Iceland - Landmannalaugar
The photographs for this post come from quite a bit later in our journey than the previous F899 images. We had rummaged around the North Fjords with some success and made a trip through the country on F35, which runs from the North to the South of Iceland, with a several day stop-off at Kerlingarfjöll. There we photographed and I took an exhausting hike, but to be a bit blunt, it wasn’t as photographically rewarding as I’d hoped (the hike though was amazing).
The same can’t be said about Landmannalaugar. It was more interesting than I’d thought it would be. We had picked up John and Judy from the airport a couple of days earlier (thus the need to cut straight through the country), spend the first day recovering from their flight in Reykjavik, and then headed out to Landmannalaugar to the one place we planned to spend two nights at.
The drive out was beautiful, on another F-Road, F225) though we didn’t stop to photograph. But on the morning of our full day there, we headed on a hike through a lava field that promised some excellent views. I decided to take the bigger camera with me instead of the point-and-shoot, but limit myself to one lens. I’m glad I opted for the better quality camera.
In a word, the landscape is stunning. Even with cloudy skies the mix of lava field and painted landscapes was amazing.
Opting to go light, I hadn’t brought a tripod along. I wasn’t sure how well hand-holding landscape photography images would turn out, but the in-camera stabilization worked great. Not much changed in terms of my working methodology other than the fact that each image is ever so slightly different than the others.
As the hike wore on, the weather started rolling in, which added some mystery to the landscape. However, by the end of the hike, the fog was more obscuring than enhancing, and the periodic light rain blowing through limited photographing options.
No need to worry. When we got back, John and Ann cooked us an amazing meal in the bimobil (did I mention that on the way from the airport we stopped at the Reykjavik Costco for some meats?).
After dinner as the skies were darkening (and the periodic showers became more frequent), Judy looked out the window and commented on the view down the valley from the campground. I looked as well, and then grabbed my camera (with tripod this time), for one final image.
It was a good day with good friends.