Behind the Veil
After the golden circle, we of course had to visit the famous Seljalandsfoss. We were really excited to walk behind this veil of water and as expected, we were by far not the only ones. Nevertheless, we were motivated, put on our rain pants and approached the waterfall, but then stopped before the actual path to take a few pictures. We would have liked to be there earlier, but didn’t get up and so the sun was already higher up in the sky and just peeking over the edge of Seljalandsfoss. Therefore, I put on my wide-angle lens that I love for the huge sunstars it can produce when closing the aperture. I took quite a few pictures, but wasn’t really satisfied with the results as it was just impossible to get a shot without people.
While we were standing there taking pictures, we saw a couple of people returning from the trail behind the waterfall and they were completely soaked. This made us think and doubt if it was a good decision to bring our cameras, especially since I had just bought my Sony A7IV a few weeks before. I really wanted to get some of these classic shots, but we then decided to leave our cameras in the camper van and if it turned out that the spray wasn’t that strong, we would just get our cameras and go for a second round. So off we went, snapping lots of pictures with our smartphones and getting mostly wet as a line of people formed in front of us, struggling to get up the slippery rocks in the heavy spray of the waterfall due to inappropriate clothes such as sneakers or even ankle boots. Anyhow, we finished the round trip and and were glad that we had put on our rain pants, but it would have been safe to take our cameras with us as the spray is only strong on the sides of the waterfall and is not really an issue behind it.
Instead of going for a second round trip, we then decided to also visit Gljúfrabúi which is right next to Seljalandsfoss. What makes this waterfall special is that it is located in a narrow gorge and you can only reach it through the creek by either hopping from one rock to another or by walking through the water. When we arrived, there was a super-long queue of people who didn’t want to get wet feet and tried to walk across the rocks on the very right side of the creek. In fact, so many people went into the gorge that it was almost impossible for the people in the gorge to get back out without getting their feet wet. I actually had wellies with me, but had forgotten them in the camper van, and since we had a pretty tight schedule ahead of us, we decided to skip it.
So we walked back to Seljalandsfoss and noticed the advanced time, which is why we also didn’t go behind the waterfall a second time. I then took a few last pictures in front of it, but wasn’t happy with them either as the sun was already too high in the sky. I also zoomed in a bit to isolate the falling water, which looks pretty good, but back at the computer I really prefer the sunstar images I took right after our arrival with this one being my favorite. Even though I was quite disappointed that I couldn’t get the classic shot, the crowds of people forced me to look for other compositions and thus create something I haven’t seen on social media before. Therefore, I’m really pleased with the outcome and I hope you like it too! :)
Behind the Veil
After the golden circle, we of course had to visit the famous Seljalandsfoss. We were really excited to walk behind this veil of water and as expected, we were by far not the only ones. Nevertheless, we were motivated, put on our rain pants and approached the waterfall, but then stopped before the actual path to take a few pictures. We would have liked to be there earlier, but didn’t get up and so the sun was already higher up in the sky and just peeking over the edge of Seljalandsfoss. Therefore, I put on my wide-angle lens that I love for the huge sunstars it can produce when closing the aperture. I took quite a few pictures, but wasn’t really satisfied with the results as it was just impossible to get a shot without people.
While we were standing there taking pictures, we saw a couple of people returning from the trail behind the waterfall and they were completely soaked. This made us think and doubt if it was a good decision to bring our cameras, especially since I had just bought my Sony A7IV a few weeks before. I really wanted to get some of these classic shots, but we then decided to leave our cameras in the camper van and if it turned out that the spray wasn’t that strong, we would just get our cameras and go for a second round. So off we went, snapping lots of pictures with our smartphones and getting mostly wet as a line of people formed in front of us, struggling to get up the slippery rocks in the heavy spray of the waterfall due to inappropriate clothes such as sneakers or even ankle boots. Anyhow, we finished the round trip and and were glad that we had put on our rain pants, but it would have been safe to take our cameras with us as the spray is only strong on the sides of the waterfall and is not really an issue behind it.
Instead of going for a second round trip, we then decided to also visit Gljúfrabúi which is right next to Seljalandsfoss. What makes this waterfall special is that it is located in a narrow gorge and you can only reach it through the creek by either hopping from one rock to another or by walking through the water. When we arrived, there was a super-long queue of people who didn’t want to get wet feet and tried to walk across the rocks on the very right side of the creek. In fact, so many people went into the gorge that it was almost impossible for the people in the gorge to get back out without getting their feet wet. I actually had wellies with me, but had forgotten them in the camper van, and since we had a pretty tight schedule ahead of us, we decided to skip it.
So we walked back to Seljalandsfoss and noticed the advanced time, which is why we also didn’t go behind the waterfall a second time. I then took a few last pictures in front of it, but wasn’t happy with them either as the sun was already too high in the sky. I also zoomed in a bit to isolate the falling water, which looks pretty good, but back at the computer I really prefer the sunstar images I took right after our arrival with this one being my favorite. Even though I was quite disappointed that I couldn’t get the classic shot, the crowds of people forced me to look for other compositions and thus create something I haven’t seen on social media before. Therefore, I’m really pleased with the outcome and I hope you like it too! :)