sun was also unwelcome news for shooting the falls. I wouldn’t be able to use a long shutter speed to blur the water without a strong enough filter.

I got closer to the river, and soon had a glimpse of the water. These were not the right falls. What the heck? I surveyed the land and noticed that footprints also led to an area maybe a half mile downstream. I began trudging through the snow in that direction. Before long, the roar of the falls behind me was overtaken by the sound of the main falls.

Upon arrival, I immediately thought that the falls better angle was from the other road. Terrible roads, full sun, wrong angle. I was beginning to feel sorry for myself, as my luck was running on empty photo wise. I told myself to snap out of it and shoot pictures anyways.

I shot a few angles, but I knew that I wasn’t getting anything “print worthy”. The light was simply too harsh. I also knew that I wanted to shoot Godafoss around sunset, and wasn’t sure how far down the road it was. I also had to drive back out to the ring road. It was time to pack it up and go.

I started the drive out. I figured that if I made it to the falls, I’d make it out. The other two vehicles were gone, so they had likely widened out and/or packed the trail down more. I was going along, not having too much trouble heading south. I came around a bend and found this…

What in the world? I stopped here before I got into the deep section. I got out and started walking to the cars. One of the cars ( the one on the left) was the other car that was at the falls when I was there. People got out of the cars and began walking towards me.

“Are all 3 of you stuck?” I asked. Of course they were. “How did that happen?” I was told a story that the first two met, and instead of one pulling off in one of the open areas, they both decided to take one wheel track and go for it. The snow made quick work of that thinking and had pulled them both in. “What happened to you? I asked the third guy. He explained that he had been driving fast and couldn’t stop in time, so he ditched to not hit the cars. I’m sure at this point I had a dismayed look on my face. I inquired if anyone had tried to push any of the 3 vehicles, heck two of them were 4 wheel drive! They told me that they had tried, but had no luck. They informed me that they had called (lucky for them there was cell service there) the local hostel, and that the owner was coming to pull them out for 10,000 Krona a piece (about $80). By then we were all cold and took to our respective vehicles to warm up.

I ate again and maybe 20 minutes or so passed, and my wheels started turning. Them getting pulled out was all fine and dandy, but if the guy was going to pull them clear out to the ring road, I might have been sitting there for 2 or 3 hours. “I don’t have time to F around” I thought, and got into mission mode.

I got out and head towards the cars. We had 2 that were 4 wheel drive, and 5 or 6 guys there. “Ridiculous!” I thought, “We can get at least one of them out”. I explained the plan of attack to the guys, and they were all ready to try. We worked on the first car for a few minutes, and then heard the sound of a car coming. It was the hostel owner, there to save the day.

Long story not so short, the hostel owner pulled the cars out ( not nicely either, haha) and got them to a nice melted out area just south a ways where they could turn around. The father didn’t speak English (one of only two people all week that didn’t) but his teenage son did, and he translated to everyone. He suggested that I follow the other 3 cars out, and he would follow everyone. I took advantage to talk smack to the other tourists with a “I won’t get stuck, I live in Colorado”, haha. Seriously though, you don’t grow up in Iowa and now live in Colorado without having an idea how to drive in the stuff. I took the offer though and said thanks, and soon the caravan was on its way out.

I had punched in Godafoss, and checked the sunset time, and I was still ok. I drove west along the ring road, bypassing an area full of geothermal features. It was like a barren version of the Norris geyser basin in Yellowstone. I’ll have to check it out during a future trip.

I arrived at Godafoss and had a little time to check out the area. I had a shot in mind, but after checking the area out, the approach looked sketchy with snow and ice. I figured that I had pressed my luck enough for the day, so I went with the safer approach on the west side of the stream. I first went up closer to the falls, but I didn’t care for the angle and the spray would have been a pain to deal with. I started tracking back farther downstream, choosing to go with my zoom lens for a shot. It was mostly cloudy, but there was slight openings to let a little light in. It made for a nice texture in the sky. The clouds began to get a little color on the bottoms, and I worked to grab a few shots. After basically two days of nothing, finally a keeper!

http://www.landscapeslimited.com/HImagePages/Godafoss.html

I packed up and head west to the “Capital of the North”, Akureyri. Akureyri is a beautiful city, sitting at the south end of a long inlet from sea. Behind sit snowy mountains, making for a picturesque setting. I ventured into town. I was burned out on cold sandwiches again, so I went all out and went to Subway, haha. I checked the weather and the Northern Lights forcast. Clearing skies about 10PM and the Aurora forecast was a 5, which is really high. I was crazy excited about what the night had in store.

