Wonder

If you haven't yet or haven't in a while (especially if you live here!) be sure to go up to the top of the Hallgrímskirkja tower. It's a stunning view in any weather, even on windy, stormy Sundays like the last one. We live so close to the tower, literally only a couple hundred yards away, and cross in front of it almost every day which means we forget to take advantage of it! So when on Sunday, which was Óðinn's 6th birthday, he suggested going up into the tower on our way home from Amma and Afi's house on the other side of the church, I couldn't refuse. It had been too long since the last time and was such a fun and simple adventure on his big day.

That kind of "local's complacency" is one of the reasons I began this blog: I noticed that I saw things here on our hill (Skólavörðurholt - basically the triangle in front of and to the sides of the church, down to where Skólavörðurstígur and Laugavegur merge; this map is very cool) that the natives did not, or that they'd become so accustomed to that there was little wonder left in them. I did the same thing in Santa Cruz: I didn't go to the beach, only a mile away, nearly often enough. And when living in San Francisco as an adult I realized that I was starting to take for granted the stunning landscape and architecture that other people dreamed of being able to see with their own eyes. 

As an example, my mother saw the photo below with this wonderful paved design and couldn't figure out where I'd taken it. I'm sure most of my readers who've been up into the tower have taken a similar picture, and would recognize it right away, but for someone who walks over it many times a week, it becomes a practical blur.

Even though I've always felt a deep childhood connection to this part of Reykjavik (where my parents were raised) it is still totally new to me because I grew up in California. I discovered early on that even though we all adore a good landscape photo, we still love those photojournalistic/street images that remind us of our own personal experiences in a new place. To be able to say, Ooh, I've been there! I've seen that, especially with the little hidden gems sprinkled throughout a town or city, is a fun and intimate feeling. Maybe this concept of renewed wonder in the familiar is what is needed for people to really start collaborating on creating sustainable communities. When we stop to appreciate what we already have, finding ways to maintain our neighborhoods in a healthy way easily emerge. 

Promise

I seem to write this every March, but every March we seem to need to know it again: Spring is springing and Summer will come again. Promise : ) 

Also, if you're located on the Eastern Seaboard, why don't you treat yourself and a loved one or two to an evening Off Broadway at the new play Out of Iceland, "a comedy with heart." Here's a small blurb, sent to me by the production team to share with you all: 

Caroline Miller (Jillian Crane), an established writer from New York, is at a loss for words when she falls off an Icelandic volcano and awakes on the couch of a complete stranger. Hal Tanker (Michael Bakkensen) is the misplaced cowboy in charge of the grounds who nurses her back to health. Then there's Thor (Lea De Laria), Iceland's flamboyant troll who crawled out of the television one night to warn her about something – or did she imagine that? When their truck mysteriously disappears in the middle of “The Middle,” Hal and Caroline must face their biggest fears in a long night in one of the most mystical places on earth. Out of Iceland is a modern day fairy tale set at the end of the earth.

Definitely worth checking out!

Translation

I like to say that English is Icelandic that went on a 1200-year journey around the world, and has now come home again. More and more often, to the chagrin of the elderly and the intellectual, English words slip out of the mouths and pens of not only internationally savvy youth, but of those who are deemed fit to lead this country in business, politics and the arts.  (Here's an informative set of lecture slides on the use of English at the tertiary, or university, level of education in Iceland by one of my favorite professors at the University of Iceland, Hafdís Ingvarsdóttir)

Even more frustrating to many is when journalists and reporters, held to very high standards here especially because they are disseminating info on events in the Big City to families on isolated farms way out on the edges of our island, slack off on their use of language. If we keep on at this rate, many fear, we'll end up like the Danish with their especially-incomprehensible Copenhagenese (very funny video!) a true horror for a country who's independence was gained in large part because Icelanders were able to claim a distinct cultural identity from their Danish overlords (the Danes had to capitulate: I've been told they had used the same argument against outside rulers in earlier times, but Danish history is a complicated series of land grabs and relinquishments, so I'm having a hard time backing that fact up.)

But if we consider that Old Norse - Icelandic for all intents and purposes - was an adventurous, seafaring language that eventually grew restless confined as it was to the cold North Atlantic, and longed for some sunshine, and maybe a little romance, it all starts to make sense. Heading south, borne on the lips of the most ævintýralegt folk, it mingled with and married the tongues of the Mediterranean and lands beyond to eventually become the world lingua franca in all its varied dress.

