I've been back from Iceland for a few days, and apparently I missed quite a bit in my absence from home (hurricane, earthquake, etc.), but i'm finally catching up on things and have a few minutes to post and say hi!

Iceland was fantastic -- a fascinating place filled with amazing scenery and natural wonders, as well as friendly people who made the trip especially memorable. I toured the country with a group of fellow photographers as part of a workshop, and even though it was not a relaxing time (we averaged maybe 4-5 hours of sleep per night), it was such a terrific experience, I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

I had a chance to spend a day before the workshop exploring around Reykjavik, and I couldn't help but notice the local style. As you might expect in such a climate, layers prevailed, and leggings were extremely popular -- I must say that shopping for legwear there would probably be a treat because there seemed to be so many colors and patterns! Too bad leggings are really not my thing. Of course, the shops were also full of Icelandic wool -- sweaters and lots of knits, but i also found some boutiques with intriguing structured woven items -- particularly some really fun jackets and skirts in asymmetric cuts. I also saw a lot of bracelets and bags made from salmon skin that were treated and dyed in beautiful colors and felt like textured leather.

Amazingly, I refrained from buying anything there, but I was much more focused (no pun intended) on photography. I spent my time there almost entirely in gear since we were far from the city nearly the whole time, hiking through geothermal areas, walking on glaciers, splashing across streams, etc. My favorite part was a boat ride we took through a glacier-fed lagoon that contained hundreds of icebergs that had broken off from the glacier and towered over our boat as we cruised along, our camera shutters snapping away.

I'm still editing photos, but if anyone wants to see some of what I captured while I was there, you can see some here: http://bit.ly/nkLaum I'll be adding more in the next couple of days.