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Lupin Field, Iceland

Dec 062012

We had a jeep that could take us to explore this trail that we found near the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon. What an adventure this trail could have been. Unfortunately, it was behind a locked gate so I had to be content with snapping a shot of the flowers and moving on. We found a dirt track later where we could drive right through the fields. Half way down the road we stopped and took photos. Then, climbed up on top of our jeep, cuddled up and watched the clouds roll by… until another jeep rolled past and looked at us funny.

Turf Roofed Church in Hof, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 13 Responses »

Dec 042012

This church in Hof was a happy find. I’d wanted to photograph turf roofed buildings the whole time I was there. We were on our way back to the Jockulsarlon Glacier lagoon, on the same day that we had to make it all the way to Reykjavik. We were pressed for time. But, before we left Hof, the tiny little town we’d spent the night in, we had to stop to photograph this church. I’ve posted other shots of the exterior and interior before.

The Tampa Bay Grand Hyatt Boat Dock in Pink

Florida, Travel 258 Responses »

Dec 022012

Here is another shot from my hour spent on the boat dock at the Tampa Bay Grand Hyatt. For this shot I decided to drop the camera down low and extend the docks reach for the horizon. It’s interesting to compare this photo to the other two I’ve already released:

Three Little Birds

Boat Dock in Blue

These photos were all taken within about a half hour as the sun was rising. It goes to show just how much the light conditions change as the sun rises, and how hectic it can be taking advantage of the changes. It can also make it difficult to decide when the right time to take the shot is! I’ve had a number of occasions, for example when I was shooting Horseshoe Bay, where I think I’ve taken all the pictures I want and then suddenly something happens that offers a better photo to send me running around taking them all again.

Iceland’s Westfjords and the Midnight Sun

Europe, Iceland, Travel No Responses »

Dec 012012

Here’s another shot of the Westfjords under the midnight sun in June 2012. One day, I’ll make it back there. It’s a truly incredible country.

Dinner in Acqui Terme

Europe, Italy, Travel 7 Responses »

Nov 302012

Coordinating dinner and taking photos is often a pretty tricky task as dinner time so often coincides with the two hours either side of sunset. In this case, it wasn’t such a problem. If you look closely at the pizzeria to the right you can see my family and English relatives at the large table under the left awning.

Acqui Terme is named for this spring in a very interesting, pretty square. When I got there it was totally overcast, except for a small patch of blue sky a long way away. I decided to wait for it.

Time ticked away and I was thinking I may have to pack it in to go to dinner. Fortunately, everyone decided to eat in the pizzeria in the same square. I stayed with my camera, waiting for the blue sky to appear where I wanted it. I was very hungry and wanted to order but didn’t want to pack up my camera to do it. Just as I was about to give in to the hunger, and pack up, my very conscientious travel partner appeared with menu in hand. I ordered a pizza diavola and continued waiting. Once my window of blue sky arrived I moved quickly through three points I’d previously decided to take photos from. This was the last of them.

I arrived at the table just as my beer did… perfect!

Rickety Bridge, Myvatn Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 4 Responses »

Nov 292012

I liked this bridge a lot. So much so that when I saw it from the road I decided I had to photograph it, despite the fact that we had to continue on the road about a quarter-mile more before we could pull in. I began walking back to the bridge, thinking my travel partner would follow. Unfortunately, she didn’t. She took off in the other direction. Come to think of it I still don’t know what she’d spotted there.

The problem was that I’d taken the car keys with me. After setting up to take today’s photo I broke down my gear and debated whether to cross the bridge or not. In the end I did, very gingerly. I took two more pictures there before returning and making the walk back to the car, interrupted by a photo of a farm. When I returned I found my travel buddy huddled next to the car, shivering. I felt pretty bad. Amazingly, she didn’t complain, but from that point on she was in charge of the car key every time we got out. This typically resulted in me returning to the car to find it heated to the temperature of the surface of the sun.

Svartifoss and Boulders in the Rain, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 30 Responses »

Nov 272012

Featured by Suzy Guese

I found out, on Twitter, that a fellow traveler, Suzy Guese, has a weekly competition for travel bloggers. For a week, she views submissions from all over the world and then chooses five of them. I decided to give it a shot by providing a link to one of my earliest posts, from Zambia. Check it out, along with four other exciting travel stories and follow her for a weekly dose of travel writing:

Suzy Stumbles Over Travel: Week of November 26, 2012

Today’s Photo: Svartifoss and Boulders in the Rain, Iceland

This is another photo of Svartifoss from the “nearly falling in the water” series. My travel partner and I clutched onto each other as we teetered on minimal boulder real estate. She held the umbrella, I worked the camera. There were a few errors resulting in half the umbrella breaking into the frame and the tripod inadvertently getting kicked after somebody slipped. I won’t say who. We were in this awkward position when two other photographers turned up with tripods in tow. They didn’t choose to balance themselves in the middle of the river while trying to operate an umbrella, camera, and prevent each-other from falling into the chilly current like we did. I think it was worth it. At the very least, it was good fun.