I respect the absolute dedication to our cultural and linguistic heritage and believe it to be crucial to our people to preserve it forever. I also, however, agree with Mr. Jay Walker that English is not a thing to fear, but the world's second language to be embraced along with any country's mother tongue. He calls it the universal language of problem solving, so that peoples and nations can engage in conversations about the state of the world we live in and our global hopes for the future. In addition, I like that languages are flexible and ever-evolving (for example, as recently as 1973 Icelandic academics removed the letter Z from the language) and very personal as well. How we tjá okkur (express ourselves) may be guided by the society we live in, but ultimately cannot be absolutely regulated, nor should it be. Inflection, pronunciation, word choice, rhythm, and even grammar use are like the features on a playground, which we can use to our best and most enjoyable and creative expression.

 So when my daughter blurts out something like, "sjáðu score-ið mitt" ("look at my score") instead of "sjáðu stígin mín" or when I say something like, "we need to see what the staðan is" (in stead of situation) it just comes naturally, and doesn't somehow feel rangt, or wrong. And when my son (who has taught himself to read and do simple multiplication already) refuses to say "sjötta" for "sixth" but says "sexta" instead because it makes more sense (in Icelandic, six is sex and seven is sjö ) he's actually right.

In formal and academic settings we use our best grammar and most excellent vocabulary, but we are playing with the creative aspects of language within our home and in our personal lives. Óðinn will realize soon enough that he can either always be "punished" for his variation on "sixth," or just do as everybody else is doing to appease the formal educational system. It will be his choice.

The first photo is from the Settlement Exhibition in downtown Reykjavik.

Curious

These boys at the pizza bar busted me snapping pics of them and played along, which was actually pretty cool. The girl never had a clue ( if you know who she, or the guys, are you can let them know they're internationally famous now ; )

 In other news, I got an email from a certain EE Ryan the other day asking if I'd like to read his novella and help to spread the word about it.

 It's called The Odd Saga of the American and a Curious Icelandic Flock and is "the fictional tale of a witty American college student and his ill-fated semester in Reykjavik." He sent me a copy and I had a fun jaunt following the lead character, Alex, into a specialized variation of local corruption with a surprise twist at the end. The Icelandic characters are simply and comfortably brought to life, and Ryan taps them for potential with their silences as much as with their words or deeds. If you love all things Icelandic, you should follow the link above and go ahead and read this book : )


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Design

It's nearly time for Design March, or Hönnunar Mars, 2012, so I'm sharing a creation of mine inspired by life with my amazing Óðinn.

Living with such a rich imagination, such a boy imagination, and playing out with him his universes-spanning ongoing battle between the forces of good and evil via Lego and Playmobile is nothing short of entertaining, and sometimes educational too: a five year-old (mine will be six in fifteen days ;) often has a much clearer understanding of basic morality and the core nature of the human (and zombie, and skeleton, and alien pirate, and space ship Captain) psyche. Next time you get a chance to, build a world or two with a kid. It's highly recommended ~.~

Click here to see the rest of the photo shoot.

Nammi

Candy, or nammi in Icelandic, is an unfortunate national pastime : /

I took this photo from the sidewalk looking in to the neighborhood's newest business. This location on Laugavegur used to house a super-comfy organic café/yoga studio called Hjlómalind, but the new resident is a candy bar (please don't miss the irony in that word choice.) According to my teenage daughter, it will stay open til 2am, because that's what we all really need. More sugar in our lives... 

*sigh*

Rainbow

This photo is of the Gravarvogur inlet (good article there from the Reykjavik Grapevine) looking out over to the water tanks at Grafarholt on a misty Sunday last weekend.

I'm considering the concept of what we resist persisting and liking how it works with change. Resistance to change is futile and in addition will cause it to persist. Giving this even a moment's meditative thought makes me feel like I'm in one of those giant plastic spheres rolling down a long green hill - it makes my stomach tingle with something like giddiness, or the uncomfortable but thrilling weightlessness that comes to us in those moments right before we fall asleep.

Beautiful and fantastic things are happening in the world and on this island - innovation, creation, bravery, compassion, healing - that help to offset the crumbling of old ways, both the socially sacred and profane. I like that when I get overwhelmed by all these darker secrets of our world that are being tattled and exposed these days, there's always some bright hope, some news or new product or method, that makes me smile.

