Category Archives: travel

Iceland, Day 3, continuing eastward

My third day in Iceland was going to require a lot of driving but I made a couple of quick stops not far from my hotel in Kirkjubæjarklaustur before hitting the road. First up was Kirkjugólf, or “church floor” (above). A natural feature of basalt columns that resembled a tiled floor. Nearby was the waterfall, Stjornarfoss:

I was still trying to make up time for the day before when I’d had to return to the international airport to retrieve my “lost” luggage. I’d hoped to have gotten to another waterfall, Svartifoss, on day two and then photographed the mountain Lómagnúpur at sunset on my way back to the hotel. I’d had to cut my day short, however, so I finally passed Lómagnúpur early on the morning of day three:

I stopped at the trailhead for Svartifoss but the shorter trail appeared to be closed and I didn’t have time to take the longer route. It became another thing for my “on the way back” list and I kept moving eastward, occasionally distracted by the glaciers which were now beginning to appear to the north:

It’s really amazing the amount of diverse landscapes that you can encounter in a few hours driving along Iceland’s south coast. There’s generally a flat plain along the shore that makes for easy, level driving but, just to the north of the road, the land often abruptly rises up in a fantastic array of crazy mountains. Then, after crossing another vast field of black sand and rock, you suddenly arrive at Jökulsárlón — the iceberg lagoon:

Here, large chunks of glacier calve off into a bay and are trapped until they melt enough to drift out to sea. On the ocean side of the road, remnants of the ice dot the black beach waiting for the tide to return and take them out into the Atlantic.

Back on the ring road, I continued east and eventually found myself in Iceland’s East Fjords:

I stopped for a late lunch (mushroom soup) in the village of Djúpivogur. I ate at an outside table, overlooking this quiet bay. The weather was absolutely perfect. Pleasantly cool, sunny and very little wind.

I also had my first experience buying gas just outside Djúpivogur. Opportunities had been few and far between, the farther east I went, and I didn’t want to get caught with an empty tank on some lonesome stretch of road. I found a station on the outskirts of the village that was unmanned on the weekend, its doors locked, but the pumps appeared to be self-service. I remembered (luckily) that my Tiguan required diesel, and set about trying to decipher the instructions on the pump. I inserted my card and was prompted for a PIN, which I never have to use in the States. I made my best guess, hoping that — if I was wrong — it wouldn’t keep my card and run it through a shredder inside the pump. Luckily, I managed to guess right, but was then prompted to enter the amount I wanted to spend on gas. Hmmm… Diesel… in liters… in krona… who knows? I made another guess — which was woefully inadequate — but in a second attempt at the whole process, managed to end up with a full tank once again.

As I continued on, I left the Highway 1 and took a gravel road to a waterfall — Foldafoss — that I’d found during my online research. It was a fantastic setting, with the sun setting and backlighting only a bit of the canyon wall above the falls (see at right, below):

I made a few photos here and then decided to continue on up the gravel road to shortcut my path to that night’s hotel in Fljótsdalshérað. The gravel road was well-maintained but became extremely steep with sharp switchbacks as it climbed its way up the mountains. I rejoined Highway 1 once on the ridge and the rest of the drive was fairly uneventful, although it passed through some beautiful country. Occasionally, I’d catch glimpses of the bridges left over from previous versions of the ring road:

For the first time on this trip, I was beginning to see signs of the volcanic activity taking place in Holuhraun. The eruption had begun even before I had arrived and there was some question of whether it might progress to the point that it would disrupt air traffic like the eruption in Iceland in 2010. So far it was fairly well behaved, although the hotel lobbies in the eastern part of Iceland had large signs giving volcano updates. Air quality was getting poor in some areas but the wind direction had so far kept the smoke and vapors well away from the area I had been traveling in. Now that I was circling back on the east side of the volcano, however, the sky began to show signs of volcanic particles. The sunset was one of the odder I’ve ever seen, at times taking on an almost oily quality.

I settled in to my hotel and walked across the road to a grocery store, thinking to lay in a supply of snacks for the next few days of driving but, being a saturday, the town seemed to close down after 6:00 and all I could find that was open was a Subway sandwich shop. Not my most glamorous meal while in Iceland, but a welcome one after a long day’s drive through some spectacular scenery.

