Ok, so this thread is way WAY overdue…but I’m ready to post it now. I’ve had a lot going on and I’ve been typing just the writing up side of things for some time now, it isn’t finished. Including processing the photos, reminiscing, dealing with other trials and tribulations of day-to-day life and finally now I feel like I’m ready to post and do a full recollection.
Note: The opening post will include Day 1 & 2, and subsequently each day will be summarized into one post there after…I aim to have this write-up finished by the end of the week or the start of next week
I’ve also been meaning to write this so I can never truly forget. I’ll include many images in the opening post and add some as I go through them, but to summarize a few points for you all:
We went from March 8th – 16th
Total party of 3
We had one objective: To see the Northern Lights.
The end result was: Primary objective achieved, 5000 shots taken in the process. Yes…five THOUSAND
and driving we totalled 3500km
Here is a map with geotagged photos taken by Mark on his iPhone as we went…you can see we literally lapped the place.
Any location with a square photo against it, we visited.
So, why Iceland?
We originally all sat down and discussed that we all had the same idea…we wanted to see the lights and we wanted to do our best to capture it and end up with a print on our walls at home to be proud of, to answer when asked “Wow who took that?” with “Me”
We discussed and researched locations including:
1) Iceland
2) Finland
3) Norway
We looked at all of these and what they had to offer along with prices, Iceland seemed to be the best fit because along with seeing the lights we also wanted:
Incredible scenery and landscapes to see and capture – Check!
A break from civilisation – Check!
Not too far away so jet lag suffering was minimal – Check!
Iceland seemed to fit the bill, and one member of #teamiceland in particular became borderline obsessed with it all…
– End result being a Skype conference a few weeks later stating that he had found a good ‘deal’ and began to explain it to us.
The deal was flights, hotel – half board (read ‘posh B&B’), and car hire – total price was £708 each as we were booking it 10 months in advance – we went for it, it was booked.
A couple of weeks later the dawning realisation suddenly hit us…we were going to see the Northern Lights! Research began!
SO much had to be looked into, not just into photography equipment or how to look after it in potentially -30C situations but things like clothing, what to do is someone is deeply affected by the cold, all sorts! But the day soon approached…we formulated a basic itinerary to vaguely follow to ensure we stuck to it as a guideline to maximize our time spent there.
March approached…we had everything we needed, and thus begun the silly Facebook wall posts in full Iceland gear whilst sitting in a warm house…(naturally)
And sisters doing ‘gang’ signs in the background
We had everything, we double, we triple, we quadruple checked absolutely everything (three guesses which idiot managed to leave his phone charger at home though? Yeah I’ll let you lot figure that one out hehe) – we were ready, we were buzzing…sod all work getting done in the office, we were obsessed, I was about to embark on a journey which not only would it turn into one of ‘those’ trips that I would truly never ever forget, It would also fulfil a life long dream of wanting to see the lights (hopefully, anyway!) Off to the airport I go!
Met the rest of TeamIceland (we managed to dub this to ourselves) at the airport and from the moment we met…the laughter began, and I’ll add that it didn’t stop till we were back at the airport being collected after our epic trip.
Anyway, we boarded onto our Iceland-Air flight (who were fantastic by the way) and soon we were touching down in the land of Armoured Bears.
We also learned on the flight some rather random facts such as, over 50% of Icelands population still genuinely believe in the existence of Elves and that they live in the mountains…also that the whole country only has a population of 300,000! – We were about to get a big culture shock.
We jumped off the plane and idiot me had left his Northern Face coat in the suitcase thinking it wouldn’t be needed…oh god how wrong was I…we arrived shortly after midnight and the two minute walk from the airport to the car and loading it I soon felt what truecold was…it gets cold in England, but this was on another level and really put things into perspective…according to locals that was a ‘warm’ night during that time of year at a mere minus 11!
We got to the hotel just outside of Reykjavik and got a quick 4 hours sleep and we were up at the crack of dawn.
Day 1
Initially we were massively taken a back by the view, the small town was in the middle of mountains towering around us…like I said, huge culture shock considering 3 Essex born and bred men and 2 of which frequent the city were suddenly staring at mountains of this vastness) we spent a good 10 minutes walking around outside just taking it all in, we were in love already.
What then followed was 8 days of pure photographical heaven, everywhere you looked presented itself with photographical opportunities you could only dream of back in the UK. So we jumped in the car and our plan for day 1 was to head North towards the peninsula, this was our first stop.
That good sirs is a section of Frozen ocean…the view was impossible to describe, just standing there staring at it and listening to the deep thundering noises of the ice cracking throughout the distance sent shivers down your spine…amazing, simply amazing.
I’ll try to post more photos instead of blabbering so much now, any ones that particularly stand out I’ll add more info along with location info if I can remember them correctly, they will also be posted in the order we visited and I’ll break the thread posts into ‘days’ to make it easier to follow.
The views as we traveled further North were increasingly stunning, and Hyundai, you’re welcome
Heading further North we found this incredible beautiful lake.
