A weekend of new experiences! My friend Rachel (who runs Essential Wellness and Nutrition) was planning her daughter’s bat mitzvah and asked me to photograph it… I thought about it a little, considering the the only thing I knew about bat/bar mitzvahs was from that one episode of the Wonder Years… but I decided to go for it, and I’m glad I did.

It was so interesting to be there for the ceremony rehearsal at Temple Beth El… I pretty much black out when I have to speak infront of people, so to watch Sophie preparing to sing lengthy passages in another language was seriously impressive. She was calm and cool and breezed right through without a hint of nerves.

The next day I met them after the ceremony while they were getting ready for the big party. The theme was Woodstock, so 60’s inspired hair and makeup was the way to go!

I took the girls to do some portraits, and I think they were kind of confused when I took a last second turn on two wheels into a post office, but I was all about the light and those fluffy reeds in the background… so nice!

Sophie’s got great style.

We did some pictures with Sophie and her sister Geffen, I love sisters

Sophie and Geffen both have serious camera skills.

Caught the last minutes of sun for this one, I love the mood.

Party time!

Again, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but everyone was ready to seriously party once the Hora rolled around!

Sophie’s friends were cheering her on during a candle lighting ceremony.

Again, sisters I love this picture so much.

Always one of my favorite things:

Congratulations Sophie!

Time to get these babies posted!

At the end of the last post, we left off after the amazing whale watching trip in Husavik. From there we had planned to see the biggest waterfall in Europe, Dettifoss, but sadly discovered that it was only accessible by plane. The destination for the day was Lake Myvatn (myvatn is the Icelandic word for “midge”… apparently at certain times in the year the clouds are so thick… well, I don’t even want to think about it. We were lucky and only saw a few.) which is an area filled with beautiful lava formations. It was kind of rainy when we got there, but we headed out to Dimmuborgir, which I think translates to “Dark Castles.” Local folklore claims it is the place where satan landed when he was cast from heaven. I had a really hard time photographing it, the formations were so amazing in person but they just weren’t translating. We hiked around for a while and climbed through this cool formation:

We drove around the lake and stopped at these beautiful pseudo-craters in an area called skútustaðir. The pseudo-craters are formed by steam explosions when hot lava hits water. We got to walk up one and this was the view…

We stopped to check out some of the beautiful lava fields and I loved this view… our guesthouse is the big white building all the way on the left.

Back at the guesthouse we stopped in their restaurant for one of the best meals of the trip, couscous with stuffed peppers, and a complimentary traditional Icelandic dessert called Skyr. It’s kind of a cross between cream cheese, sour cream and yogurt… with lots of protein, only a few calories and really tasty too! It was fabulous. My cousin retired to the room and I went out on the balcony to watch another unbelievable sunset. This was my other favorite night… this low bank of clouds rolled in along the horizon and covered the mountain like a blanket. I have never seen anything like it in my life, it was stunning.

A closer shot of the mountain…

Again I had the view all to myself, so I had to be a dork and do a self portrait.

The next morning we got started on the longest drive of the trip, but took another loop around the lake before heading out of town. A little while after heading out of Myvatn, we came upon the sulfur vents at Námafjall. The steel grey sky was perfect for the mood of this place… it was hot and so smelly and really looked like another planet.

Mud pots

This is a fumarole, the steam coming out is apparently 80 degrees celsius… steamaaaay!

We took a shortcut in the east fjords on route 939… it was really treacherous. A narrow dirt path with blind hills, blind curves and blind hills on blind curves leading up to one lane bridges. Someone else must have thought it was pretty intense… it has its own youtube video! One car kept following us and it would stop when we stopped because it didn’t want to be in the lead! I was in first gear for about an hour. Here’s a view from one of the places we pulled over.

Pulled over for a great view.

I was pretty excited about it. I REALLY LIKE ICELAND. Ha ha.

Oh Iceland, you’re so pretty.

The view was awesome… I wish I knew how high those mountains went, but the clouds hung around the whole time.

The destination this day was Vatnajökull glacier. The scenes in “Tibet” at the start of Batman Begins were actually filmed here!

