Day 1 - Reykjavik to Svinavatn sheep roundup

8 September 2017

Departure in the mid-morning from Reykjavik, with pickup included from anywhere in Keflavik or Reykjavik that's convenient for you.  You may have chosen to fly in the night before and get some rest at a Keflavik or Reykjavik hotel, or you may choose to fly in over the previous night arriving in the early morning today and ready to go!  We quickly leave the city behind on our journey north, passing under Hvalfjordur, and northward to the Svinavatn farming valley area of northern Iceland. 

This will be an exciting day photographing the annual sheep roundups and Icelandic rural way of life in the Vatnsdalur and Svinavatn regions -- filled with plenty of cultural and storytelling photography opportunities.  The Icelandic sheep roundups have traditionally been the social and economic highlight of the year in rural farming valleys up here, and there is still some of that excitement to be had when ten thousand sheep coming pouring down the hillsides after being rounded up from their summertime Highland pastures. Here all the famers of each valley coordinate their efforts in rounding up the sheep, driving them down the valley, and then sorting them into pens according to their respective farms they belong too. The whole family takes part, and it's common to see small kids grabbing onto and wresting down rambunctious sheep.  All this is one spectacular cultural sight to witness and photograph, and take part in if you so choose. While the exact weekend of the roundup may change based on the weather and how cold it's been all season, typically today on Friday is the likely day of the roundup. If for some reason it changes, there's more sheep roundups we'll come across in Iceland elsewhere, and there's plenty of waterfalls and turf-roofed churches to photograph still. Overnight in Svinavatn region, near Blonduos. 

Day 2 - Svinavatn sheep roundup and northern Iceland peninsulas

9 September 2017

Wrapup of the Roundup - another chance in the morning and midday light to photograph and get the chance to get in on the action and help wrestle down and sort some sheep, in the Svinavatn or Vatnsdalur regions of northern Iceland. Typically the sheep drive and sorting takes place over Friday and Saturday of the 2nd weekend in September, so perfect timing for us! After we've had our fun and photos, we'll visit Kalfshamarsvik lighthouse and basalt columns for sunset photography, then enjoy a freshly caught seafood dinner at a local restaurant. After dinner, we'll drive another hour over the Skagi peninsula to Saudakrokur, where accommodations will be for the night.  Nearby there are beautiful old-style turf grass-roofed churches around Varmahlid.

Day 3 - Akureyri and Highland waterfalls

10 September 2017

After a bit of a later start today after our sheep-sorting-chaos exhaustion, we can take a swim in Iceland's Hofsos geothermal swimming pool, considered by many to be the most beautiful in all of Iceland.  There's some somewhat forgotten but magical turf churches in this part of the country, so we'll be sure to include those. Then we'll continue through the mountains of the Trollaskagi Peninsula, and eventually come to Akureyri, Iceland's main northern town, and a stop at a quaint rural seaside Icelandic Lutheran Church.  Despite it's nice location on Eyjafjordur, there's not much of photographic interest in the Akureyri proper, so after an hour break there, and a decadent lunch at the best bakery in all of Iceland, we'll continue on now easterly, to the famous crescent shaped Godafoss waterfall.  There's high and low, left and right bank angles to capture of this beautiful waterfall.  Overnight will be just 10 minutes away in a small valley community named Laugar, for great sunset and night / aurora photography potential over Godafoss waterfall.    

Day 4 - Aldeyjarfoss Highlands to Myvatn Lake

11 September 2017

We'll next drive down a remote farm valley to the Highland waterfall Aldeyjarfoss, centered between basalt columns and spreading out in a lovely star. More Highland waterfalls and turning yellow birch stands are more possibilities. We'll then take a rough backroad shortcut over to Myvatn in the afternoon, which will be our base for the next two nights. There's so much to explore here in the fall season, especially the red color of fall blueberry bushes and shrubbery growing out of pockets of contrasting black lava.   Sunset photography will be overlooking Lake Myvatn and it's psuedo-craters and lava formations in the lake.  Overnight in Myvatn.

Day 5 - Myvatn, Krafla & Dimmuborgir full day

12 September 2017

The Lake Myvatn area is very famous among photographers and all travellers for it's peaceful setting often out of the incessessant Icelandic wind, abundant bird life, bizzare lava formations at Dimmuborgir and Hofdi, craters at Krafla, colorful mud springs and hissing steam cones at Hverir, and other pockets of color of fall foliage amongst the black lava. Today is a great day to practice detail photography of the colorful fall shrubbery amongst the black lava. Accommodations will be in Myvatn.

Day 6 - Waterfalls and Canyons of Jokulsargljufur

13 September 2017

Dettifoss is Europe's most powerful waterfall by volume and is magnificant to witness the power of nature, and Selfoss is just upstream. There, Dettifoss falls into the hard-to-pronounce Jokusargljifur canyon, which offers some interesting canyon vistas, and spectacular examples of columnar basalt formed from cooling lava.  Detail abstract shots, and yellow birch foliage in front the basalt, can be found down in a canyon sheltered from the wind. Then we drive further north along the west rim of the canyon Asbyrgi, a huge horesshoe shaped canyon that shelters a birth forest that is sublime in autumn. All these locations provide for amazing abstract or detail photography, with the yellow foliage set against patterned black rock. This is also a sheltered canyon, so it can be a respite from wind or rain if the weather is poor. We'll have dinner in the fishing town of Husavik, and go out for possible nighttime or aurora photography over Myvatn formations.   Accommodations will be in Myvatn again for a 3rd night.  

