Jonny Fay
Dettifoss - Midnight Sun
During the Summer Solstice, the sun never fully goes down in Iceland. It sets around 11:30pm-12:00am, and then begins rising around 2:00am or so. This results in either a long, glorious and seamless sunset to sunrise scenario, or a nice gentle and even overcast light for several hours. We planned our trip so that we would be near some of the waterfalls I wanted to photograph on many nights of the trip, which led to me spending many late nights alone at some of the most epic waterfalls while my wife rested back in our room.
This night in particular, was one of the most peaceful nights of my life to date. I was the only person at these absolutely enthralling falls for a full 4 hours. I arrived just before midnight, spending a couple hours at the famous Dettifoss (as seen in the film Prometheus) before trekking about a mile along the river to the even more impressive Selfoss (as also seen in Prometheus, albeit very briefly). The drive to these falls was not so awesome (involving an hour drive along a washboard style dirt road at 15mph), but everything that followed was more than worth it.
I was treated to a light sunset at Detifoss, primarily accompanied by overcast skies offering even lighting and a very serene experience.
From Wikipedia:
"Dettifoss is a waterfall in Vatnajökull National Park in Northeast Iceland, and is reputed to be the most powerful waterfall in Europe. Dettifoss is situated on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river, which flows from the Vatnajökull glacier and collects water from a large area in Northeast Iceland. The falls are 100 metres (330 ft) wide and have a drop of 45 metres (150 ft) down to the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon. It is the largest waterfall in Iceland in terms of volume discharge, having an average water flow of 193 m3/s."
Dettifoss - Midnight Sun
During the Summer Solstice, the sun never fully goes down in Iceland. It sets around 11:30pm-12:00am, and then begins rising around 2:00am or so. This results in either a long, glorious and seamless sunset to sunrise scenario, or a nice gentle and even overcast light for several hours. We planned our trip so that we would be near some of the waterfalls I wanted to photograph on many nights of the trip, which led to me spending many late nights alone at some of the most epic waterfalls while my wife rested back in our room.
This night in particular, was one of the most peaceful nights of my life to date. I was the only person at these absolutely enthralling falls for a full 4 hours. I arrived just before midnight, spending a couple hours at the famous Dettifoss (as seen in the film Prometheus) before trekking about a mile along the river to the even more impressive Selfoss (as also seen in Prometheus, albeit very briefly). The drive to these falls was not so awesome (involving an hour drive along a washboard style dirt road at 15mph), but everything that followed was more than worth it.
I was treated to a light sunset at Detifoss, primarily accompanied by overcast skies offering even lighting and a very serene experience.
From Wikipedia:
"Dettifoss is a waterfall in Vatnajökull National Park in Northeast Iceland, and is reputed to be the most powerful waterfall in Europe. Dettifoss is situated on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river, which flows from the Vatnajökull glacier and collects water from a large area in Northeast Iceland. The falls are 100 metres (330 ft) wide and have a drop of 45 metres (150 ft) down to the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon. It is the largest waterfall in Iceland in terms of volume discharge, having an average water flow of 193 m3/s."