Seyðisfjörður Blue Church

The church is a plain timber building painted blue, and on its own it would be one of many village churches in Iceland. What people come for is the approach. The street running up to the door is painted in rainbow stripes, so the building sits at the end of a colour band with the fjord and the mountains behind it. Shoot it from the bottom of the street looking up. Inside it is plain painted wood, and the church doubles as a concert venue. It anchors the walk around the centre of Seyðisfjörður: coloured timber houses, small shops and cafés, and the water at the end of it.

• Closed at weekends. Turn up on a Saturday or Sunday and you get the exterior only.
• Mountain road. The way into the village crosses a mountain, with narrow bends and drops at the edge. Check road conditions before you set off.
• The rainbow street is the shot. It is painted on the road surface and runs up to the church door.
• Concerts. The church is used as a concert venue, not only for services.
• Walking the centre. Half an hour to an hour covers the church, the rainbow street and the shops around them.

Seyðisfjörður is reached by a road that climbs over a mountain and drops into the fjord, and that drive is the part most people remember. Check road conditions before you start it. In the village the church stands in the centre, with parking at hand, and the rainbow street leads from the road to the door on the level.

Better: a weekday, when the doors are open and you can see the wooden interior.

Avoid: the weekend, if going inside matters — the church is shut and you get the outside only.

The blue exterior and the rainbow street work at any hour of the day. In summer there is still snow on the peaks above the fjord, which is what puts the mountains in the photograph.