Halftime

I love August.  Well, I mean I love August in Germany.  I don't remember it being particularly pleasant in Ohio due to insane heat, the usual drought, and the sense of melancholy that comes with the approach of Labor Day and the end of summer all together.  However, here, even if you have to go to work, it feels like a month of vacation.  Germans, by law, have to have 30 days vacation.  Some can even manage to eke out a little more depending on other variables.  Some choose to spread those 30 days out through the year.  Others take a big lump all at once, usually in the summer, and head off to the Alps or the beach for a couple of weeks.  Oh, and they have to take these days according to the law.  The worker certainly has a pretty sweet deal here, in my opinion.  This, of course, doesn't apply to people like us who are expats with contracts from a non-German company.  Personally, I think companies should give their expats the same vacation days as their native co-workers during their assignment because being the only person working most of the year is pretty taxing.

On the plus side, during the month of August a lot of people are out of town on vacation so being at home actually feels like a holiday too.  The shops are less crowded, no one is is around to dig up the roads (or, unfortunately, fill in the holes they made in July), and the people who are around are just a bit more chilled out.  It's really nice.  The weather is pretty great too.  While we've been here the heat always hits in July and then tapers off come August.  This year it's been downright chilly, almost Autumn-like.  So, here I am sitting on our balcony with a view of the river as I punch out this update.  The only sounds are church bells and birds.  It's a pretty sweet deal for us too.

We've always treated the month of August as a holiday too, just in a different way.  We don't go out of town at all.  With everyone coming and going from the office, this month is a perfect chance for my husband to get a lot done at work.  It's also a chance to get some things sorted out and planned for the rest of the year.  We use the weekends to get things done around the house that we've been putting off, doing some cycling, and exploring the local area a bit more.  I too have been taking August off from a lot of photography, preventing a burn out that would no doubt hit if I ran around at breakneck pace all year.  I might do a little on the weekends or within a quick bike ride of the house, but for the most part I just focus on catching up on some reading, doing a little digging through whatever backlog I have, updating the Zazzle shop, or organizing my files.  It's nice to put down the camera for a bit and see the world with my eyes for awhile.  Keeps me sane.

I decided to kick off this break a little early this year with our trip to Lake Como last month.  Well, circumstances decided a little bit for me, but I'll get to that in a bit.  My husband and I decided to stay at our favorite hotel to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary in July.  We stayed there in 2013 on the way back from a trip to the Riviera.  We were only there for two nights on that trip, but we fell head over heels in love with the place and promised ourselves and the proprietors that we would return.

View from hotel at dinner.  We decided to climb it later that week. 

So, for this trip we decided to spend 8 days there.  Our plan was to do a little photography, a lot of hiking, and even more relaxing.  For once, this was going to be a proper vacation.  Strolls, naps, and afternoon ice cream cones were going to be regular occurrences.  We never take trips like this (the last one was in 2013 to the Riviera, actually), and we definitely needed one.  It's been a long year.

I did want to get out a couple of times for some early morning shooting because, obviously, we were in a prime landscape location.  However, we discovered upon our first attempt that the hotel locks the doors until 6:00am, thus trapping us well after the July sunrise.  At first I was really upset and contemplated asking if we could make special arrangements.  But, I realized that it was actually a good thing.  We both wanted to make this trip more about spending time together and relaxing than getting up at 4:00am and rushing to a location every morning.  I was going to be ok.  It turned out to be exactly what we needed.  We both felt 10x better after the trip, relaxed and ready to face the rest of the year.  I imagine the dinners at the hotel restaurant every night had something to do with that.  The owner totally spoiled us with perfect homemade pastas and local specialities every night.  It was pure heaven, even on the days it rained.

View from the top of the mountain.  Blessed with a clear day
after quite the climb up there.

I really think breaks are important.  Athletes have off seasons, kids get summer vacations, why shouldn't creatives step back for a bit once a year too?  Sometimes I get so wrapped up in photography, I can't even contemplate something else.  Laundry can pile up, I don't get enough sleep, and the cats come in my office periodically to make sure I'm not dead (ok, they may just be there to remind me it's their dinner time).  I admit, I get obsessive.  So, stepping back for a short time is definitely something I need to do.  While we were in Italy, not being able to worry about getting the next shot or chasing the light everyday forced me to focus on the trip and have a really great time.   We did do a lot of hiking and walking, plus we climbed a 8,560ft mountain on a whim.  We weren't exactly sitting with an ice cream all day every day.  But, not having the next shot goal permeating all my thoughts made it possible to have a really relaxing time.  It wasn't work, it was vacation.  You know what?  I was totally ok.  It was ok not to get shots every day, or only have a couple of the two of us (and The Dog) on the card for a change.  It was like coming up for air.

So, I do have a couple mini projects for the rest of the month, but we don't have another photo trip scheduled until October.  In the meantime, check back at my Zazzle shop regularly because I am using this time to add some new products.  If you're already in the market for a 2017 calendar, they are now available!  Next month, is the hallowed home leave trip back to Akron, so you can expect some more cat photos and misc hometown whatnot in my feed pretty soon.  But for now, I'm going to sit back and enjoy this lovely view we've been blessed with, read a little more of Susan Sontag's On Photography, and maybe think about working in the garden.  Maybe.

Oh, I almost forgot!  The name of our favorite hotel is Hotel Europa.  Remember, it's the one in Sorico at the northern tip of Lake Como.  If you are passing that way, there isn't a better place to stay.  At least make sure that you stop for dinner!

Seeing the Spirals: The Power of a Photograph

The photos from our ten day visit to Ireland are currently being uploaded to my website.  I'll be writing about this trip in more detail next week.  I'll be talking about the locations more specifically and also will give some travel recommendations for those who have Ireland on their bucket list.  This week, however, I want to touch on a more personal aspect of this particular trip.

Ballycarbery Castle

Ireland has fascinated me since I was a child.  Unlike most children, it wasn't Ancient Egypt that piqued my interest in archaeology, it was the more obscure culture of the Celts.  The Celtic peoples of mainland Europe and the islands of Britain and Ireland are rarely touched on in American schools, if at all.  The main reason for this is that they weren't conquerors in the traditional sense nor were they literate.  All they left behind were ritual sites and material culture.  I'm not really certain how I discovered them in my youth.  But, I have a distinct memory of coming across references in several modern retellings of the Arthur legend.  It didn't take long to discover that the culture mentioned in these stories was real, and I turned away from fiction to legitimate research to learn as much as I could about these people who seemed relegated to the mists of history.  My investigations, conducted through library books, began with the Urnfield peoples, then jumped over to the salt mining community of Hallstatt, then the shores of a lake in Switzerland, then it quickly spread all across Europe including pre-Roman France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Northern Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary along with bits of ancient Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and even Turkey.  I learned that when the Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians, he was writing to Celts.  Of course, as my research progressed I encountered the Romans, who quickly chased out or absorbed the continental Celtic peoples.  I followed the roads of Rome in my readings meeting the Celts in Britain, and hints of their existence in the never Romanized lands of Scotland and Ireland.  When Rome finally fell, eventually becoming a deadened husk propped up in Constantinople (Istanbul), most of the Celtic speaking peoples of Europe were no more, now considered just plain Romans who overrun and absorbed by the Germanic peoples of the east.  Their story ended on the continent, but it was far from over on the hinter lands, the areas known today as the Celtic Fringe- Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, and the pointed tip of France, Brittany.  Following the trail of the Celts led to a lifelong fascination with the Celtic Fringe nations, especially that completely Celtic island of Ireland.  I poured over photographs of its Neolithic and Celtic sites.  The iconic imagery of standing stones, mounds, ring forts, and tombs pulled me in.  They told a story, one which fascinated me to no end.  Here, in Ireland, the Celts were still very much above the surface.  They never left, they just progressed, and the ruins of their ancestors were the most visually compelling I had ever seen.  They weren't the cold, orderly structures of the Greeks and Romans, the overwhelming and bombastic remains of Egypt.  They were rings and structures of raw stones.  They were fit together like pieces of a puzzle, not straightened and squared.  What was scrawled on their surfaces were evocative spirals and shapes. These people were different.  They loved their landscape and what they left behind melded with the landscape.  The ruins of Ireland were sites that captured the imagination.  The pictures I found in books compelled me to learn more and that led me to archaeology.

Newgrange UNESCO World Heritage Site

Unlike the Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans, the popular choices for archaeological study, the Celts prior to Roman rule are entirely reliant on the archaeology to tell us who they were.  They never wrote anything down.  There are no great pre-Roman Celtic texts.  Even after they encountered the literate Romans, very little is mentioned about them. Except for a few writings of Caesar and others like Tacitus, historians can't really flesh out their tale.  The Romans, as conquerors, were certainly rather one sided in their documentation. So, in discovering the Celts, I discovered archaeology.  Initially, as I entered university I wanted to pursue an archaeological career that focused on Celtic studies.  Other things eventually took my interest, and even though I did go on to earn my degree in archaeology, it was in the studies of a more accessible time and place- the 19th and early 20th centuries in Ohio.  Eventually, my road went in a completely different direction.  Or did it?

For there I was, right back where I began.  Instead of looking at a photograph of a neolithic site in Ireland, however, there I was crafting my own.

It was just after 5:00am.  It was a little windy and quite chilly.  The sky was just getting that look, the one it gets on mornings when there are passing showers- purple, blue, and pink.  Before me, on a bizarre plain of exposed limestone was a prehistoric monument.  There wasn't a soul around except for a few cows.  And, then it hit me.  If my 13 year old self could see me now, she would go crazy.  She would have gone crazy multiple times over the last week.  We had spent several hours at places like this one- Cahergall Ring Fort, an obscure wedge tomb tomb high above the landscape of the Dingle Peninsula, and multiple castle and church ruins from the Middle Ages.  This spot, the Poulnabrone Dolmen, was the last location, and for me the most stirring.

The Poulnabrone Dolmen wasn't built by the Celts, but they probably used it.  It was, in fact, built by a different people, the original inhabitants of Ireland, sometime around 3600BC.  They were the same people of Ireland who built the massive sites of Newgrange and the other complexes at Brú na Bóinne.  It served as a tomb.  Excavations revealed the remains of about 30 people underneath.  Except for the collapse of one of the support stones in 1985 (which was replaced) the dolmen's simple structure of four standing stones supporting a large capstone has stood the test of time for over 5,600 years, longer than Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Giza.  It stands in a dramatic landscape of grooved and channeled exposed limestone of The Burren in County Clare.  It's an incredible place.

There I was, standing before one of the most visually arresting neolithic sites of Ireland.  It was dawn, and we had the place to ourselves. We were able to stay there for over an hour as the light grew and changed and the sun rose over the stones.  The place was ours.  It was an incredible morning.

Photographs are powerful things, and perhaps I didn't realize their true power until that morning.  It was photographs of places like the Poulnabrone Dolmen that created a love in me of prehistoric places and spaces, and the narratives of peoples otherwise gone from the landscape.  The photographs led to a interest and eventual study of archaeology which led to a whole host of other choices and relationships in my life, which eventually brought me to that dolmen at dawn, holding my own camera.  At one time, I had hoped to partake in study and excavations of such a place, but I realized that it wasn't the study of data provided by bits of bone, ceramics, and stone that I loved, it wasn't even the archaeology.  I no longer wanted to strip away the layers to see the thing in charts and graphs, I wanted to appreciate the place as it is now and create images of it.  The point was the imagery itself.  For it showed me who these people were, gave me a glimpse into their souls, more than an archaeological report ever could.  It was with a camera that I was intended to explore these locations, not with a trowel.

Cahergall Ring Fort

Life isn't necessarily a straight line, leading from one event to the next.  Instead it often resembles the emotive spirals found in the art of the neolithic and Celtic people of Europe.  One moment or idea branches into many journeys and ripples.  Each journey is unique, but centered in the same place.  A photograph studied as a child captured my imagination, which rippled for a time into the study of archaeology, which spiraled into a completely new phase, a journey that brought me in an unexpected way to the place of original inspiration.  The photograph I stood there to create was in turn inspired by that original image, but also by a life long study of the ancient peoples who shaped the land I was standing in.  Everything up to that moment had been the work of a photograph.  And, now I was creating my own.

That is pretty incredible.

Beginner Tips for Traveling with a DSLR

We just got back from Ireland a few days ago, and it was yet another fantastic travel experience in a year of fantastic travel experiences. Gosh, I hope I didn't just jinx us. But, more on that trip later.

This week I want to throw out a handful of tips for those who may be heading out on their first international trip with a brand new interchangeable lens camera.  Some of this I've learned the hard way, so you don't have to.  I've also witnessed a lot of fumbles over the years that can easily be avoided with a little knowledge ahead of time. So, without further ado, here are some tips to make traveling with your camera go a little easier:

1.  Learn how to use your camera before your trip
Ok, so you're heading out on this once-in-a-lifetime trip, and to celebrate you've picked up a shiny new Canon or Nikon DSLR.  The guy at Best Buy or that photography guru friend said this was the best camera to document your trip with.  You believed him.  The shop also talked you into the UV filter, that fancy bag with the rain cover, and maybe a travel tripod and another lens.  Hopefully, you picked up a couple of SD cards and an extra battery.

