The cloud and mountain image was captured on Rte 35 near Hveragedi.
We were traveling to Pingvellir National Park but I decided to go exploring another way and never made it.
In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t done that. Now I have to return to visit Pingvellir.
The evening sky in Epcot, Disney World, Florida.
Iceland. Iceland – The Land of Fire & Ice – My collection of Iceland images.
A country, approximately the size of Kentucky, with a population of 330,000 people most of whom live in Reykjavik, the capital. Iceland was on my bucket list because of my love of space science. Visiting the country offered me an opportunity to imagine standing on Io, Europa and Callisto – 3 moons of Jupiter. Io is a volcanic moon. I didn’t see an active volcano but visited several dormant ones. Europa is an ice planet. I saw glaciers and icebergs. And Callisto has an lifeless dark surface, not unlike some places I visited.
I traveled the Ring Road – Route 1 – an approximate 800+ mile drive. I saw landscapes that have been viewed in movies and television shows like “Games of Thrones” and “Interstellar”. It’s obvious why Hollywood comes to film. It’s for the same reason I visited. Iceland is another planet. And an extremely beautiful one.
My wife and I landed in Keflavik Airport and our first stop was the Blue Lagoon – a geothermal spa. Over the next week we traveled to Hverageroi, Djupivogur, Kirkjubaejarklaustur and a dozen other places with names impossible to pronounce. I quickly admitted defeat and referred to a location by it’s first letter – “We’re going to “A” town – “Akureyri”. Kirkjubaejarklaustur was “Captain Kirk”. And on and on and on.
I saw geysers, the ones in Iceland were first given the name “geyser”, waterfalls, the largest one in Europe is in Iceland (Iceland is part of Europe), immense dried lava fields (literally dozens and dozens of miles in size, and in many places), glaciers and icebergs and dormant volcanos (as mentioned), and villages with a VERY small populations. We ended our journey in Reykjavik where we explored Laugavegur (road – they don’t used “street, road, drive” or any other identifying word after a street). Laugavegur is where the shopping and restaurants are for the tourists. It’s also where I ate in the “Chuck Norris Grill” and the “Big Lewbowski Bar”. Normally I avoid American restaurants in a foreign country, but these were irresistible (and the food and atmosphere were perfect).
I loved being in Iceland but didn’t realize just how much until I got home and looked at my photography. Hopefully in a few years I’ll be able to return.
An artist at work pouring melted aluminum into a mold to create a sculpture.
A Stephen King moment while driving.
In 2000, the last year of the 20th Century, I decided to take a photo a day of my son (11 years old at the time). I thought that it would be a fun project with him but there might be some difficulties. Technically this meant shooting one image per day, using one roll of film per month and hoping that I didn’t make any mistakes along the way. I also decided to shoot B&W film because I could handle the processing myself. The project started out simply – he’d stand against the same white wall everyday, with the date written on a piece of paper, and he’d make a silly face. Eventually I moved away from the wall and photographed him in different locations. As the year progressed I processed the film and put it into print file negative pages. At the end, I brought my “12 months” to a photo lab to make me 16×20 enlarged contact prints. They looked beautiful.
The following year – 2001 – was the start of the 21st Century and this time I photographed my daughter. The process and final product was the same but I shot color film instead. Then in 2005 I returned to the project shooting both my son and daughter together. This time I shot digital, which made it easier. The only difficult part was making sure that I didn’t forget to take a photo, but my kids would always remind me, “Dad, you didn’t take the photo of the day yet!” Digital also made it easier because I could shoot several images and pick the best one. The final product was different though, it was a book instead of a contact print.
The 21st Century camper with a touch of nostalgia. (Referring to the typewriter.)