I got out of town and started to venture out in search of a good place to set up for the show.  I went straight north to a small town on the coast, but didn’t like the light pollution, even with it being a small town. I head out into the country in search of something better. It was about 10, the twilight light finally fading out into darkness. I noted the still cloudy skies and checked the weather. Clearing between 11 and 12. No worries.

I decided to head back out to Godafoss to set up for the shoot. There was a parking area that was fairly level on one side. I thought it would work well for shooting the lights and then hitting the hay.

I arrived and checked the skies. Cloudy. Maybe a small open patch teasing a star or two. The game began. Long story short, I’d check outside every so often, maybe get out and do a test shot. Clouds! 1AM. 1:30. 2. Pondered driving an hour or so, just to see if my luck would change, but thought better of it. I was really tired. I started setting my alarm for 30 minutes, would doze off for the shortest of power naps, and check again. Nothing. The clouds held and I got zilch. Finally at 4 AM I said to hell with it, sunrise was in a couple of hours, go to bed. And so I did, with hopes the the next day would bring better luck.

Day 5 Map. A is the small town where I started. B is the pass of doom in the morning. C is Egilstadir. D is Dettifoss but the map is showing the east road instead of the west. E is Godafoss. F is Akureyri.

I had spent the night not too far west of Jokulsarlon and that was the target again for the morning. I made the short drive east to the parking area at the beach. I was late to the party apparently. A couple dozen photographers had gathered on the beach, shooting their chosen ice piece.

I wandered a bit, kind of half playing around. I was fairly content with the “Gem Of The Atlantic” shot I got the night before, I wasn’t really working hard at getting a shot. More just having fun being there. A piece of ice caught my eye, still bobbing around in the surf. I could see that it had a nice triangle top and a cool blue tint to it. I watched it get pushed towards the beach, and made my way towards it before others grabbed the good spots.

The ice piece made it’s way in, getting lodged into the sand. The waves continued their attack, and I thought of grabbing a shot documenting this. The waves attacking the ice is how this place happens. I set up and began timing my shots against the waves.

I grabbed a few shots, and decided to head west down the beach, looking for something different, and a little solitude from the crowd. I noticed the sky breaking up a little, adding just a pinch of pastel color, and I looked for some good ice to work into a shot. I saw some ice that at first looked like a canoe, but as I approached, I noticed that it was two separate pieces. I changed angles to get the sky in the frame and it dawned on me… Angel Wings. I’m not religious but that’s all that came to mind. I snapped a few shots, trying to get some good wave motion to complement the scene.

I head back east along the beach. The crowd was picking up, and I was ready to head out. I took another look at the piece of ice I had shot with the waves hitting it. It’s shape had changed, and it sat in now shallower waves with the tides going out. “It looks like a fish!” I thought, and it once again had my attention.

I decided to head out. I went back west a little ways, I had seen another glacier arm the day before, southeast facing, and wanted to see if the sun would poke through the clouds. The light wasn’t great but I tried a few pano attempts. The clouds got worse and it was time to head east.

I journeyed towards the town of Hofn. I needed to fuel up, clean up, hit the grocery store. I first went to a hostel in town to see if I could buy a shower there, but they said they would need to charge for a room. I tried my weary traveler speech, but no dice. They recommended that I go to the swimming pool in town. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, so I will now. If you like to swim and hit the hot tub, Iceland is for you. Because of the geothermal heating, almost every town of any size has a public swimming pool, usually a sizeable indoor/outdoor facility. It struck me as odd that people were outside swimming, it was in the low to mid 40s. I guess the heated pool make it a year round thing there. Anyways, they only charged me 350 Krona, so about $3. I got cleaned up, called my mom and dad, and then head to the grocery store. I picked up some stuff and head to the gas station. I fueled up and noticed that this gas station also had burgers and hot dogs, etc. Is fairly common to see gas stations with more of a restaurant type burger place in it. They really don’t have stand alone fast food places there. Not a single McDonalds or Burger King in Iceland. No Starbucks either! I went in and got a burger and some fries. I was average, but that was pretty welcome after a couple days of ham sandwiches.

