 Yo, what up welcome back to another episode of the HBO docu-drama that is my trip to Iceland featuring Graphic nudity non-fictional violence film photography and a hyper realistic torture scene that one critic describes as completely unnecessary for a YouTube travel photography video Well, I recently got back from spending three weeks in Iceland. So buckle your seatbelts bitches This is gonna be a long one So Monica and I went to Iceland for the first time four years ago in 2015 and it was one of the best experiences of my painfully average life Seriously, it's such a beautiful country and the landscapes are only outweighed by the friendliness of the people there You should definitely visit that 2015 trip was the first time I ever Experimented with a certain type of drug called 35 millimeter film at the time I shot two disposable cameras and when I got the film back I was hooked smash cut to me now making shitty YouTube videos about film photography ever since our first trip We had always been dreaming about going back to Iceland But for a longer period of time to see more of the country though Some things had changed the biggest change that I noticed is that they switched cool American Doritos to sour cream and Honestly, I'm still a little shook. So for this trip I drove around Iceland's Ring Road twice and you may be wondering Why was it that the ass warmers on the rental car were just too good and I just kept driving? Possibly more realistically because of scheduling the plan was I'd spend the first week with my brother And then he'd swap places with Monica and we'd spend the second two weeks together. Was it preferable? No, not really But traveling is more fun when you have someone else there to encourage you to make bad life decisions So my magical Iceland story starts off like any other classic fairy tale sitting in traffic on the 405 That's a little bit Flight I couldn't decide if I wanted to sleep or stay awake So to pass the time I took some sleeping pills and chugged a five-hour energy and just let them battle it out in my system So on this trip I shot mostly with my Sony a7r2 if I wasn't already certain I was going to hell I think shooting a digital camera on a film photography channel would surely do it But before you go and shit all over my DMs You may be pleased to know that I also brought my contacts T2 and 11 rolls of film Now you might be like why the fuck did you betray us all and shoot digital? Look at it this way between digital and film I shot a combined 3,000 photos on this trip in honor of my favorite movie Mr. 3,000 if I only shot film and maybe shot a little more conservatively that's still be like 80 rolls on 35 millimeter so that's about 200 dollars to buy the film and get it all developed and let's be honest Iceland is not a cheap place So it cut costs where I could that being said I did bring along six rolls of Fuji c200 Four rolls of ill for it HB 5 and one roll of Kodak Ektachrome as well as two disposable waterproof cameras I ultimately decided to shoot the contacts T2 on this trip because it's a point and shoot and it does just that No need to dial in the settings switch lenses or even focus all you had to do is find the Position and the Carl's Iceland's is about as sharp as my nipples and a cold breeze. So that was a bonus Anyway back on the plane I was told pilots actually practice landing in Iceland because most of the time the weather conditions are kind of crazy. I Imagine it's kind of like the boss level of flight simulator Except you land a plane instead of abandon your job as a plumber to go beat the shit out of a turtle for kidnapping the princess So we picked up our rental car a Toyota ravioli for And headed to the world-famous blue lagoon. I Didn't get any footage of the blue lagoon. So here is a hyper realistic simulation of what it was like Okay, that was pretty cool Not super sure why I was on fire. I guess I'll have to talk to the animation department about that Here are some disposable camera shots from the blue lagoon So you may have noticed that there were some blurry photos in there. I do not know what happened I'm guessing that water somehow got in the waterproof camera and Messed up the shutter somehow the other identical camera was fine. I loaded up the contacts T2 with Fuji C200 I've never actually shot Fuji C200 before but I'm happy to report. It's not bad I chose Fuji C200 as my color film because I had heard that it does well with greens and blues Which are colors that are pretty dominant in Iceland But I'm also really happy to report that it also nails the color orange Additionally, I over exposed most of my shots of C200 by one stop As you can probably tell the first two days in Iceland were sunny and clear Which is something I did not even think was possible there. I legitimately might have caught a slight tan We did a hike and saw several waterfalls along the way the lighting wasn't ideal when we got to the end waterfall But holy s***, who cares that water was bluer than me when I hold my breath for 12 minutes We saw some of the classics like geyser and Golfoss, but definitely my favorite spot of the day was a waterfall called Faxi We were the only people there, so we kind of just hung out and enjoyed the solitude Before heading back to the hotel and having jet lag rapid sweet arms of defeat around us That night we got the best view of the northern lights that we would get all week So pictures never do it justice, but look at them