Day 7 -  Myvatn and Northern Iceland region additional day

14 September 2017

This is an additional day dedicated to fully exploring the Myvatn regions and lava fields of Hofdi, Dimmuborgir, Krafla, Namafjall, and Hverfell. The schedule is flexible, and we'll visit or revisit our favorite locations from the past 2 days in the region, or use this time to catch up on our itinerary if we still have more locations to explore. We also have the option to head to Dettifoss waterfall again from its opposite side that we were on the day before.   We'll finish the day at Iceland's most remote farmstead Modrudalur, set out in the open plains of northern Iceland, we there's wide open vistas of conical shaped mountains, cake shaped mountains, and old rusty plows all inviting the photographer. Overnight at Modrudalur.

Day 8 - Barren Northern Iceland to coastal Eastfjords

15 September 2017

Onward to the Eastfjords, we'll photograph the Iceland roads heading through barren wilderness, eventually descending down to the coastal Eastfjords region.  As we travel down the east coast of Iceland, we have the option to hike up to Hengifoss, then continue exploring the Eastfjords coastlines, secret waterfalls, old abandoned bridges too narrow for modern cars, and more.  There are countless waterfalls and cascades streaming down from the hillsides, and every year we do this trip we always find another spectacular waterfall that's worthy of a stop. The eastfjords offers many locations that are rarely visited by photographic tour groups, offering us the best chance for solitude and harkening back to years past before the current Icelandic tourist boom.  We'll stay overnight in a small Eastfjord community of Djupivogur, or Breiddalsvik.  

Day 9 - Eastfjords and glacier lagoons around Hofn

16 September 2017

The coastline route southward continues to pass secret waterfalls and inspiring headlands along the Eastfjord coastline, eventually bringing us to the Hofn area which marks the southern end of the Eastfjords, and the beginning the Vatnajokull glacier area. In this region there's some really idyllic, quiet, and off-the-beaten-track glacial lagoons with their own icebergs, that we'll have all to ourselves. One such lagoon is Heinabergsjokull.   This are is also great to stop to photograph friendly Icelandic horses that will come right up to you and give you a friendly and exploratory nibble - no telephoto lenses here!  Then we'll conclude the day at Stokknes Peninsula with it's black sand dunes and the famous Vestrahorn Mountains. Vestrahorn would also serve as our classic landscape for sunset, and also our foreground for any possible aurora photography.  Overnight in Hofn.

Day 10 - Jokulsarlon glacier regions

17 September 2017

Many photographers' favorite destination in Iceland is the famous Jokulsarlon iceberg lagoon. So we have all day planned here, and the adjacent Breidamerkursander black sand iceberg beach. Iceland is utterly unique in that you can walk around these crystal clear chunks of ice on the beach that look like diamonds against a black velvet cloth.  Even more magical is when the sun shines through these mini-icebergs making them glow glistening gold.  It surely is easy to spend a whole week here in this Jokulsarlon and south coast region, but the emphasis of this photo tour lies elsewhere in the fall colors and remoter parts of Iceland, so we'll just enjoy a single day here.  Overnight near Jokulsarlon, with any aurora photographed over the glacier lagoon.

Day 11 - Landmannalauger Highlands

18 September 2017

One last sunrise opportunity at Jokulsarlon, and then we drive a couple hours bypassing the touristy Skaftafell region and other glacier areas (come back in the winter for another trip that focuses on just the south coast and glacial regions!) and head into the Highlands region, via the Fjallbak Nydri 4x4 route.  We'll be crossing some small rivers and remote and rough country, accessing unique landscapes I've never seen anywhere else on earth, with steep green mossy mountains rising up out of black volcanic sands below.  After a hundred kilometers of some rough driving, we'll finally reach the famous Landmannalauger area, where you can take a swim in the geothermal natural hot water river, and hike around the lava fields for views across the river to colorful ryolite hills. In the height of summer, Landmannaulager is a overflowing with campers and hikers, but now in late September we'll be the only ones around and can enjoy it all to ourselves. This is going to be long day, as from here we'll continue westward through the Fjallabak nature preserve and eventually come out late into the evening to our hotel at the edge of the Highlands, Hrauneyjar.  

Day 12 - Secret Southern Highland Waterfalls and Canyons

19 September 2017

From Hrauneyjar, we'll take our last day exploring some remote and lesser known waterfall canyons of the Southern Highlands. In fact, we won't even name some of these here! But they are all breathtaking, awesome, and somehow all qualify as my favorite waterfall in Iceland. In the autumn season there will also be some wonderful yellow birch shrubbery complimenting the pure torquiose glacier waters of these river canyons. Finally after 12 packed days of intensive photography and travel through all the best, most remote parts of Iceland, we'll all be glad to see the now-seemingly huge metropolis of Reykjavik on the horizon. Return to Reykjavik in the evening, time to be determined. Last group dinner in Reykjavik. Overnight in Reykjavik (included). End of trip.  

Day 13 - End of trip.

20 September 2017

The trip has now ended, and you're on your own to stay in Reykjavik longer, seeing the city sights or relaxing in the Blue Lagoon, or you may be flying out of the country today.