Every so often I like to challenge my readers with a photo assignment; not a meaningless exercise  to fill blog space, but one based on a photographic experience that I recently had. That was the case with this next assignment. My hope is that you will find it as challenging as I did.
The back story is that I was in Iceland recently and found myself at the famous iceberg beach, an experience to which I had looked forward for years. Unfortunately, the photo gods had a good laugh that day …

I have come to find out that religion is a funny sort of thing in Iceland. While most Icelanders identify themselves as Christian, a 2011 Gallup poll found that 60% of them do not feel religion is important in their lives. That’s one of the highest percentage of irreverent believers in the world.
Most Icelanders are of the Lutheran denomination, although few actually attend church any more on a regular basis. Paganism, or more accurately naturism, is still practiced by many. Still, Iceland is dotted with almost as many churches as …

For the past few days, I’ve been battling severe windy conditions here in Iceland. By severe I’m talking gale force to hurricane force winds. If there is anything that a photographer hates most it is wind. The skies can be blue, the clouds picturesque, the scene illuminated with golden light. But if the wind is blowing, it’s hard to stay steady enough to capture a good image. How, then, do the pros do it.
The following image was taken, believe it or not, on a freezing cold beach on Iceland’s south …

I’m constantly in awe as I travel the Ring Road around Iceland. For one thing, I can’t drive for a mile without seeing a waterfall, whether up close and personal or in the distance. At one point I counted six waterfalls in one view.
Iceland has to be a geologist’s or a vulcanologist’s Valhalla. And if not seeing waterfalls, one is nearly always in sight of a glacier. Some sit atop Iceland’s many mountains. Others have accumulated enough mass to advance down valleys in their unstoppable flow to the sea.
Iceland’s glaciers …

One of the joys of driving around Iceland is that you won’t drive far without seeing a waterfall (‘foss’ in Icelandic). I don’t mean piddly little falls. In Iceland, nearly every falls is a major gusher, whether in height or volume (hydropower supplies 70% of the electricity in Iceland, with geothermal the remaining 30%).
Instead of ranting on about the incredible waterfalls, I’ll give you some quick examples. The short video clips were taken with my iPhone 4S.
This is a smaller waterfall I came across while visiting a historic site. The …

Photographing around Iceland, I’m struck by the incredible number of geysers dotting the landscape. These miracles of geology just steam out of the ground in the midst of fields and mountains.
Iceland is a geologically active island, as we all know from one of the more recent eruptions two years ago that made worldwide news and grounded commercial air traffic for weeks. I can remember back in the seventies when the island of Surtsey suddenly emerged from the ocean off the Icelandic coast.
The Icelanders have ingeniously tapped into its proliferation of …

For those of you who are veteran travelers, you know the perils of finding a decent place to lodge. There are the plastic hotels, the nightmare B&Bs, the $25 Internet surcharges, even bedbugs! So, when I travel and find a clean, quiet, fair-priced place to lodge, I consider it a gift.
The Borgarnes Bed and Breakfast in Borgarnes, Iceland is one such gift. It is nothing short of a jewel in a treasure chest of eye candy that is Iceland (at least for us photography types). Arriving exhausted after a full …

Good news! My lost luggage was returned to me, two days late but otherwise unharmed. I’m a happy camper now that I have my long johns, ScotteVest fleece and jacket, hat gloves and other necessities for photographing in Iceland.
After two days roaming around the Kaflavik airport area and shooting handheld because my tripod was in my misplaced luggage, we took off today for the Snaefellsnes peninsula, which is northwest of the capital city of Reykjavik (pronounced Rake-a-vik). It is a gorgeous area, dotted with immense lava fields from the many …

My plane landed in Reykjavik, Iceland, just as the sun was rising, warming the wingtip of my plane and bluing up the skies for which Iceland is famous. I figured it was a wonderful omen for my upcoming 16 days of glorious Icelandic photography.
WRONG!
I deplaned, went through a police check and sleepily dragged my butt onto a shuttle to the baggage claim area (prior to a customs check). At the carousel I waited and waited as my fellow happy passengers retrieved their bags and sauntered outside. As for me… no …

I leave tomorrow for a 16-day photo exploration of Iceland. I’ll be accompanied by my good friend and fellow professional photographer, the curmudgeonly Richard Hartmier, of Yukon Territory, Canada. We have a 4-wheel vehicle reserved, but not even one place to lodge. Our plan is to rent some sleeping bags, a propane stove for coffee in the morning, a cooler for some food, and just take off for wherever our cameras point.  If we end up in one place for a few days we’ll book into a hotel or B&B, …