Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this post, free of charge,from the author, for blog purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it
I'll be reviewing Debra's new photography book in just a minute, but first I wanted to share a traveling Gues Post form her!
ICELAND by Debra Schoenberger
One of the destinations on my bucket list was to travel to and document Iceland.
After a fair amount of research and saving I decided to go in September 2017. I decided to go with National Geographic Journeys and tour the southern part of the island. If you haven't travelled with them before, I highly recommend their tours. Other tour companies such as Intrepid Travel are also excellent but a lot less expensive.
Iceland is very unique in that instead of walking on soft ground, the island is made up of black, rough volcanic rock. Instead of grass, the volcanic rock is covered with lichen and moss of varying shades of green.
Iceland doesn't have a large population, around 330,000, so you can enjoy wide open spaces and sweeping views of the glaciers and ocean. We travelled extensively around the southern coastline and I was mesmerized by the sharp, cliff-like islands jutting up out of the ocean.
Iceland doesn't have a lot of really interesting places to visit compared to other countries. The few really beautiful waterfalls were packed with tourists. I don't think the department of tourism could foresee the high volume of tourists that would visit the country and I found this to be a bit of a put-off while I was there. Photographing some of its beautiful places was a challenge and downright impossible in some areas. I would definitely return but maybe in a couple of years when tourism has slowed down a bit. If you have time and money, a longer visit be better to capture the the unique beauty of Iceland.
Photography in Iceland proved to be a bit of a challenge. Although we were fortunate to have quite a few warm, sunny days - my images were turning out very dark. I did some research and noticed that photographers were experiencing the same issue. Iceland's latitude was such that the sunlight is very weak and I had to slightly adjust my exposure while I was there to compensate for this.
It is also a very expensive country to visit. A bowl of soup cost $28.00, a hamburger $35.00 and a nice meal (not the most expensive) was about $70.00 (which included a glass of wine). Don't expect to receive a bill at the end of the meal though. Restaurants work on the honour system, so when you are ready to go, just go up to the cash and tell them what you had to eat and drink.
Overall, would I recommend travelling to Iceland? Definitely. Maybe wait a bit until the mad tourist rush slows down a bit. The country's unique beauty and relaxing spas will definitely be the highlight of your trip.
STAY TUNED FOR MY REVIEW OF DEBRA'S LATEST PHOTO BOOK!
About the Author / Photographer:
Debra Schoenberger aka #girlwithcamera
"My dad always carried a camera under the seat of his car and was constantly taking pictures. I think that his example, together with pouring over National Geographic magazines as a child fuelled my curiosity for the world around me.
I am a documentary photographer and street photography is my passion. Some of my images have been chosen by National Geographic as editor's favourites and are on display in the National Geographic museum in Washington, DC. I also have an off-kilter sense of humour so I'm always looking for the unusual.
Comments
Post a Comment