Daily Image - March 2020 Archive

02 Mar 20 My Icelandic adventure actually began 4 days prior to departure. I called Verizon to get a European service contract on my cell phone but was informed that they could (would, I believe the proper verb) not provide such on my 3G phone and that I would have to upgrade to 4G. So I visited my local Verizon store where I found perhaps 50 smart phones and one 4G standard like my 3G phone. I asked it it would work in Europe (Iceland) and was told ABSOLUTELY!! Purchased it and had everything transferred over, returned home, called Verizon who said no deal, we won't support it. Took it back to the store who said they would, we exchanged words, they called the "home" store who said they wouldn't so I said put everything back the way it was before. "Home" office said can't be done whereupon we REALLY had an exchange of words!! It got done! Then I was told O.K., good to July whereupon we won't service 3G phones BUT you can have a FREE smart phone. Not my desire to have a full time tracking device but if I was to be able to communicate with Jan while in Iceland not much choice so got the free phone but with no manual of any kind in the box or on-line. Found a book covering the phone with a guaranteed delivery the day before departure so ordered book to be able to use phone. Unfortunately the book couldn't be delivered due to the "delivery person" being unable to find our mailbox. Now to be fair, I have to admit that it being the first of three on the street with 4" high reflective high contrast numbers identifying it, it presumably is a bit hard to locate. So left without any instructions on how to use it. The use as a phone wasn't going to be all that difficult, BUT my other reason for taking it was to use it as a camera since my prior phone of four years ago that got stolen in Prague took very good photos. Not this thing! Of the approximately 100 shots I took with it maybe 6 are marginally good. The book that didn't arrive in time turns out to be of about much help as nothing. It appears to be written by a non-native English speaking individual, is full of information that doesn't pertain the the phone/camera, and has lots of scanned images that apparently were perhaps 100 bit original file sizes blown up to a useless level, and these are supposed to illustrate how to use the phone. So the goal of being able to use the phone in places where the camera would be difficult to impossible to use didn't occur. Of the few exceptions today's image is one of them. Taken from the plane window I was attempting to show the mountains from above in late evening light. It didn't record what I was seeing and wanted to share any justice - zoom in and you'll see what I mean - but it did let me do a little bit of creative imaging and does show to some extent the curvature of the earth. As you'll note we were far above the clouds when I took the shot, approaching 50,000 feet, and it could have been spectacular, but isn't. However, from about 10 feet back it looks pretty good, like a billboard. This is right out of the Samsung A10e with just a bit of contrast adjustment. The Edge ISO 100. Phone didn't record the rest of the exif data.

13 Mar 20 Today's Friday close-up may have limited appeal, possibly only to those who have a diving background. During my collegiate years I took up SCUBA diving as both a hobby and a supplement to some of my college courses. It was a great experience and had some nice carry overs throughout my career. One of the things you learn to appreciate, right from the start, is clear water. I've made some dives in really clear water and on occasion when you couldn't see 1 foot in front of your mask. Really enjoyed the former which encompassed 95% of the dives, and totally didn't appreciate the others. So even if you've never donned SCUBA gear you can perhaps at least imagine that which I'm describing. Now imagine looking at, or working in, the waters in a ship harbor filled with ships and the associated debris that is virtually present wherever you have a major shipping area. The photo for today from the industrial area of Reykjavik is one of looking straight down into the water from the edge of a shipyard. Directly in front of my location are several wharves and a number of whale watching craft moored alongside. The golden marine life is algae, kelp to be exact. The water is so clean that you can see clear to the bottom and everything that is growing in it. Never before have I seen such although I obviously haven't seen all the world's harbors. Just the same, this was pretty impressive. Apparently one can have industry alongside nature without harm. Guess it is all in how you go about it. I have a couple of creative versions of this that are a bit more dramatic I could share but I didn't want to take anything away from the reality of what is there. This is straight from the camera. Because of the topic I didn't want to do anything to it. North Pacific Waters Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/30 sec @ f / 5.6 hand held.

