FREEZE FRAME
Adescent into Iceland’s Akureyri Airport, some 65° north of the Equator, in a blizzard of white, is both unsettling and oddly calming. From there, Deplar Farm is a two-hour drive away in the Troll Peninsula’s otherworldly Fljót Valley, and it’s here that you can undertake a six-day photography retreat curated by Alex Fenlon, the creative director of Eleven Experience, which owns and operates the lodge. Students are taken on a tour of the most visually arresting areas and have access to two Hasselblad cameras, which are ‘the secret weapon of professional landscape photography’ according to Fenlon. He guides guests on taking the best possible shots and helps them manage the images using Adobe’s Lightroom software. Schedules are fluid due to the turbulent weather and shorter Icelandic days, and include experiences ranging from whale-watching to marvelling at herds of wild horses, along with grey pebbled beaches and rock formations that recall Icelandic myths. As well as getting snap happy, guests can experience a Viking sauna, which involves sitting cross-legged in a room heated to a constant 100º, while a breathing coach leads you through humming exercises to control inhalations and exhalations. After this, you’ll be encouraged to go outside and cross the snow in bare feet to plunge into a small pool of icy water. On your first try, you might only manage a panicked 10 seconds, but by the third go, it will be a whole two minutes – yet another example of Iceland’s ability to take your breath away.
‘ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF ICELAND’S ABILITY TO TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY’