Rain, Wind and MORE Wind!

Wow!  What a day it's been...well, more like two days actually.  I arrived safely in Iceland this morning, with my bag.   Everything went without a hitch, with one minor exception.  After I deplaned, I fired up the portable WiFi device I had rented to make sure it was working properly.  Unfortunately, I couldn't connect to the internet.  Ugh!  Thank goodness, though, there was free WiFi in the airport, and I was able to live chat with a support person who was able to solve the problem relatively quickly.  Phew!

From the airport, I picked up my campervan and headed off to buy some groceries.  First, though, I wanted to stop into Costco.  Yes, Iceland has a Costco!  I didn't expect to buy anything (I really didn't need 62 rolls of toilet paper or a big screen TV), but I was curious to see what it was like.  Guess what?  It's exactly like every other Costco I've been in...I mean EXACTLY!  Same merchandise, same layout, same signs, same snack bar, same everything!  The only real difference was that it was not crowded.  I guess Icelanders just haven't quite gotten the Costco bug yet.

It took me a while to get the hang of navigating Iceland roads and driving the van (which is a diesel manual 5-speed), and so I didn't actually get out of Reykjavik until early afternoon.  By then, both the rain and the wind kicked up.  And I don't mean a little wind, I mean a LOT of wind!  Gusts exceeded 40 mph, and the van was constantly being buffeted down the road.  As a result, I couldn't decide where to head and actually changed directions a couple times.  Eventually I just decided to head as far east as I could get before I got tired, and I ended up at a campground in Vik.  I didn't expect to be this far so soon, but this actually worked out since many of the photo locations I am particularly  interested in are in this area (and further to the east).  Plus, I'd rather drive in crappy weather and save the better weather for taking pictures.  And of course I can visit the stuff I passed by on the way back.

Speaking of the weather, it is supposed to improve (though weather in Iceland can be extremely unpredictable). There will likely still be some rain and wind, but nothing like today, and it should be much more manageable.  The net result is that I didn't take many pictures today...it was just too difficult (I can deal with the rain; it's the wind that's a problem).  However, below are some shots that I did manage to capture.

Sunrise over the Arctic Circle taken from the airplane (we were probably over Greenland at the time)

The Sun Voyager, which is a modern sculpture in Reykjavik meant to resemble a Viking ship

Nothing special but just a shot to illustrate the rain

Even the sheep were seeking shelter from the wind and rain!

A example of an old turf house

The mighty and iconic Skogafoss waterfall.  I was amazed that despite the extreme weather, people were still out visiting these attractions...and getting drenched in the process.  I suppose if the tour bus stops there and/or this is your only opportunity, why not?  Me, I stayed in the van, which is where I took this shot.  I'll be back!

The famous Reynisfjara black-sand beach here in Vik with the Reynisdranger sea stacks in the distance.  You can see the size of the waves, which are notoriously dangerous.  This was a tough shot to capture since the rain was literally driving into my camera lens...I had to quick point and shoot before it became coated with rain drops!

Inches & Ounces

I tried hard, I really did!  (To minimize what I packed, that is.)  But it was especially challenging considering that since this is primarily a photographic excursion, I wanted to take a considerable amount of photo gear — including a large, heavy tripod — and that I would be living out of a campervan (and therefore wanted to pack a few essentials, like a small container cooking oil, couple spices, garbage bags, etc., to avoid buying these there).  In the end, and after several repacks to eliminate non-critical items, it literally came down to a matter of inches and ounces to stay within Icelandair’s baggage/carry-on restrictions and avoid paying extra baggage fees.  Even then, I will have a fairly large checked bag, a decent-sized carry-on, and a small backpack which is crammed tight with my camera bodies and lenses.  So, transporting all this stuff from the airport, to a bus, to a taxi, and finally to the van rental company (and vice versa on the back end) will be an adventure in itself!

Since as I mentioned above this is primarily a photo trip, at least three-quarters of the baggage (both in terms of volume and weight) is comprised of cameras, lenses, camera accessories, a tripod and other photo related items (such as a laptop for image storage and editing).  The photo below gives you an idea of the photo gear that I am taking.*

Like most photographers going to a location for the first time, it’s hard to decide what to take and not to take since you don't know exactly what you will encounter ("You know, I just might need that lens!").  I easily could have taken more, but I really had to settle on what I was most likely to use and absolutely couldn’t live without.  But, no doubt there will be some lens or accessory that I will rarely use and could have left behind.  There's always next time!  :-)

Well, I could go on, but that's enough for now.  This is my final blog entry before boarding the plane, which as of this writing leaves in less than 8 hours.  (For those of you who are curious, I am on a direct flight out of Cleveland of all places.  The flight is approximately 6 hours in duration, and since Iceland is 4 hours ahead of us, I will land about 6:20 am.) 

