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Iceland!

July 2023
I am working as the logistics coordinator for a International photographers workshop led by one of my close photographer friends, Ellie McKinney! Read more
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  • TravelerIceland!
    2
    Day 1

    Day 1

    July 15, 2023 in Iceland ⋅ 🌬 9 °C

    We left at 8:30pm EST and arrived at 6:30am Iceland time (4 hours ahead, 6 hour flight). It was difficult to sleep on the flight due to the fact I typically go to bed at 12am and I felt the pressure of getting a “full nights rest” so I could fight the jet lag! But by some miracle, I got enough (plus lots of caffeine 😂) and I am writing this from bed at 12am Iceland time, about 24 hours from when our plane took off. I was lucky to be on the same flight with Ellie who is leading the workshop! Flying in, the landscape was nothing like I had ever seen. Below us (this part of Iceland) was mostly lava fields, minimal greenery, gorgeous mountains… and an active volcano!! Yes we are totally safe but you could see the smoke in the far distance and that was quite an exciting welcome!

    When we landed, we met up with the florist of the trip and one of the attendees who had also chosen to come in a day early to enjoy the country/get settled. Getting our rental car was quite the process and despite what could have been a stressful situation on minimal sleep and no caffeine (yet), we all made the best of it and laughed our way through. I was honored Ellie offered me the job as logistics coordinator for her first ever International photographers retreat. I admire soooo many things about her- her warmth, sincerity, thoughtfulness, love of learning and integrity. But on this trip, I especially love seeing her ability to find joy in any situation (which I also get to see regularly at weddings we work together) and how she moves from idea (no matter how small or silly) to execution within seconds. While waiting for the shuttle while at the wrong rental car office, we see this huge poster of a landmark here. Within seconds she goes “take my photo here, because if we don’t make it to the rest of our plans this week I can pretend I saw this!” Just the laugh we needed to pass the time :) I’m also not used to traveling with a group of photographers who capture every small moment throughout the day. It added a whole new layer of joy to traveling and I loved seeing each part of the day through their eyes (and photos)!

    The workshop begins tomorrow so today was mostly to ensure we got in on time, got settled and knocked out some errands (rental car, grocery shopping, floral shop, etc.). We did lots of eating all day long- starting with a breakfast Stromboli. We grabbed a quick lunch at a restaurant in downtown Reykjavík called “Chickpea” which was delicious and vegetarian (Ellie is veg and gluten free)! After we finished our tasks, we had the famous Icelandic hot dogs for dinner. One of the many things I am loving about Iceland is every single place offers delicious mocktails! It’s also fun to have a number of other attendees who don’t drink so I am not the odd one out! We enjoyed trying a variety today.

    We ended the day at the *unreal* Sky Lagoon. We got to experience “true Icelandic bathing culture at an Oceanside geothermal lagoon” and I was in heaven. Water surrounded by natural beauty is one of the most soothing things to me so we stayed about 3 hours and I could have stayed for 10! Soooo excited that going to multiple hot springs/lagoons/heated by the lava pools is part of our week! We not only enjoyed the heated lagoon but did the full “ritual” (see photo). The ice plunge was killer (I have a lot of room for growth lol, the worker in with us is #goals) and the sauna overlooking the water looked like a scene out of a movie! Can’t believe this was all just day 1. Wish me luck falling asleep 😂 Oh I forgot to mention, sunset is 11:30pm and sunrise is 3:45am! It makes the days long and full but boy is my body confused lol. Thankfully I have melatonin, an eye mask and black out curtains 🙏🏽    Read more

  • TravelerIceland!
    Day 2

    Day 2- Attendees Arrive & Blue Lagoon

    July 16, 2023 in Iceland ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    Once again, writing to you past midnight but it still feels like 7pm because the sun is still setting! Attempting to wind down as I have to be up at 7am for breakfast and prepping for our first education session for the participants!

