Þingvellir, Haukadalur, Gulfoss

On Saturday my awesome Australian friend, Tara (of instagram fame Gr82Chat, follow her), and I went on a fantastic photo adventure. We decided to do the Golden Circle (well, at least the top half/good stuff) since I've been in Iceland nearly 4.5 months and still hadn't done THE trip. The scandal! This is what most people do when they come to Iceland. It is the epitome of Icelandic tourism*. Not doing this trip would be like not doing Iceland.
*For the record, it's a shame people don't venture out past these places. For the love of everything rent a car and get the eff out around the island, people! ...Or don't and leave more for me. Ok yeah, actually do that. The Golden Cirlce is the only thing to see...

Cairns are a common thing here in Iceland which I absolutely adore. I grew up building these along trails as a kid with my dad, and they always warm my heart a little when I see them. Such a cool concept we humans decided to do for one another.

This is where the tectonic plates of North America and Europe meet in Þingvellir. I'm so inter-continental right now.

The ridiculously stunning pools at Þingvellir. I'm pretty sure I looked at Tara and exclaimed "these colors are amazing!" about 56 billion times while we were there.

Tara babe-ing it up.

Obligatory feet shot. I have to do it.

Tara and I being shady.

Haukadalur

There was this freak hailstorm out of nowhere that I was sure was going to stop any second... and then about 15 minutes later I walked to the cafe soaking wet to wait the last 4 minutes out with Tara over a cheeseburger.

Some friendly horse friends we stopped to photograph along the way. I WANT ONE.

The iconic Gullfoss.

Huge shout out to Tara who made the trip possible. She was the best sort of company a photographer could ask for... another photographer who does their own thing but meets back up for great conversation at lunch and in the car ride. It was definitely one of the most pleasant days I've had since I've been here. 

The Water's Clear And Innocent

Today was a Radiohead kind of day. So I put my headphones in, grabbed my camera, and walked down the street to the beautiful Hellisgerði park. Everything is starting to turn from earthy shades of brown to the most saturated color of green you can imagine (not that my photos are a good representation since I was feeling the lovely grays today). Ah, I am so happy to live here.

Please feel free to take your time viewing the photos while listening to this song:

I justified me getting this close to the spider by saying it was practice for when I move to Australia.

I liked this plant's face. 

I think this would be just magnificent as a large piece on textured paper.

Some more Australia practice.

The perks of living in a rainy climate.

And here's another good listen for your ears:

Bless bless.

Spring Road Trip | Day 2 | Sugar Coated Icebergs

The next morning, after a delightful breakfast courtesy of the guesthouse hosts, I made my rainy way to check out the costal village of Höfn. After doing a lot of nothing there, I got some lobster soup for lunch and made my way back towards the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon.

Jökulsárlón topped my list of places I wanted to go in Iceland (shhhh, don't tell the other places that). I had seen pictures on the internet but didn't quite believe a place like that could really exist. As far as I was concerned, it had no business looking that amazing looking because it must be a lie. Well, after spending hours upon hours there, let me tell you... Jökulsárlón exceeded all of my inflated and skeptical expectations.

Just looking across the vast collection of organic and every changing shapes, textures, tones, and compositions in the ice made my heart pound in an almost animalistic way. It was like seeing the purest form of beauty for the first time, real beauty, before popularity and vanity muddied everything up. All I was looking at was water and dirt, yet my soul was bursting with a simple and primal truth. Earth is an artist and I am merely an interpreter of her work.

I do believe this is the single greatest landscape I've taken in my career so far. Thoughts?

Before I made my way back to the farm, I met up with a couple of familiar faces. My friends Sydney and Josh were here on their first leg of a 3 week European trip celebrating Josh's graduation from medical school. The last time I saw these two was when I photographed their wedding a few years ago. I doubt would have guessed the next time we met up would be at the base of a bay of glaciers in Iceland! These kids are cool, they do life right.

Spring Road Trip | Day 1 | Southeast Solitaire

R and S were off on a school holiday this weekend, so I decided to take a little holiday of my own... solo photo style. Though I love (love love love love love) road trips of all shapes and sizes, I savor the ones I can do alone with no agenda except to explore and photograph. It's easier for me to process the world artistically when I can go at my own pace and saturate myself in my creative perspective without the worries of someone else's agenda/endurance/bladder.

I picked up my rental car in Reykjavik, and after a stupidly long and harrowing quest for trail mix (I was ultimately defeated), I set off to the southeast coast with my camera as my companion and the open road as my muse.

My super sexy Chevy Spark... it was like driving a very pleasant toy car...

I arrived at Guesthouse Holmur in the evening; a quaint farm in the countryside situated between 3 enormous glaciers. I settled in, Skyped like a creep with some of my best friends back home, and chatted it up with some of my fellow house mates (shout out to the Iranian New Yorker with the glorious beard if you found my blog!), before eventually making my way to bed.

(Continue on to parts 2 & 3...)