Now what?

Sit down, chill out, and let the initial excitement of brand new toys wear off.  Ok, now spend some time with the camera.  Do this long before you get on the plane.  Read the manual.  Evaluate what you have there, and really think about the type of pictures you want to take.  If you're just interested in snapshots (which is totally fine, by the way), maybe consider taking everything back.  There are some really great smaller, cheaper, and easier to use compact cameras out there that will take fantastic travel pictures and snapshots.  You don't need a big DSLR for your vacation.  They are capable of doing a lot of things that you may not need, and there's no point in buying things you don't need.

But, if you're really interested going the DSLR route, then you have to spend some time learning about how it works, or you're going to be frustrated and disappointed with taking photographs on your trip and you may end up just using your phone instead.  That would be sad.

There's plenty of information out there online and in books for beginner DSLR users so they can get the best out of their cameras.  You don't need to take a class, but do a little research and get some practice in.

2. Bring extra SD Cards

Buy enough to have one per every two or three of days of your trip.  This will guarantee that you won't lose all your photos if one card goes bad.  It will also make going through them less of a nightmare when you get home (something I've picked up from experience).  Sandisk is the way to go when it comes to brands.  You can stick with 32GB or even 16, since you'll have several.  Ultra or Ultra Plus are good for stills, Extreme Plus and Extreme Pro are good for burst shooting and video.  If you want to be extra careful about saving your photos while you're traveling, buy a small sized, but large capacity external hard drive and card reader.

3. Use that lens hood

By Geni - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25176998

If your lens came with a hood, use it.  Lens hoods serve two purposes.  Firstly, they help with glare and lens flare, which may not be something you're really interested in.  Secondly, they do a great job of protecting your lens, which you should be interested in.  Your camera will get knocked around on your trip, especially if you're wearing it around your neck all day.  Cameras can take some gentle knocks, but you want to protect the glass of the lens from getting scratched or cracked.  Hoods do that.  If you leave the hood extended, you don't have to use a lens cap.  Lens caps are really mostly for storing lenses.  I only use a cap if there's a lot of stuff flying through the air like sand or water.  Caps block the lens making it impossible to take pictures.  Removing and replacing your cap takes time away from taking pictures and you'll probably miss shots.  The hood will protect your lens just fine while leaving it ready to shoot when you need to.  Also, if you have a hood on your lens, don't leave it in storage position (which hinders operation and serves no purpose), flip it around!  If your lens didn't come with a hood, seriously consider picking one up.

4.  Invest in a comfy strap or bag

When most people travel with a large camera, they prefer to keep it hanging from their necks.  If this is the route you want to go, that's ok, but do yourself a favor and invest in a comfortable strap.  Camera manufacturers make great cameras, they do not make great straps.  If you're going to carry a sizable camera from your neck all day, it's going to get uncomfortable using the manufacturer's strap.  BlackRapid is probably the most popular aftermarket strap company out there and they have a lot of options for comfortable neck or shoulder straps.  You can find these at your shop, and, of course, there's always plenty of other options online.  My favorite brand is Holdfast Gear, BlackRapid is more affordable.  Get yourself a comfy strap.

Think Tank Photo's Retrospective 5 Bag.
Photo via Think Tank

Or, better yet, get a nice bag.  Using a bag instead of a strap is more inconspicuous.  If you prefer to travel a little more under the radar, then you won't want to keep the camera around your neck for everyone to see.  Bags are the solution.  I prefer shoulder bags so I can get at my stuff faster, but whatever you prefer get a bag with a comfortable strap system, easy access, and good protection.  Think Tank is my favorite brand.  Several Lowepros have fallen apart on me.  If you just have one camera and up to one extra lens, you can just get a padded insert to stick inside a bag you already own.  If you really don't want people to know you have a camera on you, then this is your best solution.  Or you can get a more expensive designer camera bag.




5.  For the love, clean your camera and change lenses properly!!

The other day, we were standing on a hill overlooking the coast of Ireland.  It was very exposed and very windy.  I watched in horror as someone nearby removed their lens from the body, faced into the wind, and started blowing inside the body and lens with their mouth.  I actually shouted at them, which surprised both of us.  Sorry, whoever you are, but it was kinda like watching someone deliberately keying their own car.  Here's the thing, cameras have some delicate bits inside of them, and they can be easily damaged.  You don't want to damage these bits because your camera won't be able to do its job anymore, and it will be really expensive to get the bits replaced.  What are these bits?  When you look inside a DSLR (no matter the brand) when the lens is off, you're looking at this, the inner chamber:

By Kārlis Dambrāns  - Canon EOS 70D, CC BY 2.0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29711357

The mirror you're looking at is the reflex mirror that allows you to frame the scene when you're looking through the viewfinder or rear screen.  It flips up when you hit the shutter button to expose the sensor (more on that in a second).  This is a delicate little mirror, you don't want to touch it or get anything on it.  Even though the mirror is in front of the sensor, it doesn't really protect it in any way.  If you decided to buy a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera- Sony Alpha, Olympus OM-D or Pen, Fujifilm X Series, etc. that sensor is totally exposed when you remove the lens. The sensor is a very delicate component to the camera.  If the sensor is damaged, your camera won't work the way it's supposed to.  In fact, serious damage, which is what a scratch, water, and skin oil is, will make the camera useless.  It is very easy to get dust in this chamber, in fact it's inevitable.  Small little bits of dust aren't that big of deal, but big bits like grains of sand, plant debris, and hairs are and can scratch and destroy your sensor. You don't want anything visible with the naked eye getting near your sensor.  So, if you remove your lens when you're in a windy place stuff will get in that chamber.  And, if you continue doing that you will damage your camera.  Guaranteed.  This is how to avoid ruining your mirror and sensor:

Change lenses when you're indoors and out of the wind as much as possible.  Do not remove the lens when it is very windy, just make do with your set up. If the conditions are ok and you can't get indoors, then here's how you can change lenses quickly and safely.  Make sure, make absolutely sure that the camera is off.  If it isn't, the sensor acts like a magnet for dust.  Position the other lens in an orientation that makes it easy to click it into place quickly (make sure the little orienting dot or square is already in the right spot) and loosen its rear element cap ahead of time.  Then, with the front of the camera body facing downwards, remove the first lens.  Set it down with the hood extended or cap in place front downwards on a flat and stable surface or in the hand of your assistant ;-), then switch the rear cap onto it from the second lens.  Then, click the second lens into the camera body.  This is one of the things you should practice before your trip.  You should be able to do this quickly, kinda like a gunslinger practicing their draw.

