Winter in Iceland
It is quite weird to be visiting Iceland as a tourist… after all I am born and raised there.. But now I have lived abroad for 2 years.. Or In the Faroe islands.. I almost feel like I have not left at all since the 2 countries are so much alike.
I had planned to fly to Iceland but because of the situation all flights were cancelled and I basicly had to jump onboard the ferry… I mean jump… I had to take all of my luggage and jump on the car ramp! The ferry was leaving without me! But.. It all worked out and I made the journey over to Iceland… When I got to Seyðisfjörður there was a rental car waiting there for me… It was midnight, bad weather and loads of snow.. And the car rental left a Toyota Aygo on the harbour! For me to drive…during winter…. all the way to Reykjavik…!
The trip began with me waiting until 2:30 a.m for everyone from the ferry to line up before the first mountain before the truck cleared the road so we could pass the mountain.. I was actually suprised that I made it over… But it took me 15 hours to get to Reykjavik!
When I arrived in the city I called the carrental that I originally planned to work with on this trip and changed cars… Hertz.is hooked me up with a brand new Eclipse cross.. 4x4 and ready for all the Iceland adventures that were ahead… They obviously know that you dont go around Iceland in an Aygo during winter… haha!
From Reykjavik I drove straight north to Akureyri for 2 projects and some epic landscape photoshoots!
After few days in the north it was time to head back south. I drove during the day in bad weather of course but the views are even better that way.. I think the road between Akureyri and Reykjavik is one of the most boring roads to take while travelling in Iceland.. There is basicly not much to see, or not as much as on some other routes.. But I had dramatic weather, good music and good stereos in my rental, so I was good!
Next up on my journey was Snæfellsnes peninsula! I decided to take a day to just explore… No work..Just me and the camera! There are so many epic spots on that peninsula but I could not reach all of them that day because of how much snow there was! I absolutely love roaming around there in all seasons, but for me.. fall or winter is the best!
I highly recommend having a 4x4 car while travelling during winter and this link takes you to the ones I use!
The next few days I had some projects that took me all over the country but mostly in the city. But I found time here and there when the weather was not to bad to head back out to the “hotspots” on the southcoast and Reykjanes. I have never seen so many days that the roads from the city were just closed because of snow. I felt like the times when I was a kid, when our little village was sometimes closed to the outside world for a week or two!
In my gear bag this journey was ofcourse my Fujifilm GFX100 with the 23mm F4 and 32-64mm F4 Fujinon lenses. I also had the 90mm 1.25 TTartisan with me for that camera and tried it out a bit! Then I had my Fujifim XT3 and XT4 with the 16-55mm F2.8 and 56mm F1.2 Fujinon lenses. And then I had my DJI Mavik pro 2 as well.
I am already planning next winters trip.. The idea with trip was to finish some projects and also go out and catch some stormy and moody shots… well.. that did not work out that well as the roads always closed very fast… so that is next winters project. And hopefully it will be even bigger then with some epic people and great companies…;-)
Until next time..!
