The whole circle in Iceland
Mid-summer in July during three days
Ken, Ya-Yu, and luggage packed 4×4 car
The trip with Ken and Ya-Yu came together fast. We started planning only a month before we hit the road. It was the summer Iceland reopened to US tourists — after nearly two years, the island had time to recover from the crowds before we were able to head back. It’s not unusual to reschedule everything in Iceland due to the weather, but this time the conditions held beautifully. Three days and over 1,000 miles later, we had one of the most epic Iceland adventures I’ve been a part of. We avoided the busiest tourist spots, stopped wherever we wanted, and soaked in everything this extraordinary island had to offer.
Planning your adventure in Iceland is easy. I’ll pick you up in Reykjavík and drop you wherever you need to be after two days. Or three. Or four. This is a relaxed — and sometimes genuinely challenging — trip to the edge of the world, with a 4×4, a camera, and no fixed schedule beyond chasing the best light and the best moments.
Ken and Ya-Yu — a love story not from first sight
They met at the worst moment possible.
Love at first sight is not for Dory and Ken. Right before Christmas of 2015, they were both invited to a Nutcracker show and sat right next to each other. Eloquent and arrogant was Dory’s first impression of Ken. Ken didn’t even notice Dory. Not the best way to start, obviously. And they moved on with their lives. It wasn’t until the following spring that destiny made them teammates in an engineering competition. Along with all the tears and sweat, a friendship between the two sprouted. Since then, they saw each other from time to time, and little by little, started to enjoy each other’s company. By the end of that year, they decided to hop on a road trip to Quebec together. It was a very dark and long winter, with hours and hours of driving. But somehow, despite not understanding a single French word and with their tongues sticking to maple-sugar lollipops at -13°C in front of Chute Montmorency, the humour of Dory and the calmness of Ken made them see each other as more than just friends.
After coming back to Michigan, the world started to spin. In just three weeks, they went to boxing classes, pole-dance classes, watched Moana (of course they missed some tropical weather), and found basically any excuse to meet each other. As if that wasn’t enough, they were also on the phone for hours before bed. Things became very obvious, but just lacked the last kick. On an evening of making disastrous paella and finishing dizzying Inniskillin icewine, Dory and Ken picked up their courage and committed to each other. Finally, the story could start.
They are both foodies and adventurers determined to taste the world. Yelp is the compass of their travels. You can find their footprints in cities within a few hours’ drive and across the continent — Pittsburgh, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Seattle, Vancouver, Whistler, Atlanta, St Lucia — and countries on the other side of the globe: Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Japan, and Taiwan. Then the pandemic hit them hard. Nature became their shelter. Cooking in a cabin after a long walk on trails became their new way of travelling. They tried their hands at Bar Harbor and Hudson Valley, and after those trips they were tempted to seek something greater. Iceland is second to none when it comes to adventure. So, here they were.
The trip
In the summer of 2021, Dory and Ken stepped onto this island full of ancient legends and breathtaking landscapes — their first big trip after their engagement and ahead of their upcoming wedding. Stunned by my portfolio, they decided I was the one to capture the precious moments along the way. After we met on a chilly, rainy summer morning in Reykjavík, the fast-paced trip around the island began. Unlike the gloomy weather, the energy was upbeat — not just because of my driving speed (their words, not mine) but also the vibe we built together. We had conversations from music to movies, from culture to passion about life.
Three days around Iceland was ambitious, and we didn’t waste a single second. Shortly after we hit the road, an abrupt sharp turn brought us into the foggy, moss-covered lava fields of South Iceland. Holding hands and walking on the squishy, bouncy moss carpet against the wind was a one-of-a-kind experience for Dory and Ken. While they were still taking in the magical moment, they found themselves drenched under Skógafoss — one of Iceland’s most powerful waterfalls. Soaked in water, not knowing if it was rain or spray from the falls, all their hair and makeup seemed useless. Ken even lost his fitness bracelet somewhere in the chaos. With a smile on my face, I let them know that the raw environment and their genuine reactions were the secret recipe to great photographs.
As we grew more comfortable together, the chemistry brought us to Diamond Beach near Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon — one of the most surreal locations in Iceland, where chunks of glacial ice wash up on black volcanic sand. Dancing and playing in their summer clothes, Dory and Ken didn’t let the frozen air from the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier slow them down. Just as they thought they’d figured out the rhythm of the trip, I made a detour off Route 1 towards Klifbrekkufossar in the eastern fjords — a waterfall only accessible in summertime. I captured an epic shot of Dory and Ken with the dramatic backdrop of Mjóifjörður. Sounds easy, right? Not so much for them — they had to sprint hundreds of feet towards the edge of a cliff for that frame. It still ended up being the couple’s favourite photo.
Finally, Hvítserkur highlighted the last day up in North Iceland. A humpback whale greeted us with a blow out of nowhere. The tranquillity when the sea melted into the sky, the squawking of seagulls flying through the rock arch — it gave them the sense of Kakuriyo, a world beyond this one.
The trip has ended, but the love between the two will continue to evolve. The photographs were the capsule that sealed all the memories — and they will continue to tell the story for years to come.
