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This was without a doubt the best day of our trip. We went out with Einar and his son from Öræfaferðir / Local Guide Travel Service. They were both amazing, and we would highly recommend their services! Please feel free to check out the link below for more information.
For our third stop, we joined up with Einar's son and another group to head into another ice cave on Vatnajökull Glacier, about 15 minutes away from the first one. This cave had two floors! We had to do a small rappel about 8 feet down to get to the bottom floor.
This shot is from the first floor, ground level, near the entrance. Here my wife and I accepted the challenge of holding a steady pose through 5 long exposures on a self-timer.
Being in these caves was unlike anything we've ever experienced. They were well insulated so it wasn't extremely cold, but the textures and formations were completely otherworldly. The ice will often take on a rich, deep blue color in these caves. However, we were told that because it was a bright and sunny day, that blue became more of the aqua/teal type color you see here.
Interestingly, due to the constant changing of the glaciers and temperature changes, these ice caves are rarely ever around for more than a couple of weeks at a time. You can go back every year and have a completely different experience every time. We were told that the ice caves we enjoyed, for example, were gone within a week of our visit. This cave in particular, had partially collapsed the day before we entered it, so we only got to see about 2/3 of the cave they had intended on showing us.
Nikon D800
14-24mm f/2.8 Lens
5-Exposure HDR bracketed at 1-stop, on a Gitzo Tripod with a self-timer, blended in Photomatix
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Ingólfshöfði is a nature reserve that's home to thousands of nesting sea-birds, like puffins and great skuas. This birdwatching tour was taken with the group Local Guide, which hauls people across a massive black sand beach in a hay cart to reach the cliffs where the birds live.
This was without a doubt the best day of our trip. We went out with Einar and his son from Öræfaferðir / Local Guide Travel Service. They were both amazing, and we would highly recommend their services! Please feel free to check out the link below for more information.
Our first stop was to throw on some crampons and hike along the Svínafellsjökull Outlet on Vatnajökull Glacier. These were some of the most breathtaking sights we have ever seen, and it was even more amazing to be on them and experiencing them first hand.
Interesting trivia facts from our guide, Einar:
An early fight scene between Christian Bale and Liam Neeson in Batman Begins was filmed on this glacier. Because the glaciers are always melting and evolving, we did not see the glacier exactly as they did, but this is still where it all went down. Interestingly, Liam Neeson was not even aware they were shooting a Batman film at the time of the shoot. Director Christopher Nolan apparently likes to play things "very close to the chest." Here is a shot of my wife and I reenacting their exciting battle.
Additionally, episodes from Season 2 of HBO's "Game of Thrones" were filmed here. Icelandic locals get a real kick out of the scenes on display because chase scenes that were intended to take place over the course of several miles clearly show the distinctive "Pig Mountain" (Svínafells, hence Svínafellsjökull means "Pig Mountain Glacier") in the same spot in the background, clearly indicating that they had only moved maybe 100 feet in between shots.
Nikon D800
24-120mm f/4 Lens
This was without a doubt the best day of our trip. We went out with Einar and his son from Öræfaferðir / Local Guide Travel Service. They were both amazing, and we would highly recommend their services! Please feel free to check out the link below for more information.
For our fourth and final stop, we hiked about 5 minutes to another ice cave on Vatnajökull Glacier. This one was small in terms of corridors, as there was only one real section, but it was a massive cavern with a chocolate colored stream running through it.
This shot was taken near the entrance to the cave. I really liked how the sun lit up these ice formations, they almost appeared to be glowing. You can also see water dripping from the cave slowly melting all along the entrance arch way.
This shot had a very high amount of dynamic range, looking straight at the sun and still trying to capture the shadows and vibrancy of the scene. This required 7-stops of bracketing to properly capture the dynamic range I was able to see with my eyes.
Being in these caves was unlike anything we've ever experienced. They were well insulated so it wasn't extremely cold, but the textures and formations were completely otherworldly. The ice will often take on a rich, deep blue color in these caves. However, we were told that because it was a bright and sunny day, that blue became more of the aqua/teal type color you see here.
Interestingly, due to the constant changing of the glaciers and temperature changes, these ice caves are rarely ever around for more than a couple of weeks at a time. You can go back every year and have a completely different experience every time. We were told that the ice caves we enjoyed, for example, were gone within a week of our visit. This cave in particular, had partially collapsed the day before we entered it, so we only got to see about 2/3 of the cave they had intended on showing us.
Nikon D800
14-24mm f/2.8 Lens
7-Exposure HDR bracketed at 1-stop, on a Gitzo Tripod with a remote trigger release, blended in Photomatix
Ingólfshöfði is a nature reserve that's home to thousands of nesting sea-birds, like puffins and great skuas. This birdwatching tour was taken with the group Local Guide, which hauls people across a massive black sand beach in a hay cart to reach the cliffs where the birds live.
Spent the day on a tour to an Ice cave under the Vatnajokull glacier in East Iceland with the guide from Localguide.is
It's not what you would call easily accessible but it's spectacular once you're inside.
People included in shot for a sense of scale
This was without a doubt the best day of our trip. We went out with Einar and his son from Öræfaferðir / Local Guide Travel Service. They were both amazing, and we would highly recommend their services! Please feel free to check out the link below for more information.
For our third stop, we joined up with Einar's son and another group to head into another ice cave on Vatnajökull Glacier, about 15 minutes away from the first one. This cave had two floors! We had to do a small rappel about 8 feet down to get to the bottom floor.