Take care everybody.   See you on other side!

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*For you camera gear heads, here is a listing of the major pieces of equipment:

• Nikon Df body
• Nikon D700 body (I bought this used to serve as a backup to the Df)
• Extra batteries, chargers and memory cards
• Rokinon 14mm f2.8 
• Nikkor 16mm f2.8 full-frame fisheye (vintage, manual-focus lens)
• Tokina 17mm f3.5 
• Nikkor 20mm f3.5 (vintage, manual-focus lens)
• Nikkor 24mm f2.8 (vintage, manual-focus lens)
• Nikkor 35mm f2.8 (vintage, manual-focus lens)
• Nikkor 24-85mm f3.5-4.5
• Nikkor 100-300mm f5.6 (vintage, manual-focus lens)
• Nikkor 2X teleconverter 
• Minolta spotmeter
• Haida 100mm x 100mm ND and graduated filters
• Various other filters and accessories
• Manfrotto 055XProB tripod with Manfrotto 498RC2 midi Ball-head and homemade leg spikes (for setting up on sand)
• LowePro Trekker 350 AW backpack
• Tenba Discovery backpack (why two camera backpacks?  First, my main backpack exceeds the size limits for a carry-on bag, so I had to put the cameras and lenses only into a smaller bag.  Second, there may be situations where a smaller backpack is easier and more convenient to carry.)

Ready, Set...Click!

WARNING: More geeky, technical stuff like the last post!

In just a little over 6 weeks I will be boarding the plane to Iceland, and this will likely be my last post until I am just ready to leave.

In my previous post, I talked about what I wanted to photograph.  While it took quite a bit of time to develop the list of photo locations, the more challenging question was (and will be) how to photograph these.  This question includes aspects ranging from technical (such as ISO setting, exposure, lens selection, depth of field, etc.), to logistical (such as time of day), to artistic (most notably composition).  Virtually all of these aspects will depend on the weather, lighting and other things out of my control (like tourists!).  And, while I have researched most of the locations extensively, it is impossible to predict how I will feel when I'm actually there and in turn how (or if) I will be inspired.  So, the "how question" will have to wait to be fully answered.

This all said, it does make sense to do some pre-planning -- especially for the "must see" locations.  This is to not only maximize the number of locations I will be able to visit, but also to increase the chances of capturing the "ideal" image.  The most important part of the pre-planning (in addition to mapping out the locations) has been to list desirable weather conditions (not always sunny, by the way), ideal times of the day (which impacts lighting), and in the case of seascapes, the preferred tide.  For most of the 5 and 4-star locations, I used the PhotoPills app mentioned in my previous post to determine potential vantage points and, in a few cases, the best time to take a photograph.  For example, I would really like to get a shot of the sun rising just above the ridge of Búrfell mountain with Þjófafoss (Thofafoss in English) waterfall in the foreground, similar to the one shown below (the mist in front of the mountain would be a gift!).

The app can determine exactly when the sun will rise just above the ridge on a given day based on a selected vantage point.  As you can see from from the screen shot below, on May 25 this will occur just after 5:41 am!  


The red pin is the vantage point, and the black pin is the selected spot on the ridge line, chosen by trial and error.  The dashed yellow line indicates the angle of the sun.  The fact it is dashed means that the sun will actually be obstructed at the indicated time. When the time is advanced just a couple minutes, the dashed line becomes a solid line, so this means this is the magic moment!

Of course, this all depends on the weather, not to mention me getting to the designated spot in plenty of time to set up (the road in this example is reportedly pretty bad, and I may need to hike the 3 km).

OK, enough with the technical stuff.  As I mentioned above, one aspect of the "how" is the artistic element, most notably composition.  I have some basic ideas in this regard, but because of the number of variables involved, it is impossible to fully pre-plan every composition.  However, one of my goals is to minimize taking "stock" and predictable photographs that most other photographers would produce.  For example, virtually every photographer who has visited Iceland has the image below of Kirkjufell mountain and Kirkjufellfoss waterfall in their portfolio (just search images in Google, and you'll see what I mean).  Sure, there are minor differences involving lighting, weather, etc., but they are all essentially the same composition.

Here's another example, Skogafoss:

Most photographers have the image on the left as well (often with the person standing in front to illustrate scale), but fewer have the image on the right, which was taken from above the waterfall.  Now it's debatable whether the first picture is a actually "better", but the point is that the second one is atypical and presents a unique perspective of this amazing waterfall.   

To be sure, I will likely take many of the iconic Iceland shots just to have them (and also because they really are cool pictures).  But, I want to challenge myself to capture images that are special and truly representative of my personal style.  Otherwise, why go, right?  To this end, my mantra during the trip will be to take my time, study the scene intently, and pre-visualize the image I want to create (e.g., how will it look hanging on a wall or in a book?).  Only then should I set up my camera and click the shutter!

