Photography by Tom Lane
Iceland 2025
Late September/early October I made an unexpected trip to Iceland. Let me explain; a friend of mine has been on many photographic trips with a company called Photoventures, who have arranged visits to numerous locations, including many to Iceland. Unfortunately (fortunate for me), one of the participants booked on this particular trip had to cancel for health reasons and I was offered the chance to fill that place. It took me a nanosecond to accept and so, along with seven other photographers I flew to Keflavik on the 20th September.
On arrival we collected two 4×4 hire cars and headed to the Snaefellsness Peninsular.
Above): General view of Route 1, (also known as the Ring Road) which is a 1,322 km (821 mi) paved highway that encircles the entire island. This route connects the country’s major towns and is the most important transport artery, providing access to many of the main attractions like waterfalls, glaciers, and beaches.
Above: these images were all taken on the Snaefellsness Peninsular on the following day and include the waterfall at Kirkjufelfoss, Olafsvik and Svodufufoss.
Above: Langaholt to Hvammstangi we headed towards Budir and the first image is of the Black Church there. Then on to Grudafjordur before joining a dirt road which took us to the south side of Hvammsfjordur, passing through Helgafell, an area of exposed metamorphic rock.
Above: the small turf roofed church at Grof.
Above: alongside the harbour at Siglufjordur where we spent the night.
Above: Siglufjordur to Laugar in the Lake Myvatn area. Through the long tunnels to Olafsfjordur and along the coast to the small fishing village of Dalvik,and then on to Godafoss to take photo’s of the amazing falls in the evening light.
Above: Lake Myvatn Area. From Laugar back to Godafoss to photograph it in the morning light, before going on to the falls at Aldeyjarfoss. We ended the day at the Hverir and Kafla Thermal Areas before heading back to the hotel at Laugar.
Above: Lake Myvatn to Egilsstadir, the highlight of the journey being the spectacular Studlagil Canyon which we visited from both sides.Well worth the climb down to the canyon of which I ‘stitched’ seven photographs together to make the panorama.
Above: Today was such a bad day weatherwise that I only included this one shot when the rain stopped just long enough for us to explore the colourful cliffs along a section of road between Holl and Undos.
Above: Egilsstadir to Breiddalsvik
Above: Hofn and Vesturhorn area, with the main objective of the day being to photograph the Vestrahorn Mountain and explore some of the small waterfalls and back roads of route 1.
Above: Hofn to Kirkjubaejarklaustur with a stop at Jokulsarlon to look for icebergs in the lagoon and along diamond beach. Unfortunately there was very little ice which wasn’t worth photographing, unlike our prvious visit when there was plenty. Also on the way we stopped to see the falls at Foss a Sidu where the water tumbles over the sheer cliff face.
Above: this reflective image was taken using a very wide angle lens from a very low viewpoint, using a puddle in a car park to provide the ‘mirror’.
Above: Kirkjuaejarklaustur to Hella, via Vik and Reynisfjara Beach. We also spent time at the site of a ‘plane crash, where in 1973 a United States Navy DC-3 plane ran out of fuel and crashed on the black beach at Sólheimasandur. Fortunately, everyone in the aircraft survived, but later it was discovered that the pilot had simply switched over to the wrong fuel tank.
Above: circular route from Hella to include the magnificent Gullfoss waterfall.
Above: end of the trip, with one last stop on the way to Keflavik airport to catch the Icelandair flight back to London Heathrow.
Final thoughts; I really enjoyed the trip and was grateful of being given the chance to participate. It’s the first time I’ve been away with other photographers just focusing on photography and I found it both refreshing and informative to spend a couple of weeks with like minded people. Except for one day, we were really lucky with the weather and thankfully I didn’t have to use all the thermal clothes I had taken.
Iceland is a spectacular place and the perfect location for the landscape photographer. I took two Leica SL2 bodies and three zoom lenses (16-35, 24-90 and 90-280mm) with me and found them to be adequate for everything I wanted to photograph. Were I to go again I may leave the long zoom at home, but I did find it useful for a couple of shots.