My mirrorless digicam and wildlife lens are important journey companions whether or not I’m mountain climbing native trails, or exploring globally. I’ve at all times discovered that my experiences in nature are enriched by means of images. In addition to preserving significant recollections, being able to zoom in on tender moments—like these shared between animals—is unparalleled.
The enigmatic island of Iceland has referred to as to me with its siren songs, beckoning me to doc its supernatural splendors. I think about photographing sweeping vistas within the golden gentle of the Midnight Sun, capturing an impressive humpback whale because it breaches from the icy waters of the Atlantic and framing a puffin because it dives off a moss-laden precipice. These are just some of the epic sights I might expertise, and that’s the reason I’m elated to announce our latest Natural Habitat Adventures & World Wildlife Fund itinerary: Iceland Full Circle: A Photo Pro Expedition!
It is right here—on the convergence of the North American and Eurasian plates—the place you and simply 9 different company will embark on a two-week journey, charged by the panorama’s geothermal vitality. Iceland abounds with wondrous images topics: snow-capped peaks, lava fields carpeted in velvet inexperienced moss, glittering black sand seashores, steaming craters, iceberg lagoons and raging rivers that thunder over basalt cliffs. Fly among the many seabirds on chartered flights; comply with within the wake of whales on personal boat excursions by means of fjords; navigate the wild terrain on 4×4 expeditions; and watch for Arctic fox traipsing over the tundra and shaggy Icelandic horses grazing in wildflower pastures. Experience it all on a full circuit across the nation!
Spotted whereas on tour with Nat Hab & WWF! © Court Whelan
This in-depth expedition is designed for severe photographers who need essentially the most immersive nature expertise obtainable. Our purpose is singular: serving to you get iconic pictures of wildlife and landscapes in a number of the world’s most entrancing pure locations. We do it by offering unique entry and extra time within the area, usually keeping out late to capitalize on the ethereal night gentle. Since Iceland lies close to the Arctic Circle, the summer season days are seemingly unending. You’ll journey within the very smallest teams, with loads of room for all of your tools in our autos, plus added weight allowance on choose flights. Travelers on our Photo Pro Expeditions can count on every day workshops, teaching in post-processing and enhancing methods, and a portfolio evaluate from our Professional Photo Guides.
If you’re like me and have been looking for essentially the most expansive and unique creative journey, then look no additional. We’re providing simply two 2023 departures of this images tour, timed for the most effective climate and almost 24/7 summer season gentle. Read on to catch a glimpse of what’s to come back!
Captured on a Nat Hab & WWF tour round Iceland © Court Whelan
Trip Highlights
- Two full weeks on a whole circuit round Iceland, getting you to hardly ever visited locations just like the East Fjords and Westman Islands
- Three flightseeing alternatives by way of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter, with a glacier touchdown
- Two personal boat journeys to {photograph} whales, seals and seabirds, together with the world’s largest puffin colony
- Two 4×4 Super Jeep excursions to the crater ground of Askja Volcano and the distant Westfjords
- A small group restricted to simply 9 photographers, for the utmost in flexibility and customized consideration
- Two skilled guides: An Expedition Leader who’s a images professional and a naturalist, plus an area information to additional improve your expertise
- More possibilities to {photograph} Iceland’s fireplace, ice and falling water than another itinerary provides
Nat Hab traveler bonding with Icelandic horse © Lianne Thompson
Aerial Photography with a Helicopter Glacier Landing
Natural Habitat Adventures has been the world’s first carbon-neutral journey firm since 2007. When you journey with us, the carbon emissions out of your journey are 100% offset—together with your round-trip flights from residence. Upon arrival at Keflavik International Airport, you’re transferred to our resort in Reykjavik the place you’ll be a part of our Expedition Leader for a welcome dinner and an orientation to all of the adventures that lie forward.
Dramatic dawn view of Svartifoss (Black Fall) in Skaftafell, Vatnajokull National Park
Our adventures in Iceland start with an exhilarating aerial introduction: a 2-hour “Fire and Ice” helicopter tour. Flying over Glymur, the very best waterfall in Iceland after Morsárfoss, we make our first touchdown on Thorisjokull Glacier, stepping out to stroll on the ice. Our flight continues over Thingvellir National Park, providing a vantage of the continental drift that’s solely totally seen from above. The second touchdown on our air tour is within the Hengill geothermal space, a distant valley that’s solely accessible by way of helicopter or a protracted hike.
Nat Hab & WWF vacationers traverse a glacier accessible by way of personal helicopter touchdown © Court Whelan
On the fifth day of the itinerary, we fly over Skaftafell National Park from a personal fixed-wing aircraft and {photograph} the dynamic plain of Skeidararsandur. Black sand and ash are sliced by braided glacial rivers, resembling an intricate community of veins. Focus your lens on Skeidararjokull Glacier and capture placing pictures of the jagged expanse draining off Vatnajokull, Iceland’s largest ice cap.
