Adam Monk Photo Tours & Images Gallery

The first few of days I was in Iceland on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula the weather was nuts!  It rained every day, the wind blew like crazy, and it snowed… sometimes all at once.  Apparently that’s normal, and the Icelanders say if you don’t like the weather, wait another 5 minutes.  It really is true.  I would pull up to a location and the car would be rocking on its suspension from the wind blowing so strong and visibility would be 10 metres due to the rain… then a few minutes later, it would be calm and dry… or at least calmer and dryer.

Of course the best thing about weather like this is the wonderful skies with wild clouds zooming overhead at high speed.  It makes for a great place to play with ND filters and long exposures.  For this shot below, I was literally hanging off of the tripod to stop it blowing off the cliff, with camera attached… a camera that costs more than my car… actually a lot more than my car.

Shot with the Hasselblad H4D-60 with the 28mm lens and an ND 1.8 (6 stops)… and 78kg (Me) clinging to the tripod…

Kirkjufell on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula of Iceland is a mystical mountain that looks like something out of Lord of the Rings, in fact it may have even been used in the Lord of the Rings.  I didn’t see any Hobbits, but then it was about 2 degrees and raining when I was there, so they were probably all at home in front of the fire!  The waterfall strategically placed in front of Kirkjufell, Kirkjufellsfoss (Foss is Icelandic for waterfall), only adds to the magic of the place, especially for photographers.

Shot on the Hasselblad H4D-60 with the 28mm lens at sparrows fart with frozen fingers!  This image has had about 3.5 minutes of post processing in Lightroom (along with the 2 previous images), so it looks very “raw”.

Autumn colours in Iceland are mostly pretty subtle, they don’t have much in the way of forests to turn bright orange and red.  What they do have is a wonderful variety of  small perennial plants that turn beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow…  There is also an abundance of amazing waterfalls in Iceland…  Though not strictly a waterfall, Hraunfossar is beautiful none the less, especially in Autumn.

Just a short drive out of Reykjavik, But it seemed to take ages as I wanted to stop every 20 metres!  Shot on the Hasselblad H4D-60 with the 100mm lens.

Back in Amsterdam after an intense 10 day whirlwind tour of Iceland and driving nearly 2000km.  All I want to do just now is sleep, something I didn’t do very much of over there.  But before bed here is a picture from the first day or so of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula Lava field with this amazing moss that really is this green.  Really!

Image shot with a Hasselblad H4D-60 and a 50mm Lens.  So did Iceland live up to my expectations?  Oh yes!

I’m sitting at Schiphol airport in the Netherlands after 17 hours of flying via Abu Dhabi (that airport is a surreal experience).  I have 6 hours to wait until my flight to Reykjavik Iceland, and a well earned (and needed) hot shower.

Then its straight into it, I can’t wait!  There are volcanoes erupting, crazy unseasonal storms blowing and the Northern Lights have moved into full swing, sounds like the ideal recipe for some awesome landscapes.

Stay tuned for more…