Soft winter light at Londrangar

We spent Christmas and New Year's Eve in Iceland. Originally, we wanted to catch some sun at the Canary Islands. But the flights and especially the rental cars were incredibly expensive there. So we decided to take a look at other destinations... And as funny as it may seem: Iceland was among the most inexpensive options. At first we were a little bit hesitant because of the daylength, heavy winter storms, etc. But a friend who had already spent Christmas in Iceland told us about the incredible soft light around this time of the year. Besides that, an Icelandic SUV with studded winter tires was less pricey than a "tiny little" Citroen C1 on Gran Canaria. So we decided to give it a try and we did not regret it.

It's true that you barely see the sun around winter solstice, especially in northern Iceland. At Grimsey near the Arctic Circle for instance, all you get is two hours of daylight. And it makes a huge difference whether you are staying half way up north at the Snaefellsnes peninsula or at the town of Vík í Mýrdal at the southernmost tip of the island (3 hours and 38 minutes versus 4:30). And during periods of inclement weather, winter can be depressingly dark in Iceland. But if you are lucky it affects only parts of the island, while some areas still remain sun-kissed. That's why we were not able to visit the glacier lagoon and the ice caves in the southeast and had to spend most of the time at Snaefellsnes.

Winter light was simply breathtaking and we always ended up feeling pretty tired by the end of the day. Even though the sun didn't come up until 11:40 and was gone by 15:20, we had plenty of time for photography. In addition to the 3.5 hours of continuous golden sunrise/sunset light we enjoyed 2 x 1.5 hours of fantastic twilight. So we were practically shooting 7 hours a day. And on December 24, right after dinner, Steffen and I were totally excited. No, it wasn't Santa Claus paying us a visit! The northern lights started dancing gracefully above mount Kirkjufell at 8 PM. There couldn't have been any better Christmas gift!

We really loved this rather spontaneous trip. And to be honest it exceeded our expectations! Hope to be back soon! 

Image data: 1/10 s at f/14, ISO 100; Canon 16-35 mm 1:2.8 L II USM at 19 mm, Canon EOS 5D Mark IV

Related Links: Our images from Iceland