Relay Shared Album: Iceland

A summer roadtrip through a cold place on film

The long awaited return of the Relay photo album is here. We have a backlog of these, so stay tuned! This edition is a solo feature from a recent (June, 2025) week long summer trip through Iceland, on 35mm film.

The photos are presented unedited, freshly back from the lab, roughly in the order they occurred in, bucketed by destination/region.

Reykjavík & The Golden Circle

The 8am Blue Lagoon Spa trip was an unbelievably refreshing stop after a 4.5 hour redeye from NYC.

Upon making it to Reykjavík we were struck with an uncompromising Airbnb checkin time; we used the time to nap in the park.

Captured around 10pm local time.

With hindsight, the Golden Circle is a great primer for the rest of Iceland. However, like many well known routes, it’s plagued with over-tourism. That being said, having not seen anything yet, nothing could lower our spirits.

Strokkur Geyser. As an aside, I really can’t grasp how Geysers work.

Gulfoss. A farmer got swindled by an Englishman for ownership of this beast in the early 1900s. I also can’t grasp how he planned to put a water turbine here.

Friðheimar. A gem of greenhouse, specializing in tomatoes, for lunch.

They’re famous for their tomato soup, we got to know their cocktail list.

Seljalandsfoss. It is hard to articulate how powerful the water is.

The South Coast

Vík i Myrdal Church

Dyrhólaey Lighthouse. Puffin sightings: 1

Vatnajokull (Glacier)

A few days into our trip we reached Vatnajokull, this was the furthest southeast we’d be heading. Like most things in Iceland, the sheer landscape is hard to describe, it is simply huge. Vatnajokull is the largest Glacier in Europe and 1/8th of Icelands total landmass.

A 5 hour hike over the glacier into a crevasse, halfway up one of its tongues.

Top of the list for places that photos simply don’t do it justice.

We then kayak’d in the glacial lagoon.

The glaciers in the water make a constant crackling sound as they get slowly consumed by the sea. It sounds like thunder when they split.

Westman Islands

A wonderful boat tour around the main island.

This sheep atop a mountain could not have been more unfazed.

Vestmannaeyar Golf Course. Inside an old volcano, a bizarre place to find a golf course. I was praying they had some cool merch in the clubhouse, but alas.

Snaefellsnes Peninsula

These purple flowers were abloom across the entire country.

Hótel Búðir was beautiful.

The Black Church of Budir

Ended the trip with one last beautiful sunset. Taken roughly ~11pm.

Overall the trip was unbelievable. By definition it was a roadtrip, however in my memory it was an adventure. Whilst we didn’t see the northern lights (since it was June) the midnight sun vastly made up the difference.

As always, let us know below what you think of this new format, and any other comments you have. Shout in the comments with any questions about Iceland, I’m happy to share our wonderfully crafted AI Itinerary.

Thanks for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Essays you can check out:

• Who you choose to move forward with

• Refusal to quit

• Requiem for Travel

• On Forward Momentum

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.