Iceland – Seljalandsfoss sunset

Part of a series of posts about my travel in Iceland, including visits to eleven waterfalls.

I was determined to visit Seljalandsfoss again at sunset, based on a tip from my guidebook.   Because sunset was after 8:30pm, I assumed that most tourists (especially those from Reykjavik) would have gone home and I might have the opportunity to photograph these falls in golden-hour light with nobody else around.  Boy, was I wrong.  Everyone, and I mean everyone, seems to know that Seljalandsfoss is the place to be at sunset.  As I staked out my place behind the falls, a dozen tour buses disgorged their loads; a stream of people was flowing up the trail and around the falls in anticipation of sunset. 

The prospects were dim, both for a fine sunset and for an unpopulated background.  Dense clouds had settled in, but the cloud deck was sufficiently high to leave a gap between the clouds and the sea, visible from where I stood.  I could tell that we’d get direct sunlight on the falls, once the sun fell below the cloud deck.  About ten other tripod-bearing photographers began to line up beside me. We waited, trying to keep our cameras dry in the drenching spray.

As expected, the sun sank below the clouds and we were bathed in a golden glow, turning the waterfall and the cliffs into a deep orange.  I skirted to the right of the falls, leaving the other tripod-geeks behind, resulting in one of my favorite shots of the trip.  If you look very closely, on the ground to the left and right of the falls, you can see tiny people; Seljalandsfoss is truly massive.

The gallery provides three full-res photos and a brief video from that same vantage point. Try the slideshow!

Reference: I learned about this place from a guidebook, Photographing Iceland, by Einar Guðmann and Gyða Henningsdóttir; translated by Abigail Charlotte Cooper. JTV útgáfa 2019.