It really is a wonderful world, and I guess I'm just going to keep on rolling with the change : )

Btw, if you haven't yet, go to the Iceland Eyes Facebook page, Like it if you'd like (I post more regularly there, with interesting and sometimes pretty obscure links), and then take a look in the left sidebar at the other fan pages I've liked (just a small slice of the total talent pool here, of course!) That way you can discover for yourselves some of the magic in the making here in Iceland. 

Skate

I love it when a photo leads me into new internet terrain! I grew up with skaters out in California, and actually know a bunch here, so it's fun to stop and watch them do trix down at Ingólfstorg, the plaza at the very end of Laugavegur (btw, love the interactive map I just linked to!) This time I got a few shots, not the best in the world, but something to post anyway (and the dude in the pink shoes in the photo below is Stephen who's in my college English class : )

The fun started, for me at least, when I googled Ingólfstorg. I got a cool article about the plaza's history (sorry, it's in Icelandic, but with lots of b/w photos...and I don't have the time to translate it), its international renown as a skate spot (see here - it's got a funbox!- and here - "NO problem with the police...there is a 8 step stairs, where you can grind the steps, and the steps are a little gap!!") and the fact that 68 submissions have been received by the City for its redesign (unfortunately also only in Icelandic, but you can download - or read in Google Docs - the PDF of the Redesign Competition guidelines.)

Though pretty much everyone agrees that the plaza is a total design failure as far as enticing humans to enjoy it (and other wildlife as well!) I'm sure skaters will be super unhappy to see it turned into something new, because we all know without having to ask that out of those 68 submissions, not one incorporates room for any kind of bling or flair by boarders. I'll go ahead and link this video of some locals doing the torg for posterity's sake, and also so you can hear how well young Icelanders swear in English...they've hardly even got an accent! : )

 The winners of the first round of the design competition will be announced next week, on Leap Day, and I, for one, am really interested in seeing the results.

Have you tried Dynamic Viewing yet? Five new views in all. Use the blue tab at the top of the view page to check them all out : )

Calm

Retro Iceland Eyes, first posted in February 2007

After the smá útrás, or little bit of venting I did in the last post (and by the way, thank you to all of you who took part in the discussion. I shared your comments around - they were very astute, thought-provoking and much appreciated!) I thought I'd chill things out a bit with a nice, calming view.

This photo is consistently chosen by readers as one of their favorites, and here's the text that accompanied its original posting:

This view is found on the little island of Grótta, just outside of the town of Seltjarnarnes (Seal Pond Point) which is a tight-knit and slightly snobby community at the very tip of the peninsula that Reykjavik sits on. It's a nature reserve and bird sanctuary that is connected to the mainland by a thin spit of land that exposes at low tide. There's a golf course out there, a nature center, old war bunkers and a very wonderful stretch of beach that reminds me of a typical Northern California strand, with cold-water waves crashing against the sands and rocky outcrops. It's a lovely place for a walk, especially as winter fades away and the days lengthen once more.

Have you tried Dynamic Viewing yet? Five new views in all. Use the blue tab at the top of the view page to check them all out : )

Viewpoint

It's sometimes uncomfortable to voice anything other than a Pollyanna viewpoint on current affairs, and so I usually avoid writing about current affairs! Occasionally, though, I just have to write what I feel, and this is one of those days, though I don't have the heart to go into details. Something about these still, trapped, waiting men in this dirty, decaying window is prompting me, so this is what I have to say:

The glamour/adventure construct that our PR men and women have spun in the past decade has paid off in tons more tourism and happily so, because that's where the money lay, right? I don't disagree at all, and find the average visitor to be a polite and friendly type, willing to help the natives see their homeland for all the glory it has to offer via their curiosity and cash. No cynicism intended: the traveler brings with them a new view and if they open their wallets, it's to share some of what they've got in return for local goods and experiences. Win win for sure! I hope we maintain an ethical, eco-friendly bent in the further development of our tourist industry, because that's why people come here, and not to get what they can get in any other Euro city, and probably for less.