anyway The next morning we did a hike out to a hot spring river It was awesome, and we were guided there by sheep along the route We then drove over to the Highlands and visited a waterfall that I won't even try to pronounce because I'm an ignorant American douche For my second role I switched to Ilford HP 5 and underexposed it by one stop At the waterfall we met a German guy named Andreas and after chatting with him and giving him a beer He offered to show us a cool spot not too far away. We had truly unlocked a real-life side quest I don't know what this canyon is called, but I'm sure it's something Icelandic and by Icelandic I mean something unpronounceable to the rest of the world That night we stayed at the Highlands center and our room was pretty tiny So we opted to sit outside drink beer and watch the sun go down The next day we made our way back to the coast along the way We decided to check out a nearby waterfall, but we got a flat tire So we put the donut on and headed to a tire shop in Selphos Where the technician roasted our asses pretty hard about drinking 2.25% beer In our defense, it's all that they had in bulk at Icelandic Costco in the mechanics defense Yeah, it's basically toilet water Not to be discouraged we pushed on and saw a bunch of waterfalls Iceland is known as the land of waterfalls and for good reason Though I really think it should be called the land of sheaf because they're everywhere The night we stayed in Vic, which is a cool town on the south coast. Can you close your legs? Next morning we hit the road again and stopped at Flaming Hot Cheetos Canyon It's a canyon that they shot a Justin Bieber music video in and obviously my brother and I are huge believers So we had to check it out We also got up close to the glacial arm that I think they filmed the ice planet from interstellar on So Matt Damon was probably around there somewhere when we stopped at diamond beach I got this picture of a seal that somehow perfectly encapsulates the look my dog Baxter gives us when he thinks We're leaving the apartment without him. I think we all knew Baxter was going to make an appearance in this video one way or another Last for the day we hit the famous glacial lagoon Yogurt's in where my contacts T2 and my sony got drenched That night we stayed at a hotel that was really cool And super photogenic, but after a while it really started to give me some of the shining vibes The next day we had a bit of driving ahead of us Headed north, but we stopped along the coast. We also visited a lesser trafficked waterfall that had a natural arch over it I often call Iceland the Photographers playground not because it smells like piss or teenagers go there after school to smoke drugs But because there's so much untapped beauty around every corner and this was just one of those instances for me Anyway, there wasn't too much to do in the small town that we were staying in so We got drunk and wandered around The next day we went to the mevatin nature baths, which are kind of like the blue lagoon once again I didn't get any footage, but um enjoy this simulation of what it was like Okay I guess that was better. My ass was still on fire. So I'm not Too sure they got my last note I asked a native icelander what de da fos translates to in English and she said it means falling falls I mean, I guess you're not technically wrong, but zero points for creativity first sheer power alone I probably would have called it something like steroid falls or swolphos Early the next morning my brother and I went to the GOC thermal baths, which uh was definitely one of my favorite spots for sure Here's another animation of what it was like Okay, cool. Looks like they finally got it right There it is Post thermal bath our ass is only wanted one thing and that was more waterfalls at night we hung out in uh The biggest city in northern iceland and explored a bit I decided now was as good a time as any to load up the Contacts with my one roll of ectochrome that I had smuggled into the country But first I had to retrieve it if you know what I mean. That's right. It was in my pocket I underexposed all my shots of ectochrome by Half a stop hoping to preserve some of the highlights because it's a slide film But it seems like ectochrome actually does a pretty good job of handling dynamic range So in hindsight, I kind of wish I didn't underexpose because some of my shots came out a little dark I don't shoot a whole lot of color positive films. So I guess it was just a rookie mistake The following day we hopped in the car and hiked it back to Reykjavik for the last day of hanging out with my brother before he heads home So we polished off the 2.25 percent beer I honestly bet this beer hydrates you more than it dehydrates you and that's just unacceptable We walked into town to get more of those magical tacos as well The next morning we headed to the airport. So mac could fly home and I picked up monica It was time for my final lap around iceland in mario kart This is generally where I get reamed with a blue spike shell. So I remained vigilant lots of video game references in this video I'm now realizing We had some time to kill so we checked out a nearby lighthouse And then we went to one of our favorite spots by the coast Which we were fortunate enough to have entirely to ourselves and the giant ancient bird monster statue Then of course it was time for the blue lagoon. Fortunately, this disposable camera was fully functional The