Blog | Wild Photography Holidays - Photography & Adventure Travel

Snæfellsnes and the Ash Eruption of 2011

Geraldine Westrupp, 23. May 2026

Thirteen years ago in 2013 Martin Sammtleben and myself ran WPH’s new Iceland’s Aurora, Wild Black Beaches and Blue Ice Tour. The first part of this tour visits the almost mythical western peninsula of Snæfellsnes, one of Iceland’s most lovely and dramatic locations. The second part of the journey travels east to take in the famed waterfalls, black beaches, mountains and glacial landscapes along Iceland’s south and southeast coast. We remember this first group fondly as we forged lasting friendships that happily have continued to this day. Thank you, Leonardo & Cornelia, Malcolm and Nic!

Interestingly our first visit to Snæfellsnes with a photographic group two years previous had not been planned and was dramatically pre-empted by the massive Grímsvötn ash eruption beneath the Vatnajökull Glacier, Europe’s largest Icecap. The short eruption lasted from May 21 to May 28, 2011, the exact dates of our own tour which was due to travel along Iceland’s south coast taking in waterfalls and black beaches together with glacial and ice locations to the southeast of the island. This should have included three nights in a hotel at the base of the erupting Vatnajökull! The ensuing intense heat of this latest eruption melted glacier ice causing magma to shatter into jagged ash which in turn rocketed an enormous plume of ash 20 kilometres high into the atmosphere.

Ironically we had learned of this latest eruption whilst we were soaking ourselves in Reykjavík’s geothermal ‘Blue Lagoon’ and we crossed our fingers hopeful that the prevailing weather patterns would perhaps push the ash cloud towards Northern Europe as in the previous 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. Both Martin and myself had fingers crossed that our route along Iceland’s south coast would still be possible. This was not to be. On our second day out, the wind dramatically changed, sending a lethal cloud of ash directly towards both us and Reykjavík. As photographers we naively hoped we would be able to capture this unique and incredible force of nature. Pff! In reality, as the first fanfare of ash hit us and our cameras, we rapidly fled to the safety of our Hotel located in the geothermal area of Nesjavellir.

Rapidly we set about creating an alternative plan B including a safer route for our guests. The lovely Snæfellsnes Peninsula far out in the west seemed to be our safest option and the rest is history. Our small group Dennis, Sue, Lorraine, Jean and Malcolm so enjoyed their peaceful and ash-free West Iceland experience that two years later we launched our current 10-day itinerary Iceland’s Aurora, Wild Black Beaches and Blue Ice Tour which has continued to run two or three times a year in both Winter and Autumn. Andy Teasdale will be leading our 1–10 October 2026 tour. Find out more…

North Iceland’s Winter Wonderland

Geraldine Westrupp, 22. May 2026

The only complaint we have ever had from Team Wild regarding our North Iceland’s Winter Wonderland – Volcanos, Waterfalls & Aurora tour was that it just wasn’t long enough!

We’ve taken heed of your feedback and have added an extra day, starting with our January 2027 departure. This includes two nights in Reykjavík (start & finish) and six nights in a comfortable base on the shore of Lake Mývatn. This makes for a fabulous, relaxing, and productive experience in one of Iceland’s undisputed photographic hot spots.

North Iceland is generally drier, colder, and clearer than the south and west, with more snow. In addition to being a super aurora spot, we’ve also been lucky enough to experience and photograph beautifully colourful nacreous/mother-of-pearl clouds over the past few winters. These are generally a rarer sight than the aurora. Our January 2027 tour will be led by James (Rushy) Rushforth. Find out more…

Seascapes of North Spain – Late Availability!

Martin Sammtleben, 24. April 2026

Due to a last-minute cancellation we have 2 places/1 room available on our North Spain’s Seascapes of Asturias, Galicia and the Basque Country
Departure: 7–16 May, very special price!

