Donna and I drove from the airport in Keflavik Iceland to our hotel before taking the ferry over to Grimsey Island where we spent a week photographing puffins and seabirds. Grimsey is a small Icelandic island, 40 kilometers off the north coast of the main island of Iceland. During our time on the island, we spent most days scouting and familiarizing ourselves with the island. We located many of the “photo hot spots” and found just about every bird species on the island. We also met a few of the locals that make this remote island their home and they could not be a nicer group. About 70 people live on the island and only about 20 of them live there year round.

Since we were literally at the Arctic circle, we had been chasing the light as it came and went between the fog. On clear nights we stayed up to watch the sun slowly dip on the horizon. We had some success during our attempts at the midnight sun with puffins in the foreground. My favorite from those photo shoots is my opening image.

Razorbill just after midnight - too bad his bill is not completely inside the sun.

One of the things I loved the most about Grimsey is the ability to go out exploring on our own without any limitations. Of course you always need to respect the birds and their habitat, but it is a true natural gem similar in many ways to photographing on the Falkland Islands.

In addition to the plethora of birds, there are goat, sheep, and horses that roam the island (pretty much free range) and the sightings have been lots of fun. I am posting a shot of the big Billy Goat that we saw and a lamb silhouette. I think Donna got some nice horse pics.

A trip to photograph puffins absolutely has to include flight shots and there is no better place than Grimsey to photograph them. Because we were doing a scouting trip for our upcoming 2025 trip (sold out) we visited in May but you really want to be here in July when our workshop is scheduled to get the krill in the mouth of the puffins as they come back to their burrows. A big shout out to my Sony a1 camera and my Sony 200-600mm lens - without either one, it would have been much harder to capture these.

Atlantic puffin-my favorite from the trip.

Black-tailed godwit against the scenic mountains, cropped to a pano.

As far as the food goes, it has been pretty darn good. There is only one restaurant with a limited menu but if you like fresh fish the preparation of the fish of the day has been outstanding. There is also a soup of the day option as well as fried chicken, hamburgers, edamame, grilled ham and cheese sandwiches along with a few more selections. There is also a small store on the island that has a variety of food items.

During our workshop we will have a big breakfast as our main meal and take a bagged lunch out into the field. For our dinners we will visit the local restaurant and I can highly recommend the Icelandic white ale called Einstok, it is so delicious, it reminds me of a Belgium beer with hints of coriander and orange. Of course Donna has been getting double Glenfiddich on the rocks…

It was another fun filled photographic adventure that I will remember fondly. I’m really looking forward to next year’s trip. I have just confirmed a 2026 workshop - sign up HERE.

*All images in this post were created using the Sony a1 and Sony 200-600mm lens, handheld, natural light, single frame images.