Photos

Iceland & the NetherlandsOctober 3, 202347 photos

Honeymoon

Eleven days across two countries — geothermal steam, aurora, black sand and glacier ice, then canals, gabled houses and a very good museum.

11 days · 2 countries · 153 frames shot, 47 kept

We got married in September 2023 and left for Iceland two weeks later. The plan was one country; the flights made a second one nearly free, so we added the Netherlands and turned a week into eleven days.

I shot 153 frames worth keeping. These are the forty-seven that still hold up.

Iceland

We landed in the dark, picked up a car, and spent the next week driving east along the south coast and back.

A wooden boardwalk crossing a steaming geothermal field under heavy grey cloud. — Straight off the plane and into the steam. We barely made it out of the Reykjanes peninsula before stopping.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 42mm · f/7.1 · 1/320s · ISO 100

People walking a wet boardwalk with steam billowing behind them, reflected in standing water. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/9 · 1/125s · ISO 100

Kylie tilting her head back with one arm outstretched, lining herself up with a steam plume rising behind her. — Kylie, breathing fire.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/9 · 1/200s · ISO 100

Black and white view across a barren steaming field, the photographer's shadow stretching into the foreground. — My own shadow got into this one and I decided that was fine.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/9 · 1/250s · ISO 100

Kylie standing with both arms raised beneath a footbridge spanning a rift in black volcanic gravel. — A footbridge across the gap between two continental plates, which is the kind of thing Iceland just has.Ricoh GR III · 18mm · f/5.6 · 1/160s · ISO 100

Dark volcanic sea cliffs dropping into the North Atlantic, pale surf breaking at their base. — Ricoh GR III · 18mm · f/8 · 1/100s · ISO 100

A lone sea stack offshore, seen across a boulder-strewn black shoreline under low grey cloud. — Ricoh GR III · 18mm · f/8 · 1/250s · ISO 100

A dark lava field stretching to the horizon at dusk, a low lit building at the right edge. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/9 · 1/60s · ISO 320

Green aurora arcing over a small cabin with warm lit windows, beside a dark stream. — The aurora turned up on the second night, directly overhead. We stood out in it until we lost feeling in our hands.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/2.8 · 2.5s · ISO 2500

A small white church with a black roof standing alone on a wide green plain under grey sky. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/9 · 1/100s · ISO 100

The interior of a small church looking down the aisle to a blue and gold altar beneath a chandelier. — Inside it is all blue and gold and one extremely committed chandelier.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/4 · 1/60s · ISO 2000

Adrian and Kylie standing together on a gravel path, a wide braided river running behind them. — Us, somewhere along the river.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 32mm · f/8 · 1/80s · ISO 100

Seljalandsfoss falling in a single ribbon over a green cliff, with people small at its base. — Seljalandsfoss. The scale only registers once you spot the people.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/8 · 1/60s · ISO 800

Seljalandsfoss seen from the side, water falling past the mossy overhang you can walk behind. — You can walk the whole way around behind this one.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/9 · 1/60s · ISO 640

Black and white view from behind a waterfall, a lone figure silhouetted against the sheet of falling water. — Behind the curtain. You come out thoroughly soaked and immediately want to do it again.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 17mm · f/7.1 · 1/60s · ISO 200

Adrian and Kylie grinning in a close selfie, a green hillside and waterfall behind them. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/4.5 · 1/60s · ISO 320

A road curving away beneath a long green and grey escarpment, seen through a car windscreen. — A lot of Iceland happens through the windscreen, and the road just keeps doing this.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 50mm · f/2.8 · 1/100s · ISO 400

Stacked basalt columns along a black sand beach, a jagged sea stack rising offshore. — Reynisfjara — the basalt columns, and the sea stacks out in the surf.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 70mm · f/6.3 · 1/160s · ISO 640

A diagonal sweep of black sand meeting pale surf, a dark headland low on the horizon. — Iceland does minimalism without appearing to try.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 70mm · f/6.3 · 1/160s · ISO 200

Sea stacks standing offshore beyond a steep cliff face and a black sand beach. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/6.3 · 1/60s · ISO 125

A flat-topped mountain rising abruptly from a gravel plain, a straight road running toward it. — This one announces itself from a very long way off.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/8 · 1/100s · ISO 100

Kylie beaming in an orange life vest aboard a small boat, glacial water and low hills behind her. — Kylie, extremely pleased about the boat.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/2.8 · 1/2000s · ISO 100