10 Mar 20 During my time in Iceland I saw only two large reminders of their Viking heritage. The first and largest by far was a stature of Leif Eriksen that stands in front of the Hallgrimskirkja Lutheran church, images of which I've shared but not with the statue, and the second, a carving of Thor, in a jewelry store in which I lightened my wallet. He stood in the entrance and was a reminder of a culture past, or at least what we think was the culture. He was there for photo taking and there is a note, white rectangle in the image, on his left leg giving directions for what one shouldn't do when taking the photos. I thought you might like to meet Thor so today we have a shot of him seemingly mired in what we can think of as basalt although it isn't black. Walking around in the town I was amazed by all the art work on the buildings primarily in the form of murals. The artistry is really outstanding and I took a few dozen photos of the different pieces we encountered. Although this type of art certainly isn't unique to Iceland, what was sorta unique was both the abundance and quality of it. Thor of course is a carving and not something painted on a wall; nevertheless, he is as much a part of the community art as are the murals and the many statues located throughout the city. Perhaps a sample mural for tomorrow's fare before sharing one more church and then moving on to the only other city we visited, Akureyri. Thor is straight from the camera with just a wee bit of dodging and burning. Thor Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/30 sec @ f / 9 hand held.

11 Mar 20 Having completed our exploring of the cemetery we headed back to the hotel to rest some and dry out from our several hours walk in the weather wash cycle. Rested and having completed the rinse and dry cycles, we inquired of the front desk directions to a maritime museum we wanted to visit. I thought I had the directions correct and so we headed out only to find ourselves back at the Music Hall where we once again helped the economy. Now, armed with a better understanding of where we needed to go, we once again set out following the waterfront to our destination taking in the sights, including lots of street art along the way. By the time we found the museum it was closing for a hour (evening siesta?) but we realized that we were next door to a scheduled activity we had kind of forgotten about. So we took in that event, an Icelandic beer and food tasting with brewery tour that never materialized, and then made our way back to the hotel in a downpour. Our walks took us past many murals, one of which I'm sharing as an example of the quality of the street art we encountered throughout the business district. One thing I can say with certainty, and this submission fits in perfectly, I have virtually no idea as to what most of the art represented. For example, this roughly 50 foot mural features a Great Blue Heron, what appear to be shadows of the bird, fish, eyes, houses, and a general warning about child safety near the water, i.e, "Kids Don't Float", but there are no kids or people of any kind present. You may be able to put it all together in a meaningful way but so far I haven't succeeded. That didn't stop me however from recording many of the murals, some of which are far more complicated than this one and far more colorful. But I really liked the application of the blues in this one so I picked it to share as an example. If you look carefully you will see where I cropped off all of the building and I did so as it was both an unattractive building and the surrounding grounds somewhat messy. In the lower right hand corner you will note a partial date and I'm rather sure it is from the latter part of the 1900s due to the quality (newness) of the artwork. When it comes to interesting building art I'm venturing Iceland has to be among the better contenders. Other than cropping and a little straightening, this is straight from the camera. Warning Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/160 sec @ f / 9.

03 Mar 20 The image for today is one of the sanctuary of Hallgrimskirkja church. The color is warmer than it actually is due to the late afternoon winter light illuminating the interior. I made another with more realistic white balance but Jan liked this better so sharing it. Had to remove a distracting sign and a young lady who insisted on standing in front of the alter for an extended period of time chimping her phone images which was apparently far more important than letting others take a clean shot. She was still there blocking the view of others as we left! I had all 8 versions of this image prepared when I hit the wrong key and destroyed all my work so had to do it twice; need to pay better attention or have my prescription checked, likely both. There are two organs in this church neither of which can be seen in the photo but one has 4 manuals and a huge chamber (which can be seen in some of the 1,500 pictures which I've linked above in blue) and which is almost overhead from where I was standing when I took this shot. The other has two manuals and a small chamber all enclosed in a portable housing a small portion of which can be seen on the left side of the sanctuary across from the pulpit on the right. This smaller unit is very portable and I would imagine used for performances other than the Sunday services. Next visit to Reykjavik will concentrate on just the churches and museums, weather permitting. The original being rather skewed, I had to correct the skewdness, remove the girl and sign, and adjust the color balance a little. Warmly Presented Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/15 sec @f / 9 hand held.

