Plane Wreck and Reynisdrangar — CESAR MENDEZ

After my arrival to Skogafoss campsite, the night started to come in, but it never got completely dark at this time of year the sun just hides behind the horizon, low enough to deliver a civil twilight, after three to four hours the sun rises again.
I profit this time to clean all my gear before I decided to rest a little bit; I was tired because of the long trip to from home to Iceland, also, I’ve been shooting all day long since my plane landed, so it was time for a well-deserved rest.

I tried to get some sleep, the rain starts to drop heavily, and then some hail, a lot of hail I would say, it covered my van completely with ice, I was literally inside an ice cube. I remember the guy at the car rental facilities said that there was a switch somewhere in the back of the van that I must switch on if I wanted the heat to work, I don’t remember where it is, I wasn’t paying attention then, my mind was already travelling Iceland before I got the van. I must look for the switch, it was freezing cold inside the van, I wanted to go out and look standing from outside, but it was raining and hailing so hard that it was madness to even think about it. From inside the van I have to crawl to move around, so I keep looking.
After a while I found the switch near the back doors of the van under the mattress, I switched it on and then I hear the fan of what I believed was the heater working. I try to get some sleep but still no success. I scent a burning smell, like the one when a heater is covered with dust, it wasn’t much, but there it was.
By this time, 3 o’clock am, I knew it was sunrise already, but the rain was so strong, that I wasn’t even going to try to go out and shoot. After a while exhaustion gets to me and finally I passed out.
I open my eyes and still hear the rain dropping on the roof of the van, I check the time, 10:52 am, I overslept, but I was feeling good; the burning smell wasn’t there anymore, and with the daylight the source of the smell appeared under my eyes, my precious map, the photographers map, the one that I bought for 35 USD twice (the first I ordered it on internet, and never arrived, the second one I found a store in Reykjavik that sells it), it was destroyed by the heat, the map was rain resistant, so it had a protective plastic layer, and because I left it on top of the ventilation vent without realizing it, it burned. It only lasted me one day, how stupid I was feeling.
After a small rant about the map, I open the drapes and look outside, the day was miserable, overcast, cold, rainy and muddy, but I’m in Iceland baby! I see the amazing Skogafoss just outside my window, last night I parked in front of it. I get excited by the view, the weather was not going to beat me, no way!
I was feeling hungry though, now that I think about it, I didn’t have anything to eat last night, so, before doing anything else I decided to find something to eat. There was a hostel a couple of 100 meters away and it had a restaurant, I decided not to bother in trying to cook something myself, it was better that I go and grab something from the restaurant. I go inside and ask for the menu, I started by looking for some substantial meal, something with meat, like a hamburger or even a steak. After looking at the prices I knew that it wasn’t going to happened, the burger started at 2,667 krona, is like 25 USD and the steak, well, too much. Is not that I don’t have that kind of money with me, but it was just the second day of my arrival in Iceland and I could not imagine spending 25 to 35 USD for a simple burger, it just doesn’t make sense. I look again at the menu and start looking for something cheaper, and then I spotted the soups, they had two kinds, one vegetable soup, and one meat soup. The vegetable soup was 1,200 krona (11 USD) and the meat soup was 1,700 krona (16 USD). I grabbed the meat soup even though the price still didn’t feel right.

Delicious meat soup, great choice for a cold day

I tasted it, it was hot, the broth was thick and rich in fats, it had small chunks of onions and potatoes and a loaf of bread on the side, the meat was tender, and it melts inside the mouth. It was delicious, a little bit pricy, but was the perfect meal after a long cold night.
By the time I finish the meal, the rain slows down a bit, but now I was able to explore around Skogafoss without getting soaking wet. Later I came to realize that you’ll get wet anyway once you get close to the waterfall.
There weren’t many people that morning, I have seen photos from this place before and I know there could be hundreds of people around the waterfall, it is one of the most popular waterfalls in Iceland because of it beauty and accessibility. I think because of the weather the crowds were chased away.
After exploring around I decided to get going to the next location, there was no interesting light happening, so there was no reason to linger any longer.
I didn’t know where to go, my plan was not having a plan, so I thought that I will stop in Vík and plan something from there depending on the weather patterns.
Meanwhile I was driving towards Vík, I spotted on the side of the road the parking lot of the Plane wreck site. I stopped and saw that there were just a few cars parked, so I thought, this means one thing, that I could have the plane wreck location almost all for myself. It was windy and rainy at the time, but I was feeling courageous.

Before I started the long hike, I was already pre-visualizing the photo in mind under this weather conditions. I imagine the black sand, the plane wreck, stormy clouds on the background, and the photo printed on metal or under acrylic hanging on my home office. Yes!! I will go! I said to myself, so, I did.
Four kilometers hike to get there, and four kilometers to get back. I turned on my Fenix 5 and started timing myself. Ill publish my poor results next.

I have to say that I had to stop several times to tie my boots, then I lost one of my globes, then my tripod was loose and falling out of my backpack, some technical issues but all of this made me delayed a bit.

