The Akranes mountain, once again, at sunset. The polarizing filter helped me have a deep blue for the sky, wich gives two opposite main colors. Simple and clear, the silhouette stands out. But one regret : the exposure wasn't long enough to smooth more the water. I was lacking a ND filter, needed for a long exposure in daylight.
Auroras are also known as the Northern Lights. They are due to the solar wind coming from the Sun and stopped by the Earth magnetic field. They can show up in different colors depending of the altitude : green being the most common, they can be pink, red, yellow blue or white.
You can witness these wonders of nature from September to April in Iceland.
As the photo can't show, they are not moving really fast (just like clouds moving in the wind), so you have time to take photos. But don't forget : it is cold and you'll have to take long exposure shots with a tripod. The hardest part for me was having a sharp focus on the foreground (the autofocus don't work in the dark).
Gulfoss is a famous waterfall in Iceland, where water coming from a melting glacier follows the riff between the European and the American tectonic plates.
To bad this day was cloudy, the picture could have been better. But the waterfall is amazingly impressive, with either clouds or sunshine.
In Iceland, the sheeps are freed in the country during summer. When September comes, sheepers go out on their horses and try to bring them all back in their farms for the winter.
For this reason, is it very common to see sheeps everywhere in the countryside, and you have to be carefull when driving.
From Gulfoss, we can see the icelandic glacier Langjökull in the distance.
On the foreground,
a man-made stack of stones, part of the local beliefs.
Gulfoss is a famous waterfall in Iceland, where water coming from a melting glacier follows the riff between the European and the American tectonic plates.
These two plates are moving apart 2 centimeters each year.
An icelandic horse in his gigantic pen, standing in front of the Akranes mountain at sunset.
It has no barn in wich to spend the night, it lives in the nature, and eat the grass all day long.
Geysir is a classic destination for tourist. It is part of the Golden Circle tour.
On this photo, the water level is just starting to rise before the explosion (this lasts less than half a second).
Seydisfjordur is a really small town located in a fjord. This is the starting point for the ferry Norrona, cruising from Iceland to Denmark, via the Feroes.
This photo was taken from this ferry, while cruising in the fjord.
The Eyjafjallajökull volcano is known as the icelandic volcano that, during April 2010, disrupted air traffic for several weeks.
Photo taken from the west, so we can see the ash cloud moving to the south (Europe). This is a semi-long exposure in order to be able to see the movement of the cloud. The car on the right helps us have a scale of the size of the scene.
The Mountain of Akranes in Iceland, and its reflection in a small lake.
Photo taken at sunset, with semi-long exposure to smooth out the water and a polarizing filter in order to have the really dark water in the bottom.
Geysir is a classic destination for tourist. It is part of the Golden Circle tour. Hot water rise up to 10 meters approximately every 5 minutes.
When trying to photograph it, you need to be patient as waiting for the big hot bubble coming from within the earth is really exciting. But when it comes, you need to be fast, have the focus already made, shoot and watch out for the hot water coming down !
Religion in Iceland was initially the Norse paganism that was a common belief among mediaeval Scandinavians until Christian conversion. Later, the nation became half-Christian and then more fully Christian.
At present, the population is overwhelmingly, if nominally, Lutheran.
Kerið is a volcanic crater lake located in the Grímsnes area, on the popular tourist route known as the Golden Circle.
The crater is composed of a red (rather than black) volcanic rock. The caldera itself is approximately 55m deep, 170m wide, and 270m across. Kerið’s caldera is one of the three most recognizable volcanic craters because at approximately 3,000 years old, it is only half the age of most of the surrounding volcanic features
The icelandic horse is a real pride for icelanders. Even though they are smaller than the usual, they are strong and robust. The breed has aquired a strong resistance over the centuries, being able to handle the winter in the snow.
In order to protect the breed, an icelandic horse that goes out of the country is not allowed to return. That is to say that no horse can come from abroad to Iceland.
Hot water pool at Geysir, Iceland.
The water is around 80-90°C, so you can't touch it. It makes a lot of smoke, wich makes it really difficult to photograph, especially when the winds blows the smoke towards you.
