Images from Iceland

I hope you were able to read this week’s post, Fly Fishing the Iceland Highlands. We spent several days touring the island before our fishing experience started. Below, I share some images from Iceland.

Iceland has been on our list to visit and an opportunity presented itself at the end of 2023. If you have followed my RiverKeeper Flies website, you know I’ve been practicing my photography and I hope you’ve seen improvements over the last 3 – 4 years. One way I continue to learn is by watching YouTube videos. Matt Granger is one of the content creators I’ve watched and learned from. He was leading an Iceland Photography Tour we ended up attending. Since we would be in Iceland, we decided to add a couple days at the end of our trip to experience fly fishing in Iceland. My last post, Fly Fishing the Iceland Highlands shares that experience.

What does Iceland have to offer tourists? In addition to spectacular scenery, the main draw for many people are birds, glaciers, Icelandic horses, whales, volcanoes, and waterfalls.

Mid-May is prime time to watch migratory birds return to Iceland, build a nest, and raise the next generation. Of particular interest to me were puffins (Fratercula arctica), a bird I’ve never seen in person. I think they are a cross between a parrot and penguin. They are odd looking birds that offer striking poses. I was able to capture several of them I’m particularily proud of.

As I continue to improve my photography craft, I find many similarities taking pictures of fish, insects, and puffins.

I’ll begin one of the whimsical looks I captured.

Here are several close-up images.

At times, it appeared they were just as interested in watching me!

Many puffins were busy building their nest in preparation of egg laying and taking care of their new puffling.

This one had just emerged from the nest.

I found this one resting in a nest.

Taking pictures of puffins in flight is very difficult. They are returning from feeding in the sea and seem to appear out of nowhere. Here a couple of my favorite images.

I wonder what this one is saying?

This puffin was jumping down the hill.

Since I mentioned insects above, here are a couple close-up images from a small glacial lake with icebergs floating in the water. The brownish-gray background is the muddy glacial water.

It was quite a treat finding several herd of Icelandic Reindeer as we traversed the roads along the northeast coast. Our local guide told us we might be lucky and see a few. Little did we know we were in for a treat.

I’ll share more images from our trip in another post.

Enjoy…go fish!