Daily Photo – Waiting on the Solstice Sun

Up in the northwest fjords of Iceland, the roads end but the land keeps going.

There is this distant island, pictured here, that has no roads at all. It seems so remote and… well… scary. I don’t know why I get that foreboding sense! It just feels so lonely, so far north… the cliffs are so sheer… no one to hear you scream… and these sorts of things. I do like being remote, but this is a little too remote.

Rental Car Woes

It’s so expensive to rent a car in one city and drop off in another… In fact, it’s so darn high that I would not be surprised if there was some sort of a cabal going on… I end up doing this quite a bit because I like to fly to one place, explore, drive a long way, explore, and then fly out of a different airport. Of course, that’s not an issue in Iceland (today’s) photo. There’s only one international airport there!

Daily Photo – Lighthouse in Iceland

The northwest fjords in Iceland have quickly become one of my favorite areas of the country.

People ask me all the time, “I’m going to XXXX country, where should I go?” That is one of the reasons I created the new Stuck On Earth — for just that purpose. Now, when you zoom into Iceland, you’ll see a big collection of images up in this area. Whenever you see clusters of pins in one area versus another, you’ll get the general idea that one area has more photo hotspots than another.

New Video – First Live On Air Hangout

So, *this was just a test…not a real show*… but there was a little bit of photography talk mixed in there for sure. We had people from Australia, Sweden, Canada, Greece, New Zealand and the US in there!

Here’s a few highlights… We happen to have Helen Sotiriadis in there who was one of the finalists for the TWIT Photo contest. I talk about experiences of being a judge… and how it can suck more than you think.

Then I do a one-man intervention on the avatar of Billy Wilson.

We talk a bit with the three peeps from Google that joined: Colleen Kelly, Henry, Erica Joy and Ricardo Lagos.

And then all other kinds of conversations with Doug Kaye, Giuseppe Basile, Maximilian Majewski, Lisa Ng, Jim Davis and the great Karen Hutton where you’ll see a few behind-the-scenes things… and then a surprise appearance by Tom Anderson

New Topaz Adjust

The new Topaz Adjust is out. It’s pretty good and I’ve been using it since the beta. There’s more effects and more flexibility. If you’re not familiar with Topaz, you cans see my Topaz Adjust Review here on the site… it’s still the old version in the review, but the meat of how it works is still the exact same.

Daily Photo – Alone at the Harbor

These mornings in Iceland — I’ll never get used to them. It’s fully bright even though it’s only 4 AM — but the streets are dead. You expect to see at least one other soul out and about… but there are none. Maybe I play too many zombie games… or no, that can’t be it… no such thing as too many zombie games! 🙂

Speech at Facebook HQ

Do you work at Facebook? Come see me on Thursday morning for a photography talk! We’ll have great fun together… I know there are a lot of people there at FB that are interested in photography, so it should be a good time. Sadly, it’s not open to the public, but the event will be filmed and I can share it later.

So, my FB friends are still pretty full, but you can still use this new “Subscribe” feature on my profile. It’s kind of like friends, without the benefits.

Deep Water and Phobias

So, I’m a pretty rational guy, really, I’d like to think. I don’t really have any phobias… just one big one – swimming in deep water. There is something about it that freaks me out… I don’t think it was movies that did it to me or anything. I see plenty of scary stuff in movies that doesn’t bother me in real life… but the idea of jumping into this mile-deep fjord and swimming across is almost more than I can bear!

Do you have any phobias (that you don’t mind talking about)?

Daily Photo – Boat in Isafjordur

This area is in the far northwest of Iceland up where there fjords layer into one another like fractals. I don’t normally like taking photos in the middle of the day, but when the sky is the towering, glacier-carved edge of the fjord, there is practically no sky at all.

New Facebook… Do you like it?

I notice my Facebook Page has about 25,000 Subscribers. I don’t know what to do over there… This blog is always the mother-lode of everything… kind of like the main diary of sorts. Anyway, frankly, I’m flummoxed by Facebook… any suggestions?

An Icy Morning, Searching for Hot Coffee

Driving across the frozen bits of Iceland in the summer is always scary. I drive across a lot of ice, and I’m never terribly excited about it. I’ve been with people that drive across the stuff all the time, and they pay it no mind.

For a short bit in Iceland, I got to ride for a while with a guy that’s driven to the south pole a few times. Man, that guy can really drive on ice. I remember one time he turned to me very seriously and said, “When driving across a glacier, it is important that you not fall into a crevasse and die.” I told him that I agreed wholeheartedly with that statement.

The real elf-stat?

I’ve heard all different percentages of how many Icelanders believe in elves. It’s always high. But I wonder what the most correct percentage is? Has there ever really been a scientific study and wide-spread poll? I’d love to know the exact stats… you guys are all so smart – it seems like the perfect task for you to figure out so we can know the answer once and for all!

Daily Photo – Little Elves, Little Waterfall

Going into one of the valleys by Isafjordur takes you to many little homes near waterfalls. I thought this one was quite lovely.

And if you look to the left there, you’ll see the tiny homes they also built for the elves.

I was editing this photo at dinner one evening in Isafjordur. One of the waitresses saw this house, recognized it, and said, “Oh that’s jklasdj(jkasdj^dhsaj”. Of course, I am doing my best to approximate the Icelandic language there…

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Updated Google+ Invite System

See the new steps below… this has gotten a lot of people in, so it should work for now. I had 3 great video hangout sessions last night will all sorts of people… very interesting to meet and talk with people from all over the world. The video hangout may be the coolest thing!

1) Come to StuckInCustoms Facebook Page and see if you can find a thread that has remaining invitations. Put your email in that thread (not on the wall).

2) Accept your invite when it arrives, then return to the StuckInCustoms Facebook Page and pay it forward by saying, “I have 10-15 (whatever) invites for Google+ so leave your email below and I’ll get you in!”

3) To invite people in, create a new circle and fill it with email addresses that need access.

4) Share a post or photo with that circle, and it will ask you if you want to email people not in Google+. Say yes, and they will get an email invite!

And, if you are looking for me in Google+, here is My Google Profile.

“See More Photos…”

You may notice a slight change to the bottom of every post.  I took away the emphasis on “categories,” and say in more plain English:  See more photos from Iceland, Isafjordur, Nikon D3X, Travel.  This should help you explore more from this area if you find them interesting!

Daily Photo – Oceanscream

Early one morning while weaving through the fjords, a cell of dark clouds roiled across the sky. The low sun kept them in impossible colors and the air vibrated with a coming storm.

This is up on the edge of the arctic circle where one fjord may be covered in clouds while the next is wide open and clear. There are hundreds of little microclimates that change from one hour to the next, so if things don’t look good in one fjord, just spend 30 minutes driving over to the next one, and maybe something different will present itself. Surely by now, you see why I like Iceland so much in the summer…

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