Iceland 2014 - Day 5: A Few Icebergs in the Rain at Jökulsárlón

My second full day in Jökulsárlón was a lazy one, owing to the appalling weather. It rained constantly, all day long. I woke up late (at 9ish) to drizzle. Occasionally it would piss down. There was little interest for me in going out; rain + no visibility doesn't usually lend itself to good photographs.

Instead of going out I wrote my blog from the previous day - sorting through masses of photos of the beach (with a few others of the lagoon and nearby Fjallsarlon). Once that was finished I did manage to drag myself down to the beach again, in case the rain eased. As I approached the rain worsened, any view of foggy mountains disappeared and it became increasingly misty. I continued on, and parked at the east beach again, having spotted a huge, triangular turquoise iceberg in the surf as I arrived. 

Armed with just my camera, 24-70mm lens, tripod and the usual selection of filters (the 6-stop was attached to the lens in advance) I ventured out into the rain. Fortunately there was some direction to it and the wind wasn't bad, so I knew that if I pointed the lens in a certain direction I should be okay, given the hood is long enough to protect the lens a little.


I walked slowly along the beach, taking a few shots of iceberg and waves along the way, checking the lens for errant raindrops and sea-spray as I went. Some icebergs look remarkably turquoise, but my goal was the huge one ahead. It was at least 6 feet tall, and about 10 feet wide, and sat at the edge of the water, being battered by each crashing wave. It was a magnificent colour, so I took quite a few shots of it! On each of my trips I usually find an iceberg that I like the best - this one certainly won my accolade of best-iceberg-of-the-trip-so-far! It really was this colour - the only adjustments I made were to boost the clarity and whites (and a little vignetting to make them stand out).

The rain soaked my gloves and the camera was dripping (I trusted the weather-tightness, but only for so long). After 45 minutes I called it a day. I stopped by the lagoon to see if the visibility was any better there but it wasn't so I gave it a miss and came home. A short photography day, but sometimes that's quite nice when you've been frantically snapping away until 1am the previous day! Given the weather, though, I was pretty pleased with the results; I think it was worth the effort.

The weather forecast is better for tomorrow - rain until 11am, then a bit of cloud and possibly sun, before a glorious day for my drive westward.

Click here for Day 4a blog
Click here for Day 4b blog! 
Click here for Day 6 blog