next day it was time to explore a bit So iceland has a few of these roads called f roads which are generally like unmaintained gravel or dirt roads So we took one of these roads pretty deep inland and let me tell you the f and f road stands for I picked up because that's generally the condition these roads are in So after an hour of aggressively dodging potholes like that 1% of bacteria that aggressively dodges hand sanitizer We arrived This was one of my favorite spots for sure We ended up getting a little lost but we did visit the icelandic horseshoe bend Which was the greater prize for me. Anyway, here it is compared to the shot that I took at arizona's horseshoe bend The next morning we treated ourselves to some gas station hot dogs, which are a staple of the budget traveler in iceland Now you might hear gas station hot dog and have ptsd flashbacks of barely making it to the bathroom only to be met with a torrential firestorm of diarrhea However, the gas station hot dogs in iceland are of a A lot of the hot dogs in iceland are of a Higher class. I felt nothing but satisfaction and yumminess We visited hyphos, which is a canyon with lots of towering waterfalls And it's very beautiful. Hard to take a bad picture there, but I would certainly try Since it wasn't too far out of the way. We revisited this waterfall that I still cannot pronounce The water was so freaking blue. I just couldn't believe it. I only wondered if it was a firestorm The water was so freaking blue. I just couldn't believe it I only wonder if it tastes like blue powerade or my favorite alcoholic drink if I'm trying to black out for the next few days the amf After the waterfall, I swapped out the ectochrome for a roll of fuji c200 And reset the exposure compensation to one stop over We visited another waterfall as we headed back towards the coast It wasn't the biggest waterfall, but sometimes size doesn't matter, right? It certainly left me out of breath and with a smile on my face The next day we saw some more waterfalls and a few secret waterfalls away from the crowds Well, apparently not away from the crowds of well endowed horses There was a really cool cave I had heard about and we were ahead of schedule that day So we decided to check it out and I'm glad we did. It even came with a bonus abandoned building near the entrance The 38 millimeter lens on the contacts t2 fell a little short of being able to capture the entire cave entrance Uh, even the 24 millimeter on my sony was uh, not quite enough In the end, I think the colors and the handling of the high contrast scene were better rendered on film We also visited the highly popular black sand beach where there was a lot of people despite being partially closed Um, so I didn't really snap too many photos that evening It ended up raining all night that night and it was so peaceful Anyway, the next day was my 53rd birthday. So we returned pretty early to the black sand beach I had loaded hb5 into the contacts t2 Later on we revisited Justin Bieber canyon though this time it wasn't as foggy and mystical We stopped at a cool rock formation and decided to explore the area a little bit And ended up hiking up a kind of steep hill where there were more formations at the top Never really know what you'll find To celebrate my 64th trip around the sun we had shots of brenevin, which is nicknamed the black death And only after drinking it will you understand why It tastes like a plague rat died in a casket of alcohol 700 years ago Sometimes I wonder if ice lenders pretend to like this stuff to confuse the rest of the world That being said, I definitely drank more of it We woke up the next morning from blacking out and headed down the road to a spot that we thought Might have a cool waterfall at the end of it Unfortunately the path kind of led us on to private property and uh, we didn't want a trespass So we flipped a u-turn and headed back disappointed So we drove onward to the matt daemon glacier After the glacier we headed off the main road to a hike that I'd heard about Long story short, we got a little lost on the trail But eventually we found the epic views that we were looking for Right as it started to downpour. It was really cool being the only people on the trail It was like we had the entire canyon to ourselves And the sheep of course This was probably my favorite hike that we did Driving up the road the clouds started to spread out and let some light in So the photographer in me was just burning like gonorrhea to get out and take some photos It was kind of a special night for us because we were staying at the same hotel that we stayed at four years ago Where we got really really drunk with the bartender Of course that night the northern lights put on a show, but in our blitzed out state We were never really sure if we just hallucinated it The next day was pretty sunny and clear, which uh is great if you don't want to be rained on but Not great if you're going for those moody shots like I was So I just accepted my fate and took a bit of an off day from photography and just enjoyed the journey We eventually arrived in a small town called Satus Fjordor, which is a small town in the east surrounded by fjords We played some Mongkala in the hotel that we were staying in Monica showed me the correct way to play and I showed her the way I learned in prison We went out to the bar that night and met an australian bartender living in iceland He was super cool, but he was afraid to