ANGELA B. PAN

Every time I think about these horses, I smile. They were every where in Iceland! So short and so hairy. They’re just so cute.

This one was taken on our first day out. It was probably the worst day we had weather-wise. When we landed the pilot over the speaker said we were experiencing 50 mph winds. You could literally feel the plane shaking while we were de-boarding. Add that to all the rain and it was kinda miserable being outside. Luckily the wind didn’t last all day, but the rain sure did. It was raining off and on but mostly on.

So what do you do on a rainy day in Reykjavik? Drive the golden circle! We saw these horses everywhere but all the roads on the island are fenced off. I think it’s so the horses don’t run into the middle of the street, but they could be there for other reasons other than that. I just don’t know. But the whole time we were driving, my friend Mel and I were on a hunt to find horses that were close enough to the fences so we could photograph them but also possibly pet some of them. After pulling over about 5 gagillion times, we finally ran into a group of them that were right next to the fence. Mel suggested I change my lens from my 16-35mm to my 70-200mm so we could stand far enough away from them that we could still get good pics but not scare them away. So I changed my lens and ran out the car.

We slowly started walking towards these horses. Then we realized, the closer we got to them, the more they would come to the fences. They’re super friendly! I immediately ran back to the car to change my lens back to the 16-35mm wide angle and got super close. This was taken at about my hip. I wasn’t looking, I just kept on clicking, hoping for a good shot. Obviously, the horses did not mind all the rain and wind. I’m pretty sure these guys thought my camera was food. Which it is definietly not.

When visiting a new country, I always try to learn as much as I can about the food, people and language. It’s the best way to totally immerse yourself into your new surroundings. In Iceland, it was a little difficult to learn the language. First off, everyone speaks english. Really good english too! So being able to listen to the Icelandic language was really limited to just locals in a restaurant or people talking quietly amongst themselves. But I did manage to learn a few words. “Foss” means waterfall. So if you notice all the waterfalls in Iceland end with the term “Foss”. This image was taken at Skógafoss which is in a small town called Skógar. You add foss to the end of it, you have the Skógafoss! Pretty cool huh? Another important word to know is “Kaka” which means cake! Who doesn’t love cake right? So if you wanted to say chocolate cake, you would say “súkkulaðikaka”.

Now that we’re talking about food, the food was great. Expensive but the overall delicious. I don’t think we had one bad meal. I ate a lot of smoked salmon, at least once a day. There aren’t very many vegetable dishes. It’s all very meat/seafood oriented and to our surprise, a lot of pizza. I’m not sure if that was just a tourist thing but almost every restaurant we went to had a lot of pizza options. We noted one day that the pepperoni pizza was cheaper than the vegetarian pizza.

The people are very nice as well. Super helpful when you have a million and one questions about travel. Even when they knew you were a tourist, they didn’t look at you funny or treat you differently which was much appreciated. However, I did notice that a lot of them weren’t originally from Iceland. Many were from different parts of Europe that just fell in love with the country. I can totally see why minus all the cold temperatures.

Cuz I couldn’t make it to the first one, the second sunrise of the year was just as nice. The fog and predawn colors were definietly worth the early morning wake up call. I’m really looking forward to 2017 and capturing even more images than last year 🙂

Love nights like this. When the weather has calmed down and theres a glow in the air. Its one of the best times to be outdoors.

One super stormy evening at the Lincoln Memorial. Funny how it didn’t stop anyone from enjoying the sites. You can see all the little people there hanging out on the steps. That’s one thing about the memorial that I really like. People are free to just hangout for as long as they want without anyone stopping them. I could spend hours here.

A guide for any level of photographer. All of my personal favorites.

Practical gifts
1. These Rocket Air Blaster:  are pretty awesome. They blow out air but won’t suck it back in. Awesome to clean those little dust spots on lenses or mirrors. I have 2.
2. SD Cards  So simple, yet so necessary. You can’t get more practical than that.
3. Domke Protective Wrap makes it super easy to take your camera or lenses on the go and keep them protected.
4. When I travel I like to keep all my cords and electronic things together. This Travel Electronic Organizer  is perfect.
5. It’s important to stay hydrated and comfortable while out shooting. The Swell Water Bottle will help keep your water tasty.
6. Gorilla pod tripods are cool because they can support the weight of DSLRS but I’d still be a little careful with it depending on the lens. Super fun to get creative angles with this.

Fun gifts

7. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert is about you and your creativity. 5 stars. Highly recommended.
8. These Personalized Greeting Cards by Moo are such great quality. I mean the paper is so nice and thick plus they have lots of other great personalized gifts.
9. I love this JBL Speaker. I listen to it all the time while editing my images and blast it when I’m in the shower.
10. Another essential to keeping comfortable while taking pictures. These Rainboots are comfortable to walk in all day.
11. Fujifilm Instax Printer I have S-1 but the S-2 looks even cooler. I love being able to take pictures on my phone but print them out on this Polaroid film.