Giotto's Ind. Inc.

Now, if you do notice some dust or a hair towards the front the body chamber, you can get it out if you're careful.  Do not, do not, do not, use your mouth to blow it out.  Doing so will just blow saliva in there which will make things worse.  You're also likely to blow the offending material further into the chamber.  Use one of the blowers shown on the left.  The one here is probably the most popular out there, but you can find an effective model at most camera shops.  They're designed to blow away dust and hairs without blowing new things onto the surface.  Remember, keep whatever you're cleaning facing downwards so what is being blown off doesn't just fall back into place again.  If you're blowing things out of the camera chamber, the best way is to hook it up to a tripod so you don't risk handshake.  Remember, you don't want anything visible with the naked eye touching the mirror or the sensor, and that means the tip of the blower.  Be very, very careful while cleaning the chamber.  Never clean the interior of your camera while you're outdoors.

Overtime the sensor may get enough dust on it to become an issue, ie. you spend a lot of time removing spots from all your photos with your software.  The best way to get it cleaned is to pack the camera up and ship it to the manufacturer.  A lot of professionals don't trust themselves to clean sensors, so letting Canon or Nikon (or whatever manufacturer made your camera) handle it is totally respectable.  Visit the manufacture's website or consult your manual for more information.  Several camera stores also offer this service, and if they screw it up they will replace the camera for you.  This is expensive, so you can decide to clean the sensor yourself.  I'm not going to go into the steps on this, but you can find information online easily or get some instruction at your camera shop.  Keep in mind, however, that if you screw it up you will have to replace your camera.  There's no going back.

When you need to clean your lens or filters (and you will), this is a far less intimidating venture.  Once again, don't blow on them with your mouth.  Also, don't use your t-shirt or even that lens cloth sewn into the camera bag (because it's probably dirty).  Use a lens pen brush to swipe away dust on filters or front elements and the pen element to remove finger prints or other marks.  Once again, you don't have to go with the LENSPEN brand, there are comparable tools available at most shops.  Use a blower to clean the rear element of your lens.  Also, make sure to clean off caps and hoods regularly.

Treating your camera properly means that you and your camera can keep traveling together and you won't miss out on capturing memories!

6.  Keep your camera safe

Besides protecting your new camera from physical damage through proper handling and good storage, also remember to protect it from theft.  Don't leave your camera sitting outside on sidewalk cafe tables or other surfaces where they can be easily snatched.  Keep your camera bag on you.  Don't leave it visible in the car, heck, don't leave your camera in the car period.  If you're in a crowded area, be mindful of your surroundings and keep your bag or strap crossways on your body or the strap around your neck.  Don't casually walk with the camera strap over your shoulder.  If you're going somewhere and you don't want to take the camera with you, use your hotel safe.  If your room doesn't have a safe, then you'll have to take the camera with you.  Your camera is expensive, but it is also the way to document your trip.  It is pretty irreplaceable.

7.  Put your camera away from time to time

Eat your dinners, don't photograph them.  Study the wonders of the museums with your eyes, don't worry about taking a picture of them.  Spend time with your travel companions, don't be obsessed with getting selfies at every landmark you come across.  Photograph the things that matter to you, not all the minutia.  If you're too focused on your camera, you're missing the full experience of your trip.  I've had trouble with this one quite a bit, and I'm still learning to step back and put the camera away without always worrying about a lost shot.  If you can manage a little photographic self control on your journey, you will have a more enjoyable experience and probably better pictures too.  Oh, and here's a little bonus tip: buy postcards of famous museum pieces.  Those photographs are much better than anything you will get in a dark room with glass in the way.  Take in that object as it is before you, leave the camera in the bag.


Hopefully, these tips will help you on your first or next trip.  We've all made mistakes.  I quickly discovered how important it is to have a good camera strap, for example.  Whether this is your first DSLR or not, it's important that it improves your travel experience and doesn't take away from it.  Enjoy your camera, enjoy your journey!

Music Behind the Images

The more I study and practice photography, the more I've become convinced about the importance of spending some time with other arts.  Painting is probably the most influential medium on photography.  Instead of capturing light, they create it.  No one was better at it than the Dutch and Flemish masters, and I love popping into museums to spend some time with their creations.  But, painting isn't the only art that can influence and inspire photographers.  Pretty much any form of visual art can inspire us.  I've become convinced that continually taking time to spend looking at and studying other artistic creations besides photographs will do nothing but benefit me in the long run.

I've also become convinced about the importance of using music in photography. Huh? No, I don't mean setting a slideshow to music or music paired with a time lapse video.  I mean including music in my process of shooting and editing.

We all have probably experienced the power an old song from our past has to conjure memories and conversations, even tastes and smells.  When I was around 7 or 8 I was taking figure skating lessons at the Kent State ice rink and going there almost every day to skate.  They had the radio playing in the rink and Two Princes by the Spin Doctors would come on at least twice every time I was there.  To this day, when I hear that song I'll be transported back to skating on the ice.  I can remember what it smelled like, I can feel the ice under my skates.  It's a pretty cool phenomenon.  About a year ago I was reading a travel memoir and the author mentioned a technique with music that he used to preserve memories of his travels.  He said he would pick an album and listen to it over and over while he was traveling somewhere (this was back in the day of cassette tapes).  When he came home he'd put the tape away and wouldn't listen to it for years.  Then, when he would finally pull it out of the drawer and play it, it worked like a time machine, transporting him right back to where he was when he last heard those songs.  I thought this was a pretty great idea, and have since started doing it too.

Instead of buying an entire album, I'll make a playlist.  I keep it short, up to 15 tracks, just like the length of an album.  That way we'll get through the list several times over on the trip.  The more we listen to the playlist, the better it works.  So, I usually do this if we're going to be on a train or in the car for a long period of time while we're traveling.  It's all we listen to on the trip and we listen to it in the same order the whole time.  Then, when we get home, I file it away and don't listen to it for a while.  That's very important to the process.  The only time I allow myself to listen to the music is right after, while I'm editing my photos from the trip.  Besides that, I wait a year before I start listening to the playlist or specific songs from it again.

I have a few rules when I'm looking for a music to add to the list.  First of all, it has to be from an artist or band that comes from the country we're traveling too.  Even in this age of mainstream music which tends to be sung in English a lot of the time, each country's sound is a little different.  Sometimes that comes from the instruments and sometimes that comes from the voices.  Music comes from the heart of the artist who writes it, and I think where they come from is a major influence on what is in their hearts.  Themes and chords resonate from that place.

