Photography Workshops & Photo Tours: Iceland Northern Lights+Iceberg Photo Adventure Mar.1-8 2013

Iceland Northern Lights, Ice Caves, Icebergs, and South Coast Winter Landscapes 2013 Photography Workshop and Tour III

7+ days, 7 nights, March 1-8, 2013
$2200 USD, all inclusive from Reykjavik
6 of 6 spaces filled

Currently my only winter Iceland trip with spaces available is the 6 day/6 night, March 16-22 trip.  Please refer to the trip page for more details, then send me a message for signup instructions or personal answers to any of your questions. 

 
This unique 7 day / 7 night photography tour and workshop around Iceland, the legendary land of fire and ice, is meant for outdoor photographers and nature-goers who desire to see and photograph Iceland's winter beauty and the Aurora Borealis and crystal ice caves. This hybrid trip focuses on bringing you to outstanding rural locations in Iceland, away from all the day-tours from Reykjavik, and finding photographic crystals in the wintery landscape during our daylight hours. We will especially search for ice caves to explore and photograph inside, which have stunning transluscent blue colors!  Then, in the dark hours of each day, hundreds of kilometers away from the city lights of Reykjavik, we'll search the skies and wait to photograph the Aurora Borealis - with phenomenal landscape backdrops. We will be based out of cozy rural guesthouses along the south coast and in the spectacular and remote East Fjords, allowing a comfortable schedule yet filling our days and nights with rewarding photography opportunities all around the region. 

This trip is scheduled to complement the itinerary of the Northern Iceland Aurora Borealis and Winter Landscapes Photography Tour in later March. So for the ultimate Icelandic Aurora experience book these two together, and receive $200 off the total!

Itinerary:  
March 1th: Arrive Reykjavik, airport pickup, hotel included. If clear night skies and forecasted aurora activity, I'll go out with anyone interested.
March 2th: Depart 8am (tentative). Daytime (which includes sunrise and sunset location shoots) photography of Golden Circle sights of Thingvellir, Gullfoss, Geysir. Stay near Gullfoss waterfall, potential aurora over the falls. March 3th: Daytime photography of south coast waterfalls and Vik region, nighttime aurora potential from Dyroley headland, stay around Vik
March 4th: Drive to Skaftafell National Park, daytime photograph Svartifoss waterfall and glaciers in region, aurora potential over glaciers; stay in Skaftafell
March 5th: Daytime photography of Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon and iceberg beach, aurora potential over Jokulsarlon, stay near Jokulsarlon
March 6th Daytime outing to inside of ice cave with a local glacier guide, aurora potential over Jokulsarlon, stay near Jokulsarlon.
March 7th. Daytime photography to Vatnajokull glacier regions on the way to Hofn and the East fjords region, coastal photography, aurora potential over eastfjords region; stay in Hofn
March 8th. Drive back to Reykjavik much of the day, depending on weather, with ad-hoc photo stops along the way. Trip ends late afternoon. Night in Reykjavik on your own .


Photography Instruction: A maximum group size of 6 photographers ensures you will receive ample personal photographic coaching in the field from a full time working pro, and provide an intimate small group adventure experience. This photo workshop is all about in-the-field field photography and situational instruction working alongside your leader, although we can also do image critiquing on client's laptops in the guesthouse in the evenings. Each day the group will photograph diverse landscapes and natural wonders of Iceland, in the quiet and peaceful setting of the Icelandic wintertime. Then, each evening and night the group will enjoy home-cooked meals and a cozy guesthouse, while always being prepared to go out and photograph the Aurora Borealis should it occur. The chances of us photographing this phenomenon are very high, given that we're out for six nights, and way away from the city of Reykjavik and the southern coast of Iceland. Photographic topics that will covered while shooting include nighttime and austral photography, Aurora Borealis photography, classic landscape photography composition and technique, HDR (High Dynamic Range) imagery, panoramic photography, adventure and travel photography, tilt/shift focusing, and slow shutter -speed effects. Our full 7 days and 7 nights of photography potential, allow us to see a variety of well-known Icelandic natural wonders along the Golden Circle, South Coast and East Fjords, ice caves of the Vatnajokull glacier region, along with more subtle icy details, and combined with austral wonderment, enabling each participant to get the most out this once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Pro Leader: Johnathan Esper of Wildernesscapes Photography LLC in the USA will be leading the trip, his 8th. Johnathan is a full time photographer and international photo trip leader, and has a unique background and an intimate knowledge of Iceland from living out of a car, exploring and photographing Iceland intensively for months at a time, and he specializes in wide panoramic landscapes and adventure photography in Iceland and the Adirondack region in the USA. Johnathan is also very experienced in leading workshops, having led 5 very successful photography workshops around Iceland since 2011 which are often sold-out, and also sometimes works with the very best native Icelandic photographer, Örvar Þorgeirsson. Örvar will hopefully join us as a special guest photographer on one of the days which will be a highlight for everyone, and his images are seen on arcticphoto.is

Trip Details  : The cost of this tour is $2200 USD (or Euro equivalent), all inclusive, and includes all photographic opportunites and professional instruction, glacier and photographic guiding, all ground and 4x4 transportation, all meals and food (breakfast served in our guesthouse, lunches sourced from local cafes or bagged lunches, and hot dinners at our places of accomodation and/or restaurants), and accommodation for 7 nights (in cozy rural authentic Icelandic guesthouses; accommodation is based on double occupancy, and will be comfortable, clean, cozy, and with shared bathrooms; private bathrooms in-room or single supplement may be requested for an additional fee).  Accomodation and potential night aurora shooting starts on the evening of March 1, and the trip concludes in the late afternoon of March 8 without accomodation for that night. A $600 deposit is due at the time of registration, and the remaining balance of $1600 is due by the trip start. Refunds are allowed at the discretion of the trip leader, with a mix of cash refund and future trip credit, depending on cancellation date. This tour is open to photographers of all skill levels, and a recommended packing list will be provided to participants. There is a maximum group size of 6, and a minimum of 2. We'll be so immersed in the Icelandic countryside for our entire time as a group, that we have left no time to enjoy the sights of Reykjavik, so we encourage you to stay in Reykjavik for a couple days on your own, either before or after the tour. If you have additional questions, the trip leader will be happy to answer them over the phone or email.

To register for this trip, please contact the trip leader directly, through the contact page on this website. Additionally, to secure your place, please make a $600 deposit payment through my website generic payment page at www.wildernessphotographs.com/payment.php.

Leader:
Johnathan A. Esper
Wildernesscapes Photography LLC
PO Box 326, Long Lake, NY
United States
johnathanesper@gmail.com
phone: 001 518 624 6675
www.WildernessPhotographs.com