Victoria Falls double rainbow, Zambia

Africa, Travel, Victoria Falls, Waterfall, Zambia 1 Response »

Nov 262012

I’ve been talking with my travel buddy a lot today about our future plans. We’re confident that we’ll be going to Livingstone and the Victoria falls. This will be my second visit and her first. As you may be aware the last time I was there I went swimming in the Devil’s Pool. As it turns out, it looks like the water levels will still be low enough when we get there for us to take a dip atop the falls. I am very much looking forward to watching the look on her face as she takes the plunge.

With that in mind, I thought I’d post a picture capturing what we’re likely to see as we make the walk to the Devil’s Pool. Last time, this beautiful double rainbow greeted me shortly before we prepared to swim across the top of that waterfall to the Devil’s Pool. When I hung my head over the edge and looked down from the Devil’s Pool I realized that rather than a double rainbow there was actually a triple rainbow in the swirling mist. Next time I’m there I hope to get down to the falls for some sunrise/sunset shots.

The Unfinished Church Interior, Bermuda

Bermuda, Travel No Responses »

Nov 222012

If a building doesn’t have a roof, does it still have an interior?

This is the unfinished church up in St. Georges. Writing this post has made me realize that I don’t know much about it. A quick Google search tells me that construction was started in the 1870s after that parish’s church, St. Peters, was damaged by a storm. As it was thought that the damage was irreparable they began building. However, the replacement was not completed. Apparently, one of the issues was that the parishioners couldn’t agree on whether they should build a new church or fix St. Peters.

Unfortunately, it’s been deemed too dangerous to enter and big metal gates bar entry. It makes for an interesting challenge trying to find a good angle. I tried a few different methods. One of which involved setting my tripod on a windowsill while standing on a small ledge. The problem was that to frame up the picture I needed two hands. One to move the camera, the other to lock it in place. Every time I took both hands off I’d slowly fall off the wall. The solution was to have my girlfriend stand behind me and push me against the wall. In this position I was able to operate the camera. I did forget to mention to her when I’d finished using two hands and she could let go. We stayed in that position, with me balancing on my own, for quite a while longer than we needed.

For this shot, I stood at the metal gate and propped my tripod against it. I only used two legs so that I could slip the lens through the gaps in the metal. I only shot 3 exposures, from -2 to +2, because the sun was high enough that this would do the trick. I combined the three exposures using Photomatix and then cleaned it up a bit in Photoshop.

Hotpot at Geysir, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel No Responses »

Nov 212012

This picture is the result of intense sleep deprivation and hunger. The sleep deprivation was the cumulative results of night after night out shooting followed by a few hours before moving to a new location. The hunger was due to a lack of planning.

Earlier, we’d enjoyed the incredible experience of swimming in the rift between the North American and European tectonic plates. The water was a crisp 2 degrees centigrade and tasted delicious. I spent most of the snorkel drinking the glacial melt water, which enters the rift via a spring after being purified by trickling through volcanic rock for years. This did result in my near drowning on a few occasions when I confused breathing through the snorkel, and drinking the water, however.

After this experience a good, hot, filling meal is, naturally, on the cards. However, we made a near fatal mistake. Rather than just getting crappy food at the visitors center we asked for directions to another restaurant. It was our last night in Iceland and we wanted to have a proper dinner. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the restaurant, 45 minutes later, it was closed. At this point, the visitors center would also be closed.

This is when it happened. My travel partner went from a happy-go-lucky, cheerful soul to a grumpy, sarcastic hunger machine. We bounced from one restaurant to the next, desperate for a scrap of food. Unfortunately there was none to be had. Fortunately, for me, I found the grumpy, sarcastic hunger machine hilarious.

My spirits buoyed, by the hilarity of the melt-down occurring next to me, we pushed on with just a small supply of 2 day old gummy candies we found under the seat to hold us over. We visited what are probably the two most popular tourist sites in Iceland for any kind of tours. For the first time in our trip, we actually saw people in these locations after midnight. We were used to being totally alone.

Today’s photo is from a seismically active area called Geysir. The name gives it away, but the area is pockmarked by geysers, large and small. Today’s photo is one of the smaller ones that just perpetually churned away, spitting out hot steam.

After our visit here we made a visit to Godafoss, an incredible waterfall, before making the 2 hour drive back to Reykjavik where the leftovers of our Thai dinner the night before were waiting. I passed out immediately, without eating. My travel mate finally got to feed.

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