Seljalandsfoss - Iceland — CESAR MENDEZ

Just landed in Reykjavik, is 6:00 in the morning, customs line is small and fast, the baggage claim is a bit confusing, the carousel numbers are small and not at first sight, the monitor points that the bags from my flight are already on the carousel, but there are only a few and no more are coming out. I see people buying supplies from the duty-free store in front of the baggage claim area, I imagine that they know that usually takes longer than what the screens displays.
I decided to have a quick look at the duty free store, wine specially, I would love to have a glass of wine somewhere in the middle of Iceland under the midnight sun, but I heard stories about the costs of food in Iceland, and alcohol is even worst, then I saw the prices with my own eyes, they were right, the prices here are way out of budget, but doesn´t matter, wine and other delicacies can wait for my return home.

I see the belts moving, so I go back to claim my luggage. I pass through goods declarations, nothing to declare, and then I´m out. I start looking for the camper-van rental company, their instructions were that somebody from the company was going to be holding my name or company´s name on a sign, there were tons of signs, but not sign from the one I was looking for, so I waited, and waited, but there was no one, so I decided to call the company, they answer telling me to be patient that someone was coming. Patient? I thought, I have been patient already for more than 45 minutes. Anyway, I waited for another 30 minutes before I spotted some guy with the company’s sign, and so we went to their office to arrange all the paper work. Once in their office, they were very quick, I sat down and across the desk was this guy asking some basic information, my passport and my driver´s license. The process went fast and smoothly, five or ten minutes passed, and I was already on the van getting instructions on how everything works, internet, battery, cooler, cooking utensils, the bed, etc. They gave me the keys an off the road I went.

Full of excitement, not so full of energy because the long flights, I headed towards Reykjavik just for touching base, picked up some supplies, a DC/AC converter, an Iceland map (the photographers map for Iceland) and some groceries. Then stopped for a minute, is 10 am, I needed a plan, I knew it was useless to look at the weather forecast, there is no accurate forecasts in Iceland, the weather changes quickly. The day was beautiful, the sun was visible, tons of clouds, chilly temperature but not freezing, ideal for photography. So, go north? Or go south? South it is, I would profit the nice weather to explore the south coast knowing that it has many beautiful places easy to access from the main ring road, I wat to get comfortable with Iceland before attempting to go further away from the beaten path. So, jumped in the van and off I went towards Vik, the most southern town in Iceland.

I open Google maps and pointed towards Selfoss town, I pointed here first because it was on the way to Seljalandsfoss where I was planning to photograph the first sunset of the trip, but it was too early so I wanted to stop someplace else to explore a little bit. I know nothing about Iceland language, but it was very obvious that every name of the waterfalls ended in “foss”, for me that meant water or waterfall, so, being that the town´s name is Selfoss, I thought that I would find the Selfoss waterfall, which was wrong, there is a beautiful waterfall named Selfoss but is located in the north coast of Iceland, I found out about this when I arrived to Selfoss town, no waterfall here. But I stopped to a gas station because I haven´t had anything to eat and I already knew that an important part of my Icelandic diet was going to be the famous “cheap” hot dogs from the gas stations and decided to try them out as my first meal in Iceland. It was good, not bad at all, at least it will keep my hunger controlled.

The hot dogs at the gas stations, one great choice for us budget travelers

Before I continue the trip towards Seljalandsfoss I wanted to try to fill the gas tank, even if the tank was still ¾ full, it was the first time using the gas pumps and I wanted to check that my credit cards were ok for paying for the gas, which thankfully was not a problem. I strongly advice everybody to have your gas tank always ½ full, this because there are many parts of Iceland where you won´t find a gas station in maybe 150 km. And many times, I spent hours on the road without seeing another soul passing by, it would be a shame to interrupt your trip because you had no gas left to continue, then you would have to call the emergency number, and even if I´m not sure but I think it could cost you a bit if you are not careful enough, so always be prepared.

After gas refill and finding out I got the wrong Selfoss I headed out to Seljalandsfoss. By the time I arrived at the waterfall the weather was all over the place, rain and strong winds, then the sun again, then some hail accompanied with some more rain and winds. I come from a place where hot is the constant, so I need a couple of days to really feel that I´m climatizing to the new weather conditions, so that first day in Seljalandsfoss was really tough on me, I was freezing, wet and bruised by the hail, actually I was getting kind of frustrated because I was sheltering myself inside the van, and then, a window of opportunity presented and I rush out to take some photos.

Not very long had passed when the weather changed again hitting hard this poor Mexican with all his power. So, I take shelter again, and repeated this cycle for at least six or seven times until sunset. Because of this brutal weather I wasn´t able to explore the place as I would have liked, I mean, I did explore, but I was always rushing it before the next hurricane winds come to batter me again, which it did more often than not.

There are many compositions to choose from, but in my opinion, one of the strongest is to position yourself behind the waterfall or a little bit to the side, you can use the mountain walls as a natural frame, depending on the weather conditions you can also put the sun on your frame behind the water creating this beautiful golden hour highlights all around. The main challenge here is that positioning yourself behind the waterfall you and your gear are most definitely getting wet, so you have to be patient but also very quick when you are snapping your shots.

Seljalandsfoss, Nikon D850, Tamron 15-30 mm f2.8, 15 mm, ISO 64, f8, 1.6 sec.

Seljalandsfoss pano, Nikon D850, Tamron 15-30 mm f2.8, 15 mm, ISO 64, f8, 1/250 sec.

Note: if your camera gear is not weather resistant, better not to risk damaging your equipment and find a safer composition.

The technique here is simple, first decide if you want/can to use a filter or not, when working with water we photographers like to use neutral density filters to obscure to bring the ambient light down so that we have to keep our shutter open for a period of time, this is a simple technique that allows you to get that silky smooth water effect, the longer to you keep it open, the smoother it gets, so, depending on the quantity of light you may or may not have to use one, if it’s possible is better to avoid it in this location, as being behind the waterfall makes it really difficult to keep your lens clean, a bigger glass element in front of your lens, the harder is to keep it clean. Next, find your composition, set your camera settings ready, clean the front of your lens and then cover it with a shower cap to avoid the accumulation of water. Now wait for the light to get as you like and then uncover your camera, take the shot, clean and cover again. Repeat the process until you get the shot you want.

In my case, I manage only to pull a good shot from behind the waterfall, the winds were constantly hitting and making it almost impossible to get a 3 or 5 seconds exposure without the lens being completely cover by water.

So, after that attempt, I decided to change composition and went up a hill located on the side of the fall, it was muddy and slippery, but being careful I manage to get high enough to get a nice composition. The technique here was very similar, in this case I did use a ND filter, the water mist was still getting to my camera, but the quantity was way less, so it was easier to shoot.

Seljalandsfoss, Nikon D850, Tamron 15-30 mm f2.8, 15 mm, ISO 64, f8, 3 sec.

After the sunset I drove to Skogafoss to spend the night there, at Seljalandsfoss is prohibited to camp, instead Skogafoss has a campsite with showers and bathrooms, and there is a hostel´s restaurant with decent food, but super expensive for us budget travelers.

Once in the campsite, I take the time to clean all my gear as it was battered by the weather all day and to have it ready for the sunrise shoot at Skogafoss.

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