West & North Iceland
On a lark, my travel buddy Cassidy and I decided to throw together a little trip to Iceland. With nothing but a van booked, we hopped on a flight and touched down in the land of fire & ice. We spent 8 days driving the ring road and camping wherever the day took us. We saw volcanoes, fjords, sheep and reindeer, relaxed in thermal pools, ate ramen noodles and stayed up all night to shoot the midnight sunset. It was a bucket list trip and I can’t encourage you enough to visit this special island. I would go back in a heartbeat. Below is the first half of our itinerary and some of my favourite images by Cassidy Unholzer & myself.
Sunset at Fjallakaffi Campground in North Iceland
West Iceland Ring Road
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West Iceland Ring Road -
We landed in Reykjavik, took a shuttle over to Kuku Campers to pick up our nugget mobile. We chose the most budget friendly option, a small van with a large sleeping pad and kitchen essentials. We learned that a sand storm had closed the ring road going South-East, so we headed North-West. Stopping first at the Glymer waterfall parking lot for a short nap to get our wits about us. Once we felt rested we hiked up towards Glymer but decided against the raging river crossing to see the waterfall up close. We drove another hour or so north and camped near Varmaland. The weather was rainy so we didn’t feel guilty at all about sleeping for as long as our bodies demanded— which ended up being 12 hours.
After waking feeling incredibly rested, we continued our journey north. After a couple hours of driving and stopping to take photos of whatever we thought was pretty, we realized we missed an important turn and were driving in a peninsula directly to the ocean, away from our planned route. This happy accident turned into a lovely stop at Grettislaug Thermal Pools where we had the place entirely to ourselves! After our dip we continued along the North section of the ring road, passing by sharp mountains, driving through Akureyri, the second largest city in Iceland and stopping briefly at Fossholl before camping in Laugar.
North Iceland Ring Road
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North Iceland Ring Road -
Waking in Northern Iceland, we had a big day exploring around Mývatn Lake. We hiked up to the Viti crater and wandered around the lava fields at Vikraborgir. It felt like we were on another planet. I could not believe my eyes. Our next stop was Dettifoss waterfall, the most powerful waterfall in Iceland. Unfortunately, our time at Dettifoss was shadowed by the most insanely dusty winds I’ve ever experienced, which took a bit of the magic away.
Lava Fields near Myvatn Lake
Viti Crater Lake
We camped nearby at Fjallakaffi, which gave us the creeps initially because it looked like the literal set of Midsomer. It ended up not being creepy at all and we made some awesome new friends. We stayed up till 2:30 shooting photos and when we did decide to go to bed, ended up going sleepless because the howling wind was rocking the van back and forth to violently. After realizing sleep would not be possible we got on with our day, gorging ourselves with a 6am buffet breakfast before heading toward the beautiful Stuðlagil basalt column canyon.
The last stop in North East Iceland was the Stuðlagil basalt column canyon. As a passenger, the drive to this spot was one of the scariest things I’ve ever experienced, it felt like we were taking our lives into our own hands. But we made it! You have to park and hike to see this, so it wasn’t as busy as some of the other spots which was nice. The colour of the water changes depending on the time of year, we would have loved to time this out to be there at sunset or sunrise, but in June that would be the middle of the night and we just didn’t have it in us to stick around all day.
Stay tuned, the second half of our trip through the East & South of Iceland is coming soon! Thanks for reading!
It’s Tits
Snowboy Productions came through Banff for 5 days of snowboarding with some of the best women athletes in the industry. This private course was designed specifically for us and closed to the public for the week. I was lucky enough to shoot with these women and make a ton of new friends, a truly incredible experience. We endured heaps of variable weather and shovelled our hearts out to ensure the course was ready to ride each day. This event is about more than just snowboarding, it’s about building community and spreading awareness for Breast Cancer. I am so grateful I got to be apart of it and can’t wait for next year. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who made it possible!
Huge thanks to Evan Riddell for being my second shooter with my fish eye and capturing some amazing alternate angles. The images below are a collection of my favourites from the week.
Portraits with Amy & Romy
I had the opportunity to shoot with my friend Amy & her six month old Golden Retriever Romy! Little Romy is the most spirited, energetic and adorable pup. We had a great morning at the Canmore dog park, soaking up the sun & hunting for sticks.
Athlete Session: Jaimie & Emily
Caught up with athletes Jaimie Figueira and Emily Golds at Sunshine Village for some fun photos this winter. Both are passionate snowboarders, instruct full time at Sunshine & are very talented in their disciplines. This is Jaimie’s second season competing on the Freeride World circuit. While Emily has been competing in various park events. I can’t wait to see where snowboarding takes them!
Here’s some shots from our day.
Lawrence Family
I was secretly hired to shoot the Lawrence’s engagement a few years ago, so it was so much fun to catch up with them now. Especially because they’ve had adorable baby Lucy since then. We shot on the same ridge where Sara & Jay exchanged vows at their elopement. It was quite chilly, so we had hand warmers out between shots & got it done lickity split before going inside to warm up.
Portraits with Molly
I found the perfect colourful rooftop to shoot at with Molly! We went to High park in downtown Calgary for a golden hour session & I love how they turned out. For this shoot I used my Canon T7i & tried my new Pro Mist Filter for my 50mm prime lens.
Hugh & Jamie’s Elopement
It’s time to officially meet the Billerson’s! These two made it legal on the beautiful banks of Upper Kananaskis Lake!