Before we start pandering to Others and their dollars, though, we need to take care of our Own. Though a shiny new hotel might lure a thousand more weekenders into the city, it does little for the morale of the local who can barely maintain the roof over her and her children's heads. It may bring in summertime cash and create a few jobs, but it doesn't solve the problem of once-reasonable and seemingly practical student loan debts, taken by people who honestly wanted to better themselves and their society, that have now doubled since the crash with no discussion on the table of doing anything about it. A new hotel might make us feel superficially proud and even rich as a nation but does nothing for that overwhelming deep-seated feeling that we've completely lost our way and are wandering, ethically compromised, into strange unknowns, missing in our cultural hearts something we can't quite seem to name...

We can welcome our visitors with all the stuff and buildings and ads and magazines and luxuries we think they will need and enjoy, but when traveling nothing ever really surpasses a warm and contented smile from a local, does it? Let's not twist the faces of our single, hard-working mothers and ammas and grandfathers and men into hard-scrabble grimaces because they are just barely scraping by. There's a offended,indignant  tone, a bitter swallowed anger that is stuck in the throats of so many Icelanders these days for the ever-mounting evidence of swindle, corruption, greed, violence, and social breakdown happening here, on our beloved wonder of an island. There is no glory in suffering, and there is no glory in wealth if it's at the expense of a distant relative, or the woman who scans groceries. At the expense of one's own people, born here or not.

Something has to give.

Moss

Retro-post from February 2010, originally titled Life: Tiny moss in macro ~.~ One of my favorite photos, from the early days of my fascination with macro.

I love how tenacious life is, especially the life we barely see here in colder climes. It's humbling to consider that something as small as this moss, just barely bigger than the snow it's holding, has the power, over time, past seasons and through sheer will of growth, to destroy all that we've constructed.

While humans scramble and fret, love and hate and build and tear down, regret and hope and try to keep faith, this plant lives. It may die in time, but will eventually emerge again in a new set of cells, driven by the same compelling desire to lift and rise and expand downwards as well as towards the sky. It clings and survives, and forces willing, thrives, a simple and beautiful symbol of eternal life.

Guide

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Pétur Sturluson.

Pétur, who describes himself as "a freelance guide, driver guide, mountain guide, photograph guide, bird guide, geology guide...anthropology student, artist, photographer and [I work] in fashion" is a typically multi-talented Icelander with a wonderful aesthetic sense, as this image shows.

When I asked him to tell the story behind the photo he wrote, So the story behind the Horses photo...goes like this. I was fishing with a friend in Landmannalaugar territory. Enjoying the landscape even more. When arriving close to Hekla I jumped out of the car to shoot a photo of that Volcano. And by complete luck a bunch of horses came galloping towards me and this time I was ready with my camera...Everybody just loves this photo...And so do I...

In photography, timing is everything.

For more of Pétur's amazing images of Iceland and the world beyond, please visit his flickr site. And if you find yourself here on the Lava Rock needing a guide, contact me and I'll be sure to pass your info on.

Practice

Bear with us! We're freaking out again because of the weather. And no, not we as in me, personally, but as in the entire island nation. It's really cold! It's really windy! Roads are closed! Domestic flights have been cancelled and cars can't get into/out of parking spots! Snow has invaded the tops of our winter boots and we've lost our woolen mittens! An entire meter of the fluffy stuff has fallen and it's apocalyptic times here in this country named for ice. How will we ever survive? 

Well, since most of us have lived through this kind of thing before it shouldn't be too difficult. And according to my favorite weather site (click on a pic and scroll the timeline to watch the pretty colors change) it will warm up and all the impertinent snow will be turned to sludge by Friday midnight. Phew!

Another sweet thing to do, though, to keep warm here in winter is to experience Hot Yoga with Lana Vogestad who is a talented artist and amazing Barkan Method yoga instructor leading sessions at the World Class chain of gyms here in Reykjavik. They unfortunately don't have a site in English, but here's your chance to practice your Icelandic (that last link is an inside joke: Google Translate is not the definitive Icelandic language resource by any means) by checking out their verðskrá. If intensive, balancing, healing, rewarding, sweaty Practice is your thing, Lana's classes are an absolute must in any season.

Have you tried Dynamic Viewing yet? Five new views in all. Use the blue tab at the top of the view page to check them all out : )

Reflection

Some things that make us happy: good coffee and good books.