Iceland, Day 2, hitting the road

Long post — make yourself comfortable…

My second day in Iceland began on a much better note. It was still a bit grey and dreary as I was given my rental car in Reykjavik, but I headed back to the airport in Keflavik with sunshine in my heart in the hopes of seeing my luggage again. And I did. While I had flown to Iceland via Minneapolis, my bag seems to have spent a night in New York. I hope it enjoyed itself and stayed out of trouble. Regardless, I was happy to have him back and I tossed him in the Tiguan and headed east. I was about an hour and a half to two hours behind schedule due to the airport stop, but it could have been much worse.

I put some miles in before stopping at all, but the sky was beginning to break as I approached the waterfall named Seljalandsfoss, and I decided to make my first photo of the day. The shot above is from this stop. I used a heavy neutral density filter to get a slow enough shutter speed to achieve that misty quality on the falls.

From my research, I knew there was another fall I wanted to shoot down the trail from Seljalandsfoss. Gljufurarfoss is similar in scale, but falls into a sort of canyon/cave and is accessed through a narrow opening in the cliff face. Here’s one shot of it, and another was one of my winning Shootout images featured in a previous post:

I couldn’t get the long exposures I’d wanted here because the mist was blowing out through the crevice so strongly that I couldn’t keep my lens clear long enough. I made several exposures hand-held from the opening and from inside the cave, then headed back toward the car, grabbing a few more shots of Seljalandsfoss along the way.

Back on the road, the light was getting better and better as beams of sunlight were breaking through gaps in the cloud cover.

I arrived at one of the south coast’s most famous waterfalls, Skogafoss, but decided to only grab a quick snap from a distance. The wind was very strong and I could see the mist was blowing directly up into the overlook where I’d hoped to get a few shots. Given my recent experience with trying to shoot into spray, I decided to push on. After all, I’d have another chance to stop at Skogafoss on my way back in two days. At least that’s what I thought.

My drive next took me through an extensive lava field, covered in green moss. I stopped a time or two to grab a photo, but kept moving so that I could arrive at Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon before I lost the sun. The road I took to get there wasn’t quite as primitive as this one, but I definitely got my first taste of leaving the asphalt:

The canyon certainly didn’t disappoint, and it did give me another of my Shootout-winning images (see it in this previous post).

It was not a place for the faint of heart. Paths like the one above would take you out on narrow fins of earth with dizzying drops on all sides to the river far below. Here’s the view down from the end of the path in the last image:

One more quick stop for Icelandic horses, and I made it to my hotel for the night in Kirkjubæjarklaustur.

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The sun had set but the sky continued to be nice for quite some time, so I took advantage and walked around the small town, finding this shot of a church just a short distance up the road:

The hotel asked if I would like a wake-up call should the northern lights make an appearance. Sure, I said, and just half an hour or so after getting into my room, I received my call. I gathered camera and tripod and headed back outside, only to find the show was already over. I made a few long exposures to humor myself — and could see some remaining aurora in the resulting images — but didn’t get anything I will bother to share with you here. I can say that I have seen the northern lights, but you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Iceland, Day 1 in Reykjavik

I’ll do a little day-by-day of my SATW Photo Shootout experience over the next few posts. In this report, I’ll show a few images from my first day in Reykjavik.

I’ll admit, I was off my game. My luggage didn’t arrive and, while I had everything really critical with me in my carryon, I didn’t have my tripod which I’d planned on using for some long exposures both at sunset and sunrise. Suck it up and adapt, right? That’s what I tried to do, although my first day of any trip is seldom my most productive. You need to make a start, though, and get those creative juices flowing.

I had arrived early that morning and would be staying at the Icelandair Marina Hotel in Reykjavik that first night. We’d each get a rental car the following morning, to begin exploring the country on our own. So, really, this was kind of a warm-up day without too much expectation. The Photo Shootout participants met mid-day and we were given the rules and cut loose to start shooting.

I knew I wanted to get some images of Reykjavik’s iconic Solfar sculpture, even though I doubted I’d enter any in the competition because it has been shot so many times and in so many ways. I didn’t imagine I’d get anything “new” but I wanted to shoot it for my files nonetheless. Here are a couple that I ended up liking. One fairly straightforward and one more abstract, made by spinning the camera during the exposure:

Next stop was the famous church, the Hallgrímskirkja, and the statue of Leif Erickson:

Nearer sunset, I returned to the church hoping to get some color in the sky but it turned out to be fairly grey. Still, there were some nice shots to be made as the lights were beginning to come on around downtown.