Tempted? Drop us a line…

Ladakh, Snow Leopards & Buddhist Festivals 2026

Geraldine Westrupp, 24. April 2026

February 2026 saw Martin and myself take a jaw-dropping flight over the Himalayas to the Buddhist Kingdom of Ladakh. We touched down in Leh situated high in the Himalayas at a truly breathtaking altitude of 3500 metres! Our flight coincided with the arrival of a rather venerable Buddhist Rinpoche who duly blessed me and many other devotees; could this possibly bode well for our Snow Leopard expedition? Also known as the ‘Grey Ghost’, the Snow Leopard roams freely through the wild terrain of Ladakh and has become the holy grail for many wildlife photographers. Our excited group of 11 guests arrived a few days after us and together we embarked upon what was for some the trip of a lifetime. For myself this winter visit was the culmination of a wish that I have cherished since leading my first trek in Ladakh Summer 1991.

In all we were lucky enough to see seven different Snow Leopards including a mother and her cub. We were also lucky enough to spend a few hours watching an Eurasian Lynx and many of the usual, more common suspects including Ibex, Argali, Urial and Bharal (Blue Sheep). All of these four species retreat to lower altitudes in the winter in search of food and of course the Snow Leopard will be not too far behind! My friend & fellow guide Valerie Parkinson led a Snow Leopard trek the following week from us based in the same location as ourselves. They were lucky enough to sight a couple of Snow Leopards mating plus a large number of Tibetan Wolves. During the tour as a whole we also explored the very best locations that this Buddhist area can offer the adventure travel photographer including the exceptionally vibrant Stok Buddhist festival, ancient palaces, Gompas clinging tenuously to jagged cliffs, abandoned forts, busy Tibetan bazaars and we visited many homes of local people. I believe that the enclosed gallery of pictures paints a better picture of our experiences than my words can ever do.

Our Ladakhi Team

A massive thank you to our Ladakhi Team, Chosphal owner/guide at Venture Ladakh who organise all our ground operations, our long time trusted local guide Jigmet, Wangial, guide and remarkable wildlife spotter, our drivers and friends Tsewang (the boss), Dorje, Padma, Jigmet & Tashi. Morup, exceptional wildlife photographer and his family, together they own Shan Lodge in Ullay. Big thanks also to the villagers/spotters of Rumbak Village who hosted our group for three nights. Last but not least thanks to Ramesh Wattal owner of Welcome Travels Delhi, and our friend Ashish Chaudhary a totally reliable and lovely ‘Welcome’ representative. All the above mentioned are totally dedicated to ensuring that our WPH guests are looked after royally and have quite simply the best experiences whilst visiting Ladakh – Julley and see you all soon!

2027 Departure

Our next Ladakh, Indian Himalayas – Snow Leopards & Buddhist Festivals tour will run 7 – 21 Feb 2027.

Iceland’s Southern Highlands, August 2025

Geraldine Westrupp, 4. April 2026

Photographing during Iceland’s summer months can be a little daunting due to the crowds of tourists thronging at every honeypot site such as waterfalls, black beaches, and glacial tongues! To escape from the madding crowd, a journey into Iceland’s wild Highland areas seems to be the perfect answer and is only really possible for maybe three months in the summer when the roads are clear of snow and the places to stay are open. Iceland’s Highlands offer remarkable locations for landscape photography, the stark, raw beauty of Europe’s last true wilderness.

In August 2025, WPH owners Martin Sammtleben and Geraldine Westrupp joined James Rushforth to lead our group through the wild, uninhabited region known as the Southern Highlands, the Fjallabak Nature Reserve. The itinerary is on the WPH website Here is a gallery of new images taken during this expedition. For me, there were so many stand-out magical moments that we shared together, which I believe is reflected in the enclosed images taken by members of our group en route. Big thanks to Fjallasýn from Northeast Iceland and Ari, our Icelandic driver/good friend, who drove our group impeccably throughout, even stopping to rescue a campervan we encountered during one of our many wild river crossings!

