January 25, 2020 — Route 1, East of Reykjavik, Iceland
This shot should not have worked. It was shot through the window of an off-road bus (think rock-hard suspension) going 90 km/h on a not terribly smooth highway. The window was dirty from two days of being splashed with road slush. But it was the first time we’d seen the sun since our arrival. The colors were otherworldly and the land was an Icelandic combination of bleak and beautiful, complete with puffs of geothermal steam.
I had to at least try to record it—more for documentation than art. I clicked off about five shots with no real hope of anything useful and then I immediately shoved them out of my mind. Didn’t give them another thought.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I was going through my images a week-and-a-half later and this appeared. I didn’t even recognize the shots at first. Then it came back to me. The other four shots in the series were a complete waste of electrons: horrible reflections, window-dirt blobs, motion blur. Useless.
But this… This was a gift.
(Canon G5X II. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.1; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
AMAGA Photography Blog 
It certainly was/is..: ethereal , beautiful.
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Thank you. So much of Iceland is like this.
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You’ve given us a good example of how quirky life is. This picture shouldn’t have come out any better than the other four shots taken under the same circumstances; yet it did, and it came out not only a little better, as might be expected, but a lot better.. It’s your “black swan” of a bleak landscape.
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Sooth. Thank you.
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Great post 🙂
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Thanks very much.
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Magnificent shot!!!
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Agreed!
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Thank you!
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A New Day is Dawning… 🙂🙂🙂. https://youtu.be/UcASLqqBGhw
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True. And thank you for the delightful link.
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As I typed “a new day is dawning” there was an expectation that Goggle would direct me to a The Mamas and the Papas video… surprise!
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Oh well. It’s the thought that counts. I actually do prefer the Mamas and the Papas.
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Thank you for sharing this pristine other world with us on the mainland! I am guessing , but are those trucks in the far background?
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You are welcome. No, those are farm buildings.
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Lovely feeling of vastness…can feel the air…🤔I always wonder what one could create with discarded images…something in them when you look at the whole…have a creative day Michael ☺️ smiles Hedy
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Thank you. Along the southern coast one often gets the feeling of vastness punctuated by spectacular mountains. One actually has to put one’s feet on the ground in this magnificent place to fully appreciate it.
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Of course that makes sense ☺️ I can imagine 🤓
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The message that comes through to me, Michael, in this posting is that it is good to be a rebel, to break the rules, to defy conventional wisdom, and to keep shooting. There is something serendipitous about photography, especially in the uncontrolled outdoor environment, that always keeps me interested. Every photo has a chance of being or becoming something special.
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Thank you very much. And you are definitely right: keep shooting.
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Very nice. A place I always want to visit.
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Thank you. I highly recommend visiting.
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Think of the slush as a lens filter and the speed as “shutter compensation”. It worked.
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Perfect. Even more of a gift. Thank you.
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Whoa, that is beautiful!! You’ve really pushed Iceland into the “absolutely must visit” category for me!!
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Absolutely. Must. Visit. The only time not to go is the spring April May. All other seasons,I am told, are incredible. I can certainly vouch for the winter.
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So beautiful, Michael! And those “impossible” gems are really – true gems. A gift to you – and us, this time. And you are so right about the feel of Iceland: “One actually has to put one’s feet on the ground in this magnificent place to fully appreciate it.” Knowing you loved it makes me smile.
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Thank you. You should smile very widely.
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😀
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I’m always delighted by the juxtaposition of cold conditions with a sense of warmth. In this photo, it’s obvious, and beautiful.
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It was a remarkable sight. It still blows my mind that I got the shot at all.
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Always shoot what you see. You just never know. And always save what you’ve shot because you just never know. And always process what you’ve shot because….well, that’s obvious. This is a wonderful landscape and so happy that you did shoot it. I agree with Steve, why this came out better than the other four is a mystery but a good one. So far you are building a great collection of images from the trip. More awe to come I am sure.
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Thank you very much I believe and follow this philosophy always. Yes, there’s more to come.
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It’ funny, I can believe this was taken out of the dirty car window but I can also believe – very easily – that this really looks as extraordinary as the scene did that day. There is a wonderful otherworldly quality to it.
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Thank you. It really does look this extraordinary. Iceland is extremely unusual: entirely volcanic, so very rugged, but softened when covered with snow. Otherworldly is the word.
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It sure was a gift! Speed and grubby windows weren’t a barrier!
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It certainly was! The other photos in that series were utterly useless.
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Wonderful moment!!!!
It was a story! Great shot! 🙂
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Thank you very much. It was magic.
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Oh, a gift to us too!
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Thanks very much
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you’re very welcome …it is! 🙂
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