Posted by: Rowell Photography | September 8th, 2010
This is the first year we offered destination honeymoon photo shoots. Couples have taken us to Mexico, Paris & Iceland, and hopefully more in the future. How it basically works is the couple chooses a few days during the honeymoon where they plan to either to go sight seeing or just hang out wherever they are and have some photos taken. Its not everyday we all get to travel to stunning locations and get movie star treatment, so why not have a professional capture this time in your life for you. Greg & Lisa chose something really unique, a 10 day drive around the Golden Circle in Iceland. Its a once in a lifetime trip! So when they asked us to capture their trip we said “yes” like 2 little children getting extra dessert. We mapped out 5 days of great locations for their honeymoon photos shoots, Lisa brought her wedding dress, and Greg brought a suit. And in front of Iceland, and hundreds of European tourists Greg & Lisa stood on cliff edges over looking waterfalls, mountain tops, icebergs, and beautiful black sand beaches.
10 days, 2 cars, 8 bed and breakfasts, and so many photos I am going to have to buy more hard drive space!
I am going to start with my favorite photo, it gives me goosebumps just looking at it. It turned out exactly how we envisioned it. This was taken at Goðafoss its like a mini Niagara Falls only there are no guard rails or cheesy tourists shops. You can stand on the edges, its actually a little terrifying, one of the best parts about the entire country is that all their natural sights are free, even their parks.
Greg & Lisa have a thing for waterfalls, so this was a must shot for them. There were at least 60-75 tourists watching this impromptu destination honeymoon photo shoot.
This next location is called Námafjall it is my 2nd favorite place in Iceland. The home of boiling mud pots! It smells like sulfur non-stop, the earth is bright orange and blue gray, and the holes in the ground make weird squishy noises as the mud bubbles. Steam is rising out of piles of rocks. It is like another planet! Its located in a town called Lake Mývatn. It reminds us of our Muskoka. Lots of lakes, tons of campers and even more flies. But its absolutely stunning.
The black sand beaches at Vík pronounced “veek”.
During our entire 10 day trip it rained only twice. Once in the West and once in the East. The first day it rained was in the west. We decided to go a local museum inside these cute, ancient Icelandic Turf Houses.
On the day it rained in the East we were on a quest to see Puffins. Now there is a place in Iceland where they say millions of Puffins live and you can see them. It was 1.5 hours of the beaten track. We actually found out later that Icelanders don’t even drive those roads we drove down because they are too dangerous. Damn GPS! The drive was brutal, white knuckle, face pressed up to the windshield in thick mountain fog, rain and cliff edges so close we had to drive 15 km/h. But we did manage to get to our destination. An old fishing village hidden behind mountains. In the rain we drove out to the look out spot, and as we climbed up the steps to the look out only to read a sign that said Puffins are here from April to August 15th, the date was August 14th. But they were gone, not a Puffin in sight, everyone was really bummed out. For a place that is supposed to be the home of millions had none.
Then suddenly in the distance we saw one last lonely Puffin. The photo below is really zoomed in.
If the weather gets too bad at the top of the mountain you can stay here. It has a little bed and supplies inside. Note: this was not one of the places we stayed at. At least the option was there. If it were dark outside I would have been cuddled up in this hut.
The lava field & church at Búðir.
This is the base of Seljalandsfoss you can walk in and behind this waterfall. It is the closest waterfall to the volcano Eyjafjallajökull. If you are wondering “foss” does mean falls.
Greg & Lisa in a trolls cave at Dimmborgir. From the outside this cave is actually shaped like a church or “Kirkajan”
Krafla Volcano.
This is my favorite place in Iceland Jökulsárlón, the glacial lagoon. We spent 4 hours here just shooting, looking and being an awe of natures wonders.
Lisa had some cute rubber boots on and she wanted to do a shot standing in the water. Greg did not have cute rubber boots on. He is bare foot. You should have heard the tourists all gasp when Greg ripped off his shoes and joined his wife in Arctic waters.
The Icebergs you see in the lagoon break off of the Glacier Vatnajökul. They hang out in the glacial lagoon for a while and then float on over to a mini waterfall which pushes them out to the ocean. Sometimes they get stuck in the shallow water and beach themselves. Here is Greg & Lisa on an iceberg!
That is the end for now of our trip and Greg & Lisa’s honeymoon adventure in Iceland. Greg & Lisa have had a nice stay here on our blog but it is now time for us to start preparing their wedding & honeymoon albums. Thank you so much for having us along for the ride, I don’t even have words to describe how much we love the images from this trip. This week Ryan put up a 20×30 print in the meeting space at our studio of 3rd image in the Jökulsárlón set of images from this blog post. It is so interesting and detailed, just to see it printed so large is captivating. You guys did such an amazing job!
Cheers
Thank you or Takk fyrir
E & R
Related posts:
- Us in Iceland
- Capitol Theater Wedding- Toronto, ON
- Paris de nuit et de jour – Tara & Ryan – Honeymoon Session
Tags: DESTINATION, destination wedding phtogoraphy, european destination wedding photos, hneymoon iceland, honeymoon, honyemoon photo shoot, iceland destination weddings, iceland photography, iceland wedding photography, icelandic honeymoon, lifetime trip, photo shoots, sweet escape phtoo shoot, trash the dress iceland
Posted by: Rowell Photography | September 4th, 2010
Its not too often that we fall in love, but sometimes, something just moves you and you can’t help but fall. That’s what happened in Iceland earlier this month, Ryan and I fell in love….. with Iceland. The land of fire and ice, a waterfall around every corner, so many sheep that they out number the human population 2:1 and mountains for miles. It is the only place (I can think of) in the world where you can chill in a natural hot spring, stand at the base of a glacier, hike to the top of a mountain and peer out into the ocean and look inside a volcano all in one day. We did all that!
