Landscapes of Iceland
The Icelandic countryside can range from the bucolic and pastoral to austere and menacing. Continue reading Landscapes of Iceland
Category: Iceland
Látrabjarg Cliffs
A tense drive on winding gravel roads often hugging steep precipices will eventually bring you to Látrabjarg, Iceland’s westernmost point. The cliffs here are famous here for their birdwatching, but the nearly vertical rock faces themselves are stunning. I’ve made light the theme of this series of photos, but I can’t say that we lucked … Continue reading Látrabjarg Cliffs
A Beach For Goths
It’s hard not to love basalt beaches. The jet-black sand contrasts beautifully with the surf and sky, and it’s a much more poignant setting for the clichéd long walks people love to take along them. If a regular beige beach brings to mind fat tourists sunning themselves, disporting bros and the shrieks of gleeful children, … Continue reading A Beach For Goths
A Glorious Wreck
You don’t really go to Iceland for the urbex scene. However, once there, there are a couple spectacular abandonments you’d be hard pressed to find elsewhere. The country’s first steel ship was beached and left as landmark at the tip of a fjord. It gets regular coats of paint, so it isn’t the rusted-out hulk … Continue reading A Glorious Wreck
The Land of Waterfalls
Iceland is shaped, roughly, like a bowler hat. The crown is the volcanic rock that pushed up from the floor of the Atlantic eons ago, while the narrow band of relatively flat coastline is the brim. Head inland from almost any point along the shore, and eventually you’ll hit cliffs or mountains. Consequently, Iceland has … Continue reading The Land of Waterfalls
Sol Invictus
At far northern latitudes in summer, the sun never really disappears; rather, it shoots behind and through clouds, racing around the horizon, only occasionally dipping below the horizon before darting out again. The bleak, wide landscapes of the Icelandic countryside provide the perfect backdrop for this hypnotic light show. Here, the gloaming grows into … Continue reading Sol Invictus
Up Close And Personal With A Glacier
A very torturous road in the Thorsmork park area leads right up to a glacier nestled in a mountainside. This, as noted in the previous post, is not that remarkable. However, this glacier was unique. Somehow, a stream had burrowed through it, opening up a cave through which it flowed straight out of the glacier’s … Continue reading Up Close And Personal With A Glacier
On How Not To Approach a Glacier
Iceland, for being as remote as it is, is remarkably tourist-friendly. Tourism is now a major part of this nation’s economy, and the Nordic countries in general are known for their efficiency, so it is no surprise that getting around this island is (relatively) convenient. That’s not to say that it’s always easy. And so … Continue reading On How Not To Approach a Glacier
Of Light And Ice
I’m beginning the departure from the land of blue and sunny skies (as discussed in the previous post) with a few shots of icebergs. The first was taken at Jokulsarlon, a bay on the south coast of Iceland. Here the ice calves off the mother glacier and has to jostle and scrape along in dense … Continue reading Of Light And Ice
Iceland: Chasing the Light
I find it rather ironic that most photographs of Iceland which one might come across on tourism websites or in some way touting the beauty of this country feature landmarks bathed in sunlight set against cerulean skies. My photo of the iconic hilltop church in the town of Vik can serve as an example of … Continue reading Iceland: Chasing the Light
