The Ice Beach

After the ice cave, I went to the Jakulsarlon Lagoon -- the ice lagoon -- to photograph the stunning chunks of ice that have broken off from the nearby glacier. From the lagoon, the ice is carried down a river to the sea and, depending on the wind and the currents, ends up on the 'ice beach'. We had two amazing mornings on the beach -- one morning with an overcast, brooding sky, which was stunning, and the second morning where the sky cleared about a half hour after sunrise and we had incredible light. The way the brilliant, low angled light illuminated the large (and small) chunks of ice was amazing. The ocean was very rough and the waves were huge, thus making it treacherous to get close with a wide angle lens to some of the best ice specimens. I got wet because (1) the waves came rushing to shore too quickly, (2) I waited too long to move, and (3) I was concentrating on picture taking and not paying attention. Fortunately my gear stayed dry (salt water kills electronics instantly). This is a 7-frame HDR with one f/stop increments. I set a custom function on my camera so I could trigger the sequence with the push of one button. My settings were f/22, 400 ISO, and the shutter varied per the bracketed exposures. Just after my group returned to the hotel for breakfast, the wind picked up at the ice beach and it reached an astonishing 90 miles an hour. Icelandic news reported that forty vehicles had their windows broken because of flying rocks!