11 Day Photography Tour | All Around Iceland in Winter

Day two and you will leave the city in a comfortable bus for Iceland’s famously beautiful South Coast. Your first subject of the trip will be the one-of-a-kind Seljalandsfoss, a 60-metre tall waterfall that cascades over a spacious cavern making it possible to capture this attraction from unique perspectives.

Not long after, you will admire Skógafoss, a powerful curtain of water which generates a great mist and when the light hits it, rainbows are known to appear.

In time for sunset, you will come to the dramatic black beach at Reynisfjara, iconic for its Reynisfjara sea stacks and basalt columns standing defiantly against the crashing waves of the Atlantic ocean.

As night falls, keep your fingers crossed and your eyes peeled for the majestic aurora borealis before retiring for the evening at your accommodation in Vík.

You will continue your journey along the southeast coast, making your first stop of the day in Skaftafell Nature Reserve. Features here are impressive and varied including glacial tongues, volcanoes, lava-fields and forests. You will visit the remarkable Svartifoss waterfall which spills over black basalt columns making for no lack of inspiration for your camera.

Brace yourself for one of Iceland’s most treasured locations for photographers, the majestic glacial lagoon, Jökulsárlón. Ancient and huge blocks of ice drift in the water with the occasional splash as parts melt and break off. Icebergs are not the only thing in the water though, watch out for seals and the opportunity to practise your wildlife photo skills.

Sunset will be spent just around the corner on the Diamond Beach. Here, the ice titans wash up on the black sandy shore providing no end to magical moments and compositions you will want to immortalise on camera.

You will spend the night in accommodation close to the lagoon.

You will be treated to a once in a lifetime experience and undoubtedly a highlight of this trip, to enter an ice cave in all of its bright blue beauty. Under the guidance of your workshop guide, you will be shown the best ways to capture this alluring location and create some otherworldly photos.

The rest of the day's activities will be mostly dependent on the weather, but you will be guaranteed more jaw-dropping natural beauty, plentiful in the area.

Night time brings the hope of Northern Lights, which you will look for in the skies above the Diamond Beach.

Another day in the beautiful southeast and this day will be spent seeking out the sites that you may not have been able to dedicate a lot of time to so far. Depending on the weather, time and lighting, your options include Skaftafell, Jökurlsárlón, the Diamond Beach and Vestrahorn, a dramatic mountain in its snow-covered winter glory.

You will spend your last night in the southeast after the usual Northern Lights hunting.

You will now be making your way through the remote and stunningly beautiful Eastfjords. Steeped in history, you will make your way around these fjords capturing the snow covered mountain ranges. Wildlife enthusiasts should also keep an eye out, and cameras ready, for both seals and reindeer.

Your destination for the evening is the largest town in the East, Egilsstaðir, home to the legendary Loch Ness of Iceland, the Lagarfljót worm who is said to reside in Lake Lagarfljót.

If the Northern Lights forecast is promising, you will capture them with your camera, either by the lake or at Iceland’s largest forest Hallormsstaðasógur.

Carrying on along the famous Ring Road, your guides will confront the genuinely Arctic conditions to take you to see Europe’s most powerful waterfall, Dettifoss. This thunderous giant throws out 500 cubic metres of water a second, and your guides will channel your inevitable awe into securing the perfect photo of this monumental attraction

In the same area, two less powerful but no less beautiful waterfalls await you, Selfoss and Hafragilsfoss. Sunset will be spent in the breathtaking Mývatn area which boasts many photogenic attractions that you will endeavour to capture over the next coming days.

First stop of the day will be to visit Lake Mývatn, mysterious at the time of year with parts of the lake frozen and eery black basalt pillars rising from the water. 

If you are a Games of Thrones fan, then you will take particular joy to visit Grjótagjá cave, the location for Jon Snow and Ygritte’s infamous love scene. You will also be taken to the chaotic and abrupt lava fields at Dimmuborgir which fans of the show will also recognise to be the setting of Mance Rayder’s Wilding Camp.

Bubbling away at the foot of Mount Námaskarð is the Mývatn geothermal area which makes for a truly primordial looking scene. The endless feel of night in the North gives you plenty of time to watch out for the auroras in this idyllic location.

Your exploration of north Iceland will continue by travelling through the northern fjords admiring idyllic little towns and villages. You will visit the stunning waterfalls, Goðafoss and Aldeyjarfoss, and capture their beauty through your camera lens, a skill which may feel like second nature at this point in your workshop.

You will experience sunset once again in the Mývatn area, and hope for a glimpse of the Northern Lights.

Day ten and you should be feeling like a master of nature photography, and there is more to come! The day will be spent driving bound for Reykjavík but with plenty of stops for you and your camera along the way.

One of the stops will be Hvítserkur, an arresting rock formation ballooning from the sea to create fantastical shapes which morph under different lighting.

The drive will mostly be across farmlands and rolling hills dotted with majestic Icelandic horses revealing once again the ever-changing nature of the countryside.

If you reach west Iceland in good time, you will have the opportunity to capture the neighbouring waterfalls Hraunarfoss and Barnafoss. 

In the evening you will enjoy a meal with your by now photography family in Reykjavík before retiring to your hotel room.

Sadly, this is your last day in Iceland. You will take the bus to Keflavík International airport to catch your flight home or to your next destination.

You will be leaving the wonderland of Iceland in winter boasting an impressive nature portfolio and undoubtedly, many fond memories.