John Gardner Photography

John Gardner Photography Welcome to my page! I’m John Gardner — photographer, storyteller, and eternal optimist behind Silver Lining Lens. Thank you for following!!
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The brand reflects what my work has always been about: seeing life’s beauty, hope, and wonder through the lens.

A lighthouse at the edge of Iceland. 🇮🇸After yesterday’s journey through the volcanic landscape of Snæfellsjökull Nation...
09/01/2026

A lighthouse at the edge of Iceland. 🇮🇸

After yesterday’s journey through the volcanic landscape of Snæfellsjökull National Park, we eventually found ourselves at Malariff where this stark white lighthouse stands watch over the North Atlantic.

And photographically, I loved the simplicity of it.

A white tower. A tiny splash of red. Windswept grass. Black volcanic rock. And that enormous Icelandic sky.

Snæfellsjökull National Park is unusual because its protected landscape stretches all the way from the glacier and mountaintops to the sea and standing here, you really feel that connection between the volcano and the ocean.

Sometimes Iceland overwhelms you with waterfalls, glaciers and enormous landscapes.

And sometimes all you need is one lighthouse.

📍 Malariff, Snæfellsjökull National Park, Iceland

Iceland just keeps changing the scenery. 🇮🇸One of the things that surprised me most about Iceland was how quickly the la...
08/31/2026

Iceland just keeps changing the scenery. 🇮🇸

One of the things that surprised me most about Iceland was how quickly the landscape could completely reinvent itself.

On the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, we entered Snæfellsjökull National Park, where a glacier-capped volcano towers over ancient lava fields and a rugged North Atlantic coastline.

Snæfellsjökull has been one of Iceland’s most recognizable landmarks for centuries and it even inspired Jules Verne, who used it as the entrance to the underground world in Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Along the coast, the landscape gets even wilder. The dramatic Lóndrangar sea cliffs are actually remnants of an ancient volcanic crater that has been slowly carved away by the ocean.

Black volcanic stones cover the shoreline, fishing boats work the waters offshore, and little splashes of color from fishing gear somehow look even brighter against all that dark lava.

This was one of those places where every direction seemed to tell you a little more about how Iceland was made.

Fire. Ice. Ocean. And a whole lot of time. 📷

📍 Snæfellsjökull National Park | Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Iceland

Ísafjörður | A Little Town Surrounded by Giants 🇮🇸One of the things that struck me most about Iceland wasn’t simply the ...
08/30/2026

Ísafjörður | A Little Town Surrounded by Giants 🇮🇸

One of the things that struck me most about Iceland wasn’t simply the size of the landscapes.

It was how people have learned to live inside them.

Tucked deep into the Westfjords, Ísafjörður is a small fishing town surrounded by steep, flat-topped mountains and water in nearly every direction. Walking around the harbor, you see working boats, weathered buildings, colorful homes and churches, while these enormous mountains seem to rise almost straight out of town.

And that’s what I loved photographing here.

Not one famous waterfall. Not one iconic landmark.

Just the everyday details of life in a place that feels wonderfully far removed from the rest of the world.

Old fishing boats showing every year they’ve spent at sea. Sailboats dwarfed by mountains. Bright buildings beneath massive rock walls. And everywhere you look, another reminder of just how small we are compared with the landscape around us.

Sometimes the places you know the least about before a trip end up being the ones you’re happiest you discovered. And by the way, the people of this town are among the kindest I have ever met!!

📍 Ísafjörður, Westfjords, Iceland 🇮🇸

🇮🇸 ICELAND THROUGH MY LENS — KIRKJUFELLSome places in Iceland feel familiar before you ever see them in person.Kirkjufel...
08/29/2026

🇮🇸 ICELAND THROUGH MY LENS — KIRKJUFELL

Some places in Iceland feel familiar before you ever see them in person.

Kirkjufell was one of those places for me.

Rising above the Snæfellsnes Peninsula near the small town of Grundarfjörður, its distinctive shape has made it one of Iceland’s most recognizable and most photographed mountains.

And if it looks familiar for another reason, there’s a good chance you’re a Game of Thrones fan. 😉

Kirkjufell became the “mountain shaped like an arrowhead” beyond the Wall in the series.

But standing there with Kirkjufellsfoss rushing in the foreground, I wasn’t thinking much about television.

I was thinking about photography.

Mountain. Waterfall. River. Green Icelandic landscape. And, amazingly, some blue sky.

It’s one of those scenes where you keep moving a few feet, looking through the camera and thinking…

Okay, maybe THIS is the shot.

Then you move again. 😂

I understand why photographers have been drawn here for years.

📍 Kirkjufell & Kirkjufellsfoss
Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Iceland 🇮🇸

Which composition do you like best?

After waterfalls, glaciers, black-sand beaches and puffins, Iceland still had another completely different landscape wai...
08/28/2026

After waterfalls, glaciers, black-sand beaches and puffins, Iceland still had another completely different landscape waiting for us.

Kerið is a volcanic crater lake in southern Iceland, formed roughly 6,500 years ago when a volcanic cone emptied its magma reserve and collapsed inward.

