Landscapes of the World

Imagery of the stunning landscapes of Iceland, Portugal, Mexico and Scotland.

Golden Mist of Háifoss
One of my favorite memories of my trip to Iceland was standing on this sheer precipice admiring the mighty Háifoss, in the Icelandic highlands. At sunset, the waterfall mist lit up a beautiful golden color. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Hraunfossar in Autumn
Located in western Iceland, Hraunfossar is a gorgeous series of waterfalls pouring into the Hvítá river. Although Iceland has very few trees, beautiful autumnal colors can be found among the low lying ground cover, and looked especially beautiful among the aqua color of the water. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Vestrahorn Reflections
Vestrahorn, on the south coast of Iceland, is a popular location for photographers and for good reason: the dramatic peaks juxtaposed against the flat black sand beach, endless reflections, and ever changing sky offer a truly dramatic view. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Viking Ship
Longdrangar, a pair of seastacks off the west coast of Iceland on the rugged Snæfellsnes peninsula, resemble a Viking ship. This was shot on a sheer cliff plunging into the frigid North Atlantic during an exceptionally windy afternoon, so hunkering down low to the ground with a firmly planted tripod was most certainly called for, and one of the few times I actually clipped a strap to my tripod just in case anything happened. This is a long exposure using a 10-stop neutral density filter to smooth the cloud and wave movement for a moody effect. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Öxarárfoss
Located in Thingvellir National Park, along the Golden Circle of Iceland, Öxarárfoss is accessed by a scenic hike through a narrow canyon, and offered little spots of bright autumn color on the dark, volcanic rock. This is also a location where Game of Thrones was filmed for Season 4 (when the characters, Brienne and the Hound engage in a bloody battle). I hunkered down low to capture some rocks as leading lines to this beautiful waterfall, and used a 10-stop ND filter to smooth the water, combined with a graduated ND to avoid overexposure of the overcast sky. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Water Chute
Located in South Iceland on the Hvítá River which is fed by Iceland´s second biggest glacier, the Langjökull, Gullfoss waterfall plummets down over a hundred feet in two stages into a rugged canyon which walls reach over 200 feet in height. At the bottom of the footpath that runs parallel to the falls, this is the first in a series of drops; I set my tripod up low to capture the granite rock of the Eurasian tectonic plate in the foreground. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Blue Ravine
Located in South Iceland on the Hvítá River which is fed by Iceland’s second biggest glacier, Gullfoss waterfall plummets down over a hundred feet in two stages into a rugged canyon which walls reach over 200 feet in height. This jagged composition is of the fissure canyon of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates coming together.
Geysir Sunrise
Geysir is a geyser in southwestern Iceland that can hurl boiling water up to 230 feet in the air; even my wide angle at 16mm couldn’t capture it all. Before it starts to erupt, it will make an interesting looking aqua colored bulbous bubble, then erupts rather quickly, so you need to be prepared with your trigger in hand, using a continuous burst mode on your camera. We were fortunate this particular morning to have a beautiful sunrise in the background. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Jökulsárlón Rainbow
Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon is a large lake in southeastern Iceland. Every day, the lagoon feeds a fresh crop of ice chunks, some as large as an SUV, others as small as a watermelon, into the adjacent black sand beach. In certain conditions, the vivid blue ice appears lit from within, from frozen water thousands of years old. During a clearing morning, I spotted a faint rainbow and we jumped out of the bus to photograph some hand held compositions before the rainbow disappeared into the mist. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Heaven and Earth
These beautiful clouds, tinged with the colors of the sunset, appeared to me as a reflection of heaven on earth in the shallow water along the Icelandic coast. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Black Diamond
Diamond Jökulsárlón Beach is an otherworldly contrast of black sand and dazzling blue ice. Every day, icebergs break off nearby Vatnajökull glacier, journey through the glacier lagoon and eventually drift out to the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. I initially ignored this particular chunk of ice, since it had a coating of black sand on it’s surface, but when I looked at the image back home, I decided I liked the contrast it provided. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Sun Voyager at Sunset
The iconic Sun Voyager sculpture along the waterfront of Reykjavik. While sitting in a hole in the wall pizza joint in Reykjavik, my travel companions and I looked out the window and noticed the beautiful quality of light. We grabbed our camera gear and ran down to the waterfront in time to capture the beautiful clouds lit up over the city. There were surprisingly fewer tourists here than I would’ve expected. This is a blend of 2 exposures: one at sunset for the clouds, another shortly later, at blue hour with the reflections of the lights on the water and on the sculpture, blended in PS. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Fairy Pools Emerald Water
