Iceland 2025 – the first photo expedition!
We are back from my biggest photo expedition yet, specifically to the land of ice and fire – Iceland. It was rather small in terms of the number of participants, but it was all the greater because of the place, conditions and itinerary.
Island THE ROUGH
Iceland welcomed us truly with all the pomp and showed us how rough it can be. Extreme (at least by our standards) wind, rain and snow whipped us for the first 3-4 days, i.e. a good half of the whole photo expedition. The sand carried by the air got everywhere and gave a hard time to photo equipment, backpacks and ourselves, giving us involuntary peeling. When the sand wasn’t flying, salt-saturated water vapor, raindrops, hail or snow was. At times we had to work to stay on our feet; we could just as easily forget about using a tripod.
Needless to say, shooting in such conditions is indeed difficult. I had my share of Iceland really fair – my backpack was full of sand, so I had to shower and dry it several times to make it at least a little bit safe for photo equipment; the very next day I cracked my ribs and hip when I fell on a small iceberg while escaping a sneaker wave, and the lowest point for me was when we walked a bit carelessly behind the Seljalandsfoss waterfall, which at one point had its current blown right at me by the wind, which even my otherwise waterproof clothes couldn’t resist and I was soaked from the waist down.
SNEAKER Waves
Throughout the whole time I have been warning everyone about the infamous sneaker waves, which I encountered here last year. These are waves that come once in a while – an hour, two, three… All the time we were standing about 3 meters from the place where even the longest waves ended, which came every few minutes. But at the end of the shoot, just when I said we could pack up, the really sneaky one came.
Suddenly we noticed that the sea had risen more in front of us than we could have observed in the hour and a half of our presence there. We made a run for it, with my backpack “cleverly” placed another 2- 3 meters behind me at a distance I thought was perfectly safe. I knew I had to pick it up before the wave reached it. Instead, as it happens in the movies, I slipped and smacked myself to the ground, whereupon the participant behind me followed, and like a domino, so did the next participant behind her. The wave rushed under us. At that moment I got to my knees and lifted my backpack in the air. This was followed by a good +/- 5 meters of running in water slightly over our ankles. The wave thus went about 10- 15 meters farther than the longest we could see for the whole time.
Thanks to the fact that we saved our equipment and got wet just a little, we could laugh about it and this slightly adrenaline episode actually lifted my mood, which was topped off by a well-deserved visit to a local brewery:-). But there was also a great respect for the ocean, and the first seconds when the wave was rushing at us were a bit scary. Well – who is not wet, photographs under their capabilities!
Island THE BEAUTIFUL
This practically ended the rough episode of the photo expedition and the next day Iceland showed us its other face. A face full of kindness, beauty and gentleness. We were about to cross from the south to the west, specifically to the Snaefellsnes peninsula. The wind had completely ceased, the sun had risen and the snow-covered landscape around the “golden circle” (the circuit to the inlands of the island) sparkled like a jewel. A visit to the thermal pool in particular was a bright highlight. It’s hard to put into words the spectacle of being surrounded by a snowy landscape, with a wild river flowing right next to you, hot bubbling springs pouring into it, and everything shrouded in a mist of steam. At the same time, you’re glowing with joy in a 38°C hot pool. To visit Iceland and not do this would be a sinful mistake, especially after the harsh introduction we got.
The Northern Lights
Due to the prevailing cloudy weather and the forecast, photographing the aurora was unthinkable until then. It was not even a priority of the photo expedition, but of course we hoped and were ready to photograph it if the opportunity arised. It very subtly began to take shape as we moved to the west and the weather became moderate. The forecast for the Northern Lights, however, did not give much hope despite the clear skies. As we were approaching the hotel in the dark, my eyes kept wandering to a strange stripe in the sky that didn’t look like a cloud and which resembled the slight aurora we had seen on our visit last year. When we arrived and finally had a chance to point our cameras, there was no mistaking the slight aurora. We first tophotographed right next to the hotel in case the aurora wanted to disappear. But instead (and despite the forecast) it started to get brighter.
After a full day’s travel and only a light dinner, we had not much energy to spare, but the situation pushed aside our fatigue and hunger and we decided not to hang around the hotel and head to a place where there is a chance to capture the aurora with a really cool composition – Kirkjufell mountain. There was already a large group of photographers on site, but at the first sign of the lights fading they packed up and left as one man and we found ourselves alone at this famous spot. We decided to be patient, and while I was calmly consuming a tin of tuna, suddenly after a few minutes a scene appeared in front of me, during which all I could do was to shout something like “There!”.
It was our first time with the aurora borealis and I have to say I didn’t expect it to be such a light show at all. Suddenly you see as if someone was painting with light on the starry sky like a brush on a canvas, and the resulting shapes shuffle and ripple and transform, appear and disappear… I could only manage to intuitively pull the trigger and stare open-mouthed at what was unfolding before us. The euphoria is indescribable, but probably everyone who encountered it for the first time must have experienced it in some form.
Bárður Snæfellsás
In Arnarstapi we came across a statue of Bárður Snæfellsás. I had seen it last year, but I didn’t really care about it. It was only this year that I looked at the sign to see what the statue was actually about. It’s supposed to be of a local mythical figure, a spirit, an idol and guardian who roamed the countryside and was worshipped by the people and called upon for help in times of trouble. But he had two faces and could be both very tough and ruthless as well as incredibly kind and gentle. This is a great representation not only of the Snaefellsnes peninsula, but of the whole of Iceland.
Last year, the phrase “manacing beauty” came to my mind as a fitting characterization of Iceland. Apparently, I was right, because that is exactly what this statue expressed, and this year we were able to experience the character of Iceland in a really rigorous way. And when the inconvenience is followed by euphoria, it’s easy to become somewhat addicted. So be warned – once you’ve experienced it, you’ll probably have a desire to return for the rest of your life.
This was a photo expedition for Czech people only, but I would like to do it again internationally in English too. If you’d like to come with me, feel free to contact me, so you could pre-book your place within participants:-).
The complete serie of selected photographs you can find here – https://markusnakus.cz/galerie/serie/island-2025/.