In the end, none of my Day 1 shots made it into my 15 shot Shootout portfolio, but I hadn’t really expected they would. The following morning I’d get my car and drive back to the airport to (hopefully) pick up my lost luggage, and begin the “real” part of the Shootout. I was looking forward to seeing some new country — and to seeing my luggage again.

Iceland Photo Shootout

I spent ten days in Iceland earlier this month attending the Annual Convention of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW). As a pre-tour, I participated in a Photo Shootout. It was my first time doing so and, in this case, it amounted to nine photographers arriving five days early, being provided rental cars (my VW Tiguan and I became very close) and hotels for our first night in Reykjavik and the following three nights scattered all around Iceland. We were each on our own to photograph what we wanted and, at then end of the shooting period, we each entered 15 images to be judged during the convention. On the final night the results were announced and I’m happy to report that I came away with 2 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze.

I believe the images in this post are my winners. I can’t be certain because I spent most of the presentation show marveling at the shots the other 8 photographers made during the Shootout. I think this is correct, but I’ll post a correction if I find out that I’ve mislabeled one.

The shot at the top of the post was, I believe, my Bronze in the “scenic-water” category. It’s a waterfall named Gljufurarfoss that falls into a space behind a sort of slot canyon, or natural arch. It’s a fairly tight space to get this shot from the entrance to the falls and it’s a challenge because the spray from the falls is being blown straight toward you — and your lens. I’m glad my effort paid off and I was awarded for this one. I’m also glad I didn’t fall into that water, which I’m pretty sure was fairly cool.

The above shot of Folaldafoss in eastern Iceland is — I think — the shot that took the Silver in in the same “scenic-water” category. I really should have taken notes during the awards show. This fall I visited twice. The first time was on the previous day and I arrived late enough that the falls were backlit and the light was very harsh. I remember thinking at the time that it would really look great in more overcast weather and, the next morning, I was rewarded with just that. I made another stop at the falls and hiked through the brambles to get this shot in much moodier light. I thought the weather conditions fit the scene much better.

I took the Gold in the “scenic-land” category and I’m more confident that it was for this shot (above) of Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon near Kirkjubæjarklaustur (what a fantastic language, Icelandic!). This was a spectacular hike that followed the eastern ridge of a canyon with sheer drop-offs to the river below. Fins of land jutted out into the canyon at regular intervals, just wide enough for a footpath. Not a place for those with height issues, but it was spectacular and not easily conveyed through photographs.

My other gold was in the “people” category and I only had one photo entered in that one so this is it. I spotted these two hikers getting out of their car as I was setting up for another shot across the road. As soon as I saw that beard, I knew I needed to see about taking their photo. They were very agreeable to working with me and I hope they enjoyed their hike afterward. I’m sure they also enjoyed a few chuckles as they reminisced about that crazy American that wanted to take their photo.

I’ll post more Iceland shots — and the stories behind them — soon. Stay tuned…

Puente la Reina, Spain, and the countryside

I did escape the crowds of Pamplona’s San Fermin for one afternoon with a short trip out to Puente la Reina, a beautiful town situated on the Rio Arga. The Church of Santiago el Mayor (above), dominates the smaller facades of Calle Mayor. We walked the length of the street to the 12th century bridge for which the town is named, taking in the architectural sights along the way.

Someone mentioned wine and we suddenly found ourselves getting an impromptu tour of the nearby Palacio de Muruzabal winery. These things happen when in Spain.

Back on the road, we made our way to Uterga.

One last look across the fields toward Muruzabal:

And back to Pamplona just in time for sunset and another fine dinner overlooking the Church of St. Lorenzo:

Bullfighting in Pamplona, Spain

I know there are a lot of strong opinions on bullfighting and, if you want to stop reading right now, feel free. I’ll understand. I, myself, hesitated when faced with the opportunity of photographing a bullfight. In the end, I decided it was an important part of the Spanish culture that I wanted to experience for myself. And, truthfully, I’m glad I did because the spectacle of the setting, the suits, the movement and the excitement all made for an incredible evening. I’m not saying I’m now 100% pro-bullfighting, nor would I encourage anyone to go that didn’t want to, but experiencing different cultures is good. Getting outside of your comfort zone is good.