The glacier lagoon Jökulsárlón is so stunning… (remember, this is still the same day as the sulfur vents! Hard to believe isn’t it?)

There were a few shy seals swimming around

Cousin Kelly and I.

We climbed the giant hill from the first picture for a different view.

The next day we went back and it was raining pretty hard so everything looked different. We went out on an amphibious boat tour and got to eat chunks of 1500 year old iceberg! I left the camera in the car.

On the way Vatnajökull National Park we stopped at this random waterfall. Climbed up a little mountain for this view (you can see a tiny guy down in the bottom.)

At the park we hiked down to the glacier, which I was determined to touch! Turns out glaciers are pretty dirty up close… (this is not a black and white picture)

But when it melts, the water still has that brilliant turquoise color that you always see in Icebergs.

And on the 7th day (ha ha), we headed to Vik… stopped at the Dverghamrar Cliffs (the Dwarf Cliffs) to look around at some basalt columns.

Their waterfalls…

…fall UP!

Reynisdrangar black basalt stacks in Vik. The water is dark because it’s a black sand beach.

Black sand is cooler than all other sand combined!

About 3 seconds after this shot, a rogue wave came up and nearly took my camera (which was balanced on a rock) and bag… we grabbed them just in time!

I had really wanted to see the basalt columns at the Giants Causeway when I was in Ireland a few years ago, but couldn’t fit it into the trip… thankfully Iceland obliged.

So cute!

That evening I went out to the beach again to chill by myself, there were a few other people out there but it was pretty empty. I saw this cool white feather sitting on the sand and kicked myself for not bringing my camera (sometimes we just need time apart!) but when I went back out the next morning it was still there!

The beach looked really different with brighter skies, too.

Then we headed back to Reykjavik, and stopped at SKOGAFOSS (say it, it’s super fun.)

I got drenched and was afraid of returning Gunnar (the car) with a butt print in the driver’s seat.

The next few days we spent walking around Reykjavik, and on my birthday we did the Golden Circle Tour, which was a lot of fun.

Thingvellir National Park, where Iceland’s parliament was founded over 900 years ago!

Gullfoss, the Golden Falls. Above the grassy rock on the left in the foreground you can see a dark rock outcropping… there are people on it! They’re very very small, can you see them?

Then we went out there… it was pretty awesome.

Then we saw some geysers… this one is Strokkur, but right next to it is the original that is named Geysir and that’s where they term geyser comes from! It’s inactive for now, but who knows when it’ll wake up!

I’ll try to figure out how to put the video on here! It was an amazing trip, I had a lot of fun with my cousin and the people couldn’t have been nicer and the sights were beyond belief.

If you can make the trip, do it. It’s fabulous.

All right, as promised, I have some of my Iceland pictures ready! I had soooo much fun on that trip, and it has got to be the most beautiful place on earth. When we landed in Reykjavik, it was pouring and cold at 6am but by the time we woke up at 3 (hey, that’s only 10am EST) it was a beautiful blue sky with puffy clouds. I love island weather.

Here’s Leif Eriksson right outside the guesthouse. Is it just me or is he kind of hot?

Sólfar, the Sun Voyager.

Reykjavik

On the second day, we picked up our car (which we named Gunnar) and started the 5-ish hour drive to “the capital of the north” Akureyri. The views along the road were spectacular. We got out at a few places to look around and touch stuff which doesn’t really look like it belongs on this planet, like this moss-covered lava. It’s really soft and spongy and I was tempted to take a nap in it.

The next day, we were heading to Husavik, the northern-most place we visited (and my favorite.) We planned some stops along the short 1 1/2 hour drive, including a famous waterfall called Godafoss. It means Waterfall of the Gods. We didn’t know it yet, but we had clearly done something to annoy the gods. We put the waterfall into our GPS and after a long drive down a series of potholes connected by little globs of dirt, we arrived at a farmhouse. There was the cutest little redheaded toddler peeking out the door at us as we got out and waved to the elderly man who was tilling the soil or something. He called for his son, who spoke English, and we asked if it was ok to walk up to the falls, and he had a slightly amused look on his face as he told us yes, but “be careful, it is… slippy.” So we started the trek up the hill and heard a woman come out the door and start giggling, at which point it really hit home that we had just driven up to someone’s house and started wandering around their back yard. It was one hell of a back yard though!

