Back from Iceland

[JemC]

Well, i'm back from my trip to Iceland,

Totally different from last year when everything was covered in snow, This year it was thick low cloud,rain and mist for the biggest part of the trip, there were however the occasional blue sky moments at differnent parts of the day, but they did not seem to last long,
This made for dull, flat grey days but very enjoyable just the same, but on the down side this meant that i did not get the opportunity to catch the northern lights (again) so the hunt continues :-)
Another down side was the fact that i only had a 55-250mm lens (this is just simply not wide enough)which resulted in quite a few missed oppurtunities, So letter has been sent to the big fella in the red suit :-) On the plus side i still managed to grab a few images, which given the conditions i think are not to bad, here's a couple to start off with,
Please feel free to comment/critique good or bad,

#1

Kerid Crater.
(Information courtesy of Wikipedia)

The Kerio Crater Lake ( also sometimes it is spelt Kerid) can be located in south part of Iceland in the Grimsnes area, apparently it is one of the most photogenic volcanic craters in existence. Tour buses make this a regular stop for tourists to photograph the crater, which is a part of the golden circle tour route and one of the most-photographed features in this stunning landscape.

The crater was formed by a volcanic eruption some 3,000 years ago and it is also one of several volcanic craters in the area, an area which is known as Iceland's Western Volcanic Zone, The Kerio Crater is the most visually recognizable with the caldera still intact,


The caldera is roughly 55 meters deep, 170 meters wide, and 270 meters across. Like other volcanic rocks in the area, the rocks of the caldera have a bright red colour, This is apparently caused by iron in the basaltic lava that has been oxidized by the groundwater. While most of the crater is steep-walled and contains little vegetation, one wall is more of a gentle slope down with a pathway allowing you to get right down to the bottom, at the bottom is a pool of blue water that lies at the about same level as the ground water table.




#2

Burfell ( Grímsnes )

Burfell, which is a name given to a lot of mountains in Iceland, this one being Burfell ( Grímsnes )
This mountain is located north-east of Kerid crater and is easily photographed from that location, I have been unable to find out much about this one, even the tour guide was a little stumped, not found much on google either,



there will be more to follow,
Regards

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[NorthernFocus]

In spite of the conditions that you report, I'm envious. Iceland has been on my bucket list for quite some time but my bride refuses to travel to climates similar to home You definitely handicapped yourself traveling there without a wider lens.

[Manfred M]

James - that shot of Kerio brings back some memories of my last trip to Iceland. We stopped there on our first day and I stumbled on some loose scree and promptly dropped my 6-month old DSLR onto the rocks at the bottom and cracked the camera housing. Fortunately, other than the on-board flash button being jammed closed, the camera worked flawlessly for the rest of the trip and the repair (not covered by warranty) was not too expensive.

The 55- 250mm lens is far too limiting on the short end and if you ever head back, look at taking something a lot wider than that. In fact some of my favourite shots were taken with an 11 - 16mm lens.

[madcrow]

Super images.

[Wavelength]

Lovely shots