Iceland is a photographer’s dream, a place where you might not want to put down your camera. And you shouldn’t, because you’ll want to document the beauty of the country’s fjords, some of which are so remote that you’ll be lucky to run into a human being or a dog.
If you plan on taking photos when you visit Iceland, you should be aware that your camera might take a beating. Still, Iceland is almost the only place where “what you see is what you get” when it comes to photography, a place where there is little difference between what I saw and the final, edited photos. That is why I took hundreds of photos every day.
Thinking back on it all, it feels like I’ve seen Iceland almost exclusively through the lens of my camera and that it would be nice to go back, put the camera away and be able to just enjoy the untouched landscape, to give myself over to the infinite silence, or to experience the humble respect of the Icelandic people. Of course, I was unable to stop myself from taking pictures, so this is just a theory.
FJORDS: where you find untouched nature
As most of the tourists gather around the main attractions in Iceland, we can find endless silence and tranquillity where our own heartbeat may be too loud, just 5-10 kilometers away from the most popular routes.
Among the country’s unspoiled natural sights, Iceland’s numerous fjords are truly worthwhile destinations. It is hard to pick just one fjord out of so many. My choice was Mjóifjördur, where there are only 40 permanent residents; I only met two people and a dog.
Leaving the main road, we stopped again and again over a 30-kilometer-long route among harsh, dreary, formidable landscapes. I felt the invincible urge to capture the view at almost every meter!
Mjófjördur can only be reached by boat for 8 months in a year, since a massive, several meters-thick layer of snow covers the minor road leading from main road #1.
When you catch the view of the entire fjord then you begin to understand the origin of the name: Mjóifjördur literally means “narrow fjord” and you can tell that it is the narrowest of the Icelandic fjords. Mjóifjördur was a whaling station at the beginning of the 20th century and signs of this activity are still visible in the abandoned port, like the ship that rests there along the shores of the fjord.
Did you find such hidden gems in Iceland?
Share your comments below