I had burned too much time in town. It was already mid afternoon at this point, and I started east towards the next target. Hofn was much closer to it than I thought it was, so I arrived shortly. Right on the coast are some really narly mountains, and I was hoping to capture something there. Maybe hang out until sunset. I ventured around the area, but the weather was having none of it. The wind was blasting off of the ocean, and it was very cold. Cloud cover dragged overhead, and showed no signs of breaking anytime soon in the hour and a half I was there. I tried a few shots just to document the area. A great location, but bad conditions.

I packed it in and head up the east side of the island. I didn’t really stop and shoot pics, it was pretty socked in with clouds, and snowing lightly. Visibility was good enough to drive, but you couldn’t see much for scenery. There were a few interesting stretches, one of which reminded me of the Oregon coast, with sea stacks and the road wandering along the coast. Consider all of this territory on my “rematch”  list.

It was getting dark, and so I arrived at a very small town on the east coast, Breiðdalsvík. This is the town that I posted from one evening in the pizza place in town. I thought it was odd that a town that small, population 139, had a pizza place, but there was nothing for miles. I suppose people in the country might come in from time to time. I watched probably a quarter of the town play cards in the place, then head to the van for a solid nights sleep. I hoped that the weather would improve, and I could shoot the rugged coastal mountains at sunrise.

Overview map for the day.

A is Jokulsarlon. B is the Glacier arm. C is the town of Hofn (PS. Sounds like Hup. Don’t ask how) D is the cloudy coastal mountains. E is Breiðdalsvík, where I stayed for the night.

I had stayed in the town of Vik, behind a gas station on the east side of town. That doesn’t sound great, but I was maybe 100 yards from the ocean, and could hear the waves crashing very easily. It was a soothing sound before I went to bed.

I woke up and drove the van the short distance to a parking area very close to the shore. There are some interesting sea stacks off of the point at Vik, and I hoped to capture them with a nice pastel early light behind them for a morning shot. It wasn’t to be. It was nearly 100% cloud cover, and the wind was biting cold. I was bundled in my coat and my snowboard pants, and was still cold. I toughed it out for 30 minutes or so, but didn’t come away with much. The sun did break though a tiny bit, and this was the scene from that morning.

Vik Sea Stacks

I head out of town thinking that the area around Vik was amazing, but that I hadn’t captured that in photos. The black beach, the sea stacks, rugged mountains behind the town, but I just didn’t have the conditions. That’s what landscape photography is, a constant roll of the dice, you vs the weather. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. This all said, the area was still great to experience and I WILL return someday.

Not long after leaving town, headed east on the ring road, the conditions began to get nasty. The road was covered in ice from the night before. I drove really slow and carefully got through it. Thankfully it was only a 10-15 mile stretch, and it went away as the road turned north.

As the road head inland a little more, the landscape also began to change. I soon realized that this drive, and Iceland in general, is a varied place. You’ll have a stretch of shoreline, with sea stacks that could be the Oregon coast, then a stretch of sharp snow covered mountains, then… What is this???

The area was obviously an old lava flow (Technically the whole island is I suppose), that had been over run by a thick carpet of green moss. This stuff was something to behold. Thick and plush, you could have slept on the stuff. It was spongy to the touch. Pretty cool stuff, it made a rolling green carpet across the land. 

I head down the road, and before long, the landscape had changed again. Now it was a rolling farmland. I saw an old farm building out in a hay field and stopped in to snag a quick shot.

Continuing east, I had stopped in for a coffee, fueled up, and head out. The landscape soon was featuring a plateau on the left side of the road, and a waterfall or two made their way over the edge.

Just around the next bend in the road.

Somewhere along this point, I told myself that I couldn’t stop and shoot everything there was or I wasn’t going to get anywhere! I wanted to end up and Jokulsarlon that night, and I still had glacier stops to hit before then. It was time to put some miles… errr… kilometers on the van. I put my blinders on and tried to ignore the scenery. Easier said than done, but I made my way east.

I arrived at the Skaftafellsjokull arm of the glacier, part of Vatnajokull National Park. The glacier arms are an impressive sight, with miles of ice stacked up, making their slow, grinding descent towards the sea. I went into the visitor center and got a little info, then had to decide. The Skaftafell waterfall had been a target on the list, but I realized I sadly only had time to hike to either it, or the glacier itself. The decision was quickly made to go to the glacier. I had never been on one so I grabbed my hiking poles from the van and head that way. I power walked the supposed 40 minute walk and was at the base of the glacier 20 minutes later. It was one of those moments where you realize just how small you are. It was really bright out there too!