This shot is from the first floor in the winding entrance way. Here my wife and I accepted the challenge of holding a steady pose through 5 long exposures on a self-timer.
Being in these caves was unlike anything we've ever experienced. They were well insulated so it wasn't extremely cold, but the textures and formations were completely otherworldly. The ice will often take on a rich, deep blue color in these caves. However, we were told that because it was a bright and sunny day, that blue became more of the aqua/teal type color you see here.
Interestingly, due to the constant changing of the glaciers and temperature changes, these ice caves are rarely ever around for more than a couple of weeks at a time. You can go back every year and have a completely different experience every time. We were told that the ice caves we enjoyed, for example, were gone within a week of our visit. This cave in particular, had partially collapsed the day before we entered it, so we only got to see about 2/3 of the cave they had intended on showing us.
Nikon D800
14-24mm f/2.8 Lens
5-Exposure HDR bracketed at 1-stop, on a Gitzo Tripod with a self-timer, blended in Photomatix
This was without a doubt the best day of our trip. We went out with Einar and his son from Öræfaferðir / Local Guide Travel Service. They were both amazing, and we would highly recommend their services! Please feel free to check out the link below for more information.
Our first stop was to throw on some crampons and hike along the Svínafellsjökull Outlet on Vatnajökull Glacier. These were some of the most breathtaking sights we have ever seen, and it was even more amazing to be on them and experiencing them first hand.
Interesting trivia facts from our guide, Einar:
An early fight scene between Christian Bale and Liam Neeson in Batman Begins was filmed on this glacier. Because the glaciers are always melting and evolving, we did not see the glacier exactly as they did, but this is still where it all went down. Interestingly, Liam Neeson was not even aware they were shooting a Batman film at the time of the shoot. Director Christopher Nolan apparently likes to play things "very close to the chest." Here is a shot of my wife and I reenacting their exciting battle.
Additionally, episodes from Season 2 of HBO's "Game of Thrones" were filmed here. Icelandic locals get a real kick out of the scenes on display because chase scenes that were intended to take place over the course of several miles clearly show the distinctive "Pig Mountain" (Svínafells, hence Svínafellsjökull means "Pig Mountain Glacier") in the same spot in the background, clearly indicating that they had only moved maybe 100 feet in between shots.
Nikon D800
24-120mm f/4 Lens
This was without a doubt the best day of our trip. We went out with Einar and his son from Öræfaferðir / Local Guide Travel Service. They were both amazing, and we would highly recommend their services! Please feel free to check out the link below for more information.
Our first stop was to throw on some crampons and hike along the Svínafellsjökull Outlet on Vatnajökull Glacier. These were some of the most breathtaking sights we have ever seen, and it was even more amazing to be on them and experiencing them first hand.
For this shot, Einar found a snowy crevice in the glacier about 10 feet deep. We climbed down inside and got a really nice close up view of some ice walls. As I recall, he told us that when the sun was not contacting the ice, it would be a deep and rich blue color. With a little sunlight the color would change to a light blue, and with a lot it would become more of an aqua/teal color. I believe that is what we were observing here. I could be wrong though, as I was very focused on not dropping my camera in the crevice and didn't catch everything he was saying.
Interesting trivia facts from our guide, Einar:
An early fight scene between Christian Bale and Liam Neeson in Batman Begins was filmed on this glacier. Because the glaciers are always melting and evolving, we did not see the glacier exactly as they did, but this is still where it all went down. Interestingly, Liam Neeson was not even aware they were shooting a Batman film at the time of the shoot. Director Christopher Nolan apparently likes to play things "very close to the chest." Here is a shot of my wife and I reenacting their exciting battle.
Additionally, episodes from Season 2 of HBO's "Game of Thrones" were filmed here. Icelandic locals get a real kick out of the scenes on display because chase scenes that were intended to take place over the course of several miles clearly show the distinctive "Pig Mountain" (Svínafells, hence Svínafellsjökull means "Pig Mountain Glacier") in the same spot in the background, clearly indicating that they had only moved maybe 100 feet in between shots.
Nikon D800
24-120mm f/4 Lens
This little guy had a constant stream of riddles for kids. I'm surprised it has lasted this long through the years.
This was without a doubt the best day of our trip. We went out with Einar and his son from Öræfaferðir / Local Guide Travel Service. They were both amazing, and we would highly recommend their services! Please feel free to check out the link below for more information.
Our first stop was to throw on some crampons and hike along the Svínafellsjökull Outlet on Vatnajökull Glacier. These were some of the most breathtaking sights we have ever seen, and it was even more amazing to be on them and experiencing them first hand.
Interesting trivia facts from our guide, Einar:
An early fight scene between Christian Bale and Liam Neeson in Batman Begins was filmed on this glacier. Because the glaciers are always melting and evolving, we did not see the glacier exactly as they did, but this is still where it all went down. Interestingly, Liam Neeson was not even aware they were shooting a Batman film at the time of the shoot. Director Christopher Nolan apparently likes to play things "very close to the chest." Here is a shot of my wife and I reenacting their exciting battle.
Additionally, episodes from Season 2 of HBO's "Game of Thrones" were filmed here. Icelandic locals get a real kick out of the scenes on display because chase scenes that were intended to take place over the course of several miles clearly show the distinctive "Pig Mountain" (Svínafells, hence Svínafellsjökull means "Pig Mountain Glacier") in the same spot in the background, clearly indicating that they had only moved maybe 100 feet in between shots.
Nikon D800
24-120mm f/4 Lens