Icelandic Waves

The first time I experienced the power of the Icelandic waves was in March 2012 on Vik beach. The noise of them crashing and then scraping across the black volcanic pebbles was unlike anything I'd heard before. Since then, I've always made at least one trip to Vik beach on each of my southern Iceland trips, but have tried to explore a few more beaches and capture more waves along the rugged coastline.

ISO 320, f/11, 0.6 seconds, focal length 248mm

On this recent trip I took a longer zoom (100-400mm) with me, so that I could get closer to the waves photographically without having to physically get any closer to them (which in Iceland can be extremely dangerous).

Here's a selection of the waves from my recent trip, in chronological order; it seems that I only managed to visit 5 beaches (see map at the end for the locations). Without the snow and storms I might have made it to a few more...

Jökulsárlón Beach

ISO 100, f/16, 1.6 seconds, focal length 124mm

ISO 100, f/14, 1/40th second, focal length 100mm

ISO 100, f/14, 10 seconds, focal length 43mm

ISO 100, f/11, 0.5 seconds, focal length 300mm

ISO 100, f/16, 1/5th second, focal length 24mm

ISO 100, f/16, 0.6 second, focal length 38mm

ISO 200, f/13, 1/30th second, focal length 70mm

Hvalnes

ISO 100, f/16, 1 second, focal length 54mm

ISO 100, f/16, 1 second, focal length 43mm

ISO 640, f/4, 1/80th second, focal length 45mm

ISO 640, f/4, 1/100th second, focal length 45mm

ISO 2000, f/4.5, 1/250th second, focal length 45mm

ISO 1250, f/3.2, 1/250th second, focal length 32mm

Stokksnes

ISO 100, f/13, 1/13th second, focal length 16mm

ISO 100, f/16, 1.3 seconds, focal length 19mm

ISO 100, f/16, 2 seconds, focal length 27mm

ISO 100, f/16, 1.6 seconds, focal length 17mm

 
Back to Jokulsarlon

ISO 100, f/16, 0.4 second, focal length 400mm

ISO 100, f/16, 1.3 second, focal length 312mm

ISO 100, f/16, 0.8 second, focal length 176mm

ISO 100, f/16, 1/4 second, focal length 248mm

ISO 100, f/13, 1.3 seconds, focal length 300mm

ISO 100, f/13, 0.8 second, focal length 158mm

ISO 100, f/16, 0.6 second, focal length 248mm

Vik Beach

ISO 100, f/16, 2.5 seconds, focal length 114mm

ISO 320, f/11, 0.8 second, focal length 248mm

ISO 100, f/16, 2 seconds, focal length 100mm

Last but not least, Reynisfjara beach

ISO 100, f/16, 0.6 second, focal length 153mm

ISO 100, f/16, 1.3 seconds, focal length 188mm

ISO 100, f/16, 1/30th second, focal length 271mm

ISO 100, f/16, 1/100th second, focal length 255mm

This map of Iceland's southern coast shows the location of each of the beaches captured above.