17 Mar 20 O.K., here is the promised organ located at the rear - main entrance - of the Hallgrimskirkja Evangelical Lutheran Church in Reykjavik and I'm quoting from the church information page. This "concert organ is the largest in the country, and organists worldwide take pleasure in playing it and in recording in the church. Inaugurated in December 1992, it was constructed by Johannes Klais Organworks in Bonn, Germany, and has four manuals and a pedal, 72 stops, and 5275 pipes. It is 15 m high and weighs 25 tonnes. The largest pipes are 10 m long. It was financed substantially by private gifts – people were offered the opportunity to purchase individual pipes. There are still some left to be bought, and the shop has deeds of gift that can be bought and that certify that the purchaser is the patron of a particular pipe. At the church entrance a collection pipe can be found, for those interested in supporting the maintenance of the organ." Not much more for me to say other than it is a sight to behold and I wish I would have heard it played. The loft is on the second floor and is only occupied by the organ. Other than some straightening and a small amount of dodging and burning, this is what the camera recorded. The Klaisorgan Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 1,000; 1/20 sec @ f / 9 hand held.

12 Mar 20 One more church before we depart Reykjavik and head north to Akureyri, Iceland's 2nd largest city, for 3 days and begin looking at some of the attractions designed to pay off the national debt. As best my tired old eyes could focus, this is the second largest church in Reykjavik and, like Hallgrimskirkja, can be seen from just about anywhere in the downtown business district. This is Christ the King Cathedral and one of only two Catholic churches in Reykjavik as far as I could ascertain. Of interest to me was that of the 4 Sunday morning Masses, two are in Polish, one in English, and only one in Icelandic. Makes one wonder what happened to the only pure Nordic population still remaining that was so vocally touted in the 80s when I visited. Jan wanted me to share a creative version of this shot and I almost did but it left off an important element. This was how the weather was presenting on the morning we ultimately visited the cemetery. What you see is how it looked when we entered, but did not so remain for long and by the time we finished visiting the sanctuary the wet stuff, driven by wind, met us at the door as we exited. Before we ventured out we knew the weather was reported to be less than optimal but one can remain holed up for only so long and we didn't travel to Iceland to see the interior of hotels. As we left our sanctuary we actually did so in a brief period of sunshine but it was definitely to be brief. So the rest of the day we played with the weather taking in as much of the downtown as was reasonable. I'll share one interior shot likely on Monday and then we head out. I've enhanced the contrast some to show the storm and done a bit of badly needed straightening. Looking Ancient Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 640; 1/250 sec @ f / 7.1.

16 Mar 20 Having taken a look at the exterior of Christ the King Cathedral - did you notice once again the use of the basalt column look - we'll sneak inside and have a look at the interior. Not all of it, just the alter, but this is the most striking portion of the interior the nave being rather common place. The statue of Mary at the left is obvious but whatever Pope / Bishop / Apostle at the far right back I have no idea as the sanctuary was chained off as you will note at the very bottom of the shot. The flowers were fresh - nursery grown I'm certain - and the tree-like plants at the back potted. The floors were solid marble and the windows some kind of stained glass. The lighting was rather harsh and I had to shoot hand held so it isn't as sharp as I would have liked, but at least you get a small flavor of this lovely church. I think I would have enjoyed being present for the English Mass on Sunday morning. I had indicated a couple times previously that this would be the last shot from Reykjavik but as I've received several requests for a shot of the organ in Hallgrimskirkja Lutheran Church if I had one, and I do, I'll share that tomorrow and then move on North to Akureyri on Wednesday. Other than a small amount of straightening and some lighting balance, this is what the camera recorded. Alter Scene Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 1,000; 1/6 sec @ f / 6.3 hand held.

09 Mar 20 I thought seriously before sharing this image as it is one that may fall flat from your not being in the location when and where it was taken, but as it illustrates a couple of points I decided to take a chance. The shot is from a local cemetery not far from the hotel in which we were staying. It is actually quite large, doubles as a botanical garden, and apparently, according to what I think I read, is a setting for some cultural events, none of which are pertinent to the image. The day I took it we were wandering, literally, around the city looking for items of interest such as churches, gardens, museums, and the like. We had been so doing for quite a while, the weather was getting wetter, and we were not exactly certain as to our exact location so we asked a local who told us our desired destination was just a couple blocks past the cemetery where we should take a left turn, keep the pond on our right, and walk straight. The pond as it turned out was where we began our walk and so we were very close to our starting point having boxed the city, so to speak. When we found the cemetery I decided to enter as I find cemeteries to generally be interesting places and this one was no exception. Besides the botanical aspect what really caught my eye were the tombstones. Generally I like to read them but in this case it was the materials used that caught my eye. Most of them were either some kind of colorful granite or basically black basalt. The basalt ones were in the shape of either a single basalt column or several conjoined columns (a repeated theme throughout Iceland), while the granite ones were of a form you would readily recognize. I tried to capture both types in a single image. Most of the plots were marked off by a small wall varying in height from 6" to 24" giving something of the impression of elevated gardens although there obviously wasn't any elevation, just demarcation. In this shot the granite ones are in front, the basalt ones in the middle, and just plain simple crosses in the rear. Lighting was awful with moderate to dense shade inside the cemetery proper and very bright storm (rain) light on the street which made up the background most of which I tried to remove from this shot. Had the weather been a bit more cooperative I think we would have spent considerable more time learning about the botanical features that were abundant in the grounds proper. Other than some serious cropping and a wee bit of dodging and burning, this is what the camera saw. In the Rain Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 1000; 1/200 sec @ f / 6.3 (gotta love digital).

