Photographing Hvítá Trucks & the River: Best Light and Tripod Spots

The converted expedition trucks parked on the bank of the Hvítá in Borgarfjörður are an unusual photographic subject: a hard-edged, industrial silhouette set against a wide glacial river and an open West Iceland sky. Here is how to work the light through the year, and where to put your tripod without getting in anyone’s way.

Summer: the near-midnight golden hour

From roughly mid-May to mid-August there is no true darkness this far north. Around the June solstice the sun in this region sets close to midnight and rises again a few hours later, so the light stays low, warm and soft for a long stretch either side of midnight. That is your window for long, warm exposures of the trucks: the side facing the low sun picks up a golden rim, and the sky behind holds colour for hours rather than minutes. Because the light barely moves, you can bracket and recompose at a relaxed pace instead of racing a fast sunset.

Winter: aurora over the trucks

The northern lights and the midnight sun never overlap. Aurora season here runs roughly September to April, when the nights are long and genuinely dark. On a clear, active night the trucks make a strong foreground anchor beneath the sky. Set up on a tripod, use a wide lens at its widest aperture, push the ISO up (about 1600–3200 to start), and try exposures of a few seconds to around 15 seconds, adjusting for how fast the aurora is moving. A shutter remote or the camera’s 2-second self-timer avoids shake. Focus manually to infinity before it gets dark, since autofocus struggles on a faint sky.

Reflections and tripod spots on the riverbank

On a still, windless evening the Hvítá can mirror both the trucks and the sky. Look for a slack, calm stretch of water rather than the moving current, and drop your tripod low to stack the real subject over its reflection. A few practical points before you set up:

• Getting there: Hvítárbakki sits in Borgarfjörður, West Iceland — about an hour’s drive from Reykjavík via the Hvalfjörður tunnel, then off the Ring Road.
• Best timing: midsummer for the long low light around midnight; September–April for aurora. Golden and blue hour times shift dramatically by season, so check sunrise/sunset for your exact dates.
• What to bring: a sturdy tripod, a remote release or use the self-timer, a wide fast lens for the aurora, spare batteries (cold drains them fast), and a lens cloth for river spray and dew.
• How long: allow a couple of hours to work the changing light rather than a quick snap.

Keep back from the water’s edge — the Hvítá is a cold, fast glacial river — and set up where you are not framing other guests’ trucks or blocking their view. First light and the quiet hours around midnight are also when you will have the bank largely to yourself.

Where to Stay

Staying at Hvítá Trucks puts your subject and your bed in the same place: the trucks sit right on the riverbank, so you can step out for the midnight light or an aurora alert without a drive, and be back inside in minutes when the cold bites. Book direct on Ourhotels.is for the best rate.

Photo: Hlynur2006 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.