Sólheimasandur DC3

Take the road eastward from Skogafoss waterfall and you'll soon be passing Sólheimasandur. Unlike many Icelandic photography highlights, the final resting place of the DC3 United States Navy cargo plane is inconspicuous. Only a rough car park and a constant stream of tourists walking off across the black sands into the distant horizon.

Any landscape photographer would prefer to be at a location like this without a plethora of selfie taking tourists standing on top of the plane, so my plan was to wait until sunset and then set off on the 2.5 mile hike to the crash site. A painful hike, only a few weeks after being delivered into hospital with a suspected fractured pelvis. By the time I arrived at the plane it was already pitch dark but the excitement was great to finally be at one of Icelands most iconic sites.

Even in total darkness I wasn't alone. Simultaneous to my arrival I was met by a group of partially drunk Australians planning on drinking some more inside the plane carcass. They promised to keep out of the way inside but I was also competing with two young ladies who were light painting the hull. Competing light painters are notorious for ruining each others photos.

After capturing this photo and preparing to make the painful hike back to the camper van I was greeted by two more Swiss photographers arriving for some alone time with the plane.