ICELAND 2025 Creative Retreat: Applications are now open!
Midsummer Midnight Light in Iceland
APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN
Hello beautiful humans,
After a resounding success with our first ever creative retreats in Iceland earlier this summer, I am beyond excited to announce that we’re GOING BACK!
“Midsummer Midnight Light in Iceland 2025” is happening next June & July, and as of TODAY we are opening applications for anyone who wishes to attend!
All details & the application page can be found through the button below:
Note: We are only taking 6 people per retreat. Due to the volume of applications, we might not be able to respond to every one of you - but if your application is chosen, we will reach out to you within the week!
2025 ICELAND RETREAT DATES:
June 20-26 - retreat 1
June 29-July 5 - retreat 2
HOSTED BY:
Lizzy Gadd & Kris Andres
PARTICIPANTS:
6 maximum per week
PHOTOGRAPHY LEVELS:
All levels
PHYSICAL RATING:
Moderate
TESTIMONIALS from the latest retreat:
ABOUT “MIDNIGHT LIGHT in ICELAND”
Iceland is truly one of the most magical, otherworldly places on the planet, and one could argue that perhaps Midsummer in Iceland is the most magical time of all.
This retreat is open to anyone in any level of photography - in fact, you don’t even have to be a photographer. You could be a painter, a writer, a musician. You could simply be a nature-loving human looking to hang out and be inspired!
In this land of endless beauty (including glaciers, waterfalls, lava fields, epic green canyons, black sand beaches, basalt pillars, icebergs, lagoons, lupine meadows and more), the beauty is only magnified during the soft and endless sunset/sunrise light of midsummer. It never truly gets dark in Iceland during this time of year, so we will be taking advantage of this by living on a nocturnal schedule during this retreat. This means we will explore, shoot and create during the night/morning, and then we will return to our accommodations during the day to rest, hangout, edit and sleep.
This works out wonderfully for a few reasons: Firstly, we will avoid most tourists while exploring on a nocturnal schedule. During the day, there could be hundreds of tourists at each location, but during the night, we will likely have each location entirely to ourselves! Also, the light during the day can often be quite harsh, whereas the light overnight will be like an endless golden hour light - perfect for photography. The sun will dip just below the horizon for 2-3 hours each night, but we will still have beautiful soft blue light to work with during this time while we wait for sunrise.
Although this retreat is not technically advertised as a “photography workshop”, our goal is to still help you achieve the dream experience or images you want to create. We will be thrilled to help you out however we can: Whether by demoing how we shoot, helping you set up your own shot, modelling for you, having props available (yes, I’ll be bringing lots of props and dresses!), and even image editing sessions together back at home base. We want this retreat to be an inspiring experience and collaborative effort, so if there’s anything you want to learn from us, please just ask. We’re here for YOU!
WHAT’S INCLUDED?
-6 NIGHTS ACCOMMODATIONS
We will have our very own private villa on a beautiful lava field/farm property next to a river, and with a view of the distant glaciers! The villa includes a full kitchen, a massive living room/sitting area perfect for editing and hanging out in, 4 bedrooms (2 beds & private bathroom/shower facilities in each), laundry facilities, a hot tub and a sauna. 2 people will be sharing each bedroom - we will pair you with a partner, friend, or a participant of the same sex.
-DAILY BREAKFASTS, SOME LUNCHES & SNACKS, SOME DINNERS
We will keep a large selection of breakfast foods and coffee/tea at home base for you to help yourself to, as well as snacks and sandwich materials for you to make your own lunches to bring on our adventures! We will also cover a couple of home-cooked dinners during the retreat.
-ALL GROUND TRANSPORTATION WITHIN ICELAND DURING RETREAT
We will choose a pick-up point near Reykjavik or Keflavik airport for the start of the workshop, and then you’re riding with us for the rest of the retreat! We will also choose a drop-off point close to Reykjavik or Keflavik airport at the end of the retreat.
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED?
-ALL FLIGHTS
-TRAVEL INSURANCE
Participants must have trip cancellation/interruption insurance, as well as emergency medical/illness insurance and rescue coverage.
Please note that we cannot offer refunds for emergencies and trip cancellations (you can read more about our cancellation policy near the bottom of this page).
-SOME SNACKS AND MEALS
Because we will be exploring during nocturnal hours when restaurants/stores are closed, we will bring our own lunches and snacks. Although we supply basic lunch sandwich items, you are welcome to buy your own favourite snacks or lunch items beforehand. There is a grocery store nearby our accommodation where we can restock on items when we need to.
We will plan to cook a couple of home dinners during the week (did you know Kris Andres is also a chef?!), but otherwise we will eat most dinners at a nearby cafe/restaurant, which opens at noon each day when we return from our nightly adventures. You will be expected to buy your own meals when we eat out.
-ACCOMMODATION BEFORE OR AFTER THE RETREAT
We cannot cover any accommodations outside of the dates of the retreat - however, we do recommend that you arrive to Iceland at least a day early to avoid possible flight delays on the day the retreat begins.
