Hallgrímskirkja was built in 1937 and is a Reykjavík landmark. Architect Guðjón Samúelsson patterned its façade after the basaltic lava columns that are common in Iceland. The first two photographs were taken close to midnight in the beautiful light of the low summer sun. Maintaining the verticals of such a tall structure is made possible…
Centrum is a new hotel (2005) in the heart of Reykjavík, located on Aðalstræti, the oldest street in town. Its buildings are modeled after a style prevalent here around 1900. Viking ruins discovered during its construction are now featured in a museum housed in the basement. A very short stroll brings us to Borg, the…
The tiny settlement of Bíldudalur in the Westfjords region of Iceland is serviced by Eagle Air Iceland that connects it to the capital Reykjavík. The airstrip is laid out in the picturesque setting of the nearby fjord Fossfjörður. This sequence of the Jetstream 32 aircraft taking off was shot from the road that runs right…
Beating the odds, we got to see moonrise on two consecutive evenings in the Bláfjöll (“Blue Mountains”) area near Reykjavík. Both the images of the moon below were taken handheld. However, the second one was shot in fast fading light, and preserving detail in the moon while maintaining a reasonably defined foreground was tricky. Fortunately,…
Halldór Laxness (1902-1998) was among the great literary figures of the 20th C and Iceland’s only Nobel Laureate to date. His home, Gljúfrasteinn, located in Mosfellsbær just outside Reykjavík, is now a national museum. A multimedia presentation on Laxness’s life and an excellent self-guided audio tour of the house are available. Laxness responded to beauty…