I stayed out there for about and hour or so and shot a few pics, then made the hike back to the van.

I got on the ring road with the full intention of going directly to Jokulsarlon. Well Iceland has a funny way of changing your plans 3 miles down the road. I could see the next glacier arm from where I was on the first one, but as I went down the road, I looked over and saw that the second arm came down a spectacular valley with snowy mountains and I knew I had to check it out. I had passed a gravel road a mile or so before that head in that direction, so I turned around and there I went. I told myself no more than an hour and then I’d have to go.

I parked the Happy Camper and right away noticed that the glacier fed into a small lake at the bottom of it, and that the glacier had previously pushed a large ridge of dirt up at the west end of the lake. I thought that gaining some elevation would make for a good view point, so I grabbed my gear and started half hiking, half jogging my way over. I got to a high point, set up and waited a little for some light to hit the glacier. Scale like this needed a  pano.

I then finally started to head east towards Jokulsarlon. Jokul means glacier, and so Jokulsarlon means glacier lagoon. This is where a glacier arm comes down and breaks off into a lake. Huge pieces of ice bob around the lake until they are taken out to sea via a short 1/4 mile river. When the tides are coming in, water pushes into the lake, keeping the ice in place. But when the tide goes out, a train of ice heads out to sea, where it is immediately attacked by the waves. The ice gets broken down, some polished to near glass and deposited onto the black sand beach. Its a striking contrast. First, here’s a look at the lagoon itself. I have a pano from this location that I’m working on that might show up later.

What I was mainly after here though, was those previously mentioned ice pieces on the beach. This is a popular spot with photographers. Here’s a phone shot of a couple guys shooting pics to give an idea on scale. As you can see, some of the ice pieces are quite large.

I walked along the beach shooting different pieces, trying different shutter speeds, etc. I had to use caution here, as the waves can pick up a chunk of ice quite easily and it can be semi dangerous. I saw another guy have his tripod and camera thrown into the surf by a rogue wave. I think his camera was ok but his lens didn’t make it. He was less than thrilled, but that’s the price you pay if you are not paying attention.

I got a few shots that I liked, but here is my favorite from the evening.

http://www.landscapeslimited.com/HImagePages/GemOfTheAtlantic.html

Here’s a summary map of the day. One of the more spectacular stretches of road, anywhere.

A is Vik. B is the green moss area. C is the farm. D and E are the falls and the stream. F is the parking for the first glacier hike. G is the second glacier. Finally, H is the Jokulsarlon area.

Stay tuned for the following days!

Josh

After day 1, I needed some shut eye. I slept for about 6 hours and woke up right around sunrise. It wasn’t noteworthy and so I began to drive. It was time to start the south coast!

I drove for a little ways, and decided to stop in a snag a few pics of horses while the light was still decent.

http://landscapeslimited.com/IcelandHorse1SML.jpg

I liked the Icelandic horses quite a bit. They are pretty stocky and maybe 3/4 the size of your standard American horse. Don’t call them ponies, the Icelandic people are pretty proud that they are direct descendants of the Viking horses.

I made my way south to the “Ring Road”, which is Highway 1. Highway 1 roughly follows the perimeter of the island, and is the main way of getting around. I started east a bit, and then decided to pull into a gas station to fill up. It wasn’t open yet. I found out in my journey that it is very common for convenience stores to open at 10AM.  So I hopped into the back of the van and got a nap in.

After the nap, I fueled up for the first time and got a coffee. Diesel was pretty locked in a 249 Krona per liter. Figuring liters to gallons, and the exchange rate between Krona and the dollar, diesel was about $7.65 a gallon. Makes $3.50 gas seem like a deal! This was the biggest difference in prices between the countries, and would be my biggest cost other than the rental and airfare.

Anyways, traveling farther east, the landscape began to change. On the left (north) side of the road the ground moved higher, kind of a plateau beneath highlands. I could see the first of many waterfalls plunging off this plateau edge in the distance. I soon arrived and began to explore Seljalandsfoss. Seljalandsfoss is a 200 foot beauty that you can walk behind, but during my visit, the ice build up made it too dangerous to go all of the way around. I journeyed up the side hill and shot a few pics.

