Texas Summer and Exciting News
After 16 months of working from home, summer is here! I’ve been getting out of the house more, going for walks with my camera, and finding scenes that start to capture the season here in Texas. I’ve included a few here; I think they really represent this summer for me so far. There’s beauty in just getting outside, in the flowers and the blue sky (especially when the oppressive heat hasn’t arrived yet). It’s actually been cooler here in Texas over the last few weeks than it’s been in the western states, which is just crazy to me.
Every once in a while I get really surprised by a photo, where it turns out even better than I ever expected. This is one of those cases. As the sun was setting over the freeway visible from my backyard, I noticed the sunbeams shining through the dramatic clouds and quickly took a photo before the conditions changed. It wasn’t until I opened it up on my computer later that I realized it would be one of my favorite photos. Someday if I move away from Texas I’ll have this photo in particular to remember it by.
Side note: Having a mirrorless camera really made this shot work, as seeing a live preview through my camera viewfinder let me dial in the exposure exactly the way I wanted without wasting time taking test shots.
Finally, exiting news! Vacation is coming, and its going to be a crazy and awesome one! A few months ago my wife and I started planning a trip to commemorate my 40th birthday, as we had to hold off on doing anything back in December due to travel restrictions. Now that we and a large percentage of the population are vaccinated, we decided that travel would be a reasonably safe endeavor again, and started picking a destination, with the following factors in mind:
International, if possible, as long as we we’re allowed to go there without a quarantine (since that would limit the amount of time we could spend) and the country has been taking the pandemic seriously
Beautiful landscapes to make it worthwhile to lug around a backpack full of camera gear
Get away from the summer heat
Ideally English speaking
With those criteria we found the perfect destination: ICELAND! As of early July, over 85% of eligible Icelanders have at least one dose of a Covid vaccine and border controls are taken seriously while allowing entry to healthy vaccinated travelers without a quarantine. And then there’s everything else: spectacular landscapes, an active volcano, glaciers, mountains, black sand beaches, a ridiculous amount of waterfalls, whale watching, cool weather (highs around 60 degrees), and incredibly friendly locals that speak fairly fluent English. So we booked our trip and can’t wait. As it gets closer, I’ll be posting a story about our trip preparations and then, once we’re back, I’ll be posting about the trip itself (with pictures of course)! Stay tuned!