Secondly, most of the music has to be new, or at the very least, new to me.  I don't just compile a list from stuff I already own.  And, I try to avoid music that was popular from growing up. I don't want to know the words already or have any sort of memories already attached to them.  I want current sound so the music will take me not just to a place, but also a time. Occasionally, I'll make exceptions, but for the most part I choose tunes from up and coming groups not known well outside their nation, or ones relatively new to the popular global scene.  Sometimes I'll include a popular song either because I really like it or it fits well with the rest of them.

Thirdly, I have to like the music.  Duh.  These songs have to be ones I'll want to pepper into future playlists, songs I actually want to hear again.  Sometimes that makes it kinda difficult, if popular music from a country doesn't fit my tastes.  One or two trad songs on the list are ok, but they have to have the right sound or be very short in length to make the cut.  

A little under a year ago, we were driving through Norway.  The playlist from that trip is probably my favorite of all of those I've made.  I've become fans of several artists and bands that I discovered by creating the list.  You can listen to what I came up with below.  One exception I made for this one was including the song by Fever Ray.  She's Swedish, but it's the theme from the Vikings TV show, and therefore just had to be on there.  There are a couple of other differences between my original list and the one below.  It's missing Good Mistake by Mr Little Jeans and instead of Someone Who'll Get It it had the Heavenly Father single by Highasakite.  The two missing songs aren't on Spotify, but they are on iTunes.  Highasakite's cover of Heavenly Father is, in my opinion, far more stirring than the Bon Iver original, so definitely give it a listen.

Through the use of the music, I'm able to access areas of subconscious that store deeper memories and feelings from being in that space.  I use it while editing my photos so I can remember the feel I had while taking them, and the feel I want to create in the final image.  If I decide to go back and re-edit older shots from the original RAW files, that playlist comes on over the speakers again.  It's far more effective than rereading my journals or looking back at the photographs themselves.  As soon as I flick on that playlist I can feel the wind, I can recall the smells, the light, and the tastes.  I can remember moments of swinging around turns in the mountains, the sensation of the car leaning into the corner, the release of g-force after the apex of the turn, and the shock of an immense landscape revealing itself.  Suddenly I can recall the tastes and textures of the food, and ambient sounds in the air. Basically, I'm back there again. It's amazing how our brains work, isn't it?

Shooting Iceland Part II: The Aurora

Unbelievably, it's been almost a month since we were in Iceland.  I figured by the time I got to this post, I'd finally have a hand on how to talk about our night with the aurora.  I'm afraid I don't.  I take comfort in knowing that this is a common problem for those who have witnessed it, but I'm worried that this post isn't going to do the experience much justice.

After two nights in Iceland, we hadn't had a single opportunity to catch the aurora.  The night we came in on the plane there was a blizzard and the next two nights were completely overcast.  I kept telling myself that the aurora was a bonus, and that thus far the trip was a total success.  Even though I was well aware that catching the aurora wasn't a guarantee for the trip and I was trying to be as pessimistic as possible about our chances so as not to be totally gutted if we never saw it, it was still nagging on me.  The reason to come in Winter was to partake in the ice tours, but also to have a chance to catch the lights.  If we didn't, we were going to be bummed. There was no way around it.  At around 1:00am after getting back from our two day southern coast tour, I sat in bed looking at our schedule and forecast.  It was obvious that we had one shot to catch the aurora on this trip and it was going to Easter Sunday night.

I went to the website of Reykjavik Excursions which was advertised on the reception desk of our hotel.  They still had a couple slots open for Easter, the price was good, and the forecast was calling for crystal clear skies.  My husband was already sound asleep, but I nudged him awake telling him that I had found a bus that would take us out to the lights and I wanted to book it.  He enthusiastically replied that he was down with the plan then went back to sleep.  I wasn't surprised when he was completely baffled the next morning as I reminded him that we had to catch the bus that night to see the lights.  He didn't remember a thing about the conversation at 1:00am.  For him, it was like I had booked a surprise.

After a full day of wandering on a mellow Easter day in Reykjavik, we went back to our hotel, changed into our cold weather gear, and waited for the minibus that would shuttle us to the big tour bus at the depot outside of downtown.  Once again, we marveled at the efficiency of Icelandic tourism companies.  For such a laid back people, they had scheduling and logistics down to a science.  The tour left the depot at 10:00pm.  It was a packed bus full of tourists from all over Reykjavik, ranging from excited to downright exhausted.  We were joined by an enthusiastic guide who spent the ride out of the city giving us all the information one could possibly have on the auroras- the science, the differences from place to place, and the different types of displays (clouds, ribbons, rain, etc). Lastly she explained how to get a photograph of them.  Unfortunately, this information was way too late for 95% of the group.

So you aren't one of the people groaning on a tour bus at the news your photographs haven't a chance of looking decent, here's what you need to know if you want to get a usable shot of the aurora.

1. You need a tripod.
You will need to take an exposure of about 30 seconds in length and there's no way you can get that handheld.  Also, get a shutter release cable or a remote shutter release.  This is not the time to rely on a smartphone app.

2.  You need a camera with manual control.
Sorry, smartphone users, if the aurora isn't super, super bright you won't be able to capture it successfully.  The way to get those lights to show up in an image is through a long exposure time, a wide aperture, and a high ISO.  So, you need a camera that has manual mode so you can set it up yourself for these conditions.  If you haven't shot outside of Automatic mode before, start practicing before you try on the Aurora.  You don't want to waste time (and warmth) trying to figure out how to change your camera settings.  Also, you'll probably want to use manual focus.  You will be shooting where it is really dark, so automatic focus will probably struggle.

3.  You need a camera that has high ISO capabilities.
Full frame isn't necessary, just make sure your sensor is four thirds or larger.  But, check to make sure the camera you're going to use actually performs well at high ISO levels 3200+.  Read reviews.  Look at sample images.  Not all sensors are created equal.

4.  You need a good lens.
Don't bother with a lens that doesn't have a max aperture of f/2.8 or lower. Preferably, you want it at f/2.  You probably won't need a zoom lens in this instance; auroras are meant to be shot wide.  So, if you have a wide angle prime this is its time to shine.  But, a high quality wide angle zoom will be just fine too.

5.  You need a flashlight or headlamp with a red beam.
It takes about 10 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark and any infiltration of white or blue light (car headlights, camera and phone LCDs) with destroy the adjustment your eyes made.  The only type of light that won't screw your eyes up is red.  Let folks laugh, you will be the only one out there that can see anything.

