ANDY FOWLIE
  • Hub
  • Portfolio
    • Flow 2019
    • magical Vestrahorn 2019
    • Fangorn 2019
    • a snowstorm at Kintail 2019
    • the village 2019
    • a bolt from the blue 2019
    • peaceful purple pastels 2019
    • a Slovenian sunrise 2019
    • the cormorant 2019
    • Elgol on the rocks 2019
    • weeds 2019
    • pretty in pink 2019
    • Ritsons Force 2019
    • Sakrisoy on the Rocks 2019
    • the Clappersgate eye 2019
    • the Falls of Falloch 2019
    • in the jaws 2019
    • the devils teeth 2019
    • tranquility 2019
    • the old man of storr 2019
  • Destinations unknown
  • Articles
    • The great debate...
    • Before and After
    • Shooting and editing a timelapse
  • Recognition
  • Contact
  • Store
  • About

Wet, wet, wet...

12/20/2018

0 Comments

 
Water plays such a central role in your experience when visiting the beautiful country of Iceland.

Surrounded on all sides by the Atlantic ocean, the 4970km of coastline provides amazing opportunities for interesting seascapes, while fans of freshwater can spend countless hours visiting over 10,000 waterfalls. Water also plays a key role in providing electricity through hydropower (~73%) and geothermal power (~27%).

In this post I will share some water themed pictures from my autumn trip to Iceland.
Picture
the motion of the waves is captured by a 1.3 second exposure
Iceland's beaches are fascinating, beautiful, and in some cases very dangerous. It is wise to heed the warning signs in some popular places and to treat unfamiliar places with caution - never turn your back on the ocean.

Volcanic basalt rock which makes up much of the exposed rock in the whole country, leading to the beaches with black sand instead of the golden or white sand beaches that are common on geologically older land masses.
Picture
a beautiful day on the black sand beach at Vik
Some of the spectacular Icelandic waterfalls have become huge tourist attractions, but with over 10,000 to choose from there are chances to get some of the less popular ones to yourself, at least for a few minutes.
Picture
one of the more hidden gems
Picture
This trip took place in the middle of October and the autumn colours were strongly visible at that time, providing quite a beautiful colour palette at many locations. Iceland is generally not a land of trees and forests, but the abundant mosses and grasses cover the volcanic landscape with a blanket of yellows, oranges and reds at this time of year.
Picture
a waterfall rainbow
On this trip I made a first (and probably last) visit to one of the more popular tourist destinations, the waterfall at Svartifoss. Searching for a parking space took quite a few minutes, it was very full despite the massive capacity (I guess maybe 1000 spaces), but I followed the trail upwards through some nice scenery to the waterfall, surrounded by hexagonal columns of basalt. The area around the waterfall had a population density similar to downtown Manhattan which made photography somewhat challenging, particularly because many people completely ignored the fences and signs informing you where you could and could not go. I set up my shot and waited quite some time for a break in the rule-breaking human traffic... a wait which included being asked to take phone pictures of some of the trespassers... and eventually managed to get a shot. It was great to see Svartifoss, but I will not rush to see it again.
Picture
autumn at Svartifoss
On the walk up to Svartifoss there is a vantage point for another waterfall, Hundafoss. The crowds did not seem to be so interested in it, but I thought there were some nice colours in the bushes near the top of the waterfall.
Picture
autumn colours at Hundafoss
Moving water can create great interest in landscape photography, but sometimes it is preferable to have things totally still - a smooth and calm body of water can work as a perfect mirror. With a wide-angle lens, low to the ground, you don't need much more than a puddle to get a full reflection of your scene.
Picture
Lómagnúpur
I am always drawn to these reflection shots (I sometimes feel like I do too many of those) and usually manage to spot opportunities for them, perhaps trying to rely on that a bit less would make me pay more attention to getting interesting foregrounds for my pictures and give better results... something for me to think about in future.

My journey continued round the southern coast of Iceland and when I passed through the tunnel just past the turn-off to Stokksnes (see previous post) I was into new territory, in previous trips I had not gone further around the coast than Vestrahorn.

