Island of adventure
Lee Gale overcomes Iceland’s inclement
conditions and captures photos of the
rugged country in all types of weather
MISSION: Shoot a series of images while
on a road trip all the way around Iceland
PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Gale
LOCATION: Iceland
KIT USED: D750, Nikon 16-35mm f/4, Sigma
24-70mm f/2.8 Art, Sigma 28mm f/1.4 Art,
Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 Sport, various LEE
filters, Manfrotto 190 Go Tripod
WEBSITE: http://www.leegalephotography.co.ukI
’ve always enjoyed taking
photos, but I really got into
photography back in 2013
when I needed to fill a
creative void within myself.There’s been a passion for creating visual
art ever since I was a kid, but I could never
quite find my place. After trying my hand
at being a musician for 15 years, I found
photography, and it just seemed like the
missing piece of my creative puzzle.
When I visited Iceland for a road trip
round the island this February, I knew there
were going to be weather challenges due to
the time of the year. As there was limited
time at each location, I also had to be
careful and make sure that the shots
I captured counted for something.
The first couple of days in the west
side were dull, with quite a bit of rain. In
Arnarstapi, where I shot the image of MountStapafell from Stone Bridge [2], I was stood
in torrential rain for quite a while waiting for
the clouds to look just right over the
mountain – even with these poor conditions
I wasn’t going to miss out on a shot that
I’d been hoping to bag for ages. I used a
wide-angle 16-35mm lens to exaggerate
the perspective and include the water in
the foreground of the composition.Look north
The conditions in the north were more to
my liking, and what I was expecting at the
time of the year. When we awoke on our first
morning in the north, there was a bit of
snow on the ground, but as we made our
way further north towards our first location,
the sea stack called Hvítserkur, the snow
got deeper [1]. We were lucky to be the only
people there for a good hour or so. The
deep snow at the coast made for anYOUR STORIES
Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 Art
Exposure: 118 secs, f/11, ISO100Even with these poor
conditions I wasn’t going to
miss out on a shot that I’d
been hoping to bag for ages
[1] Lee seized a rare opportunity to
shoot Hvítserkur when it was
mostly devoid of tourists.