So I did a search on Iceland in G+ and of course got all sorts of lovely HDR mega-manipulated picture hits from über-superstar photogs (really, how can you snap a bad shot out in our amazing nature!) and also a tiny shout-out for a music festival I'd never heard of before. At first glance it looked to be all about death metal, but names can fool: the DMD, or Dark Music Days, event "can easily be summed up in one word: Diversity. Here, composers and performers from many different sectors of Icelandic music have been able to meet and cooperate while presenting their latest works."* It's happening next weekend, so if you are in the neighborhood, you might want to give it a whirl.

It's being held at our new Harpa which not everyone loves, but which I think is actually a stunning play of space and glass and light, reflecting nicely an aspect of our Icelandic people: seemingly cold, complex and overwhelming from the outside, but truly golden, strong-hearted, warmly intricate and multi-faceted on the inside ~.~

*Quote from www.darkmusicdays.is
Have you tried Dynamic Viewing yet? Five new views in all. Use the blue tab at the top of the view page to check them all out : )

Synchronicity

Yeah, I didn't get it either. They were just there, in front of Hallgrímskirkja, these big black letters, begging me to snap a shot. So I did. And I had intended to write I have no clue what this is all about, but then I saw an article in Fréttablaðið (the daily free newspaper that I've requested not be shoved into my mailbox because life is kinder without being constantly slammed with hype and adverts every day, but which I'm subjected to anyway whenever a new delivery person takes our route, causing that phenomenon known as Middle Class Guilt because now I'm responsible for recycling inky garbage I never wanted in the first place! *sigh*) about the guy behind the word, one Santiago Sierra. He will be installing his stafir at Austurvellir in support of citizens' rights to democracy throughout the world, on this, the third anniversary of the loud and messy protests here in Iceland in the same town square.

On a lighter note, my father Thor and I have been invited to celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations between the US and Iceland tonight by the US Ambassador to Iceland, Luis E. Arreaga (he has a blog!) at Nasa, a venue located at Austurvellir that some of you are familiar with from it's long lines during Iceland Airwaves (book your tix for 2012 now! They sell out mighty quick!)

Tonight we'll actually be entertained by local musicians who have done the Airwaves festival, LayLow and Of Monsters and Men (that link takes you to an NPR / KEXP shout out : ) who in this video are playing a song from their Airwaves Off Venue Reykjavík Downtown Hostel gig, produced by a very sweet and super talented DJ-Producer American friend of mine, Manny, whose last name is Santiago, like the NO artist's first name, and who interestingly enough was contacted by a long lost friend out in the States after he had seen Manny's Guest Photographer post here on Iceland Eyes. Incidentally, this photo of Manny's was taken at the Reykjavik Art Museum which is hosting the exhibition of which Sierra's NO is a part.

Nice synchronicity, eh?

Have you tried Dynamic Viewing yet? Five new views in all. Use the blue tab at the top of the view page to check them all out : )

Fairy

Maybe having seen so many fantastic creatures in the 13th of Christmas bonfire has opened my mind to perceiving the mythical in the most common objects, but regardless of why, once I spied the fairy made by lights in this tree in front of the Central Bank of Iceland I couldn't unsee her. Come to think of it, though, there's evidence to show that this is just the way I'm built, and I'm sure many of you as well. (Isn't this called anthropomorphization...and er, is that even a real word? Turns out it is!)

Regardless of what I see in these lights, I'm hoping that they and many others around town, will be kept lit through the next few months when, post-holidays, we definitely need them most.

On another note, producer Heather Millard (who did the excellent The Future of Hope documentary  - which I've mentioned before - with director Henry Bateman) sent me an email about an event she's helping to organize here with Kisha Mays, the CEO of Just Fearless, in Reykjavik on January 24th called Women Empowering Women. It looks like it could be a very cool evening of network building and support, so I think I'll go myself and take part. If you are here on the Lava Rock during that time you're welcome to come as well!

Have you tried Dynamic Viewing yet? Five new views in all. Use the blue tab at the top of the view page to check them all out : )

Brenna

In lieu of a nice shot of New Year's Eve fireworks, and to warm you up after yesterday's chilly post, I bring you a picture of dancing flames instead!


Here Óðinn adds fuel to the fire at last night's annual Þrettándinn, or Thirteenth Day of Christmas, celebration. For more photos of last night's bonfire, go ahead and visit this post on Google+ ( and you can add me to your circles too, if you'd like : ) This photo by my sister and/or her husband is pretty sweet too.


