Essential Iceland

Kirkjufell, July 2023 - Fujifilm X-T5, 18mm f/1.4

In 2023, we gave my uncle a trip to Iceland, a gift for his 80th birthday. Since none of us had been there before and we were traveling with two aging family members, we chose to approach the trip in a very structured way. We only had five days for the trip, so we chose to stay on the southwestern part of the island. We had great weather for the whole trip—within the limits of Icelandic weather—and we were all blown away by the beauty of the island. Having previously been to the Faroe Islands a couple of times, I thought I knew what to expect from the landscape, but Iceland turned it up to 11!

In July, Iceland sees basically 24/7 daylight with 10pm-2am is basically a four hour sunset. The light is surreal—and blackout curtains are a must.

For my gear, I brought everything, I could fit in my camera backpack—and I basically only used the excellent 18mm f/1.4. I had recently gotten the X-T5, and while coming from the X-E4, there were still some things that I was tinkering with. Beyond a few small gripes, the gear performed without a hitch.

GEAR

Fujifilm X-T5 — XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR — XF 33mm f/1.4 R LM WR — XF 70-300mm f/4-5,6 LM OIS WR

DJI Mavic Mini 3 Pro …all crammed into my Lowepro FreeLine BP 350 AW

Seljalandsfoss & Gljufrabui, July 2023 - Fujifilm X-T5, 18mm f/1.4

First couple of days

We started by stringing together as many waterfalls as we could—Seljalandsfoss, Gljufrabui, and Skogafoss—on our way to Vík. Naturally, they were all quite crowded with it being peak tourist season, but we were fortunate enough to visit Seljalandsfoss before the morning rush. My uncle and I hiked behind the waterfall and I got all the iconic photos that I had hoped for. The path itself was decent but not fantastic with a couple of sketchy parts—if your mobility is even the least bit impaired, I would advise against taking that hike. That is a general thing about most of the locations that we visited: If you really want to get up close, you better be prepared to traverse some relatively rough terrain.

While we were not able to get up close to Eyjafjallajökull, I managed to capture this beautiful panorama from a vantage point on the coastal road. Stitched together from five vertical shots at about 120mm, I am incredibly happy with the result, showcasing the cracks in the ice and steam from (low) geothermal activity.

Eyjafjallajökull Panorama, July 2023 - Fujifilm X-T5, 70-300mm f/4-5.6

Sólheimajökull, July 2023 - Fujifilm X-T5, 70-300mm f/4-5.6

Glaciers like Sólheimajökull will always be a solemn sight. You can always expect it to be smaller than what it looks like in the images you find while researching—while still impressive, it is clearly receded.

We had a great lunch at the Smiðjan Brugghús in Vïk, which serves very decent barbeque food—they even do a BBQ platter.

On the way back from Vík, we had a tour scheduled of the Caves of Hella. I cannot recommend this enough. It was a beautiful guided tour of five of twelve man-made caves near Hella. There is a lot unresolved questions surrounding the caves and their origins. As they write on their website: “The historical site is Iceland's oldest still standing archaeological remains. Some believe the caves to date even further back than the settlement of the Nordic Vikings.”

During this part of the roundtrip, we stayed at the beautiful Landhótel near Hella. Cozy hotel with friendly staff and a good restaurant with a panoramic view of several volcanos.