For more images and details see our Iceland’s Southern Highlands – Landmannalaugar, Þórsmörk & Fjallabak Nature Reserve The next departure will be 17 August 2026 and led by James Rushforth.

Geraldine & Martin

Varanger Peninsula 2026

Geraldine Westrupp, 3. April 2026

Varanger Arctic Norway – Birds, Landscapes & Northern Lights with leaders Geraldine & Martin

We are not long back from the Varanger Peninsula in Norway which is located in Finnmark the most northeastern part of Norway. Arctic landscapes and incredible birdlife is what our group of 10 lovely guests were hoping for, they were not disappointed. We set off from Kirkenes on a white sparkling day to drive over the mountains to Båtsfjord which is famed for the large numbers of Arctic birds that reside or winter there. These include Long Tail Duck, King and Steller’s Eider (birds in make-up!) which we viewed from a combination floating hides and harbour boat rides. Hosted by the lovely Monica and her husband Frodø, nothing seems too much trouble for this hardworking couple who over the years have totally renovated a working fisherman’s Brygge into the stylish & comfortable hotel, Båtsfjord Brygge all of this while bringing up a young family!

Our next location for two nights was the tranquil, ‘lost in time’ Veines village, Kongsfjord, where our accommodation is a beautifully restored fishing village comprising a group of colourful wooden houses dotted along the seashore. Led by a Norwegian woman Åsa, this restoration initiative repurposed old structures including a former fish wholesalers, a general store, and a postal service centre thus preserving some of the area’s rich coastal and cultural heritage. Our guests Janet and Brian were so impressed by this area the first time they came with WPH that they were back enjoying this trip for a second time!! The wild beaches and landscapes along this most northerly coast of Norway are truly remarkable. On our second night here we were treated to a wonderful show of aurora over the most lovely and remote of the areas beaches, Sandstrønd. Vince, Kah, Dot and myself stood atop a sand-dune close to the waves in total darkness, what an experience.

Our third location Vardø is an Island connected to the Varanger Peninsula by a tunnel. This peninsula is so far East that if one drew a line south it would go through a point somewhere in the vicinity of Istanbul. Our comfortable harbour hotel is in the centre of all the interest and just a couple of minutes walk to where we catch the boat to photograph the seabird colonies on the tiny island of Hornøya. Once a thriving fishing town, the collapse of the industry in 2002 has left Vardø with an air of interesting and photogenic arctic abandonment. The island of Hornøya is home to a massive sea bird colony that includes Guillemot, Razor Bill, Cormorant, Eurasian Shag, Puffin, Kittiwake, Eider, Herring and Black Backed Gulls. Ravens and Gyr Falcon are the main predators and their presence often prompts a temporary mass exodus of thousands of squawking seabirds, an incredible sight to behold. There was less snow than usual this year but nevertheless the sheer spectacle, noise, smell and sheer close up movement of the birds was phenomenal.

The last location en route back to Kirkenes was the esoteric community of Ekkerøy where we encountered some fine local coastal architecture, Reindeer and one of the largest Kittiwake nesting cliffs in Europe. The enclosed gallery is a credited collection of images taken by our group, they were first shown at our mid-trip presentation in Kongsfjord. Thanks to all guests for your wonderful company, resilience, enthusiasm and humour!

If this has sparked your interest, check out our Varanger Arctic Norway – Birds, Landscapes & Northern Lights, running again in 2027.

Geraldine & Martin

Aurora Photography – Photograph the Northern Lights

Martin Sammtleben, 2. January 2026

The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis with their changing shapes and colours have fascinated people through the ages. They’re an electromagnetic phenomenon caused by the sun storm entering the earth’s upper atmosphere and magnetic field.