http://landscapeslimited.com/SeljalandsfossSML.jpg

I drove east and soon was arriving at Skogafoss. This was on the “must stop” list. Skogafoss is also a 200 foot falls, coming down in a powerful curtain of angry water. Skogafoss creates a lot of spray, so it was a challenge to make sure the lens wasn’t getting covered. I’d have to compose the shot, then stand in front to block the spray, clean the lens, and then place the lens cap on until I was ready to shoot. It was mostly to partly cloudy, and I had to wait for the sun to find a hole in the clouds to beam through. Skogafoss is pretty well known to display rainbows from the spray in direct sunshine. I had waited maybe 15-20 minutes and the sun was soon to arrive. Then I heard voices nearing and turned to see, much to my chagrin, a tour bus had arrived. “I’m screwed!”, I thought to myself and packed up my gear and headed up the stairs along the right side hill to the top. I checked out the top of the falls and then snagged this shot on the way back down.

http://www.landscapeslimited.com/VImagePages/SimplySkoga.html

Once back down, the crowd has thinned, and I went back to trying a shot from the bottom. It took a little waiting for the sun again, but before long I was headed out.

http://www.landscapeslimited.com/HImagePages/Skogafoss.html

I headed farther east, amazed by the scenery. I was getting my first glimpse at glacier arms, just inland from the coast. The south side of the road could have been the Oregon coast, and the north side Antarctica.  It’s a pretty crazy combination.

I went into the town of Vik, and got a much needed shower. The kid working at the hotel seemed perplexed, but directed me to the guesthouse (Hostel like building) to shower for 500 Krona. (About $4). Heck I’ve paid $8 to shower at the KOA in Moab, so I thought I was getting a steal.

After cleaning up, I head back west of town to the shore. It was my first visit to the coast, and this far east, the sand was already a deep black. The ocean has a funny way of pulling me towards it. The mountains just north of Vik were really rugged, and just as easily been my target for sunset, but here I was on the beach. This was really a crapshoot. The clouds to the south were thick and dark, but to the west was a little clearing. I had hopes that the sun would sneak under and light the clouds up, but it didn’t really happen. Some higher clouds overhead got some color, and I tried to work with what I got. The jury is still out on this pic.

http://landscapeslimited.com/ShoresOfTheSubconsciousSML.jpg

The limited color soon faded, and the weather turned even worse. The wind was howling and it started to sleet/snow. I tried one more shot before packing it in for the night.

http://landscapeslimited.com/BlackWavesSML.jpg

I forgot to do this for day 1, but here’s a Google Maps for day 2.

A is where I started, north of Gullfoss.

B is Seljalandsfoss.

C is Skogafoss.

D is the beach at the end of the day.

http://landscapeslimited.com/IcelandDay2Map.jpg

Stay tuned for the rest of the trip!

Josh

I woke up at 5AM. The game plan was to go to work a little early, get off early, get on the plane and sleep on the flight. That all went pretty good except for the sleeping part. A combination of “a kid before Christmas” and being uncomfortable kept my sleep to about an hour.

We landed at 6:35AM Iceland time, so 12:35AM Denver. I got through security, passport, yadda yadda. Went to the bank window and got some Icelandic currency, the Krona. http://landscapeslimited.com/KronaFront.jpg

I started trying to use my phone, but was having some difficulties with that. I saw a payphone and tried to contact the Happy Camper company in Reykjavik, where I had my rental reservation. I immediately got some error recording, of course in Icelandic. Slightly lost feeling. I approached a man in a booth that was advertising bus rides into Reykjavik, which is about a 40 minute ride from KEF, (Keflavik International). I sheepishly explained my situation to him, and he called Happy Camper for me. I was apparently trying to dial the country code in front of the number, which wouldn’t be needed in country.

About an hour later, I was on my way to Reykjavik to pick up my camper van. We went through the paperwork, and the man there explained how some things in the van worked, and I was soon ready to go.

First stop was the grocery store to get some supplies. This is where it started to feel like I was in a sitcom. At this point, it was about 10:30 (4:30 Denver), I’ve had an hour of sleep, and I realize (Hello, Captain Obvious!) that most of the products were labeled in Icelandic. I was taking my best guess at some things. Who wants a Skinka sandwich?

http://landscapeslimited.com/Skinka.jpg

Yet some items had completely American/English packaging. Doritos! Nacho Cheese! It was fairly amusing to me. The other thing was pricing. This was my first adventure with the Krona, and what things were going to cost. The Skinka was 550 Krona. Damn that sounds crazy! But it’s not that bad, today’s exchange rate puts that at $4.45 US.

