Vulcan's Reprise

While no single image can fully capture the breadth of Iceland's visual delights, this one may come close to encapsulating a key essence of Iceland: Vulcanism, past and imminent future. Add water to create incredible geothermal energies. Desolation, vastness, and puniness of human scale vs. Nature. Wind-blown landscapes where even power-line poles are pushed askew. Instead of trees, low hummocks of moss and grass cover the rocky ground. Incredible glacial creation then erosion of a nunatak into a pyramidal basalt and sedimentary mountain. The many new facets of even the most over-photographed feature (eg, Kirkjufell) waiting to be discovered from a reframed perspective (skipping the over-exposed waterfall). It even has a herd of Icelandic horses, in the barns, in and away from the storm, for now.