Just seeing the bullfighters prepare before entering the ring is special enough. The clothing is spectacular and you get a real sense of the focus and concentration that is needed.

Bullfighters are celebrities in Spain and the tunnel that leads to the ring resembles the red carpet of a Hollywood event. Photographers are asked to keep back a few meters to give the bullfighters space, but beyond those few meters it’s a chaotic scene of media and bullfighting fans. Still, at some point you see the bullfighters begin to find their inner calm.

Then the entourage enters the ring.

The fights themselves move quite quickly. I found many of my favorite shots were those I made using slow shutter speeds so that the movement and speed of the bull was apparent.

And don’t believe that there is no danger in it for the matador. Here the bull’s horn pierces the pant leg of matador Ivan Fandino and lifts him off the ground (he was not seriously injured and managed to finish the fight):

And here are two last images, this time of matador Juan Jose Padilla:

The Giants and the Bigheads of San Fermin

I mentioned in an earlier post how the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain, is so much more than just the running of the bulls. One of my favorite parts of the festival is the visually stunning and family-friendly Comparsa of the Giants and Bigheads. The current Giant and Bighead characters date from around 1860, replacing older versions that had fallen into disrepair. Wherever they go, a crowd gathers. I saw them briefly on my first day in Pamplona, but the crowds were so tight it was difficult to find a position for good photographs. On my second day, I was lucky enough to run into them again during some free time and I managed much better.

Coming upon the parade from behind, I could see where they would be going — which appeared to be a different route than they had taken the day before. This time they were heading down Estafeta Street — the same street I had scouted for my long telephoto shot of the running of the bulls. After getting a few shots of families enjoying the festivities from my initial vantage point, I set off to walk around a few blocks and be ready as the procession approached me closer to the bullfighting arena.

And they arrived — coming right down Estafeta following the same path that the bulls do each morning. The shot below shows the full procession with the Bigheads in the lead and the Giants following behind. The Bigheads interact with the people in the crowd as the Giants twirl and dance.

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This last shot is the one I was really looking for and hoping to get. I love the compression from the long lens (this was my Tamron 150-600mm zoom, set to 450mm) and the way the shallow depth-of-field isolated the Giants by softly blurring the balconies in the background. As you can see by the myriad children in all of these photos, this really is a family event and the kids love it. Hey, I loved it!

Pamplona, Spain

In my last post, I wrote about the running of the bulls during the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona, Spain. There is so much more to San Fermin, so much more to Pamplona, that I want to devote a few more posts to the city and the festival — beyond the running of the bulls. Don’t get me wrong — the encierro was a spectacular and exciting event to witness. But there was so much more to love about Pamplona during festival time.

Here, an accordion player serenades diners in the sidewalk cafes lining the Plaza del Castillo:

In this post, I’ll introduce the city of Pamplona itself and I’ll get into other aspects of San Fermin in the following posts. Pamplona is a beautiful city with a wonderful old sector that rose tall over the years — often to six or seven stories. The need to grow upward came from this being a walled city that, for a long period, did not expand outside those walls. The narrow streets are shaded even throughout the hottest parts of the day and there is a sort of natural air conditioning that occurs. This, I’ve been told, because the week I spent there was unseasonably cool anyway, with highs only in the lower 80s F.

During quieter parts of the Festival, some locals have family meals in the streets, using the narrow spaces as extensions of their own dining rooms:

Back to the city walls — they still remain and there are beautiful wall walks in many areas that offer stunning views of the hills beyond the newer parts of the city.

Another great stop is the 15th century Cathedral of Royal Saint Mary:

This cathedral is actually available for events with an incredible variety of interior spaces. It also houses the OCCIDENS exposition, an unconventional museum of western civilization. Each gallery is uniquely designed and as engaging as the objects displayed within.

Pamplona would be a wonderful spot to visit even outside of the San Fermin Festival with surprises and wonders around every corner. The narrow, winding, sometimes hilly streets conceal and reveal with each step.

