Brace yourselves! Today Stephanie Zakas of Zakas Photography is going to take you on a wild and rugged adventure for a Snaefellsnes Peninsula Iceland Engagement Session.
Snaefellsnes Peninsula Iceland Engagement Session
Holy cannoli, what CAN’T I say about these two and this Iceland adventure photo session? It was a literal dream and these two fully encompass WHY I do what I do. It is an actual honour to me that I get to do this as a job: adventure and document a moment in time between two people in love, and do it in a part of the world that is so dear to my heart. We went on a 12-hour adventure, from Reykjavík to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula (which happens to be one of my areas in Western Iceland!), taking photos along the way.
These two, Griffin and Phil, are just two gems who met on Tinder. (Yes, it apparently does work!) I am actually shooting their wedding back in the Tri-State area later this year but we decided to do their engagement session in Iceland, because, why not? During our initial consult in a restaurant underground at Grand Central Terminal in NYC, we realized that we both had a love for Iceland and actually knew some of the same people in Iceland! One of them had been to Iceland before, and the other hadn’t, and they wanted their engagement session to be ultra special so we decided to do it in Iceland when they went on a birthday vacation there!
I was so stoked I got to plan this for them on top of documenting their love to each other. I picked them up nice and early at KEX Hostel in Reykjavík, (which is a pretty fun place to go grab dinner and a drink if you aren’t staying there!) and then we headed to one of my favourite coffee shops to grab breakfast and coffee before heading up for the adventure! This specific route takes all day, but it is so worth it, so I wanted to make sure we were caffeinated and fed, first. After our yummy breakfast, we headed North.
This drive is gorgeous any time of year. This adventure session happened to take place in the middle of winter. As I am sure you can imagine, even if you have never been to Iceland (yet!), that winters in Iceland can be cold. And Brutal. That arctic wind, when it hits your skin, kind of makes you feel like your skin is peeling off. Knowing this in advance, we made sure they wore some warm coats, but if you aren’t used to it, you’ll still be pretty cold. I always have my couple’s safety and comfort in mind, so my plan was to hit as many fun locations as we could that wouldn’t make them be outside for too long and before the sun went down, as the days are short in the winter.
We drove up and through the Þjóðgarðurinn Snæfellsjökull ( Snæfellsjökull National Park), passed through some of the adorable small towns around the Peninsula, and had sooooo many laughs in the car along the way. We played some of it by ear (which is always way fun to do in Iceland), jumped out when the scenery was too great and ate lots of candies. The day was perfect, though really cold, but I wouldn’t change any of it for anything and I can’t wait to shoot their wedding later this year.