6.  You need to know how to use your camera.
This seems like a given, but there were a lot of people on that tour who suddenly realized that they had no idea what they were doing and spent the time staring into a menu instead of the most glorious display in nature.  That's just sad.  Don't be that person.

Ok, so back to the bus.  It wasn't long after we got beyond the lights of Reykjavik that the guide directed us to look out the bus window (for once we happened to be on the correct side of the bus).  A huge ribbon of green was starting to appear ever so faintly across the sky.  The guide got really excited.  This was going to be a good night.  The driver found a gravel road a few minutes later and pulled in, along with another bus and about every other car that happened to be on that road at that moment.  The guide gave us reflective snap bracelets (making this child of the 80's very pleased) so she wouldn't lose us in the dark.  Then we all disgorged from the bus.  It was madness for about 5 minutes.  The display of the lights was far more intense and vivid than I expected, and by the sounds of it, the guide wasn't quite believing how bright it was either.  There was some jostling and tourists clambered around in the dark, sinking up to their knees sometimes in the snowdrifts.  Those of us with tripods tried to get out in front of the crowd so we wouldn't get the masses in the shots and would have a little space to ourselves.

I had already got the settings ready before we left the hotel and got the camera on the tripod during the ride out.  It was a good thing too.  It was bloody, bloody cold.  I'm not sure how cold, but the wind was pretty strong and it didn't take long for my hands to start going numb, even with gloves on.  We're from Northeast Ohio, where the Winter temps regularly dip to 0F or below.  My time living in more mild Bavaria may have made me a wuss, or it was hovering somewhere around 5F with the windchill. I kept the tripod low to the ground so I could block the wind with my body.  My shutter release cable is mercifully plastic and long enough that I could pull it into my coat pocket, but I still had to take my hands out in order to focus the lens.  I use fingerless gloves that transform into mittens because I need the dexterity to feel the focus ring.  It only took a few minutes of messing around with the focus ring on the metal lens for the first signs of frost nip to start.  I didn't think about it too much though, because what we were seeing pretty much pushed all other thoughts out of our minds.

We knelt in the snow as the colors changed from yellow green to deep green and back with little hints of pink and red every once in a while.  I snapped away, trying my best to stay in the moment while still managing to capture the display.

There is nothing you can do to prepare for photographing the aurora.  It's not like portrait photography; you can't just practice on your family.  It's not like landscape photography; you can't just practice in your local park.  It's not even like regular night photography; what you're witnessing doesn't happen every night all over the world in a dark place.  Unless you are blessed to live in a place where the aurora occurs, there is no way to practice before you go out for the shot.  If you're lucky your visit will have a couple clear nights so you can get a few chances to practice your technique, but there's no way you can predict that.

The most common display of the aurora is a faint cloud, barely perspective to the human eye.  The display we were given on Easter night was far more intense, bright, rippling, and massive.  I was elated, overwhelmed, and, yes, the emotions were high.  If my eyes weren't already tearing up from the cold, I probably would have gotten teary anyway.  At the most I had hoped just to see the cloud aurora, this was more than I could have dreamed to witness.  We kept saying to each other, "Look at this!  Look at this! Can't you believe this!?!"  The rest of the group was going pretty nuts too.  But, one by one, they started to climb back into the bus.  It was just too cold, and they soon gave up trying to capture it with their phones.  A few of us remained out there with our tripods through the whole time, with just a 5 minute retreat to thaw our faces.  There was no way I could sit on the bus.  My fingers were killing me, but this could be the only chance we have in our lives to see this amazing event.

All in all, the preparation I had done beforehand had served me well.  I made adjustments here and there as the lights intensified or dimmed, but for the most part it was going smoothly for my first time photographing the aurora.  The hardest part was focusing.  Like I mentioned above, it was far too dark to rely on automatic focus.  The spot where the bus had taken us was perfect for seeing the lights, but there wasn't anything bright enough to focus the lens on.  I settled on a bright star, but discovered that my teared up eyes had played some tricks on me and things weren't as sharp as I thought.  I had more success as time passed, but it was probably the hardest part of shooting (besides the freezing part).  Ideally, there would be something on the horizon like a light or a building to focus on, but we were in a stark landscape.  The wind was also a bit of an issue, it caused just enough vibration a few times to cause blurring.  Also, shivering wreaked a bit of havoc.  As I got colder I had a harder time being deliberate with my movements, and clearing bumped the tripod a couple of times.

It wasn't easy, not by a long shot, but it was totally worth it.  It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen, it was the coldest I have ever been.  It was one of the most rewarding moments behind a camera.

Ok, so what did I do to get these shots?  I used the X-T1 with the 16-55mm lens because the lens gets a max of f/2.8 and weather sealing is a must when the temps are this low.  I had it mounted on good old Brian from Three Legged Thing.  I opened the lens all the way and usually took an exposure between 20-30secs.  Any longer and you start to get start trails.  ISO was set at 1600 for the most part, I did raise it a touch when the lights became dimmer.  I actually didn't do too much to these shots in post.  I edited them in Photoshop RAW, to reduce the noise that is inevitable with a higher ISO.  I also lifted the snow in the foreground in most of the shots (thanks to Fujifilm's excellent dynamic range).  Are they the greatest aurora shots out there? No. I'm a novice at shooting them, but I'm totally satisfied at the outcome.  I certainly wouldn't pass up a chance to shoot them again.

My husband demonstrating our awe of the scene before us, holding very still.
That wasn't easy.

Like I said in the last post, this trip was intended to be one of several.  We'll go back for a summer and, if it works out, will return for another winter trip.  For that, we wouldn't use a tour to see the lights again.  They definitely got us there, and it was great having the information from the guide, but the location wasn't the most exciting.  I'd like to be able to set up somewhere with a good focus point or a stunning foreground.  Also, it would be nice to get away from the roads.  There were a lot of headlights to contend with and several cars that had gotten themselves in accidents or stuck because it was too crowded in that area.  But, those are minor things I would change.  This was, without a doubt, the highlight of our trip.  It is a highlight of all our travels.  As long as I live, I'll never forget the dancing lights over the snowscape (something a still photograph will never properly capture).  I'll never forget being so overwhelmed by such intense beauty that I didn't notice I had lost feeling in my hands.  I'll never forget being brought to my knees, reminded that we are really just insignificant creatures with no comprehension of the magnitude of this universe and this planet.  I'll never forget it.

