Adam Monk Photo Tours & Images Gallery

Godafoss waterfall in Iceland is a pretty special place, so I stayed there for a sunset and a sunrise and shot it from both sides.  At least somewhere above the clouds there was a sunset and a sunrise.  Fortunately overcast light works really well for waterfalls, so although it seems like it I am not really complaining.  The clouds were beautifully defined with lots of great heavy texture, I even got some colour in the clouds above the falls for this shot.  This is pretty much the raw capture with a few minutes of tweaking in Lightroom, mostly just contrast and white balance.  I think this one will come up nicely with a little bit of digital magic.

To shoot images of Godafoss waterfall you can choose from both sides of the falls, and many different High and low perspectives.  This is the low down perspective shot right on the water level.  There was water spray everywhere, so it was wipe and shoot again.

Shot on the Hasselblad H4D-60 with the 28mm lens.  Don’t forget to click on the image to get a bigger version.

A different angle of the Godafoss, the waterfall of the Gods.  When a waterfall has such a massive volume of water going over it there is always a lot of spray, almost everywhere, and seemingly especially where you want to be for the shot.  There is nothing like drops of water all over your lens to ruin your shots, and if you don’t see it until the evening when you are downloading your images it can ruin your whole day. You quickly develop a little ritual, check exposure, frame the shot, check the focus, mirror up… wipe the lens carefully, then quickly take the shot… repeat until you have one that is droplet free.

Oh yeah, don’t fall in!

Godafoss or rather Goðafoss, as it is correctly spelled in Icelandic is the waterfall of the Gods, or the waterfall of the big chief… depending on how its translated, I’m told.  I’m not speaking much Icelandic at this stage, though I am working on it…

Legend has it that about 1000 years ago the head of the Norse community in Iceland, the Lawspeaker, after converting to Christianity, threw the statues of the Nordic Gods into the river from the top of the Falls, at least that’s how the story goes.  Either way, it is one of the most spectacular places I’ve yet been, and somehow the waterfall of the Gods is a fitting name.

This shot was just after a very grey dawn with lots of spray finding the lens of the camera.  There was lots of wiping in between shots, and the camera had a rain jacket on.  Its shot on the Hasselblad H4d-60 with the 28mm lens.

Photo Tour of Iceland 2015.

I have dates for the first Photographic Tour of Iceland for 2015, we will be in Iceland from August 25th until September 3rd 2015.  I don’t have all the details yet, a few things like price we are still working out, but for the latest you just need to keep watching the Blog, or go to the Iceland Photo Tour Page.

I didn’t think I had time to visit Litlanesfoss waterfall on this trip, but the road had other ideas.  I was following highway 1 around Iceland, making detours at various places to get to spectacular spots.  In this case though I had continued on straight thinking I was on highway 1, but at some intersection highway 1 had turned right and the road that continued straight on had become another road… even though it looked exactly the same and there was only a small sign to indicate otherwise.  Seems I was meant to come here.

It was grey, windy and occasionally raining, so perfect weather for waterfalls really.  The overcast conditions and wet rocks all conspired to bring out the colour in the stone and the ubiquitous green of the stunning Iceland moss.  Yes, it really is this colour!

Image shot on the Hasselblad H4D-60 with the 50mm f4 lens

Actually on the way out of Pinvellir National Park in West Iceland, shot from the side of the road.  Mountains are such a novelty to me that after the first couple of days of travelling around Iceland in my camper van I concluded that at the rate I was going, or rather my frequency of stopping, it would take me about 2 months to get back for my return flight to Europe…

The scenery was so spectacular that I was stopping every few minutes and hiking off into the fields  and ravines either side of the road.  Since I had only given myself 10 days this clearly wasn’t going to work.  After that realisation I set myself a final destination each day where I would want to be for sunset and then try to budget my stops to only those that were truly spectacular… Trouble is, all of Iceland is truly spectacular.  Next time I think I allow more time!

This image is yet another un budgeted stop when the combination of the stream, the mountains and the light just could not be ignored.  This was on the way out of Pinvellir National Park West Iceland, where I had spent the whole day saying “wow!” a lot.