The running of the bulls, Pamplona, Spain

I have photographed bovines in abundance this summer, but the pinnacle may have come in early July when I went to Pamplona, Spain, for the San Fermin Festival and the running of the bulls. The spectacle of people running through these crowded streets alongside bulls that are being driven toward the bullring was made famous by Earnest Hemingway in his 1925 novel, “The Sun also Rises.” I read the book on the way to Pamplona and I have to say, I thought it was more about drinking and fishing than bulls, but I’m no literary scholar. The fact remains, because of Hemingway, everyone is now familiar with the running of the bulls in Pamplona. Which is a real shame, because I found other aspects of the San Fermin Festival to be at least, if not more, entertaining.

That said, when in Pamplona during San Fermin, you’ve got to see the running of the bulls, known locally as the encierro. And it is worth it. I was able to go three days in a row (the encierro is at 8 a.m. every morning from July 7-14) and would have happily gone again. As a photographer, it’s a difficult event to shoot in one try. The entire run takes just a few minutes and you can’t see the entire course from any one vantage point so the action literally passes by you in seconds.

For my first encierro, I had a spot on a balcony of the City Hall. It was near the beginning of the run, as the bulls are coming up a hill and entering a public square to make a sharp left. Here was my view from that vantage point:

Better yet, here’s a looping animation of several frames I fired off on that first day:

That was a great start, but I was really looking forward to my second day, when I had a pass to be in the barricade at street level. This is a narrow space between the temporary fence that holds the general public back and the fence that separates you from the route itself. The only people allowed in this gap are credentialed journalists, police and emergency medical personnel. But, you can’t just stand in there. To photograph the event, you need to be straddling the fence itself so that you leave the space below the bottom rail open. That way if (when) runners fall, they can roll to safety without your feet being in the way.

Here’s a shot from that vantage point as the route was getting one final inspection:

A few moments later, the runners — and bulls — arrived:

I love the telephoto compression that came from using my Tamron 150-600mm zoom here, but the runner’s bodies nearly obscure the bulls altogether. If was difficult to even tell if the bulls were in the frame through the viewfinder so I just continued to shoot and hoped for the best. Upon later inspection of the images, this one was among my favorite.

Once the bulls were too close for the telephoto, I had one last — quick — opportunity to grab a few wide-angle shots as they passed:

My third day and third encierro found me back on a balcony, this time one floor higher and on the street that makes for the longest straightaway during the run: Calle Estafeta:

This view allowed me a little more time as you could track the bulls approaching and passing by. It also appeared to be a fairly chaotic spot on this particular day, with lots of runners falling, but no serious injuries. One last shot from the balcony as the bulls pass by:

I have a new found respect for the photographers that get those great shots that you see of this event. It’s certainly a skill that must be honed with experience in order to know where best to be and how best to handle each location. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, though, and would have gladly gone back for a fourth day.

In the following posts, I’ll feature more of the events that make up Pamplona’s San Fermin Festival. As I mentioned before, there was so much more than just the bulls. Stay tuned and I’ll show you what I mean.

Dodge City Days

I had a great time covering Dodge City Days last weekend. The town of Dodge City, Kansas has a great history as a prominent old west cowtown and the setting for many an old west tale — some true, some not. I spent a fair amount of time here as a kid so it was great to return. I’ve actually done quite a bit of work in the area over the past few years but this time was more nostalgic as many of the Dodge City Days events were things I did here as a kid. Here are a few, random shots from this year’s Dodge City Days events:

While not part of an actual “event,” this was the scene as riders were waiting to begin the world-record-attempting longhorn cattle drive down Wyatt Earp Boulevard. I loved the way the horses appeared to be “parked” at Applebees. Only in Dodge.

Actors from the old television series “Gunsmoke” and “The Rifleman” were on hand to help celebrate Dodge City Days this year.

A tough route for the longhorns, as the cattle drive moved them past several fast-food burger places.

With the cattle moved off of Front Street, it’s just a matter of time before there’s trouble. Daily gunfights are re-enacted here for tourists. These during Dodge City Days were well-attended by both gunfighters and visitors.

I ended both Friday and Saturday evenings at the Dodge City Round-Up Rodeo. I love shooting these events. The weather was great, and there was tons of action.