Photographers in the Eastfjords

The Eastfjords are the far side of the Ring Road. Vestrahorn, near Höfn, is about six hours from Reykjavík; Seyðisfjörður and Stuðlagil are further round again, and Egilsstaðir, the region's town, has an airport with roughly an hour's flight from the capital. Most clients reach the east mid-trip, going one way around the island, which means a session here is booked into an itinerary rather than added to a city break. Vestrahorn and Stokksnes are the region's signature: a 454-metre black gabbro massif rising straight out of the sea, black dunes below it and a tidal flat that turns to a mirror an hour either side of low water. The land belongs to a farm and access runs through the Viking Café, which charges an entry fee per person and keeps seasonal hours — check both before the day. Seyðisfjörður is reached over the Fjarðarheiði pass from Egilsstaðir, twenty-five switchback minutes down a waterfall valley to the rainbow-painted street and the powder-blue church; the pass closes in storms, and ferry and cruise days concentrate the crowds into a few hours. Stuðlagil is the canyon of hexagonal basalt columns an hour from Egilsstaðir, at its blue-green best roughly from June to September, with the last of Road 923 on gravel. Light favours the ends of the day. The mountain at Stokksnes faces roughly south-east, so sunrise lights the face and sunset silhouettes it over the mirror; in winter the whole short day behaves like golden hour, and from September to April this is one of the darkest, most open aurora foregrounds in the country. Wind lifts the black sand hard enough to sting, so boots and a plan for the dress matter here. The three locations sit an hour or more apart, so one session takes one of them.