Has anyone been to Iceland for photography?

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I've seen some incredible landscape photography from Iceland, was wondering if anyone here had been to do photography? And if so, what part?
I'm looking to go next year specifically to do photography.
 
I've seen some incredible landscape photography from Iceland, was wondering if anyone here had been to do photography? And if so, what part?
I'm looking to go next year specifically to do photography.

I spent 18 months in the Navy there back around 2000.

I don’t think I took one single picture there though lol, and I wasn’t in to photography at all back then.

What I can tell you for sure is that if you wanted to go to the island's interior, it is dangerous and difficult.

Basically the entire population of Iceland lives on the coast at the exterior of the island, the vast majority of which live on the southwestern peninsula in the city of Reykjavik. Pretty much zero people live on the inside of the island, which is just tundra.

I am not sure but it’s likely that these awesome photos you saw were from the islands inner tundra since that’s where the glaciers are.

If you were planning on going in there, it’s basically a full out expedition. You need a suitable all-terrain vehicle, survival supplies, and enough gas for the whole trip. This often means taking many extra gas cans, and all the supplies you will need since there are no stores or gas stations.

If anything was to go wrong, a rescue is very hard and often needs to be done via helicopter. I am just guessing but it’s likely they send you the bill for that if it happened.

If your vehicle was to break down, you would need to be prepared to wait it out in the harsh weather. A sat phone would be ideal because of this.

Also I believe that your vehicle could fall into crevices in the ice, which could be very dangerous.

I am guessing that they do professional tours in there, although it’s likely pretty expensive.

This knowledge was not from my own experience, because I never made a trip in there. This is what people that I knew there told my during my time in country.

There were U.S. military people that where lost for days and had to be rescued while I was there by the way.

Hope this helps.
 
I've seen some incredible landscape photography from Iceland, was wondering if anyone here had been to do photography? And if so, what part?
I'm looking to go next year specifically to do photography.

I spent 18 months in the Navy there back around 2000.

I don’t think I took one single picture there though lol, and I wasn’t in to photography at all back then.

What I can tell you for sure is that if you wanted to go to the island's interior, it is dangerous and difficult.

Basically the entire population of Iceland lives on the coast at the exterior of the island, the vast majority of which live on the southwestern peninsula in the city of Reykjavik. Pretty much zero people live on the inside of the island, which is just tundra.

I am not sure but it’s likely that these awesome photos you saw were from the islands inner tundra since that’s where the glaciers are.

If you were planning on going in there, it’s basically a full out expedition. You need a suitable all-terrain vehicle, survival supplies, and enough gas for the whole trip. This often means taking many extra gas cans, and all the supplies you will need since there are no stores or gas stations.

If anything was to go wrong, a rescue is very hard and often needs to be done via helicopter. I am just guessing but it’s likely they send you the bill for that if it happened.

If your vehicle was to break down, you would need to be prepared to wait it out in the harsh weather. A sat phone would be ideal because of this.

Also I believe that your vehicle could fall into crevices in the ice, which could be very dangerous.

I am guessing that they do professional tours in there, although it’s likely pretty expensive.

This knowledge was not from my own experience, because I never made a trip in there. This is what people that I knew there told my during my time in country.

There were U.S. military people that where lost for days and had to be rescued while I was there by the way.

Hope this helps.


Ouch, may as well try and do an Everest expedition!

BTW, she says not to ever fly Iceland Air.
Why's that?
 
Ouch, may as well try and do an Everest expedition!

Na its not like that lol. Climbing everest is probably the hardest thing to do on earth, and costs $$$$$.

Here is a pic showing you just how barren the interior is! As you can see its really only the exterior that looks fairly habitable.

Iceland_satellite.jpg


Here are a couple of websites that I found for tours, and they are very expensive! Many of the tours are 10 days or more.

http://www.icelandrovers.is/

http://www.icelandertours.com/iceland-tours/iceland-photo-tour.php

I would love so much to take one of these though, it would be a dream come true.

You are right that Iceland is an excellent and unique place to take photos though. Dont give up on your dream just yet, you are onto something here.

For people that are outdoor types, you could just rent a 4x4 and do it yourself. Great care needs to be taken in planning and execution though if you decide to. A GPS, sat phone, survival gear, and knowing how to use them all would really help.

Neil

Edit: Looking at the icelandrovers site, they do have tours as short as a day and only a few hundred US $. They couldnt go very far inland though, and seem to just focus on sightessing around the Reyk area.
 
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I haven't been but would like to... a good source of inspiration is the photographer, Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir.

Her website: Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir

I just got done looking at her site.

Very impressive work, and so artistic. I really like the one where she is kneeling down in the ocean, with the blue colored rocks.

She has so many creative self-portrait ideas!!!
 
Never been there but I did see a presentation by Lewis Kemper,one of Canons elite photographers (Explorers of Light program), called a journey to Iceland. The photos and details of the trip were something else. He and 2 friends Ben Willmore (author of alot of photoshop books) , and Marv Miller. They traveled across Iceland in an RV, and it did prove to be pretty dangerous at times, winds so high they were afraid the RV was going to blow over and they had to have emergency vehicles ride next to then to block the wind until they could find shelter. The images he presented were absolutly stunning to say the least. He has a few of the photos on his web site that he showed in the presentation.

https://www.lewiskemper.com/gallery/images_iceland.php

I found a link of a small portion of the story here
P#3: A Magic Moment In Iceland - 7 Photography Questions
 
Never been there, but Sigur Ros is really good.
 
One place I've always wanted to go. Sorry, I have nothing to add other than that, lol. Good luck, and I hope you can make it happen.

If anything was to go wrong, a rescue is very hard and often needs to be done via helicopter. I am just guessing but it’s likely they send you the bill for that if it happened.
I'm sure it varies from country to country, but I think the tab would usually be picked up by the government. Of course, they could bill you if they wanted to (say, if you were a total dick to the people trying to save your life). And those kinds of operations are VERY expensive. Hundreds of people looking for you, thousands of gallons of fuel consumed, etc... It can add up pretty quick...

Basically, it's a good training exercise for the military, but if they decided to bill you for it, I don't know that you would ever be able to pay it off, lol!



If you do it on your own, be extremely careful - obviously.
 
I'm down to meet in Iceland. I've watched this documentary so many times, and everything is so beautiful. Iceland is next on my list. Maybe I'll stop by the UK while I am over in that neck of the woods also...

 
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I don't know if it's of any use, but October's issue of Digital SLR Photography (October 2010 Issue - Digital SLR Photography) has a spread on Iceland photography in it. It's definitely still on sale as I saw it today, but not sure for how much longer.
 
I can think of two members here, who I think have been to Iceland and shot a bunch of photos.
I don't know how often they are around here any more though.
Peanuts & Antartican.

Also, I believe that Michael Reichmann, of The Luminous Landscape, as been to Iceland a few times and probably has several good tips & articles on his site.
Search The Luminous Landscape
 

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