Photos and the Stories They Tell

For some reason, photography is something that I have neglected over the past few months. I haven't added anything to the gallery in quite some time. So today, I want to share a couple of things. 

First, I want to share some photos from Iceland. Second, I want to tell you the stories behind each one of them. 

These 3 images don't do the environments justice. But then again, I don't think anything truly can. 

One of the biggest reasons I wanted to visit Iceland was because of the waterfalls. Just look at that thing! 

​This is Gullfoss, one of the largest waterfalls in the country. This was the very first landscape that I visited during my trip through the Icelandic countryside. I knew what I was going to see when I set out on that first day through the country but I wasn't prepared for the sheer vastness of this scene. 

I arrived at the area the falls were located at and although I couldn't see them yet, I could definitely hear them. I left the parking lot and followed a crowd of other tourists who were just as eager to see the falls as I was. There were people from all over the world there. I heard European languages, Asian languages, and everything else in between. I think I was the only American there. Before even seeing the falls, I was moved. People from all over the world gathered in this place for the same reason. 
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We were all there to witness a beautiful creation.

As I approached the falls, the sound grew louder and louder and the voices I heard around me were slowly drowned out by the sound of rushing water. Eventually, I heard nothing but the sound of Gullfoss. 

And then I saw it.

I immediately took out my camera and captured the photo you see above.  

I had officially arrived in Iceland.

This was my favorite place in the entire country. 

I don't know where this was exactly or if there is a name for it. All I know is that the moment I laid my eyes on this scene, I knew that it was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever witnessed. Honestly, I was in disbelief and this photo cannot communicate just how moving it was to be in this environment. 

To the left, just out of frame of this photo, was a small church. I was supposed to stay with the group I was with and tour the building. I didn't. Instead, I spent a good thirty minutes staring at this landscape.

This was a place that I thought had only existed within my own dreams. It was an endless green earth below an infinite blue sky. I just could not believe that there actually existed a place on this planet that was as beautiful as the places I had dreamed up within my own mind. 

​I didn't want to leave. 

My final day in the country began with a problem. I was supposed to be going out on a boat to tour Faxa Bay. That didn't happen. The winds were too strong and my boat ride was cancelled. So instead, I decided to spend one last day exploring Reykjavik. I'm glad I did. 

This was the final photo I took in Iceland. 

On a hill, in the middle of the city, is a church known as Hallgrimskirkja. It's the tallest building in the country and I managed to find some time on my last day there to journey to the top. I bought a ticket, waited in line for a few minutes, and was then crammed with 6 others in a small elevator. The ride may not have been exciting, but the eventual view at the top sure was. 

There were four different spots to look out upon: north, south, east, and west. I can't recall in which direction I looked first, but I remember that I wasn't impressed by the view. The next spot was a little better. The third even better. And then I came to the final lookout spot.

That is where I took this photo. 

I began to realize that my journey was ending. I had seen all that there had to be seen in Reykjavik and I had no more plans to venture out into the countryside. The trip I had longed to go on for 8 years had come and gone. 

As I gazed out upon Reykjavik, my dream destination, I couldn't have been happier. 

The dream had been dreamt. 

- JZ