Shooting Iceland Part I

Skógafoss

Alright! After a couple of weeks I've finished going through all the photos from Iceland, they're up on the website, and I can finally start telling you about the experience!  Even though we were only there for four days, a lot happened so I'm going to break this into at least two parts.  I'll put up the second part next week.

The flight from Frankfurt to Reykjavik brought us in late in the midst of a snow storm.  I was pumped.  Dropping down from the clouds in the midst of a blizzard was the perfect way to begin a trip to a place I've been fascinated by long before it hit everyone else's radar when the volcano blew in 2010.  To be honest, I'm fascinated by arctic locales in general.  If I had my way and endless funds, we'd hit Greenland, Nunavut, and the granddaddy of them all- Antarctica.  The imagery and intensity of polar deserts, mountains, glaciers, basically places that are really cold and can kill you without too much work have been a fixation of mine since childhood.  I'm not sure why, maybe because I'm attracted to the perfect forms of ice and snow or maybe it's because these places aren't for people and places like that are an introverts dream.  Anyway, I'd happily take a take trip to a polar wasteland over a beach every time.

Svinafelljokull Glacier

Well, Iceland is obviously is not quite as an extreme choice as Antarctica or as difficult to access as Greenland, and it sits just south of the Arctic Circle.  It's just as modern as the rest of northern Europe, has a couple of airports, and the tourist trade is booming.  We chose it because it's the easiest to access from where we are, because its unique geology makes it unlike any other spot on earth, and because it's on the edge of becoming a travel cliche (I'll get to that in another post).  We decided to go over the Easter holiday because it sat at the tail end of the Winter season and that meant we could participate in the colder tours and, if we were lucky, catch the Aurora Borealis.  From the get go, I planned this to be an intro visit.  I have every intent to return as soon as possible.  Iceland is one of those places that hooks you in and there's nothing you can do but start planning the next visit.  It's inevitable.

Since we were coming at the end of Winter, we decided to do something that we've never done on a trip before- sign up with a tour service.  Normally we'd rent a car and do our own thing, but this is Iceland in Winter and growing up in Northeast Ohio you learn to respect what Winter can throw at you.  It's one thing to drive around Cleveland in a flash snowstorm, it's a whole other thing to get caught out in the Icelandic countryside.  Plus, we wanted to participate in a few activities you have to have guide for- glacier hiking and such.  So, after doing quite a bit of research I decided to go with Extreme Iceland.   We signed up for two tours with them, but for this post I'll just talk about the first one which filled the first two days of the trip.

Signing up with a guided tour brings a lot of advantages over just renting a car and consulting a book.  Guides can tell you things that books never do, and the great thing about all the guides we met in Iceland is that they really love talking about their country.  Heck, I would too.  Guides also take the guesswork out of the trip.  You can just sit back and take in the scenery, hit the high points, and get a sense of the land without having to worry about finding the next gas station, the weather forecast, and all the other logistical headaches.  But, taking a guided tour also has its disadvantages.  First of all, unless you can hire a private guide, you're going to be with a group.  That can be cool because it's a chance to meet some new people, but it can also be a pain in the neck since some of those people may be, well, a pain in the neck.  The other downside, and this one is huge for photographers, you aren't in control of the schedule.  This is something you accept immediately, of course, but it's still frustrating when you are out there trying to get a shot and you only get 30 minutes at the location.  But, as I said, this was an introduction trip, so I knew from the onset that I wasn't going to come home with a ton of work and that it wasn't going to be an ideal shooting situation.  That still didn't prevent the occasional groan when we'd disembark our bus on a beautiful spot in the absolute worst glaring light possible.

Inside the infamous mini bus

The Icelandic landscape speeds by outside the bus windows

Horse drive, seen by bus.

Our guide, Gunnar, picked us up from our hotel in Reykjavik early on our first day and we spent probably about an hour in the city picking up the rest of the group.  By the time we headed out of the city our Mercedes minibus had about 20 tourists.  Probably the only negative thing I can think of about this tour was that mini bus.  It was the most uncomfortable vehicle I've ever taken a long distance drive in since the time I made a torturous 4 hour journey in an Egyptian taxi.  Really, the problem was the bus itself. It had ridiculously tall seats that you couldn't see over and zero leg room, worse than economy seat on an airplane.  Between all the coats and bags and people it felt like we shoved in a sardine can.  I can't imagine what a claustrophobic person would go through on that bus.  Anyway, despite it's lack of transport comfort, the tour met our needs and then some.

Seljalandsfoss

The first day we stopped at several locations.  The first were waterfalls, Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss.  Iceland's waterfalls are some of its most popular tourist attractions, and for good reason.  They're very impressive.  These two are located right off the main ring road, so they're a must for all the buses and car rental tourists.  According to our guide, he had never seen so many people at the falls before.  Iceland, I think, is going to start facing some facts about its tourist trade.  Anyway, both of the falls were packed, crazy packed.  We were given 30 minutes at Saljalandsfoss.  That's 30 minutes to walk to the falls from the parking lot, find a decent spot to set up, meter, put on filters, teach random tourists how to operate their own cameras, and, finally, take the shot.  Thirty minutes feels like fifteen.  For the next two days, my husband and I were running.  I'm a landscape photographer, I was going to come home with some decent landscapes from Iceland, even if I only had 30 minutes at a time to do it!  This shot of Seljalandsfoss above is the first I took on the trip.  I was able to get one more and then it was time to head back to the bus.

I decided I was only going to use the X-T1 on this trip.  There was no point in bringing a camera that wasn't weather sealed.  I shot 90% of the trip with the 16-55mm lens.  I think this is the perfect X Series combination for travel to challenging locations.  That combo is totally weather sealed and 16-55mm range can pretty much get you whatever you're after.  I threw the 10-24mm lens in the bag, just in case I needed a super wide angle, but I only switched over to it a couple of times.  I shot most of the first two days on a tripod (trusty Brian) with a 10 stop ND filter.  Besides the visual advantage of smoothing out water and clouds, ND filters are a huge help in tourist spots.  People (usually) move around a lot.  Sometimes they all blur out of the shot, but usually they blur just enough that I can remove the ever present pink jackets and garish ski pants in post without too much work.  This shot above was taken much further away on our hustle back to the bus, but you can see the crowd of people around the base of the falls.  By using the ND filter I was able to remove all of them.

The next falls, Skógafoss, was more of a challenge.  We were given 40 minutes at this one and I used every second.  At this falls, you can climb up above it, but we've climbed a lot of stairs in our lives and we didn't have time to do that and get a photo.

