So, the last day had arrived. The weather was still doing its thing. After we had eaten breakfast and taken down our tents (some managed to do it the other way around), we discussed the plans of the day. It was pretty straight forward; do the hill climb that we didn't do the day before, and head back towards Reykjavik.
This hill was considerably smaller than the last one, but offered some nice views anyway. Halfway up I took this:
Apparently we ruffled some feathers; this little guy kept shouting at us at the top.
The weather being what it was, black-and-white made most sense. And boy, were there images to be had. I'd rate this higher than the first hill we climbed, by far. Or maybe it was just the considerably easier climb :)
Yeah. One of the best photographs from the entire trip.
Hill detail.
Tight section from the first image; simple, but effective. The cloudy hilltop makes the image.
Although I ended up doing a lot of black-and-white, some of the color shots worked out well too.
Panorama, because why not.
Flat, smooth hill, ragged hill, weather. Layers and layers.
As there was no hurry anywhere, we spent quite some time up on the hill, searching for compositions. I think we were all glad just to take it easy and try different things; at least I was pretty drained at this point. Don't get me wrong, I liked the views very much, but I was ready to go home. Eventually, we did head downwards to the van. Some of you might have noticed that we weren't that far from camp. We weren't, but we took the van anyway; tells a tale about the state of the group, doesn't it. Anyway, once down the hill, we noticed two riders coming down along the road. They probably saw us, and decided to take the scenic route.
On the way down.
Horsies!
After that, we packed up the remainder of our things and started the journey back. We did stop by a crater lake on the way, but the inevitable rain ruined that for me, so the above is my last photograph from thew trip. Well, second to last:
Yes, weather, screw you too.
I did manage to snag an emergency row seat on the flight back, which was nice. Once on the plane I finally had some me-time to think about the trip (the whole morning after the hotel in Reykjavik, bus ride, baggage drop and boarding was crazy hectic). I still had no clue if I had any good images. I was very, very tired. I also realized I only saw the sun once the plane got above the clouds; somehow, we had gone the whole week without seeing it.
Was the whole thing worth it, you may ask? Monetary, no. Even without the photo workshop itself, Iceland is a very expensive country. Weather-wise, maybe. Better weather would have produced better pictures, more locations, and more activities (we didn't get to use the kayaks, for instance). But then again, many of the photos I have work exactly because of the weather. Clear blue skies would have been worse, but I could have done with some dry in between.
For the photos, then? After spending a few weeks looking at them, definitely. As I mentioned in the last post, I was skeptical before I could see them on the big screen. I've always had trouble visualizing the final product while seeing the image in the back of the camera. Luckily, I seem to have developed good instincts on what works and what doesn't. That will help me to not stress about things out in the field in the future.
Finally, was it worth it for the experience? Yes. A hundred times yes. Iceland has been on my bucket list since before I started taking pictures, let alone photographs. Although much of the landscape looks like other mountainous areas, such as Norway, there is just something about Iceland that makes it unique. Having a dedicated guide was so convenient; many of the locations are not on tourist maps. Even though it turned out I didn't ask Tom for much advice in the end, I still learned a lot by just watching him work and giving advice to the others. Tom actually said "Sorry I'm not spending a lot of time with you; it's not that I don't like you, its just it looks like you don't need it.". To me, that's quite the praise. We still had a few good bits of discussion.
The trip did clarify a lot of things for me, personally and photographically. I'm more confident. I'm more methodological. I'm taking things slower, thinking things through. All of those things are what I knew I wasn't very good at before. I'm slowly learning. I can't wait for my next trip, I already have some ideas.