Aerial view of intersecting glacial streams and river
On Day 11, we join with our late-afternoon chartered flight to Isafjordur, with scenic views of Iceland’s indented shoreline and glacier-carved inside en route. The sheer isolation of the Westfjords area has saved it off the standard vacationer circuit, and we traverse it in depth over the following three days, adjusting our actual itinerary for climate and native circumstances. We supply a 1-hour fixed-wing flight over the Westfjords that’s not offered commercially to anybody else. Our focus is Reykjafjordur and the Drangajokull Glacier—the northernmost in Iceland—which lies subsequent to Hornstrandir Nature Reserve.
Our vacationers toast to late July showers! © Lianne Thompson
Photograph Puffins
Photographed whereas on a Nat Hab & WWF journey! © Lianne Thompson
Among Iceland’s most treasured wildlife is a unusual seabird, often known as the Atlantic puffin. Fortunately, many of the world’s puffins are present in Iceland, the place 60 % of the inhabitants breeds. Day 3 of our itinerary begins with a departure for the distant Westman Islands, a premier birdwatching vacation spot. Our go to begins with a stroll to Storhofoi to {photograph} the world’s largest Atlantic puffin colony. Birds thrive right here in great numbers attributable to a scarcity of predators, just like the Arctic fox.
Other considerable seabirds embrace razorbill, guillemot, northern fulmar, northern gannet, shearwater, storm petrel and quite a lot of gulls together with the good skua and black-legged kittiwake. You’ll have one other alternative to {photograph} these species on Day 7 in Látrabjarg within the Westfjords, residence to the biggest hen cliff on the earth. Time allowing, we might also go to the tiny settlement of BorgarfjordurEystri, identified for its Atlantic puffin colony and quite a few Elvin communities that thrive in Icelandic mythology.
If you didn’t get your fill of puffin images earlier, you’ll on Day 12 once we go to Vigur Island by way of a non-public boat journey from Isafjordur. This small outpost and designated conservation zone is residence to a colony of 100,000 Atlantic puffins and we usually see them carrying fish again to their nests, that are tucked into the steep, grassy cliffside. Other seabirds embrace Arctic terns, black guillemot and eider geese—the supply of treasured down from which the island’s sole resident household makes their residing.
Nat Hab & WWF vacationers witness world’s largest Atlantic puffin colony © Lianne Thompson
Capture Cascading Falls & Cruise by Cetaceans
A humpback whale breaches playfully © Lianne Thompson
After our hen’s-eye view of Glymur and Morsárfoss, Iceland’s tallest waterfall, we exit the helicopter and get an on-the-ground perspective on Iceland’s origins at Thingvellir on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the very epicenter of the place Iceland is forming geologically. We do some mountain climbing within the nationwide park, to views of Oxarafoss waterfall and Iceland’s largest lake, Thingvallavatn. We additionally cease to {photograph} Thorufoss waterfall earlier than heading again to Reykjavik in time for supper.
After an exhilarating birdwatching tour within the Westman islands, we board a sturdy high-speed RIB boat for a 3-hour marine picture safari. We cruise to a number of of the islands past Heimaey, anticipating sightings of whales and seals alongside the best way. Icelandic waters are wealthy with marine life, together with: basking sharks and gray seals; harbor porpoises and white-beaked dolphins; 20 species of whale and greater than 300 species of fish. Minke and humpback whales are widespread; and blue whales, orcas, fin whales, pilot whales and sperm whales can often be noticed throughout sure occasions of the 12 months.
Nat Hab & WWF vacationers witness whales and different marine life on full show! © Lianne Thompson
The following afternoon is spent driving a ferry again to the mainland, stopping at a number of of essentially the most spectacular waterfalls on the south coast. Feel the refreshing spray and snap a photograph of a fleeting rainbow because it arches over the highly effective Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss.
Nat Hab & WWF traveler makes use of a tripod to compose a protracted publicity shot of his associate in entrance of Skogafoss © Lianne Thompson
Day 6 marks a transition in our itinerary, transferring from Iceland’s youngest and most dynamic landscapes alongside the energetic rift zone towards older areas alongside the east coast. Near Hofn, we’ll get pictures of the double cascade of Skutafoss, pouring over a sheer, rocky cliff. The little-visited East Fjords area has a number of the oldest rock in Iceland, with layer upon layer of basalt from historical eruptions slowly carved away by 2.5 million years of successive ice ages. The expansive coastal plain transitions to basic U-shaped glacial valleys flanked by weathered basalt mountains. The ocean is at all times shut because the street winds alongside the fjord-riven coast, unveiling rocky coves and picturesque fishing villages. The tiny city of Djupivogur hugs the mouth of slender Berufjordur Fjord, the place we may even see whales, seals and dolphins.
