Iceland from the Air

In November 2023 I was lucky enough to return to Iceland, one of my favourite locations for landscape photography. The landscape is ever changing and the weather, all be it sometimes harsh, creates so many different opportunities for exciting and creative photography. But this was a trip with a big difference. There were opportunities, if the weather played ball, to shoot from the air. Short trips over the glacier and glacial river beds leading out to sea were planned for aerial work.

Luckily the weather was fine so a small plane seating 4 took us up and over. Even without a camera it would have been a wonderful experience and it was certainly one that I will always remember.

Preparing to shoot from the air is very different from shooting on the ground. The small planes have windows that can be opened and you would think that you just point your lens through the opening. But as I learnt, if I were to have done that the speed of the plane travelling through the air would have taken the lens and the camera down to the icy landscape below. So the first thing that needed to be sorted out was the reinstallation of a strap or a gorilla strap if you had one. That meant I could put the camera over my body or wrap tightly around my wrist. The next consideration was the lens. As I had two camera bodies I used a 24-70 on the Nikon z7 ii and a 70-200 on the Nikon 850. Auto iso was set with maximum of 3200 dialled in , continous shooting at f8 or f5.6, vibration control on and I under exposed by a third of a stop as there was some sunlight. I am sure everyone has their own technique but this worked for me. You need a lot of card space so that had to be checked too. There is a tendency to, of course, shoot everything as the plane flies but you soon realise you have enough time to sometimes wait a few seconds to frame something worth shooting. Nonetheless you have to work fast. For me seeing the landscape from above was simply stunning and it took on a whole new perspective in my eyes. I loved the larger vistas but also the pattern and details of the rivers close up. Of course many shots were taken. The ones below are some of my favourites. Would I do it again if I had the chance and the money - you bet I would !

Why shoot the landscapes of Norfolk?

2023 comes to an end