It's the Weekend!!

 Good Afternoon and HaPpY SaTuRdAy!!!

You may be wondering why the large font and weird writing. Well a number of things have made me very happy. Apart from speaking to Steve and the kids, which did make me miss home, I have continued to be bowled over by the amazing light and surroundings in Iceland. The aftermath of the storm was sorted out by the workaholic icelanders with their massive diggers... I have some pictures of the street where I live:

This is the snowdrift on the street outside the house

After digging out the path to the house

The back, which still looks like that...

My mode of transport for getting past the ice and snow was to pile everything onto an old sledge and pull it along. The only problem was that I couldn't go the normal way as there were too many snowdrifts, so I had to walk around the main road which had been ploughed. It took ages and my stupid bag kept falling off... Plus I was too fat to actually get on it and have a slide. ps, yes, this is the main road...

Heading up the street at the end of a really productive day, the snow drift had been cleared. The next pictures are the close ups of the drift and me and my shadow...!

I have spent most of the last 2 days photographing the sea - which is beautiful, powerful and  wild. For anyone who knows me, they will understand how important this is. I have spent hours in the same spot, because of course, the images are never exactly the same. I have also made a variety of images using different techniques which I am still working on. The following are a few from today, where the sea was deep blue/black and the sun was catching the surf.

Sorry, that was a bit indulgent. So todays blog is a bit delayed because I spent such a long time looking at the images I made and deciding which ones to keep. I have also still had no luck in spotting an actual skagastrondite.... During daylight hours there is no-one about an it's Saturday and it's a ghost town. I have, however, discovered the delights of Borgen restaurant and BAR! First drink in ages and I had a G&T which cost £9! Only one obviously and now back to the studio. 

One of the fabulous things about the beach is that the the sand and the snow make this image seem to be black and white. This is full colour. The textures are amazing as the light is reflected from the black sand.

I have organised a road trip..... Slightly scary because of the snow and ice, but we are mainly going to be using the Route 1 ring road. The journey will take myself, Penny, a painter from Australia, Louise, a songwriter from Australia, Jujin, a painter from South Korea and Louise's son, Arthur, who is 7, first to Akureyri, about 2 hours drive from here. Akureyri is a town with restaurants and shops and a camera shop - which is essential as my cable release is broken and I need a new one. (keep everything crossed please!) We will then go on to Godafoss, which is an impressive waterfall just off the route 1. I am hoping to get some images there, but so much is dependent on the weather. This is it and it looks marvellous! This is not one of my images.

Reading up on this waterfall, it seems that it's best to photograph it at sunrise, which is around 10am, so hopefully we'll manage it. From then we will travel to Myvatn lake where we are staying for one night to visit the nature baths, an outdoor thermal pool which stays at around 40 degrees. The weather forecast doesn't really give much chance of the aurora, but I'm hoping and wishing with everything I've got!! We go on Wednesday and come back Thursday night. I daren't look at the weather forecast....

This is not one of my images.

Ok, I think that's it for today. I'm very tired for some reason and need to sleep. It's only 9pm but feels like midnight. I am trying to upload this little bit of video to show you how difficult it is getting back and forth from studio to house, but it's not working. If it doesn't work, have a look on Aly Jackson Visual Artist on Facebook as I'll try to post it there.

Closing thoughts for the day courtesy of ABBA:

Chiquitita, you and I cry

But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you

Let me hear you sing once more like  you did before

Sing a new song, Chiquitita

Try once more like you did before

Sing a new song Chiquitita

See you tomorrow and have a happy Saturday night

Love,

Aly x