Have you tried Dynamic Viewing yet? Five new views in all. Use the blue tab at the top of the view page to check them all out : )

Freeze

Let's not talk about the weather! But it has been exceptionally snowy so far this winter, with records set in late December and up until this morning a nice dry below zero (Celsius) windless cold that made the white stuff crackle, crunch and snap under foot. Not very good snowball weather (it would be like lobbing rocks studded with shards of glass) but supernice for long walks around town.

Anyone who has been here in late fall through to late spring knows how often the weather fluctuates in this region's ongoing power struggle between the north wind Boreas, or Kári as he's known to Icelanders, and the great Gulf Stream [video], how surprisingly warm it can be for a nordic island, and how moist the air generally is. That's a recipe for bone-chilling. These past few days I finally really appreciated what dry cold means!

Unfortunately what always happens way too soon happened this morning: the temperature rose above zero and rain is on it's way, equalling nothing less than tons of heavy, dirty slush for the foreseeable future (unless, of course it snap freezes again, creating a dangerous icy shellac over everything.) I'm glad Óðinn and I walked over the town lake yesterday in case it never freezes over again this winter.

It was pretty funny: turned out a bunch of visitors were unsure if they should go out onto the lake, and were just waiting for a local to step out on to the ice, so we had a trail of tourists in our wake. I slowed down and stopped before reaching the bridge because I wasn't sure if it was frozen there, and two British guys stopped too. "We're following you," they chuckled. "Well, I'm following him, and he's only five, so I don't know how good an idea that is!" I replied with a wink.

Regardless, we'll just don our woolens and wet gear and make the best of the season this weekend, whatever comes our way.

2012

It's nearly as hard starting again as it was saying goodbye to this site (which I did in late October as per the post below) but not because I don't want to! I've definitely been itching to snap pictures and share them for the past two months, but after such a dramatic exit, isn't it a little disingenuous to just slip back in the door as if nothing really happened?

I'm glad I stepped away, though, if just for some perspective. Without getting too deep, why we do the things we do really is as important as what we are doing, and ultimately this baby-of-mine makes me happy, especially because I'm able to share it with all of you.

So Happy New Year to you all from beautiful, frozen Reykjavik! Let's make this year, so loaded with mythological (and for some cultural) significance, one of humanitarian significance as well. Take best care of yourselves and glow with health and love...the rest will easily follow.

P.s. I didn't have a super fantastic photo to post tonight, so chose a picture I took in our backyard just to post something! It's colorful anyway, and has that ubiquitous corrugated iron Reykjavik is so renowned for. More better stuff soon, camera gods willing!

Have you tried Dynamic Viewing yet? Five new views in all. Use the blue tab at the top of the view page to check them all out : )

Bless

To capture the true soul of a thing is an eternal challenge, one that has plagued the human race for ages, or since at least we made the disconnect between ourselves and the natural world. We attempt in fantastic ways to represent the living experience in sand, in stone, in metal, on paper, in words and music and song, with the help of silicon and the billions of transistors that feed each gadget we've come to rely on. Still, in all of our search and creation we can never quite capture the essence of what it feels like to be alive in this world. Great artists die heartbroken, because their time is done, and the ever-elusive muses have left them with parched mouths and aged, grasping fingers, still restlessly twitching with that lifetime ache to recreate the essence of the heart of the Universe. But the Great Goddess takes back what she generously grants, and we succumb once more to the deep dark warmth of her, satisfied with a life well lived, or not.

I struggled for over a month to find a fitting image for this 600th post. Some few readers made suggestions but none seemed to do personal justice to this seven year long happy accident of a tribute to a city I love so much. Finally, it dawned on me that the only appropriate thing was to pay homage to the craft I've been granted by having this final post honor the Great Mother, here in her aspect as Pomona, Goddess of Fruitful Abundance, and pray that she will grace us all with her love and care during our time here on her Planet Earth. And we, in turn, will care for this city, this island, as the least we can do in humble homage.

Thank you all for the past seven years. It's been a great run, but when the love of craft and of merely creating for it's own sake becomes ego-bound, a thing that happens to so many of us in this for-profit, monetizing landscape, it's time to return again to the source. I'm very proud of what I've done, but only because I'm not a photographer. I'm just a girl with a tiny compact camera who points it at what makes her happy, and who writes what makes her heart sing. I'll step out of the race and let this site stand, and be a completed thing.  

Respectfully yours,

Maria Alva