I checked out and punched Gullfoss into the GPS and head out of the city, intending to get a little ways out and jump in the back and get a nap in. A few hours later, I arrived at Gullfoss. Photo Time! “I’ll sleep when I’m dead!” I thought, and grabbed my gear.

Gullfoss is one of the major stops on “The Golden Circle” tour, and it’s easy to see why. A sizeable stepped waterfall that exhibits power and beauty. I checked out the falls from a few angles and snapped a few shots.

http://landscapeslimited.com/GullfossFrontSML.jpg

It was windy, and I got cold even bundled up. The visitor center was open, so I went and warmed up and had a bowl of very good Vegetable Lamb soup. Now I was really feeling sleepy and I knew I could fight it off no longer. I got in the van and drove up the road a few miles north of the falls and found a nice flat area to park in. I checked sunset time, and set the alarm for a nice 3 hour nap.

I woke up and headed back to the falls, trying to see what I wanted to shoot. I hadn’t been down the path to the falls themselves yet, choosing to stay above them earlier. I walked down the path, and liked that it got you close to the brink of the lower section. I shot this around sunset and after. I really liked the ice that the mist and spray from the falls had created, and decided to focus on a tighter shot in search of my first “keeper” of the trip.

http://www.landscapeslimited.com/HImagePages/Gullfoss.html

I packed up my gear and decided where I had slept earlier would be a good place for the night. I had not checked the Aurora forecast that day, being busy getting things together and honestly it probably slipped my mind. I noted the partly cloudy skies and had a hope that I might get to see them. I waited for the skies to turn dark and got out of the van, giving the night sky a first look. I could see some stars, but lots of clouds as well. I didn’t see any lights where I could see the stars, so I decided to hop in the van for a warm up break. This happened a few times, getting out and checking every 20-30 minutes. I’d peek out the window in between to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

After one of the outside checks, I started thinking it wasn’t going to happen that night. The skies were fairly cloudy at that point, but I noted a large break in the clouds to the east. The clouds were moving east to west, so I guessed a half hour and I’d check that big break then. I burned the time playing video games on my phone. I had started a game of Tetris, and glanced out the window. What was that!?! I thought my jacked up sleep might be messing with me, so I blinked a few times and let my night vision come back to me. There was definitely something going on out there!!!

I bailed out of the van like a mad man, setting up the camera on the tripod. I could see the lights!! They were slightly faint, but I could see them changing in strength. Slightly stronger, slightly weaker. I tried some test shots to check my settings. I noticed a new string forming to the west, growing across the sky. This thing was bright!! Soon, color was ripping across overhead, and I was overjoyed. I felt like a kid on Christmas ripping open presents. They did not last too long, but it was a great 20 minute show before they faded out and the clouds rolled in.

http://www.landscapeslimited.com/HImagePages/IcelandicLights.html

If you are still with me, stay tuned for the following days reports yet to come.

Josh

Ok, I know. I’m terrible at updating my blog. I’m going to make an effort to do a lot better.

It’s almost travel time again. In just over two weeks, I will be going to Iceland! I’m really excited to get there and check it out. This will only be the second time I’ve been outside of the U.S., something that I’m planning on making more of a regular occurrence.

Iceland is pretty well known as a landscape photographers paradise. Waterfalls, Glaciers, geothermal features, and many other things combine to present many options to photograph.

I started thinking that I wanted to try to get some Northern Lights pictures. I started researching and looking at where to go. I checked Priceline to see how much it would be to fly to Alaska. It was $1200 to go from Denver to Anchorage when I was looking to go. I had seen some ads for Icelandair, as they had recently started direct service to DIA. I was pretty shocked to see that I could fly direct to Reykjavic for half as much, $600 round trip. I kinda ran with it and threw caution to the wind at that point. SOLD! I purchase the airfare and then started to plan out the rest. Smart thinking, or maybe not.

Iceland is pretty expensive. Factoring in the liters to gallons and the exchange rate, gas appears to be in the $8-9 US a gallon range. No complaining about our gas prices out of me! My rental vehicle is more than the airfare. I’m not complaining, just illustrating that getting a good price on airfare didn’t fully show what I’d be spending on the trip. None the less, I’m really excited to go.

About the rental, I have what is called a “Happy Camper” reserved for me. It is one of those little Ford Transit Connect vans. You might have seen them driving around as they seem to be getting more popular here in the states. They get good gas mileage so people are starting to use them for delivery vans and the like.