10 days driving around Iceland, staying at bed and breakfasts and experiencing the culture and landscapes. We were traveling with Greg & Lisa (who you will see very soon again on our blog) for their destination honeymoon sessions. We had 2 cars, hotels and bed and breakfasts booked all over the country. We chose the best locations to visit together for photos, and the rest of the time we had to just explore.
Here are some portraits Ryan and I took of one another along with a a bunch of our travel landscapes and cityscapes.
This is us at the Glacial Lagoon called Jökulsárlón. These icebergs break off of the glacier Vatnajökul. It is the most magical place I have ever seen. Just driving up to it took my breath away. It is one of those moments I will remember for the rest of my life.
Icelandic Horses and sheep roam free for half the year. We often saw them hiking up mountains.
Búðir is a small hamlet surrounded by lava fields. The first time I saw a photo of this church over a year ago I knew I had to shoot a wedding, or a couple there one day. The colours of the mountains and volcanoes around it are so intense, and even though they skies are overcast, the clouds are always a blue grey colour.
I love this photo below, this whole park was really interesting, it is called Dimmuborgir. Dimm meaning “dark” and borgir meaning “cities”. It is said to be the home of many trolls. We didn’t see any. But there were tons of rock formations to climb around in.
This is Ryan standing right outside of Krafla volcano. It erupted in 1989. The smoke you see is not it erupting now, that is just gas escaping from the ground, it seems to be happening everywhere in Iceland. Ryan hiked all the way through a lava field to get there.
Sometimes we would just be driving through a beautiful mountain range and all of a sudden we turn a corner and it looks like we are on another planet! Lava fields they are everywhere. The older they are the less black rock you can see. The one in this portrait of us seems to be pretty old because moss has grown on all the rocks. These volcanic rocks are really sharp and pointy so walking on them is pretty dangerous. In this pic we are standing in front of the highway with our camera rigged to the car with a clamp.
These next few are taken in Akureyri, the capital of Northern Iceland.
I love these 2 pics, first the one on the right because the red light is shaped like a heart. All red lights in Akureyri are. Then the left photo. I am really proud of Ryan and I for learning so many Icelandic words and city names, but that top word is just crazy! Can you imagine saying “Meet me at Uppysingamiðistoði” ? (Oh and the funny “d” is pronounced like a “th” sounding like “the” in english) Good Luck!
Now these next photos are straight out of the camera, I only edited fly away hairs on my face and bags from Ryan’s tired eyes. The sky really did look like that. It was that blue.
My feet in Reykjavik & at Vik the black sand beach.
Icelandic Turf Houses
Here we are at the base camp of Vatnajökul Glacier. Its covered in ash because it is right beside the now famous volcano Eyjafjallajökull (which I still cannot pronounce). They had sherpa’s for hire to take you up the glacier. We were so close to the volcano, but because it was so deep in the mountains and underneath a glacier there are no remnants of the explosion except for this ash.
This is a panorama taken from the top of a rock fortress in West Iceland near Grundarfjörður. (Pronounced Groon-dar-fee-your-thur)
Finally the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik. I love this city, its about as big as Barrie, with only 200,000 people, and more places to buy Pylsurs than anywhere else I’ve ever been to. Pylsurs are an all beef gourmet hotdog with no filler. Tastes awesome, although their idea of mustard is a bit different. It is the most popular restaurant in Reykjavik.
This church on the right towers above Reykjavik and is quite stunning at night. Its called Hallgrímskirkja. Kirkja means church.
Anywhere and everywhere you go in Iceland you can find someone who can sell you a traditional Icelandic wool sweater. Seriously you can get them at gas stations, book stores, coffee shops, hotels and any major tourist attraction. They are expensive, but they are all made in Iceland and mostly by hand. The last photo below is us wearing our cool new threads. People of all ages wear these traditional sweaters. We also treated ourselves to some fun North 66 hats. North 66 is like our The North Face company but better.
This photo was taken on our last night, we wanted a night time shot of us over looking Reykjavik. The sky that night was unbelievable, the colours, once again were amazing. We walked up to one of the highest points in the city and started taking photos of the night sky. Since the sun stays up until almost midnight, the sun sets take a lot longer. People started gathering from side streets up the hill where we were to watch the sun set. It was a pretty amazing night. Our trip was so surreal, Ryan and I just look at these photos and we can’t even believe we took them, or believe the things we have seen. Seeing this much beauty is almost overwhelming, but I am definitely not complaining. I am just thankful that I have been able to experience it.
Erika & Ryan
Related posts:
- Iceland Destination Honeymoon
- New York, I love you
- Jamie & Carey got engaged – Barrie, ON
Tags: couples photos iceland, destination wedding iceland, fire and ice, glacier hike, honeymoon, iceland honeymoon phtogoraphy, iceland wedding photography, landscapes and cityscapes, last destination, Personal, Portraits, travel photography iceland
