Iceland with my first SLR

ChuckM

From Hallgrimskirkja church in Reykjavik.


It's not the best picture but...
After having a day tour canceled. We called a company called "Mountain Taxi" to see if they could take us out for the day. As the name implies, we weren't doing too much driving on the roads. Anyway, I wanted to show a picture of the truck and just how "in the middle of nowhere" we were.



It's the land of fire and ice... well the fire part comes from geothermal activity. Here's a geyser about to do it's thing...


Well the tour that was canceled wasn't offered anymore. So they offered to fly us to Greenland for the day. (it was cold and icy) The airport was an old dirt strip build by the US during the cold war.

More Greenland...


OK, back to Iceland. One thing about Iceland I found interesting was that the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet in Iceland. These plates are always moving apart from each other so it is some of the youngest rock on the planet. It also makes for some pretty shots.



Iceland is also home to Europe's largest glacier. While we didn't get to see it (see canceled trip above), we did see some. They're much dirtier than I thought they would be.



With the glaciers comes lots of water. It has to go somewhere...

The water is also funny colors in spots. There are many hot springs. This was taken near one of the more famous ones. "The Blue Lagoon" (no, she wasn't there)



That's all. My pictures do NOT do justice to the beauty of this country.

Please feel free to comment. I welcome any pointers.

USAIR

Chuck thanks for the trip to Iceland
Love the photos cool colors in some of the waters too.
Cool airport too and it looks like you did a good job with the SLR

Fred

schmoo

My pictures do NOT do justice to the beauty of this country.

I wouldn't sell yourself so short... looks pretty darned nice from here!

Iceland has always been a country I wanted to visit. I've only been there once - on a layover to Germany for about 20 minutes, and it was so foggy that day I couldn't see past the runways. Certainly didn't catch any mountains or glaciers or lakes.

thanks for sharing!

David_S85

Thanks Chuck. What a country for landscapes!

ChuckM

Thank you for the replies.

It was incredible.

I also learned how valuable a good tripod must be. I did NOT have a good tripod. Old, heavy, and wobbly. Still, I probabaly should have used it more than I did.

Anyway... thanks to all. Special thanks to the DGrin community for helping me learn what I'm doing.

Next stop... win a challenge!!!!!

JohnMc

ChuckM wrote:

I did NOT have a good tripod. Old, heavy, and wobbly. quote]

Hi Chuck,
I also got tired of lugging around tripods and found this thing called a Trekpod on the net. It's a combination walking stick, monopod, tripod and travels well. I just got back from a long trip and was even able to use it while riding in an open land rover thing. You might want to give it a try. Enjoyed your pictures.

JMc

System

It's funny that Iceland is very green and Greenland is very icy. The glaciers are dark because all summer the sun beats down on them with little new snow. The rock that is in the ice heats and ends up forming a rather thick layer that resided just below that last layer of snow. This especially true of the terminal end of a glacier. A bit further up the glacier you witness tiny mounds of ice, each capped with a piece of stone. The stone actually shades the ice below it and the surrounding ice melts away at a faster rate. Kinda cool.

rallymaniac

Awesome place, it's on my list of "places to visit". I love the scenery and the fact that the iland is so friendly and you get 6 months of daylight in the summer

Awais Yaqub

great series thanks for sharing

ChadMaca

Awais Yaqub wrote:

great series thanks for sharing

ditto

hyson

JohnMc wrote:

ChuckM wrote:

I did NOT have a good tripod. Old, heavy, and wobbly. quote]

Hi Chuck,
I also got tired of lugging around tripods and found this thing called a Trekpod on the net. It's a combination walking stick, monopod, tripod and travels well. I just got back from a long trip and was even able to use it while riding in an open land rover thing. You might want to give it a try. Enjoyed your pictures.

JMc

TrekPod. Looks neat.

smhs.images

hyson wrote:

JohnMc wrote:

TrekPod. Looks neat.

Also when I am traveling I use the Pod .
It is much more convenient than a normal tripod and you can use it in the trickiest of spots. When in need I just put it on the ground for a different perspective.

Also I loved your photos and would love to see Iceland myself someday soon!