The Little Red A-Frame 73 megapixels 12622 x 5785

Old abandoned homes have been a reoccurring theme in my photographs and I’m always on the lookout for them wherever I go. In fact, when I’m planning a trip, I like to do a little advanced scouting via satellite imagery to see if there are some potential abandoned buildings to be found. That was the case with my second trip to Iceland. Sure, I was going to drive the roads and hike the trails to look for wonderful photographic subjects – the country is full of them – but it is always nice to have a few planned destinations in mind.

This location was planned to be my first stop on the first day of my trip and I was anxious to see what was actually there. You never really know what you will find based only on a satellite image that could be several years old. But as it turned out, I arrived in early evening to find a beautiful little abandoned red roofed A-frame house. Unfortunately, my arrival was also met by heavy rains. I scouted the area and took a few photos but the weather prevented any serious photography and sadly I was forced to move on.

Fast forward many hours and many miles of travel later, I noticed the previously completely overcast sky was starting to break up. I immediately thought of that little red house. Should I go back? Would it be worth the long drive to retrace my tracks? I decided to go for it. Working in my favor were the long days in Iceland this time of year. The sun would not set until 11:30pm.

I arrived back at the location with adequate time to work. After setting up the special equipment needed to create an ultra-high-resolution photo, I was able to create several different compositions as the weather continued to improve. And then finally, with the sun low enough to show itself from behind the remnants of the storm clouds, the magic happened and it all came together. The burst of sunlight, the under-lit clouds, the moss-covered lava rock, the pile of wood and my absolute favorite, the little abandoned red roofed A-frame, all came together. I believe it is rare to just randomly stumble onto a great location and be there at the prefect time in the perfect light. Most of the time it takes some amount of advanced planning, or some perseverance or a willingness to go that extra mile. I’m sure glad I did all three in this case.

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