patience for pink [explored]

A hint of mist covers one end of Vestrahorn mountain while the sun rises to the east, lighting up this little misty intrusion with a glorious infusion of pink. The emerging sun also gives some pink highlights to the exposed flanks and peaks of the mountain.

 

On a trip through southern Iceland last fall, we set upon Vestrahorn multiple times in widely varying conditions. On this particular morning the sunrise was a bit odd, teasing a bit of color but ultimately fizzling out. I had decided that the still waters of the morning at low tide were providing some beautiful reflections so I shook off my typical "there might be a better comp just over there" approach which has me wildly sprinting around a location at peak light desperate to find a comp. Instead, I settled in at the same spot for a good hour snapping through various changes in lighting. The just-emergent pink dawn hues against the still dominant blues provided the most appealing result to me. So I was pleased with the outcome here, but also pleased with my own patience in the process. Patience is not a trait I'm not blessed with an abundance of unfortunately, so I managed to surprise myself a bit this day..

 

An additional surprise was that I came to really like Vestrahorn! It is one of the most commonly shot landscapes in all of Iceland, which is to say, possibly in all of the world. I've struggled in the past to see what was so great about it. Yeah, yeah, there's black sand. And a reflecting tidal pool. And it has a pleasing shape. I get all that but I never quite got the whole as the sum of its parts before. Not that I disliked it before but I never quite got what all the fuss was about. But on this morning it all came together for me and I particularly loved the minimalism of it, making that protrusion of color all the more dramatic.

Done