Iceland is one of those places that I highly recommend everyone see at least one in their life. It is other worldly in the most amazing and surprising ways. One of which is the delicacy that is Domino’s Pizza. You laugh but it’s true! In Iceland, Domino’s is AMAZING! Why did I eat Domino’s in a place like Iceland with all of the different cuisines to try? Well, that’s for another story. Back to this photograph.

My wife and I set out to hike and photograph the cliffs and the Gatklettur Sea Arch in Arnarstapi (Still in Iceland). This sea arch is located along the south west coast of Snaefellsnes Peninsula. After a nice lunch in Arnarstapi we set out to hike along the cliffs, find some great compositions of the cliffs and waves crashing in and ultimately the Sea Arch.

At the start of our hike the rain started back in on us, although it was heavy at all. Well, that all changed as we approached the sea arch! I’m from Texas and the saying goosing something like, “if you don’t like the weather just give it 20 minutes.” Nothing could be more true for Iceland. The weather shifts, changes, get more intense, etc. almost by the minute. In this case the light rain turned to a much harder and steady downpour (luckily my LowPro Backpack has a waterproof shell I can pull over it!). But like I just said, weather changes so fast. By the time I made it our to the Sea Arch things turned from wet and annoying to down right crazy. Camera in hand, we were fighting the ice that was pelting us not only from above but because the winds were so strong ice from the ocean blew up the cliff face. I fought for a shot of the arch and managed to get some pretty cool images but little did I know I was about to be blessed with an epic view!

Just as I was wrapping up the rain, ice and wind stopped. Well not really the wind but at least it was blowing 50mph anymore. What I didn’t notice was the parting clouds and sun. Turning to start back I saw Mt Stapafell being blasted with this great sunlight, the snowy mountains in the background off to the right and this gorgeous yellow grass blowing in the foreground. I just reacted…didn’t have to think about composition. I knew it and I dove (literally) into the grass to get angle and stabilize my camera. One exposure and done.

This was such an amazing experience. Going from weather extremes and being in complete amazement of the beauty of the Icelandic landscape!