Hi - this is Leif in Iceland again. Around August 10th I stayed a couple nights at a very small campsite in the southern-interior of Iceland (called Hólaskjól, and you can check out the map on my blog at http://duenorth-iceland2007.blogspot.com/). I went for a long day-hike as soon as I got there, expecting the sun to persist. The area is quite interesting, with a large gorge and river, and another river with a flat sandy flood-plain. There is also an old lava floe from about 1000 years ago that has been covered almost entirely in thick soft moss (sometimes almost a foot thick, seriously!) Anyways, it started pouring rain just as I was about three hours from my tent and any shelter. So I used the complete rain-shield on my lowpro camera bag for the first time ever, and got thoroughly soaked to the bone, while my camera remained dry.

Much later that day (around 9pm) a heavy mist or omni-directional rain came up, and I remembered a landscape of moss-covered lava not far away. So instead of putting on my soaking boots, I went with cold bare feet in sandals and took some shots. It was worth it, and the landscape seemed very surreal, with light coming from just above the horizon and glowing as though it was only a few hundred metres away. I got very wet again, and there were millions of beads of water on my camera, but thankfully the K10D is water-resistant so I don't have to worry so much about that.

Here are a couple sunsets too. The first is from Reykjavík looking some 100km over the ocean to the Snæfelsness peninsula. The second is from a lake called Mývatn in the north - this sunset took about an hour and a half and was spectacular with lots of colour the whole time. When the colour from the sun had mostly left the sky, the moon rose over the hills. Sunsets here last forever this time of year, so it can be a leisurely process to set-up a tripod and get the shots you want. The light changes constantly though, as the sun moves, so different colours appear and disappear over periods of a few minutes.

- Leif