A blue and white iceberg floating alone in a glacial lagoon, low mountains behind it. — Jökulsárlón. They make their way out to sea a few metres at a time.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 53mm · f/8 · 1/320s · ISO 100

A large iceberg with a deep blue arch of compressed ice at its base. — The blue is just very old ice, packed hard enough to stop letting anything else back out.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 70mm · f/8 · 1/250s · ISO 100

Kylie lying back among chunks of clear glacial ice scattered across a black sand beach. — The ice washes back up on the beach across the road. Naturally we got in it.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/4 · 1/500s · ISO 100

A glacier tongue spilling between dark mountains down toward a grey plain. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 70mm · f/8 · 1/160s · ISO 200

A braided stream at a long exposure, the water smoothed into white ribbons over dark rock. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 17mm · f/22 · 6s · ISO 100

A row of brightly painted houses lining a Reykjavík street, cars parked the length of it. — Reykjavík paints its houses like it is making a point.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 70mm · f/6.3 · 1/250s · ISO 100

Hallgrímskirkja seen from below, its stepped concrete facade rising to the tower. — Hallgrímskirkja — impossible to photograph badly, quite hard to photograph well.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/8 · 1/60s · ISO 8000

Waterfront buildings lit at blue hour, their reflections running down the still surface of a pond. — Blue hour on the pond in the middle of town, with the whole city doubled in it.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 40mm · f/3.5 · 1/13s · ISO 3200

A tunnel carved through ice and lit deep blue, curving away out of sight. — A tunnel bored through real glacial ice, indoors, under a museum.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/2.8 · 1/60s · ISO 2000

The Netherlands

From black sand to brick — a week of canals, museums, and walking considerably more than we meant to.

An Amsterdam canal at dusk, houseboats moored along both banks and a small boat heading up the middle. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/8 · 1/100s · ISO 100

The three arches of a brick canal bridge seen at water level, further bridges receding beyond. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 54mm · f/4 · 1/500s · ISO 100

A row of narrow gabled canal houses leaning gently into one another above moored boats. — Not one of them plumb.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/8 · 1/100s · ISO 100

Looking up through a brick bridge arch from a passing boat, the canal opening out beyond. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 70mm · f/8 · 1/250s · ISO 1000

A narrow street running straight away between tall brick houses, cars and bicycles down both sides. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 70mm · f/2.8 · 1/250s · ISO 100

Bicycles locked in a row along a canal railing, gabled houses and trees on the far bank. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/8 · 1/80s · ISO 125

Adrian holding up a record in a shop, racks of sleeves filling the wall behind him. — Some of the circular things came home with us.Apple iPhone 13 mini · 5mm · f/1.6 · 1/50s · ISO 125

Kylie standing beside a small framed painting of Pikachu rendered in the style of a Van Gogh self-portrait. — We happened to be there during the Pokémon collaboration, which was exactly as good as it sounds.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 40mm · f/9 · 1/80s · ISO 12800

Van Gogh's self-portrait in a grey felt hat, framed on a pale wall. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 40mm · f/5.6 · 1/80s · ISO 10000

Van Gogh's Almond Blossom hanging on a pink wall, white flowers against pale blue. — Almond Blossom, which would have been worth the trip on its own.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 40mm · f/4 · 1/80s · ISO 4000

The long wood-panelled interior of a canal boat set for dinner, string lights running along the ceiling. — Dinner on a boat, moving slowly through the middle of the city.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/60s · ISO 32000

Kylie raising a glass at a table on the boat, canal lights strung in the window behind her. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 28mm · f/2.8 · 1/60s · ISO 25600

A lit drawbridge reflected in black canal water at night. — Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 28mm · f/2.8 · 1/60s · ISO 12800

Rembrandt's The Night Watch hanging at the end of a tall gallery, viewers small in front of it. — The Night Watch, at the far end of the room built around it.Sony α7 IV · FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II · 24mm · f/2.8 · 1/60s · ISO 2000

Banksy's Girl with Balloon framed on a dark gallery wall, the red balloon the only colour in the frame. — Ricoh GR III · 18mm · f/2.8 · 1/50s · ISO 200

A swing carousel spinning at dusk, riders blurred into streaks beneath its lit canopy. — A theme park in the woods on the last full day, in the rain, which did not matter at all.Ricoh GR III · 18mm · f/9 · 1/50s · ISO 200