Sunday morning 7am was the start of day 2 of the Photo Tour. It started out as a beautiful morning and as we wended our way up to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, we had several stops that came to be known as “Vulture stops.” This originated from a tour Sig gave to a pair of Indian photographers. The two of them had been on a trip to a tiger habitat in India. One of them was fascinated by vultures and kept calling out “Vultures!” and wanted to stop for photos. Needless to say, they never made it to the habitat. Thusly were we warned to limit our "Vulture! stops" lest we not get to our destination. The views called for a few of those stops, especially with the dramatic clouds. Little did we know how dramatic they would turn out to be. As we entered the Peninsula, the rains came, and would alter our course. We were prepared with rain coats, but didn’t think to wear our rain pants. oops.

The first planned shooting stop was a small black church with a personal interest to him as well of historical interest. At that point it was on-and-off drizzly. Had it been clearer, we would have seen many waterfalls on the mountain behind the church. Nonetheless, the weather provided a different kind of backdrop. It was intriguing in it’s simplicity and there were many angles of approach. The ground was also covered with a moss-like plant, blueberry bushes, and other plant life. The moss is generally brownish, but turns green when wet. We never really saw the brownish. It made for colorful viewing.

The next stop was a natural arch by the ocean. It would have been a perfect spot for some long-exposure work, but by then there was a driving wind with a moderate rain that was being driven horizontally. That we were able to get any shots was directly attributable to the golf umbrella Sig had gotten from Costco!

From there, he took to an off-road moss-covered, lava field. It was actually, essentially, the original horse road around the Peninsula. That is where we met the stone Daleks! I could almost hear the “exterminate, Exterminate, EXTERMINATE!!!” A different story-line, I know, but we tried very hard not to blink! These were actually direction-guiding cairns. They all point in the same direction, so the rider always knew which way to go.

There were other stops, including a “vulture stop” of a very small church at the edge of a very old lava wall. We passed by it as we explored and as we returned I called out “Vultures!” and we stopped! Irresistible!

Sig knew we were very interested in Waterfalls, but, in what became a theme for the week, the weather was most moist. Some of the types of shots I had hoped to play at were rendered impossible and we had to bypass at least one good falls that would have been un-shootable in these conditions. After much mulling, he offered to extend the trip by several hours and take us to a large falls that is a major attraction, but we all agreed that there would be other opportunities throughout the week (there were) and then he came up with, as our final stop for the day, a not-so-grand off-the-side-of-the-road falls that were, for this purpose, magnificent! The rain had mostly stopped and conditions were excellent. The one thing I learned was that next time we come, I need waterproof boots so I can walk in water…