I took a day-long tour in with 8 others in a small van today. We went to all the typical waterfalls, black beach, small towns. It’s wonderful to see them and I don’t mean to sound jaded, but as a photographer, I wanted to yell “STOP THE VAN” about every kilometer or so. I need time to photograph the world properly. And I don’t want the same shot someone else got.

Since stopping was a bit out of the question, I shot at the places we all shoot at (those are on the camera and will be processed next week), but what I found most inspirational was the view out the window and we traveled. The phone would have to do.

I wanted to remember the dark volcanos and lava fields topped with white snow at the peaks and running down the sides, and the deep green moss –deep green even in winter– that topped the lava fields below.

I wanted to remember the crash of the ocean against the black sand beaches as we were pummeled with sand and pellets when the 55 mile/hour winds gushed to 70 mph and nearly knocked me over. (All I could think as the bitter sub-zero wind chills whipped my scarf away and the sand hit my back and legs was that there must be an army of Lilliputians with rapid-fire catapults somewhere nearby, trying to take me down!)

I wanted to remember how the landscape changed from one area to the next and we drove east.

I wanted to capture the inspiration — inspiration that begs to be new art.

A few phone shots from today: