Reynisdrangar from the western tideline

Reynisdrangar are the basalt stacks that rise out of the surf off Reynisfjara, the ones Icelandic folklore explains as trolls caught by the sunrise. Walk west along the beach, away from the cave and the columns, and the crowd disappears within a few hundred metres while the stacks stay in the frame — usually with better spacing than from the busy end.

This is the atmospheric half of Reynisfjara. Wet black sand mirrors the sky, white surf runs across it in long lines, and the stacks sit as three dark shapes on the horizon; at sunrise and sunset they go to silhouette with colour behind, and on grey days the whole scene reduces to a natural monochrome that is arguably better. A long lens compresses the stacks up close behind the couple; a wide one, low over the wet sand, uses the reflection. Both work, and neither needs sun.

The hazard is unchanged and it is the reason this location has a bad reputation: sneaker waves. They arrive without warning, run far higher than the previous waves, and the backwash on this steep beach pulls people out; deaths have happened here in front of witnesses. Check the beach's official warning system and the swell forecast before the session, treat the wet sand as the sea's ground rather than yours, and keep a wide margin above the highest wave line at all times. On a big-swell day the right decision is to shoot from the dry upper beach or move the session to Víkurfjara around the headland.

Practical: the beach is exposed and often violently windy, the sand is fine and gets everywhere, and there is no shelter along the walk. Change of clothes in the car, a bag that closes, and flat shoes; the stones near the cliff roll underfoot, but the western sand is easy walking.