The good news about the Happy Camper is, it is not only my transportation, it will also be my room each night. It has a fold down bed in the back, a sink, burner stove, and a refrigerator/cooler. It also has a heater in it so no worries about the cold.

Doing the trip this way will let me be more mobile and not tied to staying in a hotel in a certain place every night. This should let me be more flexible in my plans and adjust my shooting to the conditions. Hopefully this means a few extra “keeper” photos.

That’s about it for now, I hope to update this again before I leave. I’d like to show the list of all the stuff I’m going to take, to hopefully be prepared for a great photo trip.

See ya,

Josh

Once again I’ve gone far too long between blog entries. I’m hoping to keep thing more up to date through the year.

My photo schedule for 2012 is starting to take form. I have a general “to do” list of different locations, or trips to take, etc, but don’t ever really have a plan outside of 12 months or so.

I’m still working in the constraints of 2 weeks of vacation a year. I realize that some people don’t even get that, so I should not complain. I’ve learned to budget my time as much as possible. An example being taking the Monday after Easter off. Combined with getting Good Friday off, this gives me a 4 day weekend by only taking one day off. This is how I have to work things to travel as much as possible with the time off I’m given. I do get a 3rd week of vacation starting year 8 at the railroad, so I have a couple of years of 2 weeks to go.

As I did last year, I will be traveling over the Easter weekend to go shoot. I just booked my airfare tonight and will be detailing things as it gets closer, so check back soon for that.

I will be going to Salt Lake for class for work in May, so that means a couple of weekends in the Moab area shooting.

Also like last year, I will be taking the 4 days off the week of the 4th of July, and going on a longer (8 days) photo run this summer. This trip will be all new, as I’ll be going to Glacier National Park in Montana and traveling across the border into the Canadian Rockies.

I’m planning a few weekend hikes for this summer here in Colorado. High mountain lakes, etc.

Fall time in Colorado will always get some attention from me, but is likely to just be weekend runs.

Later in the fall last year I went to Zion National Park and other places in the Southwest, but soon realized the two days at Zion were not near enough. I plan on visiting Zion again this November with maybe a couple of bonus stops thrown in.

This is the general run down for my 2012 photo plans, so check back through the year for details, and check the site www.landscapeslimited.com for the photos.

Thanks,

Josh

I intended to post Colorado Fall part 2, but its been a hectic week. Instead, this is about my trip I’m leaving for tomorrow.

People sometimes ask how I can go out so much, its all from tricky planning. I only get 2 weeks a year vacation, but I stretch it into more trips. I used one day with the 3 days Easter weekend, giving me 4 days in Northern California. I used 4 days in the week with the 4th of July, plus the 2 weekends, giving me 9 days in Oregon and Washington. Weekends here and there. I took one day with no pay on this last Colorado fall color run, giving me a 3 day trip. So once again, I’m headed out to shoot, and this is a big one. 9 days in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona.

I haven’t completely ironed out the schedule, and this is slightly concerning, as I usually plan these things out a bit more. But I’ve thought about it a little the past few days and think I have a general plan.

I only have one day set in stone, and that is next Monday (Halloween). I won a hiking permit to “The Wave” in Northern Arizona. I’m super stoked to check it out, I tried four previous times to get a permit, only to strike out until now. They only allow 20 people a day into this area, with many applying for a chance to go. You can Google “The Wave Arizona” and you’ll see why I’ve been trying to get there.

So with Monday set, that gives me Saturday and Sunday to fill before hand. There are a multitude of options, and I’ve been trying to figure out a schedule that will allow me to see the most things. Right now I’m thinking I might hit the Escalante, Utah area this weekend and do a couple of hikes I have my eyes on.

After the wave hike Monday, I think I’m headed to Toroweap. Toroweap is in the Grand Canyon National Park, on the north rim side. It’s farther downstream than the traditional North Rim stop though. 60 miles of washboard gravel and worse challenge those who journey there, but once you are there, the reward is a stunning view, a 3000 ft drop down to the Colorado. I’ll shoot one sunset and one sunrise there, so hopefully the conditions offer the cherry on top.

The other main stop during the week is 3 days or so in Zion National Park. This time of year brings fall color to the canyons of Zion. I’ll be hiking the Zion Narrows, where the Virgin River narrows to as small as 22 feet wide, with walls towering 1500 feet above. Also planned is hiking the West Fork of the Virgin River, where multiple photo ops exist, including the iconic “Subway”.

