Iceland Day 3
Overnight, the temperature dropped to the upper 20s and a bit of snow fell. Looking out the window, I saw how beautiful the church looked, so I bundled up and went out to take this photo about an hour before sunrise.
Heading back, I took this photo of Hotel Búðir where we have been staying the past two nights.
After sunrise, Kate and I headed out for a walk. With temperatures still in the upper 20s and the wind blowing between 30 and 40 mph, it was quite cold.
With the clouds moving about in the wind, the light on the landscape was constantly shifting making the views very dynamic.
This photo gives a sense of the strength of the wind as it tears away the top of the wave, turning the water into a huge plume of spray.
It seemed that no matter which way I looked, there was always a stunning view.
This image was taken just 3 minute after the previous photo, looking in the same general direction but a touch more inland, and taken from the ocean’s edge about 30 yards right from the previous spot. Because of the change in perspective and the very different lighting, the two photographs look completely different.
About 7 minutes later, the sun was back out giving me this view to the northwest.
After being outside for an hour with the wind chill below 0, Kate and I headed inside the hotel to warm up. Kate decided to enjoy the warmth of the inn while I chose to drive back down to Arnarstapi where I had been yesterday. During the drive, I stopped at a pull out and took this photo looking towards the southwest.
Arriving in Arnarstapi, I started a bit farther north than I had yesterday. I was immediately rewarded with this lovely view to the north.
Looking to the west gave a view of the mountain Stapafell.
The weather was changing every few minutes. At times, it was snowing hard pellets then a couple of minutes later it would be clear again. This photo of Stapafell was taken just 8 minutes after the last one.
I walked along a path on the bluff above the coast line. Here is my favorite photo from today, presenting the coastline to the south just as the sun broke through the clouds.
This photo was taken just 30 seconds later, now looking towards the north.
Because of the cold, I was using my big camera with a wide angle lens for these shots. This allowed me to keep both my glove liners and my gloves on thereby keeping my hands relatively warm. As I have mentioned, I often use my cell phone for landscape shots either when I have my big lens on the camera or when I do not have my camera with me. However, my cell phone requires me to take off my gloves to operate which was really not pleasant in this weather. For a while, I shifted to an intermediate telephoto lens just to get a difference perspective. This was the only shot that I found particularly interesting. Overall, the scenery seems much better suited to wide angle shots that give a sense of the scope of the landscape. I did put on my long telephoto to photograph some birds, but I did not take any photos I found especially compelling.
After about two hours, I was set to head back to the hotel, I stopped at a pull off on route to take this photo.
As I turned off the main road towards the hotel, I was struck by the beauty of this sight, so I again pulled off to the side of the road and grabbed my camera.
And I will sign off for the night with this photo of the sun, quite low in the sky, yet still a full hour and a half before sunset.