visit the us because of Bears, so yeah, you heard that right the guy from the country where literally everything will kill you is afraid of bears Yeah, bears are dangerous, but dog. Just don't go into the woods I've never been to australia But I kind of assume that you can't even go swimming in the ocean there without first riding your will I've only ever seen a bear once in my entire pathetic life living in california Honestly, you're more likely to die from a heart attack eating too much in and out over here The next day was our best day in iceland for starters. I didn't wake up with a hangover and breakfast was solid We hiked out to a canyon that had these crazy rock formations Where the rocks kind of just looked like they forgot how to look like rocks On our way back. We picked up a hitchhiker, which is something neither of us has ever done before She was actually really nice, but unfortunately she was french, so that kind of ruins it at least now We can check that off the bucket list We hit deada fos again this time from the west side Which was actually pretty lucky because there was a rainbow from the mist from the falls That just made the whole setting really cool Like I didn't even give a s*** that my camera got soaked again That evening we headed to the mevatin nature baths for sunset and got a really cool one The next day we had to kill some time, so we headed to a nearby geothermal area where the ground was literally vaping The fuji c200 that I was shooting really shined with the natural oranges How would you describe the smell here? I'd describe it as porta potty diarrhea So I've got some good news and I've got some bad news for you The good news is I have found the best smoothie in the entire goddamn world The bad news it will literally ruin all other smoothies for you. It's by a company called lemon I think they're a small chain We stumbled upon these smoothies in husovik and got the number four Which is called the vanilla flirt or something cheesy like that Though the only thing this smoothie is flirting with is my bank account as I'm prepared to empty it and sell all my cameras for more smoothies The first sip of this stuff that I had I passed out for 12 seconds and had to go lay down I'm honestly not being paid to endorse the crap out of them, but uh lemon if you're watching Uh call me That evening we wound up in that big city in the north No, not winterfell where I picked up a cool photo book of aerial landscape shots from iceland The next morning we were both trembling a little bit sweating profusely and itching ourselves uncontrollably Luckily after we hit up lemon again and drank another smoothie the symptoms went away So we headed north and visited a small town that one of the locals had recommended Unfortunately, it was raining pretty hard. So we didn't take too many photos It was time to see another waterfall. So we made a quick detour on our journey south I didn't get any footage of this But uh google maps had us take an hour and a half pothole express when there was a Perfectly drivable completely functional smooth road not too far away Seriously, the road we took placed second in the international pothole contest losing only to an unnamed bombed out world war two german backcountry road We eventually arrived in town and went to check out the lighthouse that overlooked the harbor On our way back to the hotel, uh, we stumbled across a scene that was too good to be true If you're a photographer monica didn't give a s*** The next day we had big plans that were unfortunately somewhat hampered by the rain Well, it's september 20th, which means it's the day of the area 51 raid I'm sorry that I can't be there in person, but I hope everyone the best We started our epic journey along the sniflesnest peninsula by visiting a waterfall that you've probably never ever seen before Following that I stopped to shoot an abandoned building with an epic backdrop We followed the road along the coast to a beach with some really cool rock formations I picked up some of my favorite shots from the trip here while both of my cameras got soaking wet Again, honestly, the biggest surprise of this trip is that both of those cameras still work We finally made it to a cranes for the evening and wandered around a little bit In the morning we drove to reikevic But not before stopping to get another shot of an abandoned building And yeah, some sheep because why the f*** not they're everywhere We also unsurprisingly fed our crack-like addiction And I'm glad we did because there was a funny sign across the way And you already know I had to make a quick meme of it It was our last day in iceland. So we just spent it walking around reikevic This was easily one of my favorite days In town I also picked up another photo book that featured some icelandic landscapes That evening we met up with a fellow photographer based out of iceland This is her handle. So if you want to see more awesome travel photos go give her a follow and say what's up on instant ham Anyway, it was time to leave which saddened me quite a bit But I left iceland feeling very inspired, you know after the post-vacation depression wore off This definitely won't be the last time I visit iceland and after spending three weeks there It definitely felt like I was leaving something that I had grown to be perfectly in rhythm with I honestly feel like I could photograph iceland every day of every year Until lemon goes out of business then f*** it. I'm out