Iceland – Day 5
“Heiðarfall” – North Iceland
“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.”
―
On a day that started out dull, and blanketed in low cloud and with little promise of sights to photograph, we set out on the still icy road which would lead us to a stop at Goðafoss, a much photographed waterfall just off the main highway, a lovely lunch in the city of Akureyri, and finally, our overnight stay at a guesthouse in Svinvatn, a small interior lake.
As we approached Goðafoss, the sky began to brighten, but a layer of cloud still blocked the sun, but made for good conditions to photograph the waterfall, post to follow at a later date.
With the highlight of our day completed, we headed out of Akureyri, the second largest city in Iceland, following a long valley through the mountain range that rises on the western edge of the Eyjafjörður fjord.
With the sky just slightly overcast, the drive through the valley was lovely, and yielded a few ‘decent’ photos. I the distance, we could see a mountain peak, a bit hazy in the distance, lit up by the sun. We kept watching, as the peak began to come into sharper view, snow whipping from its snow covered summit.
We pulled over along the road to make a few photos of this interesting vista before us. Then, suddenly, magic happened. As I stood ready to make a photo, the clouds overhead changed the light, ever so slightly and bathed the valley before me in a wonderful golden hue and the world before me was like a scene from a dream, then it was gone again. But, I was able to capture that one brief moment as a photo I will treasure for a long time. The long valley, with the snowy mountain. A miracle of light and timing.
So, a ho hum day, became a day of sheer joy. That seems to be the nature of Iceland, you always have to be prepared for something new and wonderful, despite icy roads and gray skies.
What an incredible change from yesterday’s icy drive.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 145 mm
1/320 sec, f/9.0 ISO 200
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That is incredible, the light and frozen motion.
The light was unbelievable!
You took an amazing slice out of space-time. Just wow…
Thank you!
Wow! This has a Great feel. Nice shot.
Thank you.
I can just echo what has already been said about this beautiful photo.
I’ll say magic happened. This shot is incredible. I had to look at it long and hard to make sure it wasn’t a painting!
Terrific picture.
Thanks Sherry
It looks like a painting …but only believable because it’s a photo! Wow!
It really is like something from a dream. I keep going back to it myself 🙂
Amazing. Such a wonderful place.
I love it here. 5 more days to go.
Beautiful photograph! The light is fantastic.
Thanks. The light was pure magic, but oh so brief.
It’s great that you were able to capture it so quickly. I think it seems all the more magical for being just a brief moment.
Like the impressionist capturing the beauty of changing light.
Well done
Thank you
So so schön!
Ich liebe dieses unglaubliche Foto!
Und ich wünsche mir und drücke mir selbst die Daumen, eines Tages auch auf Island sein zu dürfen.
Danke . Es ist ein wunderschönes Land und ich wünschte, Sie könnten eines Tages besuchen.
Oh ja, das wünsche ich mir und ich beginne schon zu planen.
🙂
Absolutely stunning.
Thanks, the whole thing was like a dream. I still get goosebumps looking at this image and remembering that brief moment in time.
You made a perfect capture there. You can be rightly proud.
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