During this retreat, our home base will be at the beautiful and private Seglbúðir Lodge: a spacious, modern, luxurious and exclusive villa located next to a river, with a view of the surrounding lava fields and distant glaciers (if it’s not too cloudy!). The villa includes 4 bedrooms (2 beds and a private bathroom/shower in each), a fully equipped kitchen, a beautiful large sitting area, free WIFI, laundry facilities, and a sauna and jacuzzi. All to ourselves. Heck yeah!
This home base is located centrally to all our favourite places along the South/East coast of Iceland. Within a 2 hour drive in either direction sits most of Iceland’s iconic locations, as well as plenty of lesser-known but equally beautiful locations we’ve discovered over our years of exploring Iceland. We cannot wait to share these places with you!
-DAY 1
11am-Noon: Pickup time! We will pick you up from one of two locations, depending which is closer to you:
-11:00am from Keflavik International Airport (KEF), OR,
-12:00 noon from a pick-up point just outside of Reykjavik city (we’ll let you know where).
Note: Most flights from North America are overnight and arrive in Iceland between 6-9am. However, we highly encourage you to arrive at least a day ahead of the retreat to avoid any possible travel delays to Iceland, which happens frequently. We will not be able to wait for you if your flight is delayed, since we have a 4 hour drive ahead of us to reach our accommodations on Day 1. Arriving at least a day early gives you a great opportunity to explore Reykjavik city, or the famous Blue Lagoon or Sky Lagoon thermal baths, which we highly recommend!
12pm: Hellos, introductions, begin the 4 hour drive east. We will stop for a meal along the way, as well as a grocery store in Vik for participants to stock up on favourite food necessities (there will also be plenty more opportunities to stop at markets throughout the week).
5pm: Arrival at Seglbúðir Lodge, our home base for the week. Unpack, settle in, explore our beautiful home base at your leisure!
6pm: Gather around for our official welcome speech, safety talk, itinerary for the next day, and to learn more about what YOU hope to get out of this week. :)
7pm: Bed time! Or a short nap, if you’re too excited to sleep… we won’t rest long, because our nocturnal schedule officially begins at midnight!
-DAY 2
Midnight: Wake up, enjoy coffee and breakfast.
1:30am - 10am: Explore, shoot and create all night/morning! Locations will be chosen each day depending on where the weather and light is looking best. You can expect anywhere between 45 minutes and up to 2 hours of driving to reach certain locations.
10am - 1pm: By now, the day will be well underway with other tourists back in full swing, which means it’s our time to hide! :)
We will drive back toward home base and likely have a good sit-down meal at Systrakaffi, our favourite cafe/restaurant which opens at noon, and is only 10 minutes from our home base.
1pm: Rest up at home base. Edit photos, take a cold dip in the river (if you’re brave), or jump straight into the jacuzzi or sauna (my personal plan).
4pm: Have a good sleep - you’ve earned it!
-DAY 3
12am: Wake up, help yourself to breakfast and coffee. The new nocturnal day begins.
1:30am onwards: Same structure as previous day, with slight timing changes depending on weather, distance to locations and participant energy levels.
-DAY 4
Same structure as previous day, with slight timing changes depending on weather, distance to locations and participant energy levels.
-DAY 5
Editing / relax / hangout day?! (or half adventure day, half editing day.) This day may be swapped out for one of the other days, in the case that we get a day of severe rain/wind/stormy weather and should hunker safely down in the cozy indoors… which could easily be expected in Iceland!
-DAY 6
Same structure as previous days, with slight timing changes depending on weather, distance to locations and participant energy levels.
-DAY 7
Midnight: Wake up, breakfast, clean out the lodge, pack all belongings and load up the van.
3am: Checkout of home base and begin the journey west, while making several photo-shoot stops along the way.
11am: Sit down at our favourite bakery/cafe/coffee shop near Skogafoss. Enjoy a final meal together while we reminisce on everything we’ve seen and done this week!
2-3pm: Final goodbyes and drop-offs. We can drop you off at KEF airport if you’re flying out that evening, or in Reykjavik if you’re staying in Iceland longer.
ALL FURTHER INFORMATION (shooting locations, weather/physical levels, costs, payment plan, cancellation policy and application page) can be found through the button below:
If this retreat sounds like something you’d LOVE to attend, we can’t wait to hear from you! Our last retreat really left an impression on both Kris and myself - I could honestly fill another whole Newsletter with the stories, art, connection and beautiful emotions that came out of it (I might write it all out yet if I have the time soon!)… so, while still reeling with those emotions, I can honestly say how incredibly grateful and excited we are to continue doing this. Next year in Iceland will be incredibly special. We hope to see you there! ♥
If you have any questions about these retreats, please feel free to reach out any time via the comments or by replying to this email.
Sending so much love and light to you,
Lizzy