Ísland er ég kominn! (Iceland, here I come!)

So Many Photo Opportunities, Yet So Little Time!

WARNING: This blog post contains subject matter of a geeky, or nerd-like nature, specifically relating to photography. If you are not a nerd or do not have nerdy tendencies (such as a desire to put things into spreadsheets) and/or if the technical aspects of photography (such as hyperfocal distance, ISO settings and white balance) are not fascinating to you, then you may find this post tedious and boring! (Seriously, it's not too bad, but I did want to let everyone know that the post is somewhat more detailed - and longer - than normal.)

In just a little over 3 months from now I will be on my photographic journey in Iceland.  Planning for the trip is progressing, and my list of potential photographic subjects is virtually locked down.  But, how did I decide where to go and what to photograph?  Without a doubt, planning what to photograph has been the most challenging aspect of the trip so far.  But for me, planning is half of the fun of a photo expedition like this.

There is no shortage of photographic subjects in Iceland – without question it is a photographer's paradise.  Take waterfalls as an example.  There is an estimated 10,000 waterfalls in Iceland.  "Estimated" because there are still as yet undiscovered waterfalls, and a significant number of the known waterfalls have not even been named!  Of course, a vast majority of these waterfalls are small and unspectacular (at least by Icelandic standards), but this does put things into perspective.  

In addition to waterfalls, there are many other incredible things to photograph in Iceland, including:

• Mountains
• Volcanoes (fortunately – or unfortunately – none are currently active)
• Geothermal areas, including geysers
• Glaciers
• Spectacular rock formations and other geological structures
• Ice caves 
• Black lava sand beaches
• Dynamic seascapes
• Turf buildings (buildings where the roof is sod and used as an insulator)
• Many abandoned farms and buildings
• Arctic Puffin and Icelandic horses

Certainly you could spend months, if not years photographing in Iceland, so I definitely needed a plan for my 9 day trip.  (The other option of course would be to randomly wander around and spontaneously take photographs, but I likely would miss many great photo opportunities with this approach.)

I started by surfing the internet.  I looked at travel blogs, images on Google, Flickr, other photographer’s web sites, etc., and I created a mental list of potential things and places that I might want to photograph.  Once I knew how long I would be in Iceland, I started to refine this mental list and enter locations into a spreadsheet.  The design of the spreadsheet quickly evolved, and I added columns for things like type of photographic subject, description, GPS coordinates, special access instructions, optimal lighting and weather conditions, and any special photo tips for the location - see below.

Spreadsheet of Iceland Photographic Subjects

For any of you who might might be interested, four references were particularly helpful in building the list of photographic locations, especially with regards to access details and photo tips:

• Series of 21 YouTube videos by Mads Peter Iverson, a Danish landscape photographer
• Photo Guide to Iceland
• The Road Trip Guide: Iceland 
• International Photographer Iceland eRoadbook 

The net result was that I had a list of potential photo locations to visit in Iceland!  But, I had a small problem.  I had over 70 locations in the spreadsheet, which meant that I would have to visit approximately eight locations per day on average!  Theoretically possible, but this was not even close to being practical, even with the extended daylight hours, for two reasons: (1) the driving time between locations, which in some cases could be significant, and (2) at some locations I could potentially spend a couple hours or more taking photos.  And, this was not even considering subjects along the way not on the list that I might see and want to photograph.  So, I had to prioritize.

I ranked items on the list from "Must Visit" (5 stars) to "Probably Not Worth It" (1 star), resulting in twelve 5-star locations, eleven 4-start locations, and so on.  This was a much more practical plan of attack. However, I certainly didn't want to waste time zigging and zagging all over the island, and if I happened to pass reasonably close to a 4-star location on my way to a 5-star location, for example, it would be desirable to stop there, time permtting. Therefore, I needed to understand where all of these locations were physically in relation to one another. 

The Iceland eRoadbook mentioned above had a accompanying map that pinpointed nearly all of the photo locations I was interested in, plus lots of other useful information.  So, I put color-coded Post-It markers on the map that correspond to the locations in my spreadsheet, as shown below (see, I told you this was geeky!).  This will allow me to be somewhat efficient in my travels and maximize the number of photographic locations I can visit in 9 days.

Map of Photographic Locations

Close-up of map with color-coded Post-It markers

So there you have it - a summary of how am I planning what to photograph while in Iceland. My apologies for this being rather long and detailed (however, I warned you).

In my next post, I will continue with the nerd theme and talk a little about how I have determined when the optimal time is to photograph at some of the more important locations and perhaps give some examples of the places I plan to visit.

Peace!