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The Puffins of Grímsey island

Written August 28 2020


Now the silence is spreading across the country. The migratory birds gradually disappear. The Redwings sustain a little life in the towns and their choirs begin to raise their voices now because the Rowan berries are beginning to mature.


For me the second half of May and June are the highlights of the year, at least when the birdman Eyþór speaks. The musician Eyþór has more favourite seasons.

I'm already looking forward to my spring trips next spring.


Last year and the year before, my wife and I went to Grímsey for the summer solstice. Both times I was playing on concerts but took my camera with me. I've been to Grímsey couple of times, but always to play. I was going to go there this summer only for photographing, but unfortunately I didn't have time.


Grímsey is a fantastic place for photographing Puffins.





During my last two trips, I went for short walks to get some pictures. Although time was far too short both times, I caught many of my favourite Puffin pictures there.




It is not really that complicated to get to Grímsey. It is possible to fly there from Akureyri or you can take the ferry from Dalvík. I've tried both. Last year's sailing wasn't so nice. The "boy" was suffering from seasickness. Even though someone had shouted that we were sailing past a dolphin, I just lay there. It would not have happened under normal circumstances.




The people of Grímsey welcomes guests. There you can get nice accommodation. Last year, my wife Elvý and I stayed with Halla Ingólfsdóttir - "Arctic trip". It was absolutely great. The year before that we were in the guesthouse Básar. Charming house with beautiful views. In both places there is a short distance to great photo spots.





The Puffin fascinates many, as it is an extremely beautiful and fun bird. At one time I had the feeling that bird photographers did not take much pictures of it. Maybe because it is so popular (sometimes you get tired of photographing the same thing as others) or maybe it was because the bird got a rather negative "tourist stamp" - Puffinshops in downtown Reykjavík ....




I have been so lucky to have several times taken part in bird research and bird ringing in Flatey in Breiðafjörður, West Iceland. One species we observe is the Puffin. So I've been diving into puffin holes to catch birds and check nesting results. This is accompanied by bites, claw marks (one of the claws is razor sharp) and puffin ticks, but it's still a lot of fun.




I go different ways in image composition when I photograph birds. I'm not going into an explanation of that, but I can say that I probably isolate puffins and Razorbills from the environment more often than with other species. I use colors, vegetation, sea and flowers to create softness and mystery, but also to draw attention to the main subject itself. There is something special about the head of these two species.




It is quite clear that I will go to Grímsey next summer. To visit this beautiful bird, which is relatively easy to access (not too easy, as in some tourist destinations) but always challenging to photograph (a lot of contrast with both off-white and pitch black)




Finally, I suggest you take a look at the websites of good friends, the very nice couple Gyða Henningsdóttir and Einar Guðmann. They know Grímsey so well and take amazing bird pictures.

Here are their Puffin shots, probably mostly taken in Grímsey:


https://photos.gyda.is/portfolio/C0000HC900vYjuO0/G0000eVH0kIxIYrE

https://photos.gudmann.is/portfolio/C0000T68vuGPHleI/G0000MIOAPJHWyKA


All the images in the post as well as other images on my site are available in various sizes and types. Please contact me through the site :)

Rauðanes - "Red peninsula"

Written 15 October.


Here comes a confession. I had never been to Rauðanes in Þistilfjörður until two days ago



I had been asked several times if I had not been to Rauðanes. I was always embarrassed when I said no. I have gone on countless photo trips to the area, most often to Langanes. I always drove past Rauðanes and thought to myself that I would have to go there soon.




The day before yesterday I went there. Walked for an hour, but the light was not beautiful enough, so I turned around. I did went back there yesterday morning and everything was perfect. Calm, warm, nobody else there and the light was beautiful.




