Tag Archives: nature photography

The Real Blue Lagoon: Catching Some Rays in North Iceland

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The Blue Lagoon. A great place to dip into the waste water of a geothermal station.

You can lie on the beach and soak up the good vibes, too.

Very popular. There’s only room for a few.

And fish is served in the restaurant. Very pricey. On a cafeteria tray. And aren’t those IKEA dishes?

May I suggest a little drive to the North? Sigriðarstaðarós beckons, with a fine view north past the beached troll seals at the feet of Hvitserkur …

… to Skeljanes.

This is the real Blue Lagoon, right where the salmon swim out of the Húnafjörður into the Sigriðarstaðavatn, a lake by name but more like a fine estuarine lagoon full of young salmon going to sea and big ones flicking back. Make sure you keep your feet out of the water. Lift, good people, lift!

Munch some salmon, soak a little in the sun…

…or  a  lot.

… it’s a good life. And for a power station, the ogre herself.

Friends, think blue.

At Dawn, Iceland is Four Worlds at Once

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At first, dawn is pure light.

þingvellavatn

Then it reveals another world.

Then it turns blue. The other world is still there, but white now.

Then there are colours, and mountains, as the two worlds join.

When you count the houses built at þingvellir each time Iceland enacts a new constitution, that’s three worlds. Well, four if you count the ice.

Out of Bounds

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This photographer on Dyrhólaey is out of bounds. She crossed a barrier to get here. Thousands do.

Some die. Is this view not good enough?

Is this one not good enough?

What about this? So bad you need to die to get a different one?

We’d rather you were alive, really. Really. Besides, if you just turn around, you can see almost forever.

Then we could all go back and grill a lamb or something, drink some lava beer and have a great good time.

Well, ok, maybe not that.

Easy Identification of Elf City Sites

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Elf farms and villages are craggy things to spot, but major cities hover inside the light. You can reach through the sun and… almost grasp them.

Pétursey

Evening is the best time for the sea to mix the Sun and the Earth and turn everything to salt dust in the air. Prepare for tears… of joy? of anguish? Ah, the elves are telling no secrets.

Waterfall as Spaces of Unity

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Words teach us to see waterfall, cliff and light.

Alarlhryna

And shadow.

Alarlhryna

But they are one thing, together.


Gulfoss


Sjaelandafoss

Grundarfoss

Fossá

Even when they have no name!

Even with ice. Even in winter rain.

Svartifoss

Even with blood-red birches. Everything you add becomes the fall. It ceases to be separate.

Svartifoss

Even a river can become sky.

Bessastaðaá

Even sky can become a river.

Stekkalækur

Even underground rivers entering the sky from the mouth of the earth.

Hraunfossar

Even falls held within the Earth!

Dettifoss

They are all falls, not water, light, stone, air, water, grass or trees. They are always once thing together, all at once.


Systrafoss

This is a great mystery, not because it is unknown, but because it is vital.

Hengifoss

This teaching, and this view deep into human-earth relationships in Iceland, continually inspires me. The land is alive, as is the water, and any words that are hanging around start there first.