Dramatic landscapes in Cornwall arranged by Wild Nature Fotoresor together with Patrik Larsson

The base for the week was a warm and friendly guesthouse in Penzance

The first morning started with a trip to St Michaels mount just before dawn. On arrival the tide was just starting to recede and the mount could be seen at some distance completely surrounded by water. Slowly but surely,  as the tide turned,  a colourful stone causeway began,  as if by magic,  to reveal itself

The journey continued northward along the coast to Porthnanven in the Cot valley. The tide was quite far out and a wonderful world of large colourful boulders and running water rivulets lay exposed before us

 

 

 

Continuing further along the North Cornwall coast to  Godrevy, accross the bay from St Ives,  for the last stop of the day. The wind was picking up and huge waves were forming as the tide came rushing in. Two important lessons were quickly learned;  the tide comes in  quickly and relentlessly and lenses and filters have to be constantly washed and dried from the sea spray. This was learned first hand after a thorough drenching in cold atlantic water!

Back to the guest house for a change to dry clothes, lens and filter washing and camera drying before a rewarding pub meal and a pint or two of bitter.

The next day started early in order to see the break of dawn at mousehole just south west of Penzance

The journey continued to one of Cornwalls renowned beaches at Kynance cove. The weather had brightened and we had to wait some time for clouds to appear. Apparently we were lucky to find a nearly deserted beach. A few days earlier the place had been taken over for a Bollywood production.

 

The day finished with a visit to Britains southern- most projectory, Lizzard point

From the start the third day promised to be difficult. The weather gods forecasted relentless rain together with gale force winds. The first point of call was Trebarwith beach with its rugged, patterned rock formations .

 

Unfortunately the predicted weather engulfed us in heavy rain and strong winds so we hurriedly drove on to Crackington Haven. This was a little harbour town with a very narrow opening to the harbour The rain had eased slightly but the wind was still a serious challenge. Photographing in the harbour bay was impossibe, it was hard to stand in the wind let alone hold a tripod still. Slightly above the harbour we found some shelter from the wind and could look across the bay

 

The next attempt to photograph was at Duck pool but the expression ”horizontal rain” took on a new meaning! We gave up and retired cold and dripping wet to a little cafe. After another attempt at duck pool we returned to the cafe once again. An older couple who had seen us earlier asked us why on earth we did not come in the summer instead ..they were obviously not hardened photographers!

The final stop of the day was Sandy Mouth. Expectations were not high due to the weather forecast. Luckily the rain had now died down to the occasional shower whilst the wind continued unabated.

The beach was a treasure trove of fascinating rock formations and these could be studied in lee of the wind

The evening turned out to be fantastic with the foaming incoming tide and conditions were perfect for  long exposures  in the blue hour

After this trying day it was good to get home to dry out both ourselves and equipment and, of  course,  to finish off  in the local for catch of the day and a couple of pints.

The final day began again at the little harbour at mousehole for yet another sunrise

We then continued to Britains most westerly point, Lands End,  where we experienced heavy showers and the ever present gale force wind. It took a lot of perserverance to achieve any half decent result without raindrops

The next stop was at the old tin mines at Bottalack point. This area is famous for the Poldark  television series. The wind had now increased even further but we eventually found a trench, a bit like a world war one dugout,  where we could get some lee from the wind.

The final stop was a return to Godrevy where the sea was raging

The final shot for this wonderful windy week was of the Godrevy lighthouse

 

A photograpy journey to Southern Iceland with Magnus Lindbom and Creative adventures

Our first night was spent near Stoksnes on the far south east coast. The first morning we visited the black sands at Jökullsárlón just before sunrise

Beautiful clear ice formations gave magical images when photographed close-up

 

As the sun rose the colours slowly changed

Behind the beach was the glacial lagoon of the Breidarmerkull glacier

The trip continued with a long steep drive on a rough potholed dirt track, a so called  F road, ( These roads are only supposed to be used by 4×4 vehicles) to the glacier called Skállafellsjökull. The scenery was amazing

In the afternoon we continued to Hoffelsjökull where the views were more sombre with  brown water, dark mud and blue ice formations

The last destination for the day was at Stoksnes. By this time the weather had worsened to heavy rain together with strong winds. This made for difficult photographing conditions and a near impossibility to keep  lenses free from raindrops. In the direction of the black sand dunes the wind was behind the camera which was a bit more forgiving

  

In the other direction towards the mountains which is the expected iconic view of this place shooting was far more demanding. After a short break in the heavy rain and a bit of photoshop intervention most of the raindrops were removed. The shot was not the best but serves at least to show the view

On the second day we moved our base to a charming guest house in Hrifunes. This was a good starting point for day trips into the highlands.

The first stop after revisiting Jökullsárlón was Fjallsárlón. The sun was quite high so shooting conditions were not ideal but the views were magnificent

   

After a short stop at Svinfallsjökull we drove up to a waterfall called Fagrifos

The week continued with a drive into the black lava sands of Maellifellssandur. It was a vast expanse of lava sand more like a moon landscape!

 

     

The rest of the morning was spent at Oldufel vattenfall, The main attraction was a large waterfall with several small falls in the area. The sun had now come up and the conditions were not ideal but improved as soon as some cloud formations appeared

The following morning took us to  enjoy the sunrise on the  coast at Dyrholaey, the home of  iconic sea stacks

 

Lunch and afternoon were spent at Nauthúsagil canyon. This entailed a long walk into the narrow canyon through deep running water and climbing  over steep slippery boulders with the help of ropes and some pushing and shoving from Magnus!

   

The next day started with a long drive through the highlands to Landmannalaugur. This entailed a long hike and climb along a river and up into the higher areas past sulfur fuming rock formations. The final climb, after several expletives, showed us a magnificent view as reward

  

On the drive home the weather worsened and the landscape was covered in a thin coating of snow. Together with the black lava sand and green vegetation it made a fantastic colour combinaton

The last day was started with an early morning trip to another deep, narrow gorge at Fjadrárglúfur. This time we hiked up along the edge of the gorge to look back towards the ocean

The final revenue was Langisjór lake west of vattnajökul

This rounded off an exciting week with spectacular scenery