Book a Kids Birthday Photoshoot
at Dyrhólaey

Each photographer sets their own price for a photoshoot at Dyrhólaey: every package on their profile shows an all-inclusive price, and nothing is added at checkout. Packages vary by duration and the number of edited photos — from a short session on the lower plateau facing the arch to a longer shoot that adds the lighthouse level above and the black beach at Vík ten minutes away.

Four, and they are minutes apart. The lower plateau, easy in any car, looks east along the black sand to the Reynisdrangar sea stacks. The clifftop by the lighthouse takes in the arch, the coast and the glaciers inland. The eastern edge above Reynisfjara gives the long view down the beach. And the little bay west of the headland puts the arch in profile with the surf running through it.

Roughly from May to mid-August, when the birds are ashore to nest on these cliffs — evenings are the liveliest hours. The same nesting brings closures: parts of the reserve, and sometimes the upper road to the lighthouse, shut during the season, occasionally overnight and occasionally for weeks. The dates change every year, so check the current closure before you fix a date and keep Vík or Reynisfjara as the backup.

The lower plateau is reachable in any car; the steep track to the lighthouse is rough, better with a high-clearance or 4×4 vehicle, and it closes in bad weather. Two cautions run the session: the cliff edges are undercut and unfenced, so nobody goes near the lip for a photo, and the beach below is sneaker-wave country — waves that surge far up the sand without warning, in water cold enough to be dangerous. Shoreline frames stay high on the beach with an eye on the sea, and the wind up here is strong enough to plan hair and dresses around.

Every age works; the plan changes. First birthdays are about the parents and the setting — the baby in a snowsuit against a waterfall is a keepsake, and sessions stay short and close to the car. Ages three to seven are the golden years: old enough to be amazed by a geyser, young enough to show it without self-consciousness. Older kids and tweens want to feel like adventurers, so their sessions lean toward exploring — boardwalks, whale boats, the rift valley — with the birthday moment folded in. Tell your photographer the exact age and personality when booking; a five-year-old who loves puddles and a ten-year-old who hates posing get very different, equally good, sessions.

Then nobody asks them to. Our children's photographers don't run posing sessions — they run adventures with a camera present. A shy child gets space and a slow start: the photographer shoots the landscape, chats with the parents, lets the child decide when to get curious about the big lens. Iceland does the rest; it's very hard to stay withdrawn when the ground steams and a geyser is about to go. The birthday shots come from moments, not commands — the crown going on, the first look at the cake, a hand pointing at a whale. If a child truly has a rough moment, we pause, warm up, and come back to it. The gallery never shows the pause.