18 Mar 20 After four full days in Reykjavik we awoke to get our flight to Akureyri. Sitting in the lounge facing the street awaiting our driver to take us to the airport we got to enjoy a lovely hailstorm which, unknown to us at the time, was a harbinger of what was to come. The hail had stopped by the time we got to the airport but had changed to snow as we walked out on the tarmac to board our tiny plane that was our transportation to the northern city. Once above the storm we had a nice flight but with a rather obscured view being seated behind the prop and alongside the engine cowl. But we did get to see a tiny bit of the thoroughly snow and ice covered central highland area of Iceland. We landed in bright sunlight, the first we had experienced since arriving, and had a nice drive to the hotel with a driver - turned out to own the transportation company but we didn't learn that until our return flight - who did his best to give us a little overview of where we were and what we were seeing or should endeavor to see while there. He deposited us at the front of the nicest hotel in Akureyri which turned out to be one of the 9 hotels owned by the individual I mentioned earlier whom we met in the Reykjavik hotel. The owner had moved us at no additional cost from a shared room to two separate rooms with balconies and a magnificent view of the fjord alongside of which the city is built. Now I wasn't aware of this until yesterday, but there is a church tour of Iceland that features 8 unique churches. One of these, as you might imagine, is the big Lutheran church whose organ was the subject of yesterday's mailing. Another is the Catholic church I shared on two days, and a third just happens to be the Lutheran church that shared the sidewalk with our hotel and which is the subject for this and two more mailings. Of these 8 churches we got to see 6 all totaled so that was a bit of an unexpected treat. Akureyrakirk, or Church of Akureyri, is the largest church in northern Iceland and is another Evangelical Lutheran church. Not surprisingly it exterior is built on the basalt column theme but that is where any similarity with any other church ends. Today's mailing is how the church looked on our Saturday arrival, our only day of sunshine and no snow!! I leave the story at this point for today as I have two more images of this church to share and will continue the narrative in those additional mailings. Keep this image handy for one day as we will refer to it tomorrow. Other than a wee bit of contrast enhancement to bring out the texture of the stone used in construction, and a small amount of dodging & burning, this is what the camera saw. Between Snowstorms Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.

24 Mar 20 Church over, we headed back to the hotel looking for something to do in lieu of our cancelled trip. The desk clerk said that there was a wonderful nursery just up behind the church that we definitely would enjoy so we changed clothes and headed out to see the nursery. (Found out after returning home that the nursery is only open 4 months of the year due to weather conditions, February NOT being one of those months.) It turned out to be a bit further that just behind the church. The roads were a bit icy courtesy of the storm and on the way I fell twice, the first time just to my knee but the second time, while standing still taking a photo, straight over backward like a plank striking my head on the cement and momentarily loosing my lights. Should have been smart enough to stop at that point but pressed on only to fall similarly twice more but not as hard. Then I decided that the nursery excursion was over and headed back towards the hotel. Unfortunately we didn't make the right path decision a couple of times and wound up seeing more of the city than planned. That was the last time we traveled over ice sans crampons! We made our way back to the hotel and then did some downtown shots one of which I'll share tomorrow. Now the view from the church looking across the fjord is what you are seeing today. I took it the day before and had hoped for better but the snow intervened. The view illustrates a couple of things. First, there would appear to be a bit of money locally; zoom in to 50 - 100% and look at the homes. Second, there are a lot of trees although it looks like some of them aren't doing all that well. When I visited there about 40 years ago there were no trees save for a tiny forest the U.S. Navy had planted just so they could say they had trees. Now I saw them all over the island in various locations. Of interest to me was that one of the guides on the trip was telling us than when the original Nordic settlers came to the island 1,100 years ago (Medieval Warm Period c900 - c1300) it was fully forested and green. I asked him what happened and he casually said it just naturally got colder. He then mentioned his concerns about climate change and things getting warmer. I inquired if he thought it might just be natural for things to get cyclically colder, warmer, colder, and warmer and he yes it could but the current trend is not natural. We would have chatted more but he had to drive the bus and with the weather such as it was I thought he needed to be full time driving. This 5 frame pano is basically what the camera recorded. Hillside Habitation Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