This was the first angle we went for because there were less people nearby.  I obviously used the filter here again, but I didn't remove the people so you could get a sense for how many were around at this location.  Take particular notice of the two in black on the far left.  I wasn't real keen on this spot, so we relocated closer to the river.  The rainbow caused by the falls' mist was more noticeable from the new angle and I wanted something a little more interesting in the foreground than the stones.

This is the final shot, after I've removed all the people.  I took about 15 usable long exposures.  Other shots were ruined because someone stepped right in front of me, or were standing so close to the side that I couldn't cleanly remove them in Photoshop.  Normally, even in a populated area like this it will take several exposures in order for me to capture a clear moment of every spot in the frame.  It is easy to cut people out of dark areas, but I wanted the actual data of the water and the rainbow to work with.  I felt they were just  too delicate to recreate with a clone stamp.  Remember those two folks in black from the first shot above?  They ended up being why it took 40 minutes to get one image of this location.  They didn't move.  Well, they moved, but just enough to make them unusable.  And, they were smack over a good portion of that rainbow.  If they had stood perfectly still, then I could have left them in, nice outlines of people in the center of a beautiful scene.  But, since they, of course oblivious to my artistic needs, moved around a little, hugging and kissing, they just created an irritating black blob.  So, we stood there waiting and waiting until FINALLY they moved over just 4 feet and I could get that last chunk of the image.  Just as I was about to get a second exposure with them out of the way, they moved right back to where they had been!  Thankfully, that one shot I got had what I needed.  I combined the 15 different exposures in Photoshop to get the scene above.  Only took half a day! Whew!  Of course, I wouldn't come to this location at that time of day necessarily, but when you're on a tour you have to improvise.

Just when I thought tourists were going to be the big hurdle, we headed to the black sand beach of Reynisfjara.  The weather changed dramatically from the nice sunshine and rainbows to a gusty, dark skied, storm. Reynisfjara is known for its black sand and basalt columns.  I will always, always remember the wind.

I've been in some high winds before, but nothing to the degree of this.  Sand was blowing everywhere, seaweed was flying through the air, and I'm pretty sure a small child was lifted off her feet at one point.  It was incredible, a demonstration of the devastating power of nature.  There would be no tripod work here.  I could barely stand still.  We had 30 mins here, but with the weather being as it was, I couldn't see remaining much longer anyway.  All shots had to be taken downwind, since spray off the ocean and sand would hit the lens if facing in the other direction.  Even though it wasn't at all conducive for photography, I think this was my favorite moment from the first day- leaning against the wind.

From there we headed pretty rapidly to the famous Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, spotting some reindeer running along side the road on our way.  It was the end of the day, and the clouds had moved in pretty heavily.  The lagoon beach was fairly crowded though, and it was clearly THE spot for time lapse shooters that day.  It was difficult to find a patch of beach that wasn't occupied, and even after we staked a claim to a small bit, we still had to defend it.  I'm not sure why some people think it's ok to step in front of someone with a tripod, but I'm pretty sure there's a specific corner of Hades waiting for them.  But, we had 45 mins here, so no need to run for a change.  

This was my favorite location of the trip.  I love the forms the glacial ice takes and could have happily spent hours and hours in the soft light shooting the bits that had washed up on the rocky shore.  It was an otherworldly place, and the epitome of that polar beauty and starkness I have been fascinated with.  This was exactly the sort of location I was hoping to have access to.  To top it off, quite a few seals were hunting in the lagoon.  They were too far out to capture with the camera, but it was very moving to watch these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat amongst the ice.

From there we went to our hotel and enjoyed a nice evening chatting with some of our fellow travelers and guide over lamb burgers and reindeer tartar.  The next morning we headed back to the lagoon and I think we had about an hour there again.  The morning was already quite advanced and the sun was directly overhead, but I was able to shoot quite a bit and had a blast not only photographing the ice, but finally having a chance to take it in.  I would have killed to have gotten there at sunrise, but to have some more time there at all was fantastic.

From there, the tour became more active.  We were to hike the Svinafelljokull Glacier.  That involved quite a bit of prep, fitting crampons and such.  The tour is very well organized, down to the minute and I can't say enough about how impressed we were by the guides.  They have to lead total novices around in one of the most dangerous locations you could lead them.  Many of the tourists don't listen or ignore instructions, and it must take a lot of willpower on the part of the guides to prevent smacking them with an ice ax.  This glacier has been used in several films- Interstellar, Batman Begins, and Game of Thrones, so obviously it's pretty safe for a glacier.  But, you're still walking around on ice, and it wouldn't take too much to screw that situation up.  We spent about an hour on the glacier and even after an entire day of being wowed by Iceland's landscape, our jaws were dropping again.  It was another spot I could have spent hours in.

Fixing ice screws

Preparing to descend into a crevasse, not very far mind you.

Crevasse

The most important thing to have on ice after crampons.  I have no idea why this
one was lying on the ground.

After our glacier experience, it was time to head back to Reykjavik, albeit leisurely.  On the way we had 20 minutes to walk through moss covered lava fields.  Then, it was 30 minutes at Vik and another chance to run, this time to get some shots of the sea stacks.

  

We made one more stop at another waterfall, which I didn't have much success photographing since we were inside it. It was a great test of the X Series weather sealing though!  Then it was back to Reykjavik.  We took the long way back, hoping for a break in the clouds to catch the aurora, but no luck this time.  It had been overcast for the the past two nights.  The third night was forecasted to be clear, so there was still hope.  I certainly had plenty of shots I was pleased with, and if those two days were all we had there I think I would have been more than satisfied.  We climbed into our beds around midnight feeling like we'd been through a whirlwind. 

I, even weeks later, cannot get over the majesty of Iceland.  It is a landscape photographer's Mecca.  Even though it was during the brown time of winter, it was overcast, and it rained and snowed quite a bit, the beauty was not diminished.  In fact, I think in many ways it was heightened.  Despite the frustrations that come with taking a group tour, we were very pleased with our decision to join Extreme Iceland.  It was certainly a challenge for me to get the images I wanted, but we wouldn't have been able to get to some of these locations in that short amount of time without their help.  Getting to walk on a glacier, stand in the blasting wind of the Atlantic, and marvel at the ice sculptures of Jökulsárlón were totally worth being crammed on that bus.  Now we have a good idea of where to go on our return trip when we have our own car.  We're definitely taking an entire morning at Jökulsárlón!

Please head over to my website to see all the final photographs from the trip.  You can find them under Countryside when you click "Browse Galleries" or click "Newest Additions" to go directly to the Iceland gallery!

Next week I'll fill you in on the third day of the trip and tell you what it's like to photograph the Aurora!