Who can't help but fall in love with the cockeyed canal houses of Amsterdam? While strolling the streets, I saw numerous sofas being hoisted through windows, hanging from a hook on a wonderfully ornate gable. When I arrived with my enormous suitcase in tow, I laughed when I opened the front door to the apartment I was staying in and wondered how in the world I was going to get up the most narrow staircase I had ever encountered. Very carefully and sideways, as it turned out.
Interesting fact: the houses are narrow because property taxes were based on the width of the house, so people built them narrow, deep, and tall.
I almost didn't know where to start when it came to editing my Iceland photographs. So I started with lava, as it is the foundation of this extraordinary country. With over 30 active volcano systems, Iceland's volcanoes have erupted over a third of the world's total lava output of the past 500 years. I spent many wonderful hours in surreal moss-covered lava fields and walking along peaceful black beaches that tell a more violent story of tectonic upheaval, creation, and destruction. This is truly an awe-inspiring place.
