Flight from Copenhagen to Iceland 09:39

I'm on my way to Iceland, sitting in seat 1D. I like living in this golden age of travel. I wonder how long it will last.

I'm feeling healthy, happy. I managed to finish my Duolingo for today sitting in my seat on the plane. I'm going to have to go 10 days without playing piano, so I'm listening to Berceuse as I write. Suzanne Ciani plays slower than I have been trying to, which is good.

I will have about 5 hours in the airport waiting for Lee to arrive. I expect to spend them in the Cafe, which I hope is comfortable and I can find a seat that I feel is reasonably private, so that I can work on model pictures as I wait. 

I've started reading a book about singles being discriminated against. This seems to be addressing some topics that I've felt I needed help on, so I'm glad to have found it. I can see that my thoughts about being single have reflected the cultural bias associated with being a couple. This does not have to be a conspiracy to have influenced me. Just as racism can come from an almost genetically based mistrust of people from outside our tribe, and therefore a "natural" behavior, just like learning to speak the language of our tribe. Although in both cases, we can learn un-natural, much more effective approaches to life. 

08.53 

[NOTE: Switched to Icelandic time, so this later entry has an earlier timestamp!]

I started thinking about what sort of photographic goals I should have for this trip. I'm often not so keen on traveling with a bunch of other photographers.

I struggle when I'm together with a group of photographers, regardless of the subject. I can't help but feel strongly influenced by their presence. I also feel self conscious when I'm alone and I start shooting (I remember this in New Zealand), but at least when I'm alone I feel some amount of solace from the fact that, if I'm willing to spend enough time, I can get beyond my fears.

And it is about fear, isn't it? Fear that I will only see the "easy" shots. Fear that I will fail to compose well. Fear that I will take pictures that either look exactly like the others, just not quite as good, or that I will fail to find my own view of a scene. 

In the end, I will seldom see my images in comparison to the images that others take, and, perhaps even more important to me, those who see my images will not the images of the others on the trip. 

My fears seem related to the critical voices that still echo from my childhood. It is me, however, who has internalized these voices, so I can claim that they are mine. 

I also fear that I will accept "good enough" and fail to go far enough to really make great pictures.

I want to remember to see at many different levels. I should use my macro lens, even if I can only put it on my 70D. I know that many photographers suggest that you really need a full frame camera for good landscape images. With my 1D, I don't really have an excuse. In reality, though, I don't see much of a difference between the 70D and the 1D when I look at the resulting images. 

So, macro images. 

Also, HDR images. Filtered images (polarizer and ND). Long exposure.

I'm afraid that I will not compose the images well. I suppose this goes back to my university days, but just as I can recognize a pianist who plays better than I, without being able to recreate what they do with my own fingers, I can also see photographers who compose a 2 dimensional view of a scene and I can feel that my own attempts fall short.

I should remember my 3x viewer and using the screen as I compose. 

I fear the rain. My 1D should be weather sealed. My 70D less so. Keeping rain off the lens may be difficult.

I fear the cold. 

I fear rushing from image to image, failing to take my time. 

I fear poor focus and motion blur. 

I fear and I fear. 

And yet, this is a choice I make to face those fears. I choose this trip "for fun". Because isn't facing our fears and finding that they do not need to constrain us the very definition of fun?

Perhaps not. 

The weather may not cooperate with us. There may be crowds and clouds and gray landscapes. Let these things come.

If I leave Iceland without a single image, would that be so bad?

I'm starting to think that perhaps I should visit the Faroe Islands. They are beginning to become more popular. Why not see them before they become cliché?

Perhaps this summer. I can start researching them while sitting in the airport in Iceland.