After a few moments of embarrassment-induced paralysis, we sheepishly crept back down and learned from our slippy friend that while this waterfall is actually called Godafoss, it’s not the one we were looking for. He was very sweet and understanding, and I can only hope that he thought we were intrepid explorers and not complete morons. But… probably not.

A cool stop along the way:

The real Godafoss.

One of the things I love about Iceland is that, while their tourism numbers have skyrocketed in the last decade, it’s still remote enough that you can have places to yourself and there aren’t a trillion guardrails and barriers everywhere. Hey, if you fall off, you fall off!

My cousin Kelly and I at the falls.

This is the top of the falls, I walked way far out, it was really cool!

Icelandic horses are famous for their friendly demeanor and unique gait (called tölting) and I was super excited every time we saw them. I love horses, so when we finally found a field near a road, I pulled over and hopped out of the car so I could take some pictures. Much to my delight, the horses on both sides of the fence pricked up their ears and then came running from hundreds of yards away to the fence to say hello… it was one of the coolest things ever. (Except when I saw a horse sitting on a rock. I’m not kidding, but sadly I was driving and couldn’t photograph it.)

They’re very frisky and playful, you almost never see them standing still.

And if they are, they are doing it in formation.

When we arrived in Husavik, we grabbed some dinner at a cafe and enjoyed our first Viking beers (they’re not that good, but at least they’re called Viking. Skjalfti is far superior!) Then headed back to the cottage, aka heaven. I had this all to myself except for a little fisherman… it was perfect. I sat out from around ten to midnight I think. The sun set a bit after midnight.

That’s our cottage on the right.

I watched that snowstorm on the left blow around for a while, but it never got close.

That was one of the most enjoyable evenings I’ve ever spent!

The next day we went whale watching, which my cousin kept referring to as “whaling”… yikes!

Cool!

Ok, for now I will end it at day 4… I have so many more pictures, but I’ll save them for another post! Stay tuned for sulfur vents, glaciers and black sand beaches.

Also, I’d just like to take a second to say RIP MJ. I grew up on his music and my brother, sister and I watched Moonwalker pretty much every day. He was troubled, but he was the coolest back in the day. I will always love 1970’s/80’s Michael!!!

One of my favorite musicians, Neko Case, has teamed up with the charity Best Friends Animal Society… for every blog that reposts this link, her label will donate $5 to help find homes for animals.

Download her new single, “People Got A Lotta Nerve” free here!
Anti Records

I think they also donate a dollar for downloads, but honestly the directions are really confusing so I’m not sure. Ha ha!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year’s Eve!  I got my first shot at playing Rock Band at a party, and I’m hooked.. I’ve already downloaded a ripoff to my iPod and am learning to play “West Coast” by Coconut Records!  I’d like to post some pictures from the party, but I have to get them developed first (yes, developed) because I like to use my little toy Lomo camera for parties.

2009 brings a few exciting changes to the site, with an updated wedding gallery full of pictures from the last two seasons, and a sweet new blog layout with really big pictures!  Many thanks to my super talented friend and designer, Hillary Bort!!
Take a look around and enjoy!

Here are a couple of recent album spreads I designed… nice and big, huh?  Stay tuned to the blog for Jamie and Matt’s wedding this Saturday!!

Here I am again, falling behind on my blogging!  I’m hard at work on albums right now, and am happy to report that learning InDesign has made the task much more fun than last year.  Trying to design layout-by-layout in Photoshop is just unnecessarily difficult!  I’ll post a few spreads soon!

I made it down to Letchworth “The Grand Canyon of the East!” just in time to miss all the beautiful foliage (as usual) last month, but it was fun anyway.  I’m lucky, with my schedule I can go on a weekday afternoon and have places like that mostly to myself… I think I saw about three people, which is ideal.  I figured I’d mention this because at least I’ll have a picture to post!

Oh, and here’s a rock wall.  Man, I love this state… it’s so beautiful.