I am leaving for home tomorrow afternoon. The few days in London has been enjoyable and a good recharge of my batteries after the rigours of chasing the Icelandic ‘midnight sun’. I have concluded the business side of the trip in London, seen a few sights and sunk a few pints and I am now looking forward to getting home to see my kids and to get stuck into sorting, editing and processing the more than four thousand frames I shot in Iceland. See you back in Melbourne.
London Dispatch #23 – I Miss Iceland
There is nothing like the ‘Big Smoke’ of London to make me realise how much I already miss the wilderness and landscape of Iceland – A starker contrast there could not be. London definitely has its charms and appeal, being so steeped in fascinating history, but my passion lies in pristine wilderness, glaciers, mountains, icebergs and mother nature. Still, it is a good opportunity to see a few historical sites, unwind and recharge the batteries with a spot of good ol’ English pub food. Thats steak and ale pie, chips and gravy, over boiled ‘vegies’ and a pint (or two) of the local brew. Tomorrow will check out the Tower of London and a few other historical sites before heading for home on Sunday.
Iceland Dispatch #22 – Farewell Iceland
All good things must come to an end they say – And to this end today is my last day in Iceland. I am leaving for London late this afternoon for business and a bit of rest and relaxation for the next few days. It’s hard to believe I have been here for more than two weeks. In many ways Iceland feels like a home away from home for me; it has just about everything I love in spades – spectacular landscapes, great light, peace, natural wilderness, tranquility and fantastic food. I am already looking forward to coming back next year.
I do not intend for this post to be a full debrief on my trip – that will come later once I have had time to sort and process all my images and reflect on the trip. I shot more than four thousand frames during this trip and have only posted a very small sample to date. I have kept my initial ‘best’ picks up my sleeve for my portfolio and future blog posts – I want to process them at home on my Mac Pro on my wide gamut monitor to get the best results after I have had time to do a full edit.
The pace of photography in Iceland has been frantic to say the least in order to take advantage of the best light. Sleep has definitely taken a back seat throughout the trip and as a result my batteries now feel really depleted and badly in need of recharge. The continual short broken ‘naps’ of a few hours here and there is a pace I can no longer sustain. After two and a half weeks my body is craving a solid good nights sleep; which I will be sure to get in London this evening.
Now, I am about to pack up from the small town of Vik and make the two and a half hour drive to Reykjavik to return the rental 4 wheel drive and catch the shuttle bus to the airport for the afternoons flight. Farewell Iceland…. For now.
Iceland Dispatch #21 – The Lagoon
The drive from Geysir to the Jokulsarlon lagoon yesterday took me a bit longer than I expected – around five hours with a couple of rest breaks along the way (and one wrong turn). I arrived in time to set up camp and get myself organised for the evenings photography. It was quite overcast with dark moody lighting which I find very conducive to iceberg photography.
Today is my last full day in Iceland and I am Skaftafell at lunch time; which is about forty five minutes west of the lagoon. I am going to have some lunch at a small local cafe (they have a really excellent apple pie) and then hike up to the carving face of one of the glacial tongues of the Vatnajokull glacier.
The weather is currently very overcast with occasional rain showers, so I am planning to head further west after my hike where the weather was better yesterday. I will stay in Vik this evening so I can photograph the sea stacks in good light at sunset tonight and sunrise tommorow. Heading to Vik tonight also means the drive from Vik to the airport tomorrow is also much shorter.
Iceland Dispatch #20 – Heading East
Yesterday I picked up a 4 wheel drive in Reykjavik and headed up to the geothermal pools at Hveravellir; roughly 70 miles from the waterfall ‘Gullfoss’ and the major tourist attraction ‘Geysir’ (the spouting boiling water after which all other such vents are named). The road from Reykjavik to Gullfoss is paved and easy driving – even if it is on the wrong side of the road for an Aussie. The road from Gullfoss to Hveravellir however is a rocky, washboard, potholed excuse for a road that would break pretty much any vehicle of the non-military variety. It is liberally sprinkled with rocks the size of soccer balls, blind corners, steep drops and various other obstacles that are ‘car breaking’ in nature. I don’t think my Jeep’s suspension will ever be the same. Total toll – the car fridge packed up from all the bouncing, the 12 volt-240 volt inverter seems to have given up the ghost and one ‘check engine’ warning light; which seems to have gone away after topping up the coolant.
I arrived at Hveravellir just in time for an hours photography at the geothermal pools before the light faded for the evening around 11:30pm. Rather than pitch the tent I decided to pull an all night shift and turned around immediately and drove the 70 miles back to Gullfoss to be there in time for sunrise at 4am. The drive back was much more challenging as a thick fog bank had rolled in behind me on the way in, reducing visibility to about 10 metres. It took more than three hours to make the return drive, but it was worth the effort as the light at sunrise this morning was soft and translucent.
Now I am having a late brunch at Geysir after catching up on some sleep and am about to head over to the Jokulsarlon lagoon for more iceberg photography – a few hours drive on paved roads. The weather at the moment is magical – its around 20 degrees, the sun is shinning and there is no wind – ideal conditions for the lagoon.
www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com 