The winds were hitting me hard, and then started raining, but nothing could stop me, I had a target in mind, no storm or hail was preventing me from getting that photo at this point.
After 53 minutes walking, I arrived at the plane, there was a small group of people, 5 at the most, so it was very easy to shoot, I just needed to wait for them to stop using the top of the plane like a surf board (nuts!).
I started shooting the plane from the distance, finding different compositions as I was getting closer. The light was soft, the clouds were moody and threatening. You could see the sea from the plane, the strong winds were coming from the south dragging some rain clouds towards me.
I enjoyed the scenery for about 25 minutes and then decided to head back to the car. Another 43 minutes hike to get back.

Plane Wreck, Nikon D850, Tamron 24-70 mm f2.8, 24mm, 1/400s, f/8, ISO64

While I was walking back to the van, the weather started to clear up nicely, and so a hoard of tourist were emerging out of nowhere and by the time I arrived at the parking lot, it was packed full; it seems that I made the right call by going there when the rain was still pouring. By the time I still didn’t know that taking decisions like the one I did earlier today was going to really pay during the trip, ill be explaining more on that during the next series of blogs.

Plane Wreck parking lot filled up after the rain

Once back on the van I continue my way to the most southern town in Iceland, Vík. It is a short drive from Skogafoss, just 35 km. By the time I arrived at Vík it was around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, I went directly to the beach to scout the location and decide if I will want to try to shoot there at sunset or not.
The winds picked up very hard, they were 100 km/hour winds, I attempt to take some photos, but it was hard to battle against the wind. After one attempt I almost break one of my glass filters and my tripod lost a lock of the center column and it disassemble into pieces. I decided to cancel the scouting and find shelter and waited for the weather to improve. In the meantime, I managed to assemble back the tripod.
After a while I got bored of waiting so I hopped in the van and drove towards Kirkjufjara beach, it is only a 20-minute drive from Vík, maybe I can shoot the sunset from there. The weather wasn’t improving, the winds were picking up, I struggled keeping the van straight while the side gusts of wind were hitting hard. I cross a small stone bridge, on the right side is the North Atlantic Sea, it looks mad, huge waves are hitting the rocky cliffs, on the left side there’s what it looks like a lagoon, a bit calmer, protected behind the coast line. At the end of the bridge there is an officer stopping the traffic, is telling everybody that you can still go to the coast and have a look, but no longer than 30 minutes. I didn’t know that this beach had an opening and closing time, it was 6:30 pm and they close at 7 pm, I was already there, I’ll look anyway, even if I don’t have time to shoot.
I parked the van, I still didn’t know what to expect, the winds were stronger than ever, I walked a small path towards the sea, and then a sheer drop, I was on a cliff, the waves were smashing with a tremendous force on the cliffs, I felt small compared to the landscape, it was beautiful, and while I was looking, a gift from mother nature, it granted me with an amazing view of the coast line with a menacing storm coming from the south, humidity on the air, the sun came through the clouds and formed a gorgeous rainbow, I have seen many rainbows, but this was special, I could see the complete arch, beginning to end, it was framing perfectly the coast line; this spectacle of nature was good enough that even if the light was not perfect for photography, it was good enough for me to enjoy. I´m glad that I decide to come and check out this place, being at the right place at the right moment I would say.

Storm hitting Reynisfjara Beach, Nikon D850, Tamron 15-30mm f2.8, 15 mm, f/8.0, 1/250 s, ISO 64

It was 7:30 pm by the time I was heading back to Vík, sunset was starting around 9:00 pm so I went directly to the beach, this time I was scouting close to the Reynisfjall mountain trying to frame the mountain and the basalt stacks on the sea, and it was a way to protect myself from the winds. This was just the second day in Iceland and the weather never calmed down. This beach is famous by its unique black sand but also because the sea can be brutal, there are many stories, true stories, about people being swallowed by the waves and never to be seen again. Photographers getting too close to the waves were high on the statistics. I was traveling alone, and there was no one else on the beach that afternoon, I wasn’t getting any chances for something like this to happen, so I place my self on a safe distance from the breaking waves, I pulled out my 70-200 mm f2.8 lens and start composing and shooting. I really wanted to get the classics shots, close to the waves pulling back to the ocean, but it was way too risky that day to do that, so I content myself with telephoto shots.
The sunset light was not amazing, the clouds covered the horizon making it soft. I was getting tired, so I decided to call it a day. Based on the previous night experience I knew that tonight was going to be also hard to endure. I stayed in the Vík Camping site, their facilities were nice, they had showers with hot water and a dinning room where you could prepare your meals. After a hot shower and a bite, I decide to hit the sac. I set up the alarm for sunrise, but the weather was closing in, I don´t think there is going to be good weather for sunrise.

Reynisdrangar, Nikon D850, Tamron 70-200 mm f2.8, 122 mm, f/16, 1/10 s, ISO 64

If you like this content please like, share and leave a comment.