Luckily capturing the aurora has become a lot easier with today’s cameras, that have increasingly better low-light performance. Here are few tips in brief…

• You will need a tripod and remote, or use your camera’s self-timer.
• Watch the weather – you will want a clear night.
• Follow the aurora forecast on sites such as spaceweather.com
  The aurora can show up any time during the dark hours.
• If possible find a nice location in advance during daytime and take note of interesting spots that provide some foreground interest. Think of the aurora as a typical landscape subject with an interesting sky. Especially reflective surfaces such as water or ice are perfectly suited as foregrounds since they can provide amazing reflections of the aurora.
• Keep yourself and your spare batteries warm, because you might spend a lot of time standing around waiting. Bring a flask with a hot drink.
• As the lights can stretch across the entire sky, you will in general find wide-angle lenses, fixed or zooms, more useful than longer lenses. Fast, fixed-focal length lenses are a very good choice, but also a zoom with a modest f/4.0 can be used with good results.
• Very important: you must remove any filters from your lenses, even clear protective ones. If left on the lens they will cause circular interference patterns that can’t be removed in post-processing.
• You need to make sure that the stars turn out sharp in your images. This requires precise focus on infinity. The auto-focus usually won’t work in the dark, so you need to set your lens manually to infinity and tape down the focus ring to prevent knocking it inadvertently. This is best worked out during daytime by using your camera’s live view (EVF or rear screen) at maximum magnification and focusing manually on something contrasty in the far distance like mountains, trees etc. With a bit of practise this can be done successfully, even in the dark: point your camera at the brightest star or a distant street light and, at maximum magnification, adjust focus until the star appears as a small point of light.
• Unless the aurora is very bright use the following camera settings as a starting point: aperture f/2.8 – 4.0, 15 seconds exposure, an ISO of 800–1600. Adjust these values if the images turn out too dark or bright.
• The lights can move quickly. In that case aim for shorter shutter speeds around 5 seconds or less. Turn your camera’s ISO up to the highest value, that will still produce images without excessive noise and open up your lens’s aperture to let in as much light as possible.
• Shooting RAW is highly recommended. However if you prefer to shoot JPEG make sure to enable long-exposure noise reduction in your camera. Note that this function should be turned off when shooting RAW as it has no effect on RAWs. Instead use the noise reduction features of your software.
• Experiment with the white balance of your images. Northern Lights often look rather greenish straight from the camera and they can change appearance dramatically as you adjust the colour temperature and tint controls. This way you can often bring out other colour hues if any are present. I found the following values to be a good starting point…
  
temperature: 3500 to 4300K, tint: +30 to +50. However if the moon is illuminating the scene, you need to stick to a white balance closer to daylight like 5000K, no tint.
  
In the end this is very much a question of personal taste and best is always what looks best to you.

Free iBook: A Guide to Photographing the Northern Lights

More information on aurora photography can be found in our free iBook A Guide to Photographing the Northern Lights. If you own an Apple iPad or a Mac, check it out!

If this has sparked your interest, why not join us on one of our northern lights tours in either Iceland , Norway or Greenland?

Zanskar & Ladakh Photography Expedition, Summer 2025

Geraldine Westrupp, 6. December 2025

July 2025 saw Martin and myself back in Ladakh and Zanskar for five weeks exploring and immersing ourselves in the culture of these truly remote and wild locations. Leading our Zanskar & Ladakh Photography Expedition we were joined by an intrepid group of ‘Wild’ photographers and James Rushforth (Rushy), who shared our adventures with commendable resilience and enthusiasm. Rushy will be leading the 2026 trip.

The Zanskar region is our new addition and has only recently opened up to travellers by road thus presenting us with a wonderful opportunity to photograph and document before this unique cultural landscape changes forever. Previously I had trekked in these areas, the only option available at that time. Ladakh is located to the north of the Himalayas on the Tibetan Plateau south of the world’s second highest mountain K2 and the Karakoram. Both Ladakh and Zanskar have remained isolated for centuries from the outside world although Ladakh has been welcoming visitors for several years now.

