2019 Iceland Adventure Summer Photo Tour

July 3 – July 14

An annual adventure summer photo tour for the serious landscape photography enthusiast lead by native Icelanders Örvar Þorgeirsson and Skarphéðinn Þráinsson.
We have run this tour since 2011 with great success.
Our goal is to assist you getting to the right locations at the right time for the best photographic results and this is why we have chosen early July for this trip as this is the time of year in Iceland is famous for the endless soft light and combined sunsets and sunrises during the night.

Reservation

     

Leaders

Pro photographers Örvar Þorgeirsson of Arctic Photo, and Skarphedinn Thrainsson (Skarpi), native Icelanders will be leading the trip.
Both leaders have vast experience in driving, hiking, traveling and photographing the raw landscape of Iceland. Örvar is an award-winning Icelandic photographer
who owns a photo gallery in Reykjavik, and creates especially dynamic, sharp, and moody photos of Iceland. Skarpi is a Mechanical Engineer and Nature Photographer based in Iceland, Born in a small village on the east coast of Iceland, since childhood been living his passion of outdoors traveling, photographing and exploring the nature of Iceland. He’s specializing his exquisite photography work on the nature of Iceland including volcanoes, ice caves, animals and classic landscapes. Skarpi also runs a postcard publication among other projects in Iceland.

The leaders are known for their unique style of low light landscape photography and nature shots of Iceland. Their images have appeared in numerous national and international publications, books, and calendars including Discover Magazine, National Geographic, USA Today to name a few.

These two pro photographers with their local knowledge, experience and passion of Iceland, will offer you a wide range of photographic help, experience and personal attention.

Trip Summary – What to expect

This trip is for the serious photography enthusiast. We will spend as much time as possible in the field photographing the varied scenery around Iceland. In field assistance and comments on your work will be the main feedback on your work from the tour leaders but when time and/or weather conditions allow we will hold review of the images you have photographed on the tour.

The trip requires easy to moderate physical fitness level of participants. We will do shorter hikes sometimes over rough, rocky or moderately steep terrain. No longer hikes are required though.

When in the highlands for 2-3 nights we will use comfortable modern mountain huts as accommodation. By spending nights in the highlands we save valuable time on transportation to and from locations and this also enables us to stay much closer to interesting subjects to photograph, increasing out chances of getting good photographs.

You can expect long days in the field lasting upto 18-20 hours (with a good rest afterwards). This is what Iceland is about in midsummer when you have light 24 hours a day.

Itinerary

Day 1

(July 3rd): Arrive and be picked up at Keflavik Int’l Airport and brought to your included accommodation. The rest of the day/night is free.

Day 2 – 3

After eating breakfast at our Reykjavík hotel you meet the leaders again, load the super truck and drive towards Landmannalaugar. We will spend 3 nights in this area. This gives us all the time we need to explore the wast area and its plentiful photo opportunities. We will visit crater lakes, hidden waterfalls, river deltas, colorful rhyolite mountains.

Day 4

We head down to the coast towards the coast where we stop at the photographers favorite waterfall Seljalandsfoss. Driving along the steep mountains of Eyjafjöll (home of the famous Eyjafjallajökull volcano) we will shoot more waterfalls, old buildings, seascapes and some Icelandic horses.

Day 5

The photogenic pinnacles of Reynisdrangar are first on the agenda along with the black lava sand beaches near Vík before driving towards Skaftafell. Along the way will stop at the moss covered lava fields of Eldhraun and some old farm buildings. At Skaftafell we will shoot the glaciated peaks of Mt. Öræfajökull in the soft evening light.

Day 6

After a good rest we start the day by visiting Svartifoss a waterfall surrounded by basalt columns before taking a tractor trailer ride to Ingólfshöfði to photograph friendly Puffins and not as friendly great Skua. We will spend the rest of the day/evening/night photographing glacier lagoons including the photogenic Jökulsárlón. We will overnight close to Jökulsárlón at a country guest house called Hali.

Day 7-8

The picturesque east Iceland is calling us. We will stop at the more jagged coastal peaks of Eystrahorn and we’ll stop in ample locations to photograph sea stacks, the winding roads and cascading streams down the steep terraced mountains. We will spend the night at a remote but very comfortable mountain hut. From there we will do short hikes to rarely visited but beautiful waterfalls.

Day 9-10

Now in the north of Iceland. From our mountain hut we will head towards the iconic lake Mývatn where we will spend the next 3 nights. In Mývatn we’ll photograph geothermal steam vents, bizarre volcanic formations, and fields of craters that will make you feel like you are on the moon, then check out or swim in warm, silica-rich water with an amazing blue-colour, from a nearby geothermal power plant. Near lake Mývatn are the grand waterfalls of Goðafoss and the remote Aldeyjarfoss.

In Iceland’s mini Grand Canyon we’ll feel the plummeting power of Europes’s largest waterfall by volume, Dettifoss along with its less known neighbor Selfoss and take some shorter hikes in the river canyon of Jökulsárgljufur National Park to see rock stacks dividing a the powerful Jökulsá á Fjöllum.We will drive passed the picturesque fishing village of Húsavík and have another chance at photographing puffins.

Day 11

We cruise the north coast of Iceland passing through Akureyri the capital of the north. We take the Kjölur Highlands Route over the rough, famous route through Iceland’s stark, barren Highlands, arriving at very colorful and less-known geothermal area Hveravellir and Kerlingarfjöll Mountains. We spend the whole day shooting the spectacular hot-springs and geothermal colors in the area and that night we sleep at the Highlands mountain cabin of Kerlingarfjöll, which has a lots of hot-springs and a great mountain view of surrounding glaciers and highlands. The Langjökull glacier and the barren, bleak, yet beautiful expanses of Iceland’s western Highlands are more photographic highlights on this trip.

Day 12

We take an easy hike to the geothermal fields of Hveradalir in Kerlingarfjöll, one of the most colorful geothermal areas in the highlands of Iceland. On our way back from Kerlingarfjöll we stop at the waterfall Gýgjarkvísl, then take the gravel highlands route back down to the Geysir area in Haukadalur, and have an opportunity of shooting one or two of the pearls in the “Golden Circle” while we make our way back to Reykjavik in the night. We’ll stay in Reykjavik the last night, allowing you to do any last minute shopping or city sightseeing.

Day 13

Departure from Reykjavík to the airport. If you choose to stay longer in Iceland we can assist you with booking accommodation and advising on additional trips to take.

Dates

July 3 – July 14 2018

Price

$5.950 USD

Single room supplement $1000 USD

This includes:

• Photographic tutoring and guidance.
• Double occupancy accommodation for 12 nights including 2 nights at Hotel in Reyjavík at each end of the trip. We will be using comfortable country hotels and guesthouses with private bathrooms (except for highland huts).
• All transportation in a large 4×4 bus.
• Meals: breakfast at hotels and hot dinners at our places of accommodation and/or restaurants.

Not included:

• Alcoholic beverages and snacks
• Lunches
• International flights to Iceland

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