IMAGES FROM ICELAND • DANIEL BERGMANN PHOTOGRAPHYNewsletter # 2 • June 2009

AS WINTER PASSES AND SUMMER ARRIVES

It doesn’t get fully dark here in Iceland in winter, we’re not far north enough for that, but during grey and dull days it feels very dark throughout the day. Good light for landscape photography shines again at the end of February, when the day gets longer, and that’s when I manage to break out of the office to do some photography. The images in this newsletter are all from March this year and the last.

It’s mid-June as I write this and I’ve just returned home after a few weeks in the field where I was photographing Gyrfalcons for the Wild Wonders of Europe project. Photographing falcons requires a lot of patience and determination, something I feel I sometimes lack, but the more I practice patience and determina-tion the more it seems to grow. Although sitting in a hide for up to eight hours at a time can never be a very pleasant experience, especially if absolutely nothing is happening outside. The spirit of even the most patient photographer can be crushed by sitting in hides for days without result. This I truly tried in the past weeks. I spent a lot of time experimenting, trying to get falcons to sit where I wanted or do what I wanted. The results were exercises in frustration. But I was saved by a pair of falcons that breed close to Lake Myvatn – birds that I’ve had the pleasure to photograph on occasions for years. Some of the photographs have been published in a couple of blogs on the WWE website.See: www.wild-wonders.com/blog/?p=3850and www.wild-wonders.com/blog/?p=3866

Soon I’ll be back in the field, running photography workshops and tours and between them working on assignments. Summer is short and passes incredibly quickly. To really savor the essence of summer I feel one has to be out there as much as possible and right now that means most of the time as the sun barely sets during these longest days of the year. Right now the midnight sun is setting on the Northwestern horizon and it will be back up in about an hour. This is truly a place of extremes.

I have posted the schedule for 2010 Iceland photography workshops on my web-site. As this year I’ll be running a bird photography workshop, nature workshop, northern tour and a Highland expedition. They usually fill quickly so I would suggest that you make contact soon if you are interested in participating.

For more details see: www.danielbergmann.com/iceland

All images in this newsletter are copyright ©2009 Daníel Bergmann

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Flowing waterHraunfossar waterfall and Hvítá river, March 1, 2009.

The mixture of freshwater and a glacial river creates very pleasing blue and white tones in the water where Hraunfossar waterfall joins Hvítá river. This is a tourist stop that is usually vacant during winter, a blessing for photographers who wish to explore the area and do crazy things, such as climb into the ice covered river canyon to get lower views of the river. In this image I decided to isolate part of the waterfall against the flowing river and show movement in the water by getting the longest exposure available, which I did by stacking filters. Out of several exposures with dif-ferent time settings, I feel the longest one captures the mood.Canon 1Ds MkIII, 24-105/4 at 60 mm. ISO 50, 6 sec., f/22. Polar-izer plus a 3 stop ND filter.

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Steaming earthNámafjall near Mývatn, March 15, 2009.

Where the earth is steaming hot snow will not stay for long. There is a lot of geothermal activity nearby Lake Mývatn, on both sides of Mt. Námafjall and by Krafla. The track leading up the mountain was covered in snow, making it impassable by car and it was a long walk to the geothermal area on top of the mountain, through deep snow and battling fierce cold wind. Tripod didn’t stabilize much in the strong wind so I lay on the ground and held the camera and made this exposure with mirror lock-up and holding the breath.Canon 1Ds MkIII, 16-35/2.8 II at 18 mm, ISO 200, 1/15, f/22.

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Sunset at LeirhnjúkurMt. Leirhnjúkur, March 16, 2009.

As the sun was setting up at Mt. Leirhnjúkur near Krafla I made several ex-posures looking north towards a row of craters, from the edge of another crater. I had a polarizer on the camera and held the GND filter in front of it before each exposure. Sometimes the steam from the earth would blow towards me and set on the lens. If I was not quick enough to wipe it off it would freeze on the filter, which it did a couple of times.Canon 1Ds MkIII, 24-105/4 at 28 mm. ISO 200, 0.5 sec., f/22.Polarizer plus a 2 stop soft edge GND filter.

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Frozen icebergJokulsarlón glacial lagoon, March 18, 2009.

The nice thing about the glacial lagoon in winter is that it freezes, making it possible to walk out to the icebergs. This however requires the right conditions, it has to have been below zero for a while. During a two day stay by the lagoon in March this year I could see dramatic changes from one day to the next. It was very warm for this time of year and there were already cracks in the ice and pools of meltwater on the second day.Canon 1Ds MkIII, 16-35/2.8 II at 18 mm. ISO 100, 1/15, f/16.

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Ducks on freezing seaHrútafjordur, March 7, 2008.

The sea was starting to freeze where I drove past this group of Eider Ducks, creating very interesting shapes on the surface. I first used a longer lens to isolate some of the patterns but when a pair of ducks swam from the shore to join the group further out on the bay I instantly saw this image in my mind and switched to a shorter lens. Even with this crop the file size is still very acceptable, thanks to the high resolution camera.Canon 1Ds MkIII, 70-200/4 IS at 200 mm. ISO 200, 1/100, f/11. Handheld.

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Godafoss in winterGodafoss waterfall, March 16, 2009.

Godafoss in Northern Iceland is one of our most beautiful waterfalls. It’s photogenic in any kind of weather or season and one of my favorite images of this waterfall was made in pouring rain. I’ve never been there before during sunrise in winter until this past March and I was not disappointed. With a small group of photographers I arrived at the scene before sunrise and set up at the edge of the canyon as the sun lifted over hills in the east. I look forward to visiting this waterfall in a couple of weeks and spend a night there. I’m sure it will offer some amazing opportunities for exciting photography.Canon 1Ds MkIII, 16-35/2.8 II at 17 mm. ISO 50, 4 sec., f/22. Polarizer.

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Vestrahorn peaksStokksnes, Hornafjordur, March 3, 2008.

This is a stitched panorama made from three frames using the shift function on the 45 mm tilt-shift lens. I also added some tilt to get more depth of field. It doesn’t show well in this small size but to the left of the frame there is an abandoned farm that is suppos-edly haunted. This range of mountain peaks, close to the town of Hofn, is one of the most spectacular but overlooked in this part of the country. A track leads out to the Stokksnes peninsula from the main highway and it’s well worth the detour. I don’t do much panorama photography, as I rarely visualize in that way, but I felt this scene to be an exception.Canon 1Ds MkIII, 45/2.8 TS-E. ISO 100, 1/160, f/11.

Harbour SealsJokulsárlón, March 3, 2008.

Canon 1Ds MkIII, 500/4 + 1,4x TC, ISO 320, 1/250, f/11.