ICELAND REDUX: Looooong Day

Day 3 was a long one — about 22 hours, in fact.

My first destination of the day was Studlagil Canyon (there’s that funny “d” aagin), about an hour drive plus a 30 minute hike. I got up about 3 am to take advantage of the summer solstice light (even though forecast was partly cloudy) and avoid the mad rush. This has become a popular spot in the last couple years, especially among photographers. But, it’s a challenging spot to photograph, for several reasons. And, it’s not easy to get to, though they have and still are making access improvements (tourism is HUGE in Iceland).

I don’t remember exactly when I got to the actual canyon, but it was somewhere around 6 am. When I arrived, I was the only photographer there, that is if don’t count the wedding photographer who was taking pictures of a bride & groom in their full wedding regalia. Seriously! The amazing bit, though, is that to get to the spot they were in required a bit of mountain goat climbing over big and slippery rocks! Thankfully the groom helped his bride navigate the climb in her white wedding dress. How sweet!

Fortunately I was able to grab a few other shots, and eventually they left the scene. Not too much later the photographers showed up with their fancy tripods, big backpacks, super wide angle lenses, and…wait, that sounds just like me! Then, the “regular” tourists started showing up. I’m glad I got there early!

I headed back to Egilsstaðir for refueling (gas & food) and hit a few more spots afterwards. Then I set my sights for Stokksnes to photograph the majestic Vestrahorn mountain. I was there the first time time, but I wanted to go back. It is so photogenic! It was a 3+ hour drive from Egilsstaðir, but I was hoping to catch some shots around the fjords that I missed due to weather. While I did capture some, the weather was actually too nice for many of the shots I had in mind.

I decided to camp right at Stokksnes (“The Viking Cafe & Guesthouse”). Not only was it convenient but camping includes free access to the peninsula, which is the only vantage point to shoot Vestrahorn. After checking in, I decided to go right away and take shots of the mountain. Lots of people! And lots of photographers too! I grabbed some shots and scoped out a location for later. Even though the forecast was not for clear skies, I wanted to go back out at midnight, which I did. Again, even though is was cloudy, there was still a lot of light. Very cool!

I went to bed at 1 am. It was a long day.

This was actually taken the before in Egilsstaðir. When I was doing research on photo locations I stumbled across this one on Google images. It’s not a tourist spot, and I had to use Google Earth to find it.