26 Mar 20 Got the answer to the question about the girl from the same individual who gave me the story of the heron mural. If you are interested in learning about the portrait of Sia as a young girl, go to https://streetartnews.net/2014/09/guido-van-helten-new-mural-akureyri.html If this was interesting you can go to Street Art News to see more of his work or click on his name in the above web page. As we were walking along the end of the fjord we came to a large round building that turned out to be the visitor's center. It was more of a coffee shop / art display / tourist store than anything else but the building design was rather interesting in that it was mostly round and somewhat plain. However, with just a wee bit of imagination you can see, once again, the basalt column influence. It would have done well having Sia's image on it! It buts up against one edge of the ending fjord and sports a nice view of the water from the coffee shop area. On the fjord side of the building is this small containment of water. I'm not sure what it is for other than perhaps to serve as a small reflection pond, which it does admirably as you can see. It is sorta eye catching just because of its location, but what really caught my eye was the combination of deep shadow and brilliant reflection side by side. The deep blue shadows you see were not quite as blue in reality, and I've lightened them a little from what the camera recorded, but they were very dark and really complemented the bright reflection on the water's surface. The reflection does an excellent job of displaying the building architecture and I'm betting without too much effort you can see the basalt column influence. The top of the image shows the rusting retaining wall on top of which rests the building and gives the setting some needed color in the evening light. All that was missing was a couple of lads sailing their model boats to make it complete. Other than lightening the blue a wee bit and a small amount of cropping, this is what the camera recorded. Shadow and Light Nikon D500; 18 - 2--; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/125 sec @ f / 9.

20 Mar 20 Those of you who have lived or cruised on or near a fjord will likely identify with today's mailing; those of you who haven't probably not so much. But who knows. Walking that first day in Akureyri after having started with an aerial view from the church patio area, we headed down to the water to experience the fjord first hand and up close. As we approached our side of it we were immediately attracted to sections of ice undulating like a medusa with the gentle rocking of the water. The sun was sufficiently low to adorn them with enough shadow to give each a bas relief making each look like an individual piece of sculpture. You can almost "feel" it in this shot of a piece about 6 feet long. The water really is this blue! As we strolled along, neither of us in any hurry to remove ourselves from this magnificent matinee, we got to watch each piece take on a different look as Sol arced over heading into the sunset. Along the way we encountered, as I mentioned yesterday, two fishermen casting their lot between these floating masterpieces in hope of luring some unsuspecting fjord denizen to play with them but none rose to the bait while we were watching. A little further we came to a visitor center which we casually inspected while we warmed up a bit and enjoyed some beautiful modern art decorating one side of the interior each piece depicting some natural aspect of the land. Took a lot of photos of that work which I won't be sharing but may use as a mind jogger at some point. Having rewarmed we set back out to watch the antics of a diving duck as the sun set on the harbor creating some lovely shadows on the docks and moored vessels. Then it was back to the hotel to shoot a few evening shots like the one I shared yesterday. By the time we departed to return to Reykjavik 3 days later all the ice had melted. Another organ on Monday followed by some interesting images of the town. This is strictly what the camera recorded. Ice Age Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/160 sec @ f / 9.