I feel good in an environment like this. Bird cliffs, the noise that accompanies them is like the most beautiful song in my ears. But in mid-October there is almost silence. You can hear the occasional song of the Wren, the warm chatter of the Eider ducks, and then the whistling of the Harlequin ducks, which were many around the peninsula. Two large groups of Purple sandpipers just added to the experience with their coordinated flight. A small open boat broke the silence, sailed out to the fjord and stayed there for a long time. I believe the fisherman has had a glorious time at sea. I started taking some shots with a drone, but stopped immediately. The whine in the drone just ruined the mood.




Rauðanes is known for caves and colorful cliffs. Birdlife is unique. It is relatively easy to walk around it, but it is said to be about 7 km. I took a little detour and the phone map showed that I had walked 10 km. I find that plausible.





I consider it a privilege to live in NE Iceland. Here are some great places to visit. Gorgeous places in Eyjafjörður, Mývatnssveit and Þingeyjarsveit, but Norðurþing is somehow a special favorite. Maybe because there are not too many people there. I'm a bit of a loner. Maybe I should not be admiring Kelduhverfi, Öxarfjörður, Núpasveit, Melrakkaslétta, Rauðanes and Langanes so I will continue to be alone in the world there: D




On the way to Þistilfjörður I drove around Melrakkaslétta. It's roughness is so beautiful. On the way home I took the new highway west of Jökulsá. The"Queen of the mountains" (Herðubreið) shone in the strange glacial light.




Hraundrangi and other mountains

There are very few places in the country that affect you so much that you involuntarily start staring at them. Most often these are mountains. There are probably two places here in the North Iceland that attract me like this. It is "The Queen of mountains",, Herðubreið and then Þverbrekkuhnjúkur and Hraundrangi in Öxnadalur(Hraundrangi is certainly also elegant at the other side, in Hörgárdalur)






Dad and I once walked up Herðubreið. It was amazing! My admiration for the mountain did not diminish. But I have not yet climbed Þverbrekkuhnjúkur and will never climb Hraundrangi :)




This autumn I reduced my workload, went down to a 70% position as a organist at Akureyri Church. The reason was that I wanted to play more concerts and create opportunities to shoot more photos and videos. Wednesdays have been photo days for me for the past few weeks. Wednesday 21 October was photo day. My friend Daníel Starrason, a local photographer, has often joined me on these weekly trips. Great to have good photo companions.

Visit Daniels pages:



We met in the morning but somehow I did not see motives in anything. Daníel then had to go to back town and I told him that I was only going to take a short drive into Hörgárdalur. But I went further to Öxnadalur, went to the farm Hraun, then only intended to walk for a few minutes up to the hills beneath Hraundrangi, but ended climbing with all my stuff up on the top hills below Hraundrangi. It was a glorious day and up there I found the spark I missed earlier that day.





I have mostly photographed birds and that is my forte. But the landscape photography fascinates me more and more and I like to experiment with it. I decided to take a couple of lenses up there, because I had already decided to take HDR pictures, but that means I take some pictures that range from being considerably underexposed to being considerably overexposed. I mix them so that I can achieve both white snow and dark shadows as the bare eye can see. I had also decided to create Panoramas, where I take many pictures with a zoom lens and then stitch them together with software. This creates an image with very high resolution and no distortion, but wide-angle lenses distort images considerably.






It's hard to describe what it feels like to be in the freshly fallen snow, alone in this silence that is so wonderful, with all this beauty in front of you. It is very important to me not just to take pictures, but to sit down and enjoy. I like to put emotions in touch with some music. I think these moments are for me like the piece "Húm" by Atli Örvarsson. Clear, quiet, not too much of anything, three sounds, like three main themes in the landscape. The top voice of the piece is like Hraundrangi. The music is a little bit melancholic, as I always feel at times like this. A feeling I can not explain further, but is extremely strong. So happy but yet a little melancholic.





When I was on my way down, I texted Daniel, telling him I had gone up there. I got a message from him. The mountains had clearly attracted him too, because he was on his way up. His wonderful picture from Lake Hraunsvatn is here:




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