Iceland: Westfjords Camping
Immerse yourself even more fully into the remotest part of the remotest part of Iceland: the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve. We’ll camp in style during a fully catered experience in this sub-arctic wilderness. Days will be spent observing and photographing arctic foxes, as well as hiking through the valleys and up into the hills along the ubiquitous cascading waterfalls. There will be a night in Reykjavik with a welcome dinner, and a night on either end of the camping experience in Isafjordur, the largest town in the Westfjords.
Tour Details
August 31-September 7, 2024 — Completed
This is a 7-night, 8-day tour. Your adventure begins with your arrival in Iceland on the morning of August 31 and ends with your departure on September 7.
$5,995. Register below.
Skill level
Intermediate+. Participants should have a firm grasp of the basic principles of photography and of their cameras, and have a comfortable understanding of night photography fundamentals.
Group size
12, with 2 instructors — 6:1 ratio
Tour Leaders
Registration
This event has passed. Thanks for your interest!
| • Deposit of $1,995 is required to reserve your spot at the workshop. |
| • Balance of $4,000 is due on May 3, 2024. → Pay balance here. |
| • You may choose the “Pay in Full” ticket if you desire to pay all at once. |
| • Last day for a cancellation request is May 2, 2024. (see cancellation and refund policy) |
| • The workshop fee does not include lodging, food, airfare, entrance fees, or transportation to or during the workshop. |
The Westfjords Camping Experience
Accessible only by boat, the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve is located in the northeastern tip of the Westfjords. This fully catered camping adventure is designed to get you comfortably and safely into the remotest part of the Icelandic coast.
The night skies are pristine, and we’ll be there at the beginning of aurora season. Being in the reserve also gives us the opportunity to photograph Iceland’s only native land mammal, the elusive arctic fox. The reserve is also the breeding grounds for over 6 million seabirds, which also offers many photographic opportunities in the stunning late summer landscape.
Upon arrival in Iceland, we’ll spend a night in Reykjavik in our favorite hotel, We'll have a welcome dinner in the city and the following morning we'll depart from the domestic airport for Isafjordur, the largest town in the Westfjords. We’ll have dinner and spend the night in Isafjordur before embarking on a 2.5-hour boat ride to our camp the next morning.
For the next 4 nights and 5 days we’ll explore the nature reserve on foot, often being transported to the starting point of our hike by Zodiac. We’ll spend the days observing and photographing the foxes, the ocean, the cliffs, the waterfalls, etc., as well as filling our bellies with wild blueberries that will be at the peak of their season. We’ll spend our nights seeking and photographing auroras and the Milky Way from a camp in the middle of a remote nature preserve.
All meals are included at the camp, and you need to provide only a sleeping bag liner and a pillowcase.
What You Should Know
This tour caters to knowledgeable photographers with an intermediate or higher skill set. Participants should have a firm grasp of the basic principles of photography and of their cameras, and have a comfortable understanding of night photography fundamentals.
If you would like to attend this tour but are unsure whether you have adequate night photography skills, we can offer pre-trip tutoring to get you ready for your adventure with us. Alternatively or additionally, a few of us have written books that may be productive pre-trip reads.
What You Will Learn
We hope to push you to step outside your comfort zone—to test the limits of what you and your camera can do.
We will be happy to offer advice and answer questions about both day and night photography, but the focus of the adventure will be photographing this incredible landscape and the wildlife that calls it home, and seeking unparalleled nighttime photography opportunities, including auroras.
In-Field TOPICS COVERED WILL INCLUDE:
seeking wildlife photography opportunities: foxes, birds and possibly whales
waterfall and landscape photography
using neutral density filters for long exposures in daylight
photographing the aurora borealis
dark-sky and Milky Way photography
and more …
As this is a camping adventure, there will be no classroom sessions, but we will have a final image review via Zoom about 2 weeks after we return home.
Night Conditions
Logistics & General Info
Travel
This photo adventure begins in Reykjavik, Iceland, and ends in Isafjordur in the Westfjords.
You will need a ticket to and from Reykjavik (KEF) from your home airport on the airline of your choosing. You should arrive during daylight hours on August 31, and take a late afternoon flight home on September 7, or later if you wish to stay longer in Iceland.
You will also need a roundtrip ticket from Reykjavik Domestic Airport (RKV) to Isafjordur (IFJ) on IcelandAir. You should purchase the morning flight in both directions.
Lodging & Food
Our first night will be at our favorite Icelandic hotel in Reykjavik, and there will be a night at a hotel in Isafjordur before and after the camping trip. In between we’ll have 4 nights of fully catered camping in the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve.
All meals starting with dinner on August 31 through breakfast on September 7 are included, except lunch on the 2 days in Isafjordur.
Weather
Temperatures should be between 40 and 55 F, with the possibility of wind, rain or brilliant sunshine. It’s best to be prepared for anything. We will send you a list of recommended attire well in advance of the trip.
Exertion Level
The exertion level of this workshop is Active. (See more about our classifications.)
This adventure involves getting in and out of Zodiacs onto rocky shores with potentially slippery rocks. We anticipate only dry landings, but you might get your feet wet. There will be daily hikes of up to several miles, often climbing along waterfalls up from the shore. We’ll have guided hikes to the dens of arctic foxes and casual walks along the rocky coastline.
You may opt out of any activities you don’t feel up to, but if you feel intimidated by the idea of a 2- to 3-mile hike, this probably isn’t the adventure for you. If 2-3 miles is insufficient, don’t fret––there are hills galore to explore!
Note: To ensure the safety of individuals and the group, the tour leaders may use their discretion to limit an attendee from engaging in a vigorous activity on-site should that person's physical health or ability be in question. If you are unsure about your ability to meet the physical demands of this tour, we will be happy to discuss your concerns one-on-one before you register. You are also, of course, welcome to attend a tour and sit out any physical activity that makes you uncomfortable. In such cases, we can provide you with ideas for alternative shoot locations for that time.
Considerations
IMPORTANT: We encourage reading our FAQs section for more information about skill and gear requirements, and other information that pertains to all our workshops.
If you have questions, please contact us—we're happy to talk it over with you.
Outdoorsing at the edge of the world …
“This time I’ll arrive just as summer is winding down, as the puffins are setting out to sea for the winter, and as the hillsides are absolutely covered with blueberries and crowberries.”
I love my job.
For as long as I’ve been traveling to Iceland, all the way back to 2007, I’d been looking at the seemingly impossible-to-reach northeastern tip of the Westfjords peninsula on the map, trying to figure out how I was going to get there. No roads, no hotels, no tourists. Just wildlife and nature. Djupavik––itself one of my favorite places in Iceland––was as close as I had gotten.
On a 2019 trip to the Westfjords with my wife Katherine, we drove north from the old herring factory at Djupavik to the end of the road, and that was as close as we could get. Had we been prepared to hike and camp, we could have walked into Hornstrandir from there, but we were not.
Early last July I finally made it, aboard the schooner Arktika with a hardy group of National Parks at Night travelers, and it was everything I’d hoped for––except dark. We didn’t see too many stars in early July, and being based on a boat meant that we didn’t get ashore at night very often. Countless waterfalls, wildflowers, seabirds, foxes, salt and solitude. It’s glorious.
This time I’ll arrive just as summer is winding down, as the puffins are setting out to sea for the winter, and as the hillsides are absolutely covered with blueberries and crowberries. The fox kits will be getting more adventurous, venturing further from their dens and their mothers, and eager to pose for our long lenses. Darkness will have returned to 66°N by then, and we’ll be ready and waiting for that explosion of color in the night sky that is the aurora borealis. I am truly blessed.