19 Mar 20 50 years ago today a beautiful little girl came to join our family filling a void we didn't realize was there until that day. My how time flies! Now, referring back to yesterday's submission, this shot was taken from the other side of the 11 hand rails each of which serves 9 steps for a total of 99 steps up to the church. After spending our first day in Akureyri enjoying the sunshine and the locale, we drug our weary bodies back to the hotel which was easy to locate no matter where we were as it was nestled at the base of the church. Sitting atop a hill, Akureyrkirk is visible from virtually anywhere in the city which gives you an idea as to the city's size. From the hallway outside our rooms you could see a portion of the left side of the church which was mainly a view of the twin towers. We began our tour of the city by climbing the steps to the top from where you could see the entirety of the city situated alongside the fjord and across to the other side. That view is spectacular and I'll share at least one image of it. We then meandered all over the waterfront section until it began to get dark; and we made our return we could see not only part of this view but lit ski slopes as well. Along the way we even encountered a couple of hopeful fishermen casting their lines between the pieces of ice bumping up against the dock on which we were walking. It was our grand hope that we would get to shoot the Northern Lights that night but a full moon made certain that didn't occur but our hopes were still up as the following night was a potential plus we had a guided tour scheduled two night hence for capturing them. Only problem was that we awoke on that second day to a heavy snowfall that was to be with us on and off until we departed to return to Reykjavik and cancelled our excursion for that day, a Sunday, so we took the opportunity to worship in Akureyrkirk, a most interesting experience. More about that in another mailing when I share a shot of the organ and chat a bit about the interior of the church. One thing for certain, no matter the weather, this is how that church looks every night. Other than a little straightening and moving the moon to a better position than it was in the capture, this is what the camera recorded. Akureyrkirk at Night Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/6 sec @ f / 6.3 hand held.

23 Mar 20 With Saturday's full moon preventing our getting a chance of the Northern Lights but making for a nice shot of Akureyrkirkja we retired looking forward to our trip in the morning to Lake Myvatin to see several sights including a major waterfall, thermal baths, the lake itself where episodes of Game of Thrones were shot, and a few other sights. We awoke to a snowstorm instead. But hey, this is Iceland so it will be no biggie. Only it was! After waiting for over an hour for our transportation to arrive we got the front desk to call the agency who informed us the trip had been cancelled. O.K. being Sunday, why not take in the service at Akureyrkirkja and so we did. Now I had been forewarned that it was a VERY liberal church, but I wasn't quite prepared for how liberal. Of course the service, such as it was, was entirely in Icelandic, but I did recognize the Apostle's Creed, but other than that I couldn't recognize ANYTHING that resembled a Lutheran service. To be totally fair, they were supporting a competitive music performance of which that two hour organ/song singing in Reykjavik was likely also a part, but the entire service was a gentleman talking for maybe 30 minutes following a long speech by the minister who was laughing half the time she was speaking plus the congregation singing two popular songs, one by the Beatles and the other by ABBA. The interior has a large sailing ship hanging from the ceiling which reflects an old Nordic tradition of giving offerings for the protection of loved ones at sea, a unique interpretation of the crucifixion which I couldn't even locate, and a lot of stained glass windows with not quite the usual themes one is accustomed to seeing in churches. Plus a beautiful organ. Thinking it inappropriate to haul my big camera in to the service I just took the cell phone - BIG mistake - and asked when we entered with plenty of time to go back if needed and get the big boy if we would have time after the service to go back and get the camera and return to take photos. I was told no problem, plenty of time to do so after the service ends. You already know where this is going. After the service concluded I was informed that they would be locking the church in about 15 minutes which all I could do was shoot with the phone. You can imagine how pleased I was!! So I took what I could and it all turned out awful. But I want to share this last organ with you so I've done my best to make it at least marginally acceptable. This organ only has 3200 pipes. Before all this travelogue concludes I'll be sharing three more churches which means that you'll see 6 of the 8 in the church tour. The remaining three will just be exterior shots, one shot during that major storm with winds approaching 80 knots when I shot it. This is straight from the phone with some attempted sharpening plus straightening. Colored Samsung A10e; ISO 250; 1/60 sec @ f /1.9 .

27 Mar 20 As we prepare to depart for the hinterlands I thought I'd share something underfoot. At least most of you will remember my story of sharing some macro photos with a colleague that I had taken on his mountain property with him standing right next to me when I shot them. When he saw the slides the next day he asked me where I got them; my response was you were standing right on top of the stuff. Today's some whimsical submission is of the same idea. Those nice clean steps, all 99 of them, that led up to the church were free of snow when I took that church image, but the next morning, following that overnight snowfall, that wasn't the case. As we weren't the first to climb those stairs, we were greeted by tell tale tracks of those who had tread them prior and they made for an interesting and amusing photo. As I was composing the frame several ideas for using it came to mind: a puzzle, a guessing game about which manufacturer made which boot, the size of the wearer, a texture, and wallpaper are among them. I saw and shot similar displays on different surfaces throughout the city and some of them on objects I wouldn't have thought smart due to the possibility of slipping off and getting injured. Not sure where that idea came from but . . . . We'll use this as our jumping off place for our trip to the Lake Myvatin area on Monday and enter Game of Thrones territory. This is straight from the camera save for a bit of cropping and a wee bit of dodging and burning. Footsteps Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.

