Well, this is it. What I feel like was my best photo from Iceland.
I had a plan to post a whole series here, but as I looked over everything, I kinda decided I wasn’t really that happy with most of them. The other good ones were from the peninsula, which I already posted.
I find this incredibly ironic, because Iceland is so photogenic. Too much so, even. I’m going to attribute this somewhat dismal result to the following:
Iceland’s roads are tiny and kind of dangerous. There is no shoulder, anywhere. It’s not safe (or legal, I think) to stop on the side of the road. So, I had to drive by a lot of otherwise amazing opportunities.
I’m also kind of burnt out on landscape photography. That’s really all I shot in California for a number of years. So, as much as I was enjoying the scenery, (and truly, it’s stunning; you have to come here) I didn’t feel that compelled to collect more pictures of rocks and mountains.
Well, I guess I have two photos of some houses I liked. I will leave you with those, so… there are three photos in this post. It was all a lie.
This weekend, I’m off to Berlin. We’ll see what transpires there and how long that lasts. Feeling in a bit of a funk this week, kinda sad for some reason. Hopefully it’s just the cloudy weather.
I try to remember when I travel that there are a lot of extreme ups and downs. Definitely more so than ‘normal’ life (whatever that is).
It’s funny how as you research places you intend to go in a new country, you have no idea which items will be under or overwhelming.
This is just a short walk along the coast from Arnarstapi to a Cafe. I happened to go in the reverse direction, because the light was better. But if you ever make your way over to this area I highly recommend you pay it a visit. Finally, wait until evening to take the stroll. When I first got there, there were loads of tour buses and and the afternoon light was really flat and intense; it would not have been a pleasant walk.
In the evening though, the light coming off the mountains, rocks, and ocean are simply stunning. I lucked out and got some pretty good weather for Iceland.
After spending about ten times more days in Reykjavik than every other traveler I met, like them, I eventually got a car and hit the road. First stop was Snæfellsnes Peninsula (pronounced SNA-FULL-SNESS, I guess. You don’t want to be learning Icelandic pronunciation from me).
I was told by the internet that this region was like an entire mini-Iceland. That turned out to be true,
The tragedy of this country, however, is that the roads are extremely narrow and only one lane each way. There are also very few turn-outs. The photos here are about one tenth of the ones I would have liked to take. I don’t really feel like I captured this place to its potential. But, I had three days. Did what I could.
Finally, my new jam seems to be turning my camera sideways, placing a subject in the center-ish of the frame, and putting the camera low to the ground. Almost all of these shots were taken that way. This is either a sign of progress or regression. Jury is still out.
