I uploaded a photo very similar to this one here. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t quite satisfied with it. I’m a lot happier with this version.
Nov 062012
Nov 052012
In previous posts I’ve mentioned that on our first full night in Iceland we set out to drive the full length of the southern coast of the Westfjords. I also mentioned that we didn’t make it. In theory it should have been possible. It was a four hour drive there. We’d spend two hours photographing puffins on the most westerly point in Europe, and drive back. We expected to stop occasionally on the way down and I actually had a couple of stops planned near the end of our journey.
On this ill-fated journey I realized that I had to rethink ambitious plans like these. The problem is that, in Iceland, unexpected photo opportunities appear frequently in whatever direction you head in. Today’s photo is an example of this. There are a lot of waterfalls in Iceland. There are a load of named, famous waterfalls, but there are even more beautiful small waterfalls like this one.
The next time I go, my plan is to take the ferry out to the puffins and drive back from there. This should guarantee we see what we missed last time. I’m determined to photograph some puffins.
Nov 042012
I took a lot of photos on my first night in Iceland. You’re probably all getting sick of seeing this lighthouse. This is the last one I’ve got, I promise… at least until I go back there again this June.
Nov 022012
I love old overgrown things. It seems like a lot of people do. Why is that?
Nov 012012
In this shot, I’m stood atop the lighthouse featured in a number of earlier posts (here, here, and here). While set up to take this picture I got the scare of my life. It was about 3am and there was no one around. Then suddenly I felt the need to turn around. I spun around and discovered to my horror a man climbing through the hatch in the roof. I couldn’t help myself and a stream of expletives escaped my mouth. We spoke with him briefly. He was Icelandic but not from the area. He never really made it clear what he was doing up there. I left him up there after I finished taking the photos.
The weirdest part is, the only way to get into the lighthouse is via the path in this photo. As you can see, I had a good view of the only approach and was watching it very closely as I was photographing it. I didn’t see anyone approach the lighthouse. He just appeared out of nowhere. Come to think of it, this probably would have been a good post for Halloween night.
Oct 302012
Why is it that wherever you go in the world, if are out in a remote area, with a great expansive view, people will create rock piles of various shapes and sizes? It’s an interesting phenomena. I’ve seen them in South America, Africa, and, most recently, Europe. I captured one of the rock piles I found in Iceland in today’s photo.
Oct 292012
I recently spent 4 days in Florida visiting my girlfriend. My first two days were spent in Williston. It’s a beautiful area with moss draped trees punctuating fields for livestock. Unfortunately, I’d just done a lot of traveling in a short space of time and was completely worn out when I got there. As a result, I didn’t summon the energy to get the camera gear out until we’d made it to Tampa, where we decided to spend a couple of nights.
We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay and were given the option to stay in the resort area of the hotel which had a pool, tiki bar and table tennis. It was also where this interesting looking dock was located that I’d spotted on google maps. Our first morning there we dragged ourselves out of bed at sunrise and I photographed this dock from the beginning of the blue hour right up until the end of the golden hour. As a result, I’ve got a series documenting the subtle changing of colours from night time until daylight. The first of these photos is the Blue version, below.
Oct 252012
I loved this scene so much I had to create two versions. Here you have the other, tiny little flowers before a vast expanse of rock, ocean and mountainous Fjords in the Westfjords, Iceland.
Oct 242012
Baobab trees really are fascinating. Grand in stature they loom over the Zambian landscape like giants frozen in time. Surprisingly, they are completely hollow on the inside. We got to experience this first hand when our guides took us to a lodge where they’ve actually put a door in the side of one of these mammoth trees that opens up to reveal a bathroom! This discovery was pretty shocking, but I found that people actually used this toilet more shocking. Just above head height, sleeping inside the tree were a handful of bats. I wonder how many people wound up running out with their pants around their ankles after startling the bats.
Another interesting thing about baobabs is that their greatest enemy is elephants. Using their tusks, they peel the trees and eat the bark, causing big holes to form. We can see the result of this practice in today’s picture.
Oct 232012
Every time I work on a photo of Iceland I look forward to going back. Today’s shot was taken well after midnight, as the sun dipped just below the horizon. I’d hopped out of the car to take the picture featured here Fjords and Flowers. When I packed up and started making my way back to the car, I noticed the golden light hitting portions of the mountain above me.
