The return of life

Steffen and I were back in Iceland this March and we enjoyed some lovely winter days - mostly sunny and calm (we escaped the violent storms that hit the South Coast by staying a couple of days in the country's northern parts). Unfortunately, the nights were also rather calm. We hoped for more crazy aurora action like in last winter (-> Stokksnes Aurora) and in fact we had northern lights almost every night, at least when the skies were clear. But they were mostly rather faint and not that good looking - I admit, we are a little bit "spoilt" when it comes to northern lights... ;-)
Nevertheless there are some images we really like coming up soon.

So our main focus in Iceland this time was shooting winter landscapes, although we did have way less snow than expected. But at some places we were lucky, e.g. we finally saw the famous Gatklettur Arch at Arnarstapi beautifully covered with fresh snow and we had an amazing sunrise there just a couple of days before, when temperatures were much higher.
And we are always amazed how incredibly lush and green the moss covering the lava rocks can appear in some parts of the Iceland, even during wintertime. A wonderworld of different colored mosses bringing the razor-sharp and hostile lava deserts back to life again - such a fantastic sight!

The most famous lava field is for sure "Eldhraun" at the South Coast, thick green moss covering the big lava flows originating from the Laki eruption east of Kirkjubaejarklaustur. But you can find spots like that all over Iceland with a way more appealing backdrop (that's what we miss most at Eldhraun!). This month's image shows one of our all-time favorite locations in Iceland, of course besides all the geothermal areas, the waterfalls, the coast, the mountains, the islands, etc. etc. etc... ;-)

Image data: 1/6 s at f/16, ISO 100; Canon EF 16-35mm 1:4 L USM at 19 mm, Canon EOS5D Mark IV

Related Links: Our images from Iceland