Iceland 2025

ICELAND 2025 STORY NOTE: THIS TRIP IS STILL BEING EDITED. MORE COMING SOON :) Three years after our first trip to Iceland, Anastasia and I returned to Iceland. On our first trip, she had been writing her application to attend the Barcelona Academy of Arts to study to become her long time dream of being a professional Sculptor. About 2 months before our trip she graduated from the Academy. For me, I had just finished my first year of a new job having been laid off from my previous employer of 21 years.  On our last trip we were celebrating the "end" of the Pandemic. Now this trip we were both celebrating new beginnings.   For this trip, I wanted to explore new regions of the country - the Western Region and the Western Edges of the Central Highlands, while also returning to the Southern coast to experience familiar territory during Summer Solstice with the Midnight Sun. The weather was more difficult this time being overcast and rainy 8 out of the 10 days. All of the sites I planned for the Western Region were "Meh" or too rainy to shoot (even for us!). However, I have learned to trust things work out they way they should, trust in our luck and have a watchful eye for spontaneous findings....and we were blessed by the Iceland Fairies again. This turned into the Geothermal / Lupine flower tour for the Western and Highlands portion.  We also found a 2 mile trail along the ocean cliffs right by our lodging that was fabulous! Anastasia got to hike to the second highest waterfall in Iceland. We were able to shoot in the mists of geysers, and geothermal steamy areas.  The Southern leg was just as rainy, including one day with gale force winds. I was thinking this portion was going to be a disappointment. However, it finally cleared enough that we shot several days worth creative time in the last two days. We did find some new locations and was able to shoot again at the Reynisfjara Basalt cliffs before the tourists arrived. We also found another massive lupine field that literally stretched as far as your eyes could see, all the way to the glacier in the far distance. So, in the end, with Anastasia's brilliant styling, posing and collaborations on shooting locations and compositions (I am pretty good...but, as an artist, she see things and patterns that escape me!)  we had a fabulous time and results were even better than our first trip.   Another bit of bad luck/good luck.  My primary 24-70mm died after our first shoot and I had to rely on my 70-200 telephoto the entire trip.  At first I was really bummed. The telephoto made it impossible to do closer up and wider angle shooting, limiting some locations). However, in the long run, I really learned how to shoot with the 70-200 and got some amazing Bokeh results (many have thought we created the images with AI...lol). In the future, the 24-70 will be primary, but will definitely break out my new friend and use it more as well. Thanks again to my creative travel partner and muse, Anastasia, for enduring the challenges of Iceland while creating some incredible art! There are very few who can do what you do well and I am blessed to call you Friend.