As part of finishing the second edition of our Iceland photography guide (available at http://ift.tt/1buJDW8), I processed a few new photos from our most recent trip, including this image of the Blue Lagoon in winter. On our first trip to Iceland a few years ago, I was pretty adamant about not liking this place. The Blue Lagoon is one of the top tourist attractions in Iceland and I did not understand the appeal (expensive, crowded, fake). I also had a pretty bad attitude about wasting time to photograph it. The area is, after all, created by runoff from a geothermal power plant and the plant is quite visible from this general area. I generally only photograph natural scenes and wanted to be some other place, all without even giving this spot a chance. On that first visit, my bad attitude prevented me from realizing some good photography opportunities (I did take a bunch of photos of the power plant in an effort to prove how horrible of a place for nature photography this was). Both of my traveling companions came away with some excellent, inspiring photographs that same morning, all taken while I was milling around with no direction and a sour attitude. I let a whole bunch of preconceived notions get in the way of enjoying this place and possibly taking some decent photos of it. This is one of my more memorable mini-failures in photography and has continued to serve as a good lesson for being more open to what a location has to offer instead of getting wrapped up in expectations. Since that unfortunate day, we have returned to this spot a few times and I have actually come to like it quite a bit. The contrast of the harsh lava rocks and the milky blue water is an interesting one and the walking path through the public area next to the Blue Lagoon attraction is actually a nice place to wander around. We even went into the Blue Lagoon spa the last time we were there and, despite my general avoidance of tourist attractions, I thoroughly enjoyed the four hours we spent lounging in the warm geothermal water.nice wallpaper picture free download via 500px http://ift.tt/1buJDWa
