iceland wedding photographer Archives - Toronto Wedding Photographer

May 4, 2015November 18, 2015

Iceland Travel Photography // Into the Fjords

Destination wedding photographer Toronto

Three. That’s the number of times I’ve been to Iceland now. But no matter how many times I’ve been there, it just doesn’t seem to be enough. The more I go, the more I want to go back. I also feel like I can never quite capture in photographs the Iceland that I see in my mind’s eye.

For this trip, I photographed a very lovely fellow Canadian couple in and around south Iceland for their anniversary session. Then Mike and I picked up a rental car and drove up to the Snaefellsness peninsula and then on to the Westfjords, which is this stunningly beautiful and remote landscape. And very isolated. If you are looking for edge-of-the-world beautiful landscape, this is definitely one of those places.

I think I’ve gushed enough about this beautiful place here, and here. Below are some favourites from this past trip.

Starting from Reykjavik, 3 hours later we were winding to the “top” part of the Snaefellsness peninsula.

The town of Stykkisholmur.

From Stykkisholmur, it was nearly 4 hours on a stretch of route 54 that was badly potholed to get to Holmavik on Strandir coast of the Westfjords.

Looking out onto the Holmavik Harbour from our guesthouse. This was one of the creepiest place I’ve ever stayed in.

Not because of the Museum of Witchcraft across the street, or the fact that we hardly saw anyone around town.

It was a very old house and as soon as I saw it, I had a funny feeling about it.

It didn’t help that we were the only ones staying there haha.

The next day we took a road trip along the Strandir coast. It was 104 km of coastal gravel road pitted with potholes the size of giant watermelons.

The journey took about 3 hors each way since we didn’t have a 4×4 so we drove slowly. At the end of that was a geothermal pool at the edge

of the universe.

“Breathtaking” seems like an overused word, but I can’t think of anything else to describe the drive.

A little seal colony in one of the fjords.

Seeing the Northern lights dance was definitely one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had.

We stayed at a farm in Heydalur for our last 2 nights and the resident dog followed us the whole way on a 4-hour hike…we played fetch with him!

His name is Loki :) (the Nordic god of mischief)

There was also an Arctic Fox that lived on the farm!

March 26, 2014April 20, 2016

Selma & Andri // Iceland Wedding Photography

Selma & Andri’s Icelandic anniversary session was featured on Mountainside Bride!

Even though I didn’t photograph Selma and Andri’s wedding (they got married last September), I did get to take some additional wedding portraits for them around Skorradalur and Lake Skorradalsvatn in Iceland, just an hour north of Reykjavik. This almost didn’t happen because of my schedule but when I got Selma’s email, I knew I had to make it happen. And I’m so very glad that I did.

We met early in the morning and drove north from Reykjavik to Skorradalur where both of their parents have summer houses. I love the story of how they met.

Both of their fathers work in the baking industry and had actually known each other, but Selma and Andri never met; Both of their families had summer houses on opposite sides of Lake Skorradalsvatn, and they never met. It wasn’t until their undergraduate years in university that they met. As it happened, Andri spotted this very interesting looking car in the parking lot one day and thought to himself, no guy would drive that car! A few weeks later, he ran into Selma as she was leaving her car and realized it really wasn’t a guy driving the car and just had to introduce himself. Selma at this point thought he was a bit strange. At the end of that semester, on the last day of school, Andri decided to ask Selma out. But he couldn’t find her anywhere at school that day. So, he “wrote” his phone number on her car (I think it was in need of a wash) and asked her to call him. When Selma got home, both her mom and brother-in-law (the car actually belongs to her brother-in-law) thought she should definitely call him. The rest, as they say, was history.

What a lovely morning I had with them. It was like a regular portrait session on a wedding day, except we had lots of time and it was all so relaxed. They were such adventurers as well, up for anything. And I had the best time getting to know them and just chatting about anything, from the things I love about Iceland to my attempt at telling an Icelandic joke (that I saw at Keflavik airport), to their studies in Scotland (where they currently live), to Icelanders’ love for sweets (me too! it was meant to be), to their love for their beautiful country. They said they just love coming home when they can and driving around the country. I would have to agree with that. I could stare out the window forever.

If you are looking for adventures, or would love to have a wedding or to elope somewhere with stunning landscape and nature, Iceland is the perfect destination. It would be an experience like no other.

Selma & Andri, thank you so much for this adventure together. I adore your spirits. xo

March 18, 2014April 19, 2016

Sigga & Óli // Iceland Wedding Photographer

Iceland: the first time I visited in June of last year, I more or less didn’t know what to expect. Fast forward to 9 months later, I was on my way to a photography workshop in Stockholm and planned my trip around having a 4-day stop over in Iceland. I just had to go back. This land is magical. If you’ve been there, you know what I mean. If you haven’t, you’ll just have to go.

When my plane was approaching Keflavik airport, I peered out the window and noticed something: the country appeared to have been completely covered in snow (at least from what I could see). At which point I thought to myself: oh shit. Why did I come here in the winter?? It’s March, but it’s still winter here! There was a moment of mild panic. I have no great love for winter. Yes, I’ve lived in Canada for 15 years but those years have done nothing to make me love the season. Winter in Iceland is a whole other animal. Even in the middle of summer, the weather can change in the blink of an eye. I wasn’t sure what the next few days would be like. As it turned out, it was a bit of a shit storm (weather wise anyway and pun intended). But I decided that I was going to make the best of it no matter what and not dwell on the weather too much. After this trip, I think I can endure winter better if I lived somewhere as beautiful as Iceland.

The morning I met up with Sigga and Óli, the sun was actually out and you could see bits of blue sky. It was a good sign but I still prayed on our drive towards Seljalandsfoss on the south coast. As it happens, big chunks of snow fell from the sky when we were only about 10 minutes away. And with the snow, the wind picked up. Sitting in the warmth of the car, I wanted to go back to my hotel and curl up in bed with a good book, but at the same time I was also in awe by the desolate wintery scene that stretched for miles around me and wanted desperately to explore it. So we went for the exploration. The thing is, just as quickly as it can snow, it can also stop suddenly. When we got to the parking area at Seljalandsfoss, that’s exactly what happened and we had maybe a 10-minute window to shoot in. This theme continued for our other locations as well. Secretly I thought this was Mother Nature’s way of rewarding us for pushing through despite what she threw at us.

Sigga and Óli, thank you so much for coming on this crazy adventure with me! Here are some of my favourite photos.