25 Mar 20 Our last afternoon in Akureyri had us walking around the main business part of the city all of which is on level ground and near the fjord. We encountered many things that made us think we were still in the states along with movie ads, posters, vendors whose products the same like a Pepsi and a dog, and a fair amount of nostalgic settings that I was surprised to see in Iceland. There wasn't much traffic of any kind but that may have been due to it being a Sunday and many of the establishments were closed, and in particular the ones in which I wanted to make some purchases. That was unfortunate as it turned out as the money I had taken for making purchases was worth roughly half what I paid for it by the time we got back home. (I'll just have to use it on the next trip.) Like Reykjavik, there was a lot of art work on the buildings, much of it very nice. My favorite piece, about which I have no info, is this drawing of a young girl who is missing a chunk of her hair due to the design of the building on which she is presented. Looking at the several vehicles on the street, mostly Subaru sized, you can get some idea as to the size of the drawing. There were many more equally nice pieces of art to be seen, all interesting in their own ways, but this one of the child really caught my eye and has held my interest. If any of you might know her story I'd love to hear it. Two more city shots to go and then we'll be off to 8 days of the wilds of Iceland, and boy were they, in both images and videos. I've cropped away a lot of unnecessary material, removed a few distractions, and given a bit of contrast enhancement to the original. Wall Art Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO200; 1/320 sec @ f / 9.

30 Mar 20 Our Sunday trip to Lake Myvatin having been canceled and rescheduled for Monday, we got up to another snow storm and figured it would once again be canceled but got prepared just in case. Apparently the loss of money was of more concern than anything so this time they showed up, in worse weather than the previous day, 10 minutes early. We were the last pick up so off we went. Hadn't gone more than 4 miles when we met with a closure of the main road, so we took a different route, the 17KM tunnel detour. Opened just two years ago, it was a political mess. Tunnel drilling began from the south side but 2 KM in they hit hot water (22°C) and switched to the northern side where they hit cold water. Not exactly sure how they completed it but now it is a tourist attraction in addition to a roadway. The hot water is used to circulate over the tunnel keeping it dry year round and then is going to be used for a public swimming pool for the neighboring community which is lacking a pool. Apparently public swimming pools are part of each neighborhood. After approximately a 45 minute drive we arrived at our first destination, Godafoss Falls. The storm had increased in intensity by the time we arrived so we exited the bus in c30mph winds blowing the snow at us like tiny darts. The walk from the bus to the falls was along the runoff (river) which obviously was the water that created the falls a few hundred feet upstream. Our guide cautioned us to not fall in as even though it wasn't all that deep, and it wasn't, perhaps 3 feet a most, it was running fast and was very cold, approaching 0°C. With the overcast weather - snowstorm - the white snow didn't look as white as you might expect since it was reflecting the sky above, and that combined with the blue green of the water made for an very chilly looking environment. However it did make for some interesting images. We start with a look at the runoff about 300 feet downstream as it approaches the highway passing over it via a bridge that we traveled in both directions. I would have liked to stop and shoot from the bridge, it would have been a grand shot, but that wasn't to be. This is a pano to give you a feel for the location. The rocks forming both sides of the river are basalt and are quite black and likely would really show off the area better if not coated in snow, but still do a reasonable job even in the storm. Near the top of the image you can see areas where you can shoot when the weather permits; we were confined to staying on the asphalt path on just this opposite side. What looks like either white grain or dirt on the photo is blowing snow. Knowing that the shutter speed was 1/320 sec and looking at the length of some of those white blurs you will have an appreciation of the windy conditions in which we were working. If this seems like a crazy thing to do, wait until mid-week to make your judgement. This 8 frame pano has been brightened some, giving a little contrast enhancement, and cropped for best presentation. Liquid Ice Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 1000; 1/320 sec @ f / 9.

