Colors of the clouds

Digital photography has come a long way in terms of device capabilities to record (or emulate) colors of nature.

Photographing Iceland in Winter - Part II

Snow covered jetty

Hints of life beneath the snow and rocks, yellow ochre grass made me stop the car, get out and photograph this unknown, unnamed jetty in northwest Iceland.

Akranes

First inhabited by Irish settlers in the 9th century, this beautiful city seats north of Hvalfjörður. Skipped the snow clad city core to find green rocks on the west side by the ocean.

Polar lights over Snæfellsnes

An unexpected clear weather in forecast made me decide to drive north and west of Reykjavik in the night of 12-Feb ‘22 to film the night sky but auroral activity forecast was not so promising. From the sunset around 5 pm local time (UTC) until about 10 pm there wasn’t a lot of polar lights activity in the northern sky besides moderate bands of green that flickered occasionally. Around midnight the intensity changed, with magenta and red light pillars appearing above and sometimes even towards the southern sky. The bright moon lit the foreground, creating favorable conditions for photographing the polar lights.

Photographing Iceland in Winter

The winterland will always be exotic to me, and winter being my favorite season it is no doubt I enjoy photographing sceneries like these more than anything else and any other season. I have been to Iceland many times in the past during winter but somehow managed to avoid winter storms until 2022. Call it a fortunate or unfortunate fate but this has got to be the most unique of all visits to Iceland, not only from photography PoV but also the experience of driving in blinding blizzard through mountain passes in search for clear skies, search for a hot meal at 3 am in the morning amidst a pandemic, to name a few.

From the moment we landed in Keflavik till now there has been very little “gaps” in between snowfall and strong wind. This was certainly not the weather I was hoping for when I booked the trip in Aug ‘21 but I was mentally prepared for it about two weeks before the trip after looking at extended weather forecast. We packed our best winter gear for the trip and it pay off well. Although it is not extremely cold (temperature in the 20s F) the feels like was in the teens and sometimes single digit Fahrenheit especially at night with high wind blowing fine snow dust across the plains. The weather is not deterring us at all from going out every day, and capture these amazing winter sceneries across the west side of the country (I plan to drive eastwards later in the week).

While most of the roads in Reykjavik’s vicinity are cleaned very frequently, the highways became frozen as we went farther from the city. The temperatures being way below freezing was a good thing: kept the roads dry and therefore, less slippery. I have a Honda CR-V with studded tires that has decent handling on the snow. In between shooting I kept the camera inside a woolen hat so that the battery does not drain quickly, kept my hands warm in the insulated pockets of my jacket because I do not own fitted gloves for my wide hands short fingers and at times used the car to shield the tripod from wind gusts.

Sunrise is around 9:30 am and sunset around 5 pm everyday. Waking up at 3 am due to jet lag actually helped me get to destinations before sunrise, ahead of tour buses arriving with people.

I would like to think this type of weather with more than a foot of snow around coastal Iceland is not common, since it is so close to the ocean, making this trip a special and unique experience.

Seconds to sunrise

Sun rays peeking through an expected gap in the clouds seconds before sunrise.

The green glow in the sky

Not that long ago, I did not own an insulated jacket. Instead, I’d put on layers and then a rain coat before venturing out in the night during winter photoshoots. These photographs come from one of those trips., a rather family/personal trip where the main focus was to get away for a few days and drink every night till you’re stupid.

I was not expecting Northern Lights that night - it was the day we traveled into Iceland but we were not jet lagged probably due to high levels of adrenaline (and the anticipation of a weekend vacation ahead). We went out of the city only because it was the only night we did not have any other activity planned. It turned out to be one of the best nights to watch the green glow over us - considering winter weather and driving conditions at the time of the year.