The pictures speak for themselves, it was amazing, but moving on!
We entertained ourselves…
(to be continued)
Note: The opening post will include Day 1 & 2, and subsequently each day will be summarized into one post there after…I aim to have this write-up finished by the end of the week or the start of next week
I’ve also been meaning to write this so I can never truly forget. I’ll include many images in the opening post and add some as I go through them, but to summarize a few points for you all:
We went from March 8th – 16th
Total party of 3
We had one objective: To see the Northern Lights.
The end result was: Primary objective achieved, 5000 shots taken in the process. Yes…five THOUSAND
and driving we totalled 3500kmHere is a map with geotagged photos taken by Mark on his iPhone as we went…you can see we literally lapped the place.
Any location with a square photo against it, we visited.
So, why Iceland?
We originally all sat down and discussed that we all had the same idea…we wanted to see the lights and we wanted to do our best to capture it and end up with a print on our walls at home to be proud of, to answer when asked “Wow who took that?” with “Me”
We discussed and researched locations including:
1) Iceland
2) Finland
3) Norway
We looked at all of these and what they had to offer along with prices, Iceland seemed to be the best fit because along with seeing the lights we also wanted:
Incredible scenery and landscapes to see and capture – Check!
A break from civilisation – Check!
Not too far away so jet lag suffering was minimal – Check!
Iceland seemed to fit the bill, and one member of #teamiceland in particular became borderline obsessed with it all…
– End result being a Skype conference a few weeks later stating that he had found a good ‘deal’ and began to explain it to us.The deal was flights, hotel – half board (read ‘posh B&B’), and car hire – total price was £708 each as we were booking it 10 months in advance – we went for it, it was booked.
A couple of weeks later the dawning realisation suddenly hit us…we were going to see the Northern Lights! Research began!
SO much had to be looked into, not just into photography equipment or how to look after it in potentially -30C situations but things like clothing, what to do is someone is deeply affected by the cold, all sorts! But the day soon approached…we formulated a basic itinerary to vaguely follow to ensure we stuck to it as a guideline to maximize our time spent there.
March approached…we had everything we needed, and thus begun the silly Facebook wall posts in full Iceland gear whilst sitting in a warm house…(naturally)
And sisters doing ‘gang’ signs in the background
We had everything, we double, we triple, we quadruple checked absolutely everything (three guesses which idiot managed to leave his phone charger at home though? Yeah I’ll let you lot figure that one out hehe) – we were ready, we were buzzing…sod all work getting done in the office, we were obsessed, I was about to embark on a journey which not only would it turn into one of ‘those’ trips that I would truly never ever forget, It would also fulfil a life long dream of wanting to see the lights (hopefully, anyway!) Off to the airport I go!
Met the rest of TeamIceland (we managed to dub this to ourselves) at the airport and from the moment we met…the laughter began, and I’ll add that it didn’t stop till we were back at the airport being collected after our epic trip.
Anyway, we boarded onto our Iceland-Air flight (who were fantastic by the way) and soon we were touching down in the land of Armoured Bears.
We also learned on the flight some rather random facts such as, over 50% of Icelands population still genuinely believe in the existence of Elves and that they live in the mountains…also that the whole country only has a population of 300,000! – We were about to get a big culture shock.
We jumped off the plane and idiot me had left his Northern Face coat in the suitcase thinking it wouldn’t be needed…oh god how wrong was I…we arrived shortly after midnight and the two minute walk from the airport to the car and loading it I soon felt what truecold was…it gets cold in England, but this was on another level and really put things into perspective…according to locals that was a ‘warm’ night during that time of year at a mere minus 11!
We got to the hotel just outside of Reykjavik and got a quick 4 hours sleep and we were up at the crack of dawn.
Day 1
Initially we were massively taken a back by the view, the small town was in the middle of mountains towering around us…like I said, huge culture shock considering 3 Essex born and bred men and 2 of which frequent the city were suddenly staring at mountains of this vastness) we spent a good 10 minutes walking around outside just taking it all in, we were in love already.
What then followed was 8 days of pure photographical heaven, everywhere you looked presented itself with photographical opportunities you could only dream of back in the UK. So we jumped in the car and our plan for day 1 was to head North towards the peninsula, this was our first stop.
That good sirs is a section of Frozen ocean…the view was impossible to describe, just standing there staring at it and listening to the deep thundering noises of the ice cracking throughout the distance sent shivers down your spine…amazing, simply amazing.
I’ll try to post more photos instead of blabbering so much now, any ones that particularly stand out I’ll add more info along with location info if I can remember them correctly, they will also be posted in the order we visited and I’ll break the thread posts into ‘days’ to make it easier to follow.
The views as we traveled further North were increasingly stunning, and Hyundai, you’re welcome
Heading further North we found this incredible beautiful lake.
The pictures speak for themselves, it was amazing, but moving on!
We entertained ourselves…
(to be continued)
!