The vivid, crystal clear waters of the Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye are a series of small waterfalls that resembles something out of ancient Scottish myth. It was here, that the wet bog and mud was so intense that on one step, I sunk down to my knee, requiring a mini-rescue to get unstuck. Good thing I had my wellies on! I can only imagine the color of the water here on a sunny day. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Applecross Subtle Sunset
An isolated, remote area accessed by a hairpin-turn, single track coastal road that is typically closed in winter due to heavy snow accumulation, Applecross is a stunning vantage point in Wester Ross overlooking the Isle of Skye in the far distance. Very heavy winds threatened to topple over tripods, and the promise of a dramatic sunset resulted in a subdued and temporary breakthrough of sunlight for which I was glad I switched to my telephoto. The light on the water, and the layers of the hills made the twisty drive up worth it: a memorable last day in Scotland topped off by a delicious meal at the tiny Applecross Inn. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Vestrahorn Rippled Sand
Low tide ripples on the expansive beach surrounding Vestrahorn provided an interesting foreground element to these mighty peaks that appear to generate their own mini weather system. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Aquamarine
Diamond Jökulsárlón Beach is an otherworldly contrast of black sand and dazzling blue ice. Every day, icebergs break off nearby Vatnajökull glacier, journey through the glacier lagoon and eventually drift out to the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Sunrise and Moonset Over Calton Hill, Edinburgh
I don’t typically photograph architecture, but no photography trip to the beautiful city of Edinburgh would be complete without a shot from Calton Hill, headquarters of the Scottish government, and the site of many historical monuments dating from the early 1800’s. Just before sunrise, the half-moon could be seen setting over a just-awakening city. This scene, which my husband and I had completely to ourselves, was well worth the early rise, and the hike up the steps in the dark! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Quiraing Sunrise Panorama
Sunrise at the Quiraing, an elevated plateau on the Isle of Skye. To say that Scotland's landscapes just blew the mind is an understatement. The tiny photographer at the upper right of the frame provides some scale to just how massive and otherworldly this area is. Turns out, this was only one of two mornings of our 2 week long trip we had any sunrise to speak of, so volatile is the weather here, but that's alright, I would go back in a heartbeat! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Wester Ross Panorama
A peaceful morning spent photographing the Silver Birch in the Scottish Glen as the morning mist began to lift off the distant peaks of Wester Ross. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Clearing Mist on the Mountain, Wester Ross
A peaceful morning spent photographing the Silver Birch in the Scottish Glen as the morning mist began to lift off the distant peaks of Wester Ross. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Wester Ross Quiet Morning
Our first morning in Wester Ross, clouds began to conceal the mountains in the distance at sunrise. Behind us, was a break in the clouds illuminating these silver birch trees growing along a tiny loch made for beautiful reflections and a nice warm/cool color combination. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Scots Pine in Mist
Travel the world to witness a particular species of tree? Sure, why not, it wouldn’t be the first time! Tiny pockets of Scotland’s native pine tree, the Scots Pine, are still found in the Highlands, after being nearly decimated in the 17th century for charcoal and ship-building. Sadly, only a fraction remain. A hike up a non-disclosed location to photograph these delicate beauties was rewarded with rain and mist, providing an ethereal mood fitting these beautiful and majestic trees. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Scots Pines, Loch Clair
I was very enamored of the stately Scots Pines that grew along the shore of Loch Clair with a fog covered Beinn Eighe looming in the background in the Scottish Highlands. This series of images has been sitting on my hard drive for months and I’m still not sure if I’ve done the scene any justice to what I felt when admiring these beautiful trees. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Vestrahorn Monochrome
The mighty Vestrahorn on an exceptionally windy autumn afternoon provided ever changing cloud conditions at it’s peak that made me wish I had set up for a timelapse and had more time here. Before walking out to the flats to photograph some reflections, I spent some time making compositions in the dunes. I took various exposures at different shutter speeds and focus points, and stacked the images in Photoshop to obtain a reasonably sharp image during a very windy day when the grass was blowing at my feet. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Electrical Storm over the Caribbean
The first day of our Mexican Riviera vacation, insomnia caused my husband and I to walk to the beach to watch sunrise to find this billowing thundercloud on the horizon. I had only brought a minimal kit of one lens and a gorilla-pod, so I found a flat location on the rocks and set up my camera using this old pier as a foreground element, continuously taking long exposures in the hopes of capturing some lightning. I missed many dramatic lightning bolts between takes and when fumbling with my settings, but managed to get one small bolt as the electrical storm began to die down and as the rising sun cast subtle crepuscular rays in the sky. www.optimalfocusphotography.com