I have a few other optional spots in mind, and depending on what the forecast looks like, the schedule (sans Monday) could change. I follow the weather and the light, whatever will give me an opportunity at the best photography. I will have my spot tracker on most of the time, though it will not work in the slot canyons. You can check for my location by going to my site, www.landscapeslimited.com, click the contact link and then click “Josh’s Spot” at the bottom of that page.

If I do all the hiking I have planned, it will easily top the most hiking I’ve done on one trip. That said, the reward could be great, and I hope to share some great photos with everyone after I return.

Wish me luck!

Josh

Once again, I’ve been neglecting my blog. I’ll try to keep it updated more in the future.

As some of you know, I went out the first weekend this month and shot fall color around the Aspen, CO area. I’m pretty happy overall with what I got over a quick two days. Friday night I went to a couple of spots scouting for shots and messing around, but this cost me as I wasn’t set up anywhere special for sunset. It was very cloudy to the west, so sunset itself was somewhat lackluster anyways.

Saturday morning I got up at 6 after Jeep sleeping near Maroon Bells. Sunrise was right around 7 so I drove the short distance and went to look for my spot along Maroon Lake among the many other photographers.

Some people have a problem with shooting what they call “Icon” shots, stating that they are cliche and everyone has done it. I always say that they are icons for a reason! Why anyone would not go experience these places and shoot them for themselves just because they are very popular is beyond me. (End rant)

Anyways, on previous trips to Maroon Bells I had struck out with any clouds, and around mid morning someone turned on the cloud machine behind the Bells. I managed to get a shot I like (cliche warning!) with the Bells and the clouds reflecting in Maroon Lake.

http://www.landscapeslimited.com/VImagePages/PuffyBells.html

Saturday evening, I drove back to a popular site that looks due south at Capitol Peak. I hiked back along the trail a bit and then climbed up the hillside 100 ft or so. I set up and played the waiting game. The sky was cloudy and as time passed by towards sunset, I had my doubts if I would see any sunset color. Sunset grew ever closer, with nothing much happening, when suddenly a hole in the clouds broke through, letting the sunset glow beam down right on Capitol peak. I snapped a few shots and the light was gone as fast as it showed.

http://www.landscapeslimited.com/HImagePages/CapitolLight.html

Sunday morning I rolled the dice and tried to find a different angle on Capitol Peak for sunrise, but came up empty. Once again, do NOT go scout as sunrise or sunset approaches. Once in a while you will get lucky but for the most part, I highly recommend having your shooting location selected before hand. I broke my own rule and paid for it with no shot.

Around mid morning I drove back into Aspen and headed east to go back over Independence Pass. I’d been looking for a shot looking through aspen trunks for awhile, and found a beautiful stand of large aspen along side the road. I pulled over and looked around, waiting for the light to change a little and snapped this one.

http://www.landscapeslimited.com/HImagePages/ThroughTheAspen.html

A good weekend for sure.

First off, I know I’ve been neglecting this, so I need to step up the frequency of the blogging.

I’m trying to iron out plans for a little photo run this weekend. After working through last weekend, I’m really looking forward to “getting away”, even if it is just for a couple of days.

Photography is how I recharge. When I’m out shooting, its just me, my Nikon, and whatever it is I’m after for a shot.

This weekend I’m headed one of two directions. I have been wanting to head up to the Snowy Range, which is west of Laramie, WY. I might be too early for what I have in mind there. They just opened WY 130 a week ago for the summer season, so there is obviously lots of snow left up there. I do want some snow in the shots, but also want open water on the lakes and tarns. I’m liking the idea of snow right now though, I’ve never been much of a fan of the heat of summer.

The other idea is to head east out on to the Colorado prairie. I was driving to Kit Carson, CO for work a week or so ago and spotted an old farm house with a huge (maybe oak) tree next to it. That was it, no machinery or junk around it, just an old house with a single tree in the middle of pasture land. I like old barns and things like that, and the simplicity of the scene with the right light and clouds could be a good one. I did see a modern house a half mile or so to the south, so I should go ask if it is their land and see about permission. I could drive 3 hours and get told to go fly a kite, so it could be a big waste of time.

Anyways, there’s the options, so hopefully I have a good shot from one of those after this weekend.

Coming up, I am flying to Portland, OR on the 1st for a big photo run. I’ll be in Oregon and Washington until the evening of the 10th, so 9 days shooting waterfalls and a visit to the coast as well. I’ll be blogging up more details about that in the next 2 weeks before I go. See ya!