Skutafoss waterfalls close to Hofn, photographed from a cave with lengthy publicity settings
On Day 7 we enterprise to some of the distant locations in Iceland, accessed by a street that’s open for less than about 4 months a 12 months, when it’s snow-free. The photogenic Mjoifjordur, or “slender fjord,“was carved by successive ice ages and is properly shielded from the weather alongside the outer coast. The water is commonly calm as glass, making for stunning reflection images. Whales are often seen within the fjord as properly. A close-by spotlight is Klifbrekkufossar, a seven-step waterfall that terraces down by means of a rugged chasm. A path hugs the aspect of the waterfall’s course, permitting entry to various angles and nearer views of the cascades.
Klifbrekkufossar
The subsequent day we journey inland from Egilsstadir alongside Lagarflojt Lake, the place native lore holds {that a} sea monster inhabits its waters. At the far finish of the lake, we’ve a chance to {photograph} two distinctive waterfalls: Litlanesfoss is a brief stroll; whereas Hengifoss, one of many tallest in Iceland, is reached by way of a farther hike. Both pour down between excessive, darkish columnar basalt cliffs, lending an otherworldly really feel.
Hengifoss
On Day 10 we witness the ability of Dettifoss, Europe’s largest waterfall by quantity and essentially the most highly effective in Iceland. Fed by the enormous Vatnajokull Glacier, this thundering curtain of water is 330 ft vast and 150 excessive. Dettifoss is contained inside a large canyon carved out by historical glacial outwash floods, the place a quantity of water 4 occasions that of the Amazon River as soon as tore by means of this panorama. We regularly see rainbows over the falls, which make for dramatic images. We additionally cease at Selfoss, a placing U-shaped wall of speeding cataracts fed by one other glacial river originating in Vatnajokull.
Dettifoss © Court Whelan
As we proceed westward for the ultimate days of our epic journey, we cease to {photograph} Godafoss, certainly one of Iceland’s most stunning waterfalls, which originates deep within the highlands. Shaped like a crescent, it drops 40 ft over a sheer volcanic cliff. More thrilling adventures are in retailer at sea throughout our time within the West Fjords and Vigur Island. In this little-visited area, we will count on complete solitude on the water as we spot humpback and minke whales on our personal RIB boat journey. Our ultimate night within the Westfjords is spent within the presence of the biggest waterfall within the area, Dynjandi. Its vast, lacy curtain tumbles down a rugged rock face in tiers, like a flowing bridal veil shimmering within the golden gentle.
Visit The Natural Photographer to learn to obtain silky waterfall pictures like this certainly one of Godafoss! © Court Whelan
Shoot Alongside a Photography Pro
Our proficient Photo Pro Expedition Leaders are senior guides with decades of expertise as skilled nature photographers and as extremely skilled naturalists. Their intimate information of wildlife habits and habitat ensures intimate encounters along with your charming wild topics.
Meet Eddy Savage, certainly one of our Pros who makes a speciality of photographing in polar circumstances. Nat Hab traveler Ok. Connell was particularly grateful to have his technical perception. Connell’s evaluate reads:
“Eddy was marvelous! His knowledge and enthusiasm were great and so infectious. He was very, very well organized and helpful. I could not have taken the pictures I did without his superb help in getting me set up for extreme temperature shooting. The icing on the cake was the incredible pictures he gave to us at the farewell dinner that included a picture of myself jumping up in front of the northern lights. He is an exemplary example for your organization.”
Eddy spent 60 days in Iceland this previous summer season. Watch this Daily Dose of Nature Webinar to listen to a few of his favourite tales from the land of ice and fireplace!
Getting the Shot: Photo Pro Tips
Court Whelan doubles as knowledgeable photographer and Nat Hab’s Chief Sustainability Officer. As Editor in Chief of The Natural Photographer, he’s at all times wanting to share his images information and inventive steerage with readers by means of complete tutorials, weblog posts and fast ideas.
Visit the positioning to see what Court packs in his digicam bag for a visit to Iceland! His staple gear features a wide-angle zoom as a major lens, a telephoto lens for larger flexibility in panorama pictures, a tripod in case of a northern lights show, a polarizing filter to fight fickle lighting circumstances and a impartial density filter to compose silky waterfall images.
Now that you’ve your gear sorted and sights set, I hope to see you on the market! Be positive to share your magical moments with us on Instagram @naturalhabitatadventures!
© Court Whelan