31 Mar 20 It's been a while since I've shared a B&W and as this is B&W Tuesday we are going with that look. Yesterday I shared what the river looked like downstream. Today we walk a short distance up the trail - left side of that image - to the first vantage point where you begin to see the falls. "Goðafoss waterfall is often nicknamed the waterfall of the gods. Some believe that the name comes from the fact that the waterfall is godlike in beauty but an old Icelandic legend tells the tale of the waterfall’s name through a Viking leader named Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði. Þorgeir who was a lay speaker at the old Alþingi parliament is said to have, as a part of his conversion to Christianity, thrown his Pagan statues into the waterfall resulting in the name giving. No one really knows the accurate story of the waterfall’s name but leaving it as a mystery might also play a part in keeping it mythic." Obviously that typeface didn't originate from my keyboard, but we'll stick with that story. The falls consists of two sections butting up against one another. In the image today you are looking at the 12 o'clock section with the remainder at the 9 o'clock position. Tomorrow we'll continue on the walk to the first spot where you can see most of it at once from this side and return to color. The use of just tone gives a better impression of the texture of that ice and the basalt. Tomorrow's color version will leave you with a different impression. I've added a wee bit of contrast enhancement, obviously converted to B&W, and cropped off a bit from the top. Scayleaish Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 1000; 1/320 sec @ f / 9.

04 Mar 20 Interestingly to me during our visit was that we were told that we needed to visit only one location by anyone in Reykjavik and that was from an individual who was transporting us to the second of the two hotels in which we stayed while in Reykjavik. The spot highly recommend was a small "white" building just three blocks from the hotel locally known as the Hofdi Reception House. It is unlikely that this name will mean anything to any of you until I tell you what occurred there and then you'll go "Oh, I remember that." The Hofdi Reception House is where Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan met on the 11 - 12th of October '86 to begin the talks leading to the end of the Cold War. The morning we went to visit the building was closed, not sure it is ever open for tourists, the wind was blowing enough to get our attention, the ground frozen and slippery, and we decided that once we had seen it the best place for us was indoors. But I did get a couple of shots of it, along with the engraved stone plaque telling about the building. I also took a few shots of the surrounds which were/are simply gorgeous being the North Atlantic Ocean with the Akrafiall Mountains (I think) in the background a hint of which you can see just behind the bench on the right. Likely a pano tomorrow of the surrounds. Other than a small amount of straightening and a wee bit of dodging and burning this is what the camera saw. Awaiting the Dignitaries Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/2500 sec @ f / 8.

05 Mar 20 Turn about 60 degrees to the right from where I was standing when I took the shot of the Hofdi Reception House and this is what you will see. When Jan looked at the picture of the house her comment was something along the lines of why would anyone want to go there for a meeting to which I had two responses. The first was that perhaps it was halfway between Moscow and Oz (Washington D.C.) and the second was look at the view. This is what you would see from inside the building sans the road and lights. The road, the brownish band between the street lights, is one of the main roads through this section of downtown Reykjavik. Much of the business district, if not most, is either right on the waterfront or a block or two higher up as the city is rather hilly! The yellow buoy as I understood it is actually a working light house but it did seem oddly located. As you can see from the whitecaps there was a bit of a breeze blowing that morning and a very chilly one at that. It had snowed the previous night and the morning sunrise - around 0900 - had painted the freshly fallen snow a peachy color rendering the city something reminiscent of a checkers/chess playing board. This was to be an indication of what we would be seeing for the next 10 days, freshly fallen snow on the mountains and grounds. Sometimes we would get to see it as you see it here, other times in the middle of a storm. This is just a teaser of what we'll be looking at for the next several weeks. This is a 7 frame pano that for some reason didn't want to save out after being created so I only have this lower resolution of it to share. Spent the better part of 2 hours trying to figure out why it wouldn't save but to no avail. Hoping I don't have this problem ever again. Ocean Front Property Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1600 sec @ f / 8.

06 Mar 20 We take a break from the land of fire and ice to have a peek at a bit of front year foliage. One of Jan's favorite flowers, if you want to call it such, is the pussy willow. I've always appreciated them but it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I really became interested in them, at least as a photographic subject, when I discovered red ones at our local nursery. Now one resides in our landscape and I'm patiently waiting for it to grow into a tree! The day I left for Iceland it had blossomed out fully and I expected it to be all gone by the time I returned. Much to my delight it was still going strong upon my return so I grabbed a few frames. It is still today looking rather good although I'm starting to see green buds so it won't be long before the fuzzy things are falling to the ground. For today we have a close up of how it looked about 10 days ago, and, if you've never seen a red pussy willow, you are in for a treat, or at least so I think. This is straight from the camera save for some cropping and a wee bit of contrast enhancement. Red Light Green Light Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/200 sec @ f / 5.