Iceland Photo Workshop

I just returned from my Iceland Photo Workshop and once again had an amazing time in this beautiful landscape.  Most people think of green, lush volcanic landscapes when they think of Iceland, but visiting in Winter gives a whole new perspective, one that I particularly like.  The landscape is transformed as the snow blankets the lava fields and ice clings to the sides of the dramatic waterfalls.  What once might have been a blasé view is transformed in to a fantastic winter scene, especially with the low angle light that occurs all day long. I will post a full write up of the workshop and what we did at some point, but for now I wanted to share some thoughts with you about international photography trips, winter trips and the Iceland photo workshop.

Planning for an international photo trip is a lot like flying to a domestic photo workshop, with a few exceptions.  Being a winter trip, I had to pack all of my heavy winter clothes, boots and gloves/hats, which left me little space or weight allowed for other items, so I had to be frugal in what I brought.  Check out this video that I filmed during my my pre-trip equipment packing.  Even with all the diligence, I simply had a bunch of gear and flying out of Seattle, I was made to weigh my carry-on and I was 10lbs over their weight limit.  They wanted to check my camera bag and I wouldn’t let it go, so we argued for a bit until they relented and I was able to carry it on.  Then flying home, I decided to put  more items in my checked bag in case I was hassled again at the gate.  Guess what?  My checked bag was now over the weight limit and I had to pay a penalty!  In thinking about what I packed, honestly I don’t know how I could have gotten much lighter!  I had two camera bodies, 3 lenses, batteries, drone and one extra battery, a couple of filters, remote trigger and a few bits and bobs.  I did have a MacBook Pro and iPad as well in my carry-on, plus an SSD drive and various small cables to connect everything.  I tried to cut everything down to the bare minimum and still I was at or over the weight limit for international travel.

Knowing how the Iceland weather can be, I packed enough warm clothes for being outside for most of the day, but choose to carry lightweight/warm clothing that could be compressed to maximize space.  I packed my tripod in my checked bag (I know, taking a risk!) along with my winter boots and still.  From past experience, I knew that mornings and evenings at the various hotels I didn’t need much in the way of casual clothes and I could re-wear a lot of things, so I really pared down the clothing I brought.  Still, with all the diligence I used, my checked bag still came close to the 50lb weight limit.  Sigh.

But all of that doesn’t matter much during an Iceland photo workshop.  It is about the experience and the images.  Iceland in the Winter enjoys short days with daylight often around 5-6 hours.  However, the twilight hours last forever it seems.  The sunrise takes an hour to happen and when the sun breaks the horizon, it never ventures too high in the sky.  As the day progresses, this low angle light casts an amazing warm glow across the landscape, accentuating details in the landscape that overhead light would diminish.  When its sunset time, again this takes another hour to happen and once the sun sets, there is often a pink glow in the sky below a deep dark blue above.  The amazing light is one of the big attractions for an Iceland photo workshop…you simply don’t get this quality of light in too many other places or different times of the year.

We were incredibly fortunate to have beautiful weather during our week there.  It was mostly clear each day with temperatures in the teens or twenties, with only moderate winds.  Granted, at 10 degrees with a 15mph wind, it does get COLD on any exposed skin, but with the right clothing, it was actually quite enjoyable. It was only the last day, driving back to Reykjavik that we experienced bad weather, waking up to 7″ of snow that quickly transitioned to rain for the whole drive back.  We didn’t mind, we were exhausted and happy from the amazing days we had already.  Iceland is known for incredible winds during the winter and we didn’t experience anything like that during our stay there.  The previous Iceland photo workshop I did we had winds around 80mph one day and the day after we flew out this year, I heard that they had 65mph winds at the airport and it pushed parked airplanes in to the jetways on the icy tarmac, causing damage.  The weather gods smiled on us for our time there!

The other huge reason I prefer to have my Iceland photo workshop during winter is that there are far fewer tourists than in the summer or fall seasons.  Even in winter, I’m surprised how many tourists are out and about, but it is what I consider a manageable amount to deal with for photographing various locations.  In summer, it is virtually impossible to take an artistic image at some locations, there are simply too many people. It’s the same reason why I run a Grand Teton winter workshop, fewer people and a more beautiful landscape!

Winter is a great time to view the Northern Lights too and we tried hard to capture the aurora.  During our stay the aurora forecast was moderate, so there was a good chance we’d be able to see them.  We ventured out a few times when the skies were clear and the outlook was promising.  Unfortunately we didn’t get a good show during the workshop.  The last night we went out, we headed to Jokulsarlon lagoon (iceberg lagoon) which would have made an amazing foreground for the dancing aurora overhead.  The KPI index was showing strong possibilities and our hopes were high.  We got out there about 10:30pm and waited until 11pm.  I saw some slight activity happening so we got our gear and headed down to the lagoon.  We set up some initial shots to see how much activity was there.  So far, looking promising.  But after that initial activity, things died down.  We waited next to the lagoon for the next three hours hoping it would kick off, but alas, nothing happened.  I talked to folks the next day who were up all night waiting and there was only a faint blip of activity about 5am, when I was fast asleep.

The aurora is a fleeting phenomenon that oftentimes defies forecasts.  Just like a lot of things in landscape photography, Mother Nature sometimes does what it wants to do regardless of what the weather service says :-).  I arrived in-country a couple days early to get acclimated and get through the jet lag and on one night, the KPI was not showing great promise, yet I talked my partner in to going out to a location he knows near the city to look for aurora.  We weren’t expecting much but OMG it went OFF that night!  We shot at several different locations out in the country, looking for reflections and foreground interest.  The aurora would do its thing for 15 minutes or so, then die down for 15 minutes and then come back.  It was like that for hours.  We eventually had to call it a night so we didn’t wreck ourselves before the coming days.

Attending an Iceland photo workshop in the Winter is really not that different than attending any other photo workshop. You do need the right gear to be out in the cold (or wet) for periods of time.  You do need to deal with the different power and plugs of a European country and of course need to handle packing for an international trip.  Other than that, it looks and feels a lot like a regular workshop, except it is in an amazing landscape that is unique and awe-inspiring.