Journey to the Land of Fire & Ice: It's Never Too Late for Your Dream to Come True: EPILOGUE

I can't believe that it has already been two weeks since I returned from Iceland. It still seems like it was just a few days ago! As promised, I wanted to post one last blog with my thoughts & reflections about my trip. But first, a few factoids and updates:

How many photos did I take? I took nearly 2,000 photos. That's a little over 200 per day on average with the most on any one day being 345 (Day 3). Now this sounds like a lot of images, and it it is. But, not all of these are good or even acceptable. In fact, a number of them are downright lousy! And, the vast majority are duplicates with slight variations in exposure, composition, etc. to increase the chances of getting one good shot. So, to this end, I have whittled the nearly 2,000 down to about 220. I am now in the process of doing final editing on these images and suspect I will end up with somewhere around 30-40 pretty decent photos (IMHO). What will I do with these? Well, besides posting on Flickr, I will frame a few, and I would like to put together a "coffee table" book with the best images.
How'd I do on my list of photo opportunities? Considering everything, I think I did pretty good. I had over 80 locations on my list, and I visited about 50 of these, plus others that weren't even on the list. Of the 30 or so I didn't visit, nearly all were 2 and 3-star locations. There were only two 5-star locations I didn't get to, and in one case this was primarily because of weather. In the other case, the site was closed for environmental protection reasons due to the excessive rain. Overall, my list was extremely helpful in planning my trip, even though I didn't refer to it every day and the weather was often a major factor in deciding where to go.
How many miles did I drive? I drove 2,190 kilometers, or 1,360 miles. That about 151 miles per day on average and nearly equivalent to the distance between Detroit and Miami! I have no idea how many gallons (or liters) of diesel fuel I went through or how much this all cost (and I don't really want to know), but based on how many times I filled up, I think I got pretty reasonable mileage.
What's the status of my primary camera? As you may recall, my primary camera, the Nikon Df, died towards the end of Day 2. It never worked again, and I was forced to rely on my backup camera, the Nikon D700, for the remainder of the trip. Fortunately, the D700 worked extremely well and in fact produced some darned good images. As soon as I got back, I immediately sent the Df in for repair, and it should be back home tomorrow. I really missed the little guy!

Now onto my thoughts and reflections, which I'll try to keep brief (yeah, sure Russ). Anyway, I'm sure that most of you after returning from a fun and exciting trip have found yourself thinking about the experience for a few days. It is only when you settle back into your routine that the "high" begins to subside. And, quite possibly you said that you would like to return to the place you visited someday (even though "someday" does not always come). Well, in my case, I have thought about Iceland virtually every day for the past two weeks, and if someone asked me to go back next week or next month, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment. I truly miss the place! I have never experienced similar feelings before, and it is only now that they are beginning to wane.

Why so? There are a lot of reasons, of course, not the least of which is the fact that I have dreamt about this trip for a long time. And, the fact that I am now retried affords me with more time to muse and reflect upon the trip. But, it is also due to the fantastic landscapes that Iceland has to offer. There are many adjectives that I could use to describe these landscapes, like rugged, diverse, vast, untamed, alien or other-world like, intense, spectacular, grandiose, amazing or just plain awesome. But one word keeps coming back to me: WONDROUS. Iceland is truly a wondrous place, a place that was designed by God and is continually being reshaped by Mother Nature. It is a place that is ever-changing and unpredictable, and it reminds me that we as human beings are relatively insignificant in the universe, yet we still have the power to irreversibly and negatively impact the fragile planet on which we live.

So, will I really go back? I don't know what the future holds, but honestly I would like to visit Iceland again, perhaps in a couple years and this time with Mary Jo (she wouldn't like the campervan experience, but she would definitely enjoy the scenery). And, now that the landscape photography bug has bit me, I am beginning to think about where else to go. Places like the national parks in Utah, Scotland, New Zealand, the Faroe Islands and Novia Scotia/New Brunswick are quickly beginning to emerge as possible candidates. So stay tuned to this channel!

In closing, I want to thank all five of you (just kidding) who have read my blog. Writing this has been fun and part of the overall adventure! With that, I will leave you with some parting images:

I posted a similar image in an earlier post, but I think this shot -- with the single individual perched atop the rock -- represents pretty well my feelings of Iceland as described above.

I previously posted an image of Kirkjufellfoss waterfall with Kirkjufell mountain in the background, the classic shot that most photographers take. But, the mountain is pretty photogenic in its own right, here with a rare blast of sunshine on its base.

So far, this is one of my favorites. It was taken early on Day 2 and shows the Reynisdranger sea stacks with the basalt columns in the foreground. It was a serendipitous shot in that there were a pair of footprints in the black sand going around the columns. Another couple minutes and the waves would have washed these away!