The result is a natural amphitheater approximately 180 feet deep, filled with an aquamarine lake whose color contrasts beautifully with the crater’s red volcanic rock and vivid green vegetation.

Even beneath the gray Icelandic sky, the colors were remarkable. Tiny figures walking along the rim and beside the lake helped reveal the true scale of the crater and one watchful raven even posed for a photograph before we left.

Another reminder that in Iceland, fire eventually creates something beautiful. 🌋🇮🇸

🇮🇸 ICELAND THROUGH MY LENS — REYNISFJARAYesterday we were looking down over Iceland’s black-sand coastline from Dyrhólae...
08/27/2026

🇮🇸 ICELAND THROUGH MY LENS — REYNISFJARA

Yesterday we were looking down over Iceland’s black-sand coastline from Dyrhólaey.

Today, we’re standing on it.

Welcome to Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach.

This place feels almost unreal with black volcanic sand, pounding North Atlantic surf, towering basalt columns and the Reynisdrangar sea stacks rising out of the ocean.

Those incredible basalt formations were created as lava cooled and contracted, leaving behind the geometric columns that make this coastline so distinctive.

And then there are the Reynisdrangar sea stacks. According to Icelandic folklore, they were once trolls trying to drag a ship ashore before sunrise only to be turned to stone when daylight caught them.

The beach is beautiful, but it also has a reputation for powerful sneaker waves, so this is definitely one of those places where you admire the drama while respecting the ocean.

Photographically, I loved the contrast here with huge cliffs and sea stacks, then tiny details like the polished black stones underfoot.

It felt dark, wild and unmistakably Iceland.

📍 Reynisfjara, South Iceland

Which image is your favorite?

08/26/2026

The locals at Dyrhólaey stole the show. 🇮🇸🐧

Iceland gave us waterfalls, glaciers, black-sand beaches and incredible landscapes… but these little guys were pretty tough to beat.

Atlantic puffins along the cliffs of Dyrhólaey….curious, colorful, full of personality and ridiculously fun to photograph. 📸

And yes…I took WAY too many pictures. 😂

📍 Dyrhólaey, Iceland 🇮🇸

The locals at Dyrhólaey. 🇮🇸🐧After photographing the sweeping black-sand coastline from the cliffs of Dyrhólaey, we found...
08/26/2026

The locals at Dyrhólaey. 🇮🇸🐧

After photographing the sweeping black-sand coastline from the cliffs of Dyrhólaey, we found the real stars of the show.

Atlantic puffins. And lots of them.

Every summer, puffins return from months at sea to Iceland’s coastal cliffs to breed and raise their chicks. Watching them up close was one of those Iceland experiences I’d been hoping for before the trip and they somehow have even more personality through a camera lens.

Some posed.

Some completely ignored me.

And some looked suspiciously like they were wondering why all these people had shown up at their house. 😂

Against the green grass, dark volcanic cliffs and gray Icelandic sky, they were ridiculously photogenic.

I may have taken a few pictures.

Okay…a lot. 📷

📍 Dyrhólaey, South Iceland

Next stop in the Iceland journey: down onto that incredible black coastline we’ve been looking at from above.

Dyrhólaey | Iceland’s Wild South Coast 🇮🇸There are places in Iceland where the weather doesn’t get in the way of the vie...
08/25/2026

Dyrhólaey | Iceland’s Wild South Coast 🇮🇸

There are places in Iceland where the weather doesn’t get in the way of the view….it becomes the view.

Dyrhólaey was definitely one of them.

Perched high above Iceland’s southern coastline, Dyrhólaey looks out across an incredible expanse of volcanic black sand, crashing North Atlantic surf and sea stacks disappearing into the mist.

The name Dyrhólaey roughly translates to “door hill island,” a reference to the enormous natural arch the ocean has carved through the promontory. The rock itself is volcanic in origin, and from the cliffs you can look east toward the famous Reynisdrangar sea stacks and Reynisfjara black-sand beach.

On this particular day, low clouds were wrapped around the mountains, the ocean was churning below, and that endless stretch of black coastline seemed to disappear into the fog.

Not exactly postcard weather.

For a photographer? Pretty close to perfect.

And Dyrhólaey had one more surprise waiting for us…

Puffins. Lots of puffins.
They deserve their own post. 😉

There are waterfalls you look at… and then there’s Seljalandsfoss. 🇮🇸One of the things that makes Seljalandsfoss so memo...
08/24/2026

There are waterfalls you look at… and then there’s Seljalandsfoss. 🇮🇸

One of the things that makes Seljalandsfoss so memorable is that you can actually follow a trail behind the waterfall and watch the water plunge roughly 200 feet in front of you.

And yes…..you get wet.

Walking behind that wall of water was a completely different experience from photographing Skógafoss. From the front, Seljalandsfoss is beautiful. From behind it, with the Icelandic landscape visible through the rushing water, it becomes something else entirely.

These are some of my favorite perspectives from the walk around and behind the falls.

Iceland continues to make it very difficult to put the camera away.

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