In Zanskar we have learned to expect the unexpected given the undisputed isolation of the region. The inhabitants until recently lived in almost complete self sufficiency and the tourist infrastructure is little developed. Travel in these remote recently opened locations always has its interest and quite often things don’t go quite according to plan. At times we encountered roads that would be down and we needed to wait or make lengthy detours. This in itself added new twists and photographic opportunities to our adventures, such as an unscheduled stay in an Indian army barracks where we were treated to the finest hospitality at very short notice. Also memorable was an unscheduled stay in a delightful family guest house in a remote village, once again we were fed and looked after like royalty.

Our tour happily coincided with what may be the current Dalai Lama’s last visit to Zanskar. One very special occasion was a mass blessing for the over-70s where we felt privileged to mingle with and observe a throng of elderly and devoted Buddhists decked out in their traditional finery. Most would have travelled many days for their blessing. They came wielding sticks, walkers and wheelchairs often carried over the rough terrain by younger family members. It was truly heartwarming to witness the love and devotion that permeated the crowd whilst waiting for their blessings from his holiness.

The landscapes of these high altitude desert regions are undisputedly world class. We encountered rugged snow covered mountains, glaciers and green fertile valleys. Remote monasteries often clinging to impossibly steep mountain cliffs, pretty villages with local people going about their daily lives against a backdrop of ancient fortresses and colourful rock landscapes. Memorable for us were the outstanding vistas from the Pensi La (4,400 m) towards the curving Drung-Drang Glacier with its array of stunning Himalayan peaks as a backdrop. Our own arrival at this stunning location coincided with a throng of colourfully attired Buddhist pilgrims, mainly women, on their route to see the Dalai Lama. Their excitement was infectious and we were soon seated together under fluttering prayer flags for a happy group photograph.

One especially delightful aspect of our travels in 2025 was the diversity of wild life that we encountered including a night sighting of three Tibetan Wolves crossing the road. We also saw Tibetan wild Ass (Kiang), Mountain Weasel, Lammergeier (Bearded Vulture)Ladakh Urial (red sheep), Griffon Vulture, Himalayan Marmot, Chukar Partridge, Black Necked Crane, Blue Sheep (Bharal), Mountain Weasel, Red Fox and Ladakh Pika. For me personally, the best of all was my first sighting of an Eurasian Lynx. Quite by chance Rushy was standing atop a high boulder to take in the landscape when he spotted the Lynx very close by in the boulders below. Several of us quickly moved down the mountainside to an excellent vantage point where we were treated to a fabulous sighting of this elegant cat wandering off through a flower meadow, stopping occasionally to check us out. Happiness!

Julley!

More information on this superb photography tour can be found here: Zanskar & Ladakh Photography Expedition – Buddhist Festivals, Nomads and Himalayan Mountains

A Guide to Photographing the Northern Lights

Martin Sammtleben, 1. January 2025

“A Guide to Photographing the Northern Lights” is a free iBook for iPad and Mac owners.

Viewing Requirements

• Apple iPad or a Mac – it won’t work on other devices.
• Apple’s free Books app which comes preinstalled on iPads and Macs.

Download now, 25 MB

New Volcanic Eruption in Iceland

Martin Sammtleben, 11. July 2023

After continuous earthquakes a fissure eruption started on the Reykjanes Peninsula, 10 July. Here is a fantastic drone video taken by Isak Finnbogason after sunset.

Ladakh Expedition – A Video by Paul Harris

Martin Sammtleben, 10. October 2019

Drawing on 20 years of visiting this north western region of India, this short film highlights some of the landscapes, culture and people of Ladakh as part of a Wild Photography Holidays expedition. This one of 5 different trips currently running.

Paul works with Wild Photography Holidays as a photographic tutor in Iceland, India and Greenland.

Iceland Workshops – Video by Paul Harris

Geraldine Westrupp, 21. February 2017

Iceland from phpProductions on Vimeo.

Take a peek at Paul’s latest video showing what we get up to on our Iceland Winter Workshops, a veritable fest of ice caves, glaciers, waterfalls, black sands and sparkling sea washed ice!

Paul works with Wild Photography Holidays as a photographic tutor in Iceland. He also leads our fabulous Ladakh Expedition