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B+W

SKÓGAFOSS, SOUTH ICELAND

Iceland’s waterfalls are impressive at any time of year, but during winter

they take on an other-wordly appearance.

Canon EOS 5D MKIII with 70-300m zoom, 1/125sec at f/5.6, ISO 400

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NEAR VIK, SOUTH ICELAND

Freshly fallen snow and an overcast sky – perfect conditions

for shooting a minimalist monochrome landscape!

Canon EOS 5D MKIII with 70-300m zoom, 1/160sec at f/8, ISO 1600

NEAR SNAEFELLSNES, ICELAND

It takes longer to get from A-B in Iceland, simply because

there are so many great roadside photo opportunities.

Canon EOS 5D MKIII with 70-200mm zoom, 1/400sec at f/5.6, ISO 800

doesn’t feel too bad if you’re wrapped up in

decent outdoor clothing. Contrary to popular

belief, it doesn’t snow constantly either.

Plenty of the white stuff does come down,

but you’re not fighting through blizzards all

the time – I’ve been there for days at

a stretch and not seen a single flake fall.

If you like a lie-in then you’ll love Iceland

in winter. Forget alarm calls at stupid-o-

clock to be out for dawn. In January, the

sun doesn’t rise until well after 11am and

it sets again around 4pm. That sounds like

an incredibly short day – just five hours of

sunlight. But the twilights are surprisingly

long so you can start shooting at 9.30am

and keep going until after five. The sun

also remains very low in the sky (sunrise

and sunset positions are amazingly close)

so the quality of light is wonderful all day

and there’s no need to down cameras

during the middle hours. I tend to do

any major drives in darkness too, so the

daylight hours aren’t wasted.

Road conditions during the winter can

vary, but are generally pretty good. The

main road, Highway 1, loops around the

entire country for about 830 miles and

is Tarmac for 99% of that. Icelanders

don’t bother to grit their roads like we

do. Instead, they put winter tyres on their

vehicles that are equipped with steel studs

to provide traction. They work surprisingly

well. The roads are often so icy you can

barely walk on them, but driving is no

problem in all but the severest weather.

I tend to stick mostly to the south

coast of Iceland where the influence of

the sea means the weather’s milder than

the remote interior. I favour it because

there’s a fantastic variety of locations

and scenery – which include the glacial

lagoon of Jökulsárlón and the nearby

iceberg beach that has become legendary

among landscape photographers; the

charming town of Vik y Myrdal with its

black sand beach, dramatic rock stacks

and picturesque church set against

mountains; the waterfalls of Skógafoss and

Seljalandsfoss and the coastal mountains

at Stokksnes on the very eastern tip of the

south coast. The ‘Golden Circle’ of Geysir,

Gullfoss waterfall and Þingvellir National

Park is worth a visit in winter and can be

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