The coastal road (still highway 1, the road that goes right round the whole country) goes through quite beautiful scenery between Vestrahorn and its less well known twin - Eystrahorn.
Picture
a tidal cauldron with Eystrahorn in the background
Eystrahorn has a rather similar shape to Vestrahorn, the mountains are a little higher and maybe more dramatic, and there is a similar bay in front of the mountain backdrop. The bay cuts in from the left when facing the mountains whereas it cuts in from the right at Vestrahorn, so if you see a "Vestrahorn picture" where the ocean is on the wrong side then you probably actually saw an Eystrahorn picture.
Picture
waves crashing as we look west from Eystrahorn
Continuing round the coast, moving north up the east side of the country, the waterfalls just keep on coming, one after another. I stopped at the side of the road to shoot this next one, it was very beautiful but as far as I can tell it does not have a name... in another country perhaps it would be more of a highlight.
Picture
Anonymousfoss?
My Iceland trips have usually been arranged at quite short notice and that has led to a variety of different accomodations... not all of which I would be desperate to revisit. The east of the country starts to be remote enough to at least slightly reduce the amount of visitors and those who do venture there are probably doing the full circle around the country, so maybe this is an area which is more passed through than stayed in.

I spent one night in the small town of Djúpivogur at the Hótel Framtíð, which proved to be a perfect place to stay with a good restaurant and very comfortable rooms. The price:quality ratio was much better than any of the other places I stayed on this trip and I definitely recommend it for anyone who visits this area.

While having a morning cappucino in the reception area of Hótel Framtíð I was surprised to hear a familiar voice addressing a group of asian people that had been gathering nearby, it was Mads Peter Iversen. I have never met or spoken to Mads, but I have listened to many of his YouTube videos, he has a lot of great material about different locations, including practical information such as where to park and all the other things which it is hard to prepare for without seeing a location.

I was interested to hear how he explained the coming day to his workshop group, and I thought I might say hello after he had finished his business, but he disappeared before I had an opportunity. Anyway... check out his channel, he is a good explainer and a great photographer also.

Back to my waterfall hunt... I continued round the coast on a day where the weather slowly deteriorated.
Picture
Nykurhylsfoss
My new "furthest point anti-clockwise around highway 1" came when I visited Folaldafoss... yet another waterfall, by which time the weather was a full-on snowstorm. Normally I don't like to have any people in my images but on this occasion I felt like it helped the picture to include the guy making a video call live from the scene.
Picture
It is always a little sad to be making my way slowly back towards the airport instead of heading out into the unknown, but in Iceland there is always something interesting to shoot.
Picture
snowy mountain reflections
The interest is there no matter the time of day, as darkness falls the possibilities for stars and auroras arrive.
Picture
aurora reflections
 On the morning of my final day I decided to head for one of the most popular tourist destinations, the mighty Gullfoss waterfall. My idea was to try and beat the main traffic of the day by arriving well before any bus tours starting from Reykjavik could hope to be there.

Gullfoss is a remarkable sight. The Hvítá river makes a sharp turn and falls down into a deep canyon with an average of over 100 cubic metres of water per second cascading over the falls.
Picture
looking back upstream towards the mighty falls in the early morning - the lonely figure on the rocks beside the first drop provides a sense of scale
Following the path down to the rocky platform was a treacherous affair as the mist generated by the falls coats every surface in ice, there was advice to use crampons on this path and that was good advice. The view once you get closer to the drop into the canyon made quite an impression due to the enormous power of the water.
Picture
into the abyss
As much as I like trying to capture the grand wide views of these places, my favourite pictures usually come when focusing on a more intimate part of the landscape, giving an almost abstract impression and making it hard to identify the location.
Picture
this was my favourite Gullfoss picture
Another advantage of these more intimate landscape shots is that there are still possible compositions, even at very famous places, which have not been shot a million times already, so there is more chance to come up with something interesting and original.
Picture
Gullfoss flow
My final stop in this Iceland trip was in the geothermal area area at Geysir, the place which gave rise to the english word geyser. The original Geysir geyser is largely dormant now, but a number of its neighbours are still active to some degree, the Strokkur geyser being the most impressive and reliable of those, bursting forth every ten minutes or so.

