Our first Iceland workshop was (I hope) a resounding success, with 13 photographers joining me at Reykjavik for a weeks photography in the land of fire and ice.

After convening in Reykjavik, a meal out on the town allowed everyone to get to know each other. The following morning we set off in out big green coach for the start of our tour round the southern part of Iceland.

Over the six days, we visited too many places to simply list here, but they included Geysir – where we were treated to sulphurous steam and geysers erupting a hundred feet in the air. From there we continued to Gulfoss waterfalls, the largest waterfalls in the European continent. It's hard to get across the scale of these in a photo, they are so huge, with such a volume of water coming over them, but I think we succeeded.

The next day saw a visit to the 200 foot high Seljalandfoss fall, where we could walk round the back; wet, but well worth it. More waterfalls through the day, before we ended up at Reynisfjara, on the beach, where there were amazing Basalt columns.

A more strenuous day followed, including a walk of about 5 miles and a climb of around 1000 feet to overlook the astonishing Skaftafellsjokul glacier. Although it was a fairly long walk, Bernie, one of our American guests, and an Octogenarian, managed it with a little effort. His comment "I'm so glad I did that!"

The following day saw what – for me – was the highlight of the trip; I was looking forward to seeing icebergs in a glacial lagoon, and was certainly not disappointed. Jokulsarlon beach of black volcanic sand, and the lagoon of floating icebergs was a true spectacle.

Thursday found the group travelling across a sandy inlet some miles wide to Ingolsfoli by tractor-pulled trailer, where we photographed Great Skuas and Puffins. The afternoon was spent photographing the largest field of lava flows in Europe.

The group spent Friday morning in Vik, photographing the town and the church, before the coch journey back to Reykjavik, in glorious sunshine. We spent a few hours walking round the city, photographing the Cathedral, traditional Icelandic buildings, and Graffitti covered courtyards. Even after dinner, we photographed the sunset (at 11.50) and continued shooting twilight shots until after 2 o'clock.

A very full week, but a wealth of subjects and a fantastic group of people. I'd like to thank everyone on the trip – especially our Icelandic guide, and driver, both great guys – for making the trip so special.

We WON 

The Cumbria Tourism Award 2012 - Tourism Experience

at the Awards Dinner at Rheged last night!

The award is for any tourism business that provides an outstanding and memorable experience. The winning business will possess a sense of distinctiveness which makes them stand out. their attention to detail and high standards of organisation will be reflected in the customer's enjoyment.

Thank you to all our staff for their hard work and to our brilliant guests who support us on such a regular basis.

Gail & John

Last weeks workshop

Great group – all expecting snow – none came until the day they left.

Last weeks group, Four regulars and four first timers; Keith, Mike, Kate, Rob, Lynton, Mark, Sarah and Dawn. - The group should have included Lycia, but she was forced off her bike by traffic, and fell on her arm, breaking it only two days before she was due to arrive. The group was a good mix of experience and newcomers, which always makes for an interesting course.

At this time of year we are often blessed with snow and frozen lake edges, but alas, nothing this year. Temperatures were very mild for February, but the weather remained overcast most of the week.

Monday dawned wet, and despite our best efforts at the South end of Crummock Water, by 2 o'clock, the rain had really set in, so we relocated to Threlkeld quarry and mining museum for the remainder of the day; it did give us the opportunity of concentrating on macro work, and developing an understanding of depth-of-field, and focus stacking.

Wednesday saw us at the coast on a moderately bright, but blustery day, which gave rise to some great pics all round, as a change, we visited the coast on an incoming tide, which provided great water patterns around the groynes at Duddon point. We covered a lot on exposures, including multi-exposure, and what shutter speeds worked best with wave movement.

On Friday we visited Loughrigg Tarn – a location I haven't visited for ages, and despite a light wind ruffling the surface of the tarn for most of the day, we did manage the odd spell of calm, the occasional flash of sunlight, and great pictures. We even had time for a quick half in Tweedies bar in Grasmere at the end of the afternoon.

Thank you all for such a great week, I enjoyed your company immensely, and I trust the course met all your requirements; I know the individual who arrived with a list of topics they wanted to learn about was very happy that we had covered them all. I look forward to seeing you all again very soon.

As usual, all the photos are taken by and copyright our guests.

First week of the season

First week of the season over and a great week it was too. Thanks to the two Dennis', Will, Paul, Geraint, Dawn & Rob for making it such fun and for working so hard.

Monday we set out for the central Lakes, but low clouds and mist hanging round Derwentwater took us on a short detour that ended up lasting the whole day! A really misty morning was followed by blue skies, the walk through Manesty woods led to a still lake with great reflections and frozen edges to Derwentwater. Even the bog myrtyl was showing colour – very early in the season for that, but it completed the perfect day.

Wednesday dawned bright and snow-free in Keswick, so we took a drive to Blea Tarn in the Langdales, only to find the snow so thick and the road up to Blea too dangerous to risk. We parked at the foot of the road and walked up to the tarn, right round the tarn and back – an unprecedented distance for our groups at Blea, but an amazing day. (I left my spikes/crampons at home too).

Friday, by popular request, took us to the Solway firth, where the sea mist was so thick that definition between sea and sky was almost impossible. As the tide was coming in, we worked with isolated waves in a high-key setting – it was truly beautiful. We drove further up the coast for the afternoon, and the receeding tide left us with great patterns on wet sand.

Geraint was here on his Duke of Edinburgh gold award residential course, and we'd all like to wish him the best of luck, as that was his final D of E activity.

All pictures by and copyright © Dawn Pickett, Will Delves, Paul Knowles, Dennis Barlow, Rob Hesketh