Iceland photos

[LocalHero1953]

I received some excellent advice on this forum about travel and photography in Iceland.
Here are some of the results from our two week visit that included a couple of days in Reykjavik and a drive round the whole island in a 4WD camper van, including a couple of days in the highlands.
I shall post them in groups by location/region. Comment and criticism are welcome, and I will try to answer any questions.

As a general comment, I was impressed by Icelandic colours. Expecting to be driven to thinking in B&W, it was difficult to ignore, on the one hand, the Icelanders' use of colours outdoors, particularly the painting of houses in plain strong colours, and on the other hand, the subtleties of greens in the landscape and green/blue in the water and sky. The only B&W shots I took were those that naturally had no colour in them.

All photos were taken with a Leica M and 90mm, 35mm and 28mm lenses.

The first few from Reykjavik.


The brand new Reykjavik opera house. All glass and barely a horizontal or vertical line in it.


Just a shed


Cafe table


Fire hydrant


Barrier to pedestrian shopping area (and human girl)


Hallgrimskirkja (the largest church in Iceland). I admit I struggled to find a way to capture this iconic building in any imaginitive way, and I am not convinced by this attempt.

[IzzieK]

Paul...these are good shots. I can just imagine the people there trying to mute the sometimes monotonous snow and ice and cold during winter season with colourful structures.

[Manfred M]

Nice shots; they sure bring back some memories of our trips there.

It's nice to see that you weren't fighting the bright mid-day sunlight in Reykjavik; nice diffuse light for photography...

Frankly, I seem to remember the weather being exactly like that on both of our stays there. The jackets and sweaters tell me the temperatures were about the same too...

[bnnrcn]

Hi Paul, nice images , I especially like #1,#5 and #6

[LocalHero1953]

Manfred - it stayed pretty much in the low teens Celsius for the whole trip, except in the highlands where it was 6-10C, and one night on the south east coast where we caught the cold air off the ice cap at night and it must have been near freezing.

[Mike Buckley]

The girl in pink is terrific. Great eye and execution!

[LocalHero1953]

Some rivers and mountains - and a road.






Skyscape


Remote farm - cold in winter


Another remote farm


How green was my valley


The Iceland ring road. Not very busy in places.

Edit: Sorry: this last one has become a bit darker than reality.

[Mike Buckley]

The first "Remote Farm" is just terrific. Great mood and scale!

Consider cropping the second river just barely above the rocks on the left side. Also consider getting rid of the car lights at the far end of the Ring Road (they're small but they can be seen).

[LocalHero1953]

Thanks, Mike, you're right on both counts. I meant to remove the headlights but forgot. Cars only come along every 5 minutes, but with a road that long and straight you have to wait a long time to get it properly empty!

[Mike Buckley]

One more thought: If the shot of the Ring Road was mine, I would be very tempted to move some of the white stripes to make them perfectly in a straight line.

[LocalHero1953]

I know what you mean, but I'm not after that level of perfection!

[Manfred M]

Now you've done it; I want to go back again...

Are you sure about your first farm though? Looks like it might be a church and graveyard (I think I see a number of small white crosses).

[Manfred M]

One more thought: If the shot of the Ring Road was mine, I would be very tempted to move some of the white stripes to make them perfectly in a straight line.

Of course, you are assuming that the line painter actually painted them straight...

[Mike Buckley]

Looks like it might be a church and graveyard (I think I see a number of small white crosses).

Good catch, Manfred. One of the buildings is definitely a church and the cemetery with crosses are next to it. Not sure whether the building is associated with the church.

Of course, you are assuming that the line painter actually painted them straight...

Just the opposite, it's very clear that they aren't painted straight and we photographers need to correct the shoddy work.

[LocalHero1953]

Yes, it must be a church. I didn't see the crosses till after I posted it. The churches were typically isolated and I had been trying to find one in such a position to shoot - looks like I did it unintentionally!

[Shadowman]

Nice use of color, good subjects.

[LocalHero1953]

Iceland houses. This is the subject area I feel I got least to grips with, photographically. Either I took plain, full-frontal images that are OK but unintersting, or I took groups of buildings where I couldn't make the composition stand up. I suspect these and some of the others I have work best as a group of images on display or in a book rather than as individual shots. C&C welcome.
These shots also show Iceland skies to perfection: I'd have to cut and paste a sky from elsewhere to get any sky features at all.


Traditonal house, Bakkagerdi, Eastern Fjords


Even the wheelie bin is colour-co-ordinated. Bakkagerdi, Eastern Fjords


Not a professional design job! Bakkagerdi, Eastern Fjords


Rust coloured. Bakkagerdi, Eastern Fjords


Downtown, in the local equivalent of Regent Street. Reykjavik


Houses around the harbour (a). Stykkisholmur
Cropped to 16x6, but just about full width of the original.


Houses around the harbour (b). Stykkisholmur
Cropped to 16x6, about 75% width of the original.


Terrace house. Isalfjordur, Western Fjords


Smart house. Isalfjordur, Western Fjords

[LocalHero1953]

Waterfalls


Dettifoss, north east region. This place is......mindblowing.
90mm, 1/4000sec, f/4, ISO2500, and a lot of water on the lens.


Strokkur geyser, at Geysir, western region.
It IS a waterfall after the water has gone up


Gullfoss, western region


Thjofafoss, western region.
The volcano Hekla is in the background, right


Fjallfoss, Western Fjords
The boulder, bottom left, is a nuisance, but was too big to move, and I wanted the river to exit the frame bottom left.

[Kaye Leggett]

Ooohh, all so lovely. Ironically I have spent today looking at Iceland and tours my elderly and infirm parents can make from a cruise ship in Reyjavik and from the North - those and looking at these has reminded me of the unfinished business I have with Iceland....... Any photos that entice the viewer to want to visit are good in my book and these certainly do that.

BTW, It was mid summer when we went and a staggering 18 degrees - the locals were complaining it was to hot ! We got sunburnt as the last thing on our packing list was suntan lotion.

[Manfred M]

Nice shots of the waterfalls. The one thing I wasn't really expecting when we first got to Iceland is that there seemed to be a magnificent waterfall just about everywhere. Ho hum; another beautifull waterfall..

Dettifoss; after getting up close my wife started referring to it as "Dirtyfoss" on account of all the sediment in the brownish water.