This is one desolate place. I was on the coast of Iceland where the sea and the wind were absolutely ripping their way past the lighthouse. I always imagine what it is like to be inside of one of those lighthouses, all night long through the winter. I can’t even envision what that would be like, and after only a short time there in the icy wind, I got the willies and was happy to get out of there.

Blues are consistently a favorite color for just about everyone. I had a wonderful conversation with the great painter Clyde Aspevig, who I had the pleasure of spending a few days with in Montana. I am so humbled and intimidated by painters! I feel like they are true artists, and I’m just a hack with tricky digital tools.

Clyde and I started talking about the color blue and people’s reactions to them. His eyes got big when I made the flippant comment, “I can’t believe how much people like blues! No matter what kind of blue I have in a photo, people always seem to say that is their favorite color of blue!” He agreed enthusiastically and sees the exact same reaction when people view his paintings.

If you look at some of Clyde’s beautiful paintings, you can see a number of things that just make sense without trying to make sense of them. He uses unconventional techniques of music, anthropology, and motion and brings them all into the canvas. His landscapes are reminiscent of the savannas of Africa, which strike us all at a deep ancestral level. His contrasted objects follow the delicate timbre of music. His skies are textured with a surreal blue motion.

Shots of lighthouses and towers demand a wide-angle lens. To me, the HDR process is secondary to lens selection in cases like these. The lighthouse already had a camber to it and this strangely-shaped doorway. The wide-angle lens accentuated this even more.

Here is one of Clyde’s paintings. You can find out more about him and his paintings at ClydeAspevig.com.

The second photo below is of me, in another part of Iceland, quite near where the North Atlantic tectonic plate pulls away from the European one. I’m proudly holding this good friend that will soon leave my world – the Nikon D2X!