The difficulty with photographing a geyser, especially these geysers at Geysir, is that for 99.9% of the time the geysers are just a hole in the ground surrounded by mud, fences and people... not an ideal recipe for a great composition. The best that i could come up with was to find a "least unattractive" patch of mud as a foreground and then try to time it so that I could catch the geyser in full eruption (waiting until it seemed to be "due" and then shooting continuously).
Picture
Strokkur erupts!
Well, that's it for this time. Next time I will conclude my Iceland trips with a post focusing on ice.

I would like to thanks all my readers for liking, sharing and commenting on my posts during this year and to wish you peace and happiness during the festive season.

Andy
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Andy Fowlie

    See also:
    read more posts

    Subscribe

    Enter your email address to receive notifications of new blog posts

    Archives

    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017

    Categories

    All
    Adriatic
    Akranes
    Alps
    Amsterdam
    Anglesey
    Architecture
    Arctic
    Aurora Borealis
    Autobau
    Barnafoss
    Bavaria
    Beach
    Bears
    Berchtesgaden
    Berlin
    Birds
    Bitnje
    Black Redstart
    Bled
    Bohinj
    Bow Fiddle Rock
    Bruarfoss
    Budapest
    Budir
    Cars
    Castle
    Castles
    Champagne
    Church
    Churches
    City
    Cley Next The Sea
    Cromer
    Czech Republic
    Destinations Unknown
    Dolomites
    Dornoch
    Duino
    Duncansby Stacks
    Eagles
    Earl Grey's Bathing House
    East Anglia
    Edinburgh
    England
    Europe
    Finland
    Fjallsarlon
    France
    Fyrish Monument
    Garmisch Partenkirchen
    Garmisch-Partenkirchen
    Germany
    Glacier
    Glencoe
    Golden Eagles
    Grundafjordur
    Hamnøy
    Hamnøy
    Harlech
    Hellnar
    Hintersee
    Howick
    Hungary
    Hunstanton
    Ice
    Iceland
    Interiors
    Isle Of Skye
    Italy
    Jamnik
    Jasna
    Jökulsárlón
    Killer Whales
    Kirkjufell
    Lake District
    Laki Tours
    Landscape
    Landscapes
    Latvia
    Liechtenstein
    Lighthouses
    Little Stint
    Llanddwyn
    Loch
    Lofoten
    Long Exposure
    Maria Gern
    Metro
    Mountains
    Neist Point
    Neuschwanstein
    Night
    Northumberland
    Norway
    Obersee
    Old Man Of Storr
    Osprey
    Oulanka National Park
    Overstrand
    Parys Mountain
    Penmon Point
    Photography
    Portfolio
    Portopiccolo
    Prague
    Red-kites
    Reims
    Reine
    Riga
    Rossfeld
    Rossfeldpanoramastrasse
    Roumlthbach-waterfall
    Rspb
    Ruka
    Sakrisoslashy
    Sakrisoy
    Sakrisy
    Salet
    Scotland
    Seascapes
    Senja
    Sheringham
    Short-eared-owl
    Skagsanden
    Skye
    Sligachan
    Slovenia
    Snow
    Snowdonia
    South Stack
    Staircase
    Staircases
    St-tomaz
    Surfing
    Switzerland
    The-house-of-the-black-madonna
    Timelapse
    Tollie
    Travel
    Trieste
    Utajaumlrvi
    Utouml
    Vestrahorn
    Vienna
    Vik
    Wales
    Waterfalls
    Wildlife
    Windmills

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Hub
  • Portfolio
    • Flow 2019
    • magical Vestrahorn 2019
    • Fangorn 2019
    • a snowstorm at Kintail 2019
    • the village 2019
    • a bolt from the blue 2019
    • peaceful purple pastels 2019
    • a Slovenian sunrise 2019
    • the cormorant 2019
    • Elgol on the rocks 2019
    • weeds 2019
    • pretty in pink 2019
    • Ritsons Force 2019
    • Sakrisoy on the Rocks 2019
    • the Clappersgate eye 2019
    • the Falls of Falloch 2019
    • in the jaws 2019
    • the devils teeth 2019
    • tranquility 2019
    • the old man of storr 2019
  • Destinations unknown
  • Articles
    • The great debate...
    • Before and After
    • Shooting and editing a timelapse
  • Recognition
  • Contact
  • Store
  • About