    Today was a wonderful day!! The participants arrived and I finally got to meet them all in person :) I had only known 1 prior to arriving here besides Ellie. But we all quickly moved from strangers to friends, international travel really has that effect!

    Ellie and I woke up at 8am and reviewed all our content and logistics for the week before meeting up with everyone. I am thrilled to be co-teaching 2 of the workshops! One of the relationship between planners and photographers and another on multi-cultural weddings. We see completely eye to eye on all things weddings so comparing notes and merging our ideas was quite enjoyable! We then packed up from our hotel close to the airport and headed to our home for the week, the Silica hotel! It is connected to the Blue Lagoon, one of the 25 Wonders of the world… just insane!! It was absolutely breathtaking and our rooms are unreal, overlooking the lava fields. The hotel even has a private portion of the Blue Lagoon for guests to enjoy! When we arrived, I helped to coordinate checkin (assigning room numbers, overseeing paperwork signing, placing gifts for the attendees in each room, reviewing our itinerary with the hotel manager, etc.). I am absolutely loving my role as it feels like the perfect mix of seminar logistics (that feel oh so familiar from my days of coordinating the Baha’i inspired educational seminars and camps), wedding planning, and teaching - 3 of my passions! PLUS being in a luxury setting in a new country?! What a dream. I would definitely love to serve in this same role for future seminars of Ellie’s and others!

    After check-in was complete, we headed to the main area of the Blue Lagoon to kick the workshop off with a bang! It was a really fun way to get to bond with one another. There was an engaging “story teller” who educated us on the beautiful history of the Blue Lagoon, Iceland facts and even a hysterical story about their strong belief in elves! I honestly wish I could have taken notes the entire time so I don’t forget but here are a few highlights to the best of my memory:
    - Over 800 years ago, this area used to be all trees and a community. Due to volcanos and magma pits, it was destroyed and is now a massive lava field.
    - The community referred to the area as the evil lava. I can’t remember the details of the middle part but the water is geothermal and they were puzzled to why it wasn’t breaking the lava rocks down but just staying afloat. They discovered that the silica (a mineral) is the water was creating a sealant that blocked the water from draining and created the Blue Lagoon. The color comes from a mixture of the algae and silica and how it reflects light!
    - As they started to use the water for bathing (as is a huge part of Icelandic culture) a man with psoriasis discovered the water was healing it! When he told his doctor they came to take samples and indeed discovered that the mixture of minerals treated psoriasis and other skin diseases. The doctor purchased it in 1992 and in 2012 it was named one of the 25 World Wonders!
    - My very favorite fact is that still today any Icelandic person with psoriasis can use the facilities free of charge 😭
    - When I see you in person if you want to learn more, I can share what I learned about how it stays clean (drains every 40 hours and algae eats the bacteria!), the full elves story and how they use geothermal energy (the country generates 99% of its electricity from renewable sources 🤯)!

    We ended our time at the Blue Lagoon with face masks and some refreshing drinks! I had a delicious green smoothie with mango :) We headed back to the hotel to get ready to head downtown for dinner (where I got to learn how to operate a Super 8 camera!!) and then back to our hotel for the Meet and Greet (I enjoyed a yummy sparkling tea 🥂) as our final participants arrived! After that was done, Ellie and I went to the classroom space and reviewed all the logistics with the staff. It’s insane that even at 10pm everyone is still in full swing due to the sunlight! The final photo is what it looks like outside now. We came back and reviewed our sessions one last time and had a really good conversation reflecting on our own opportunities for growth, personally and in business. Now I am ended the night with my new roomie Jen watching the volcano live feed 🤣    Read more

  • TravelerIceland!
    Day 3

    Day 3

    July 17, 2023 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    (Written Tues AM, posted Wed AM)

    It’s Tuesday morning here and we are on a bus headed to the Black Sand Beach about 3 hours from where we are staying. It’s nice to be seeing a different part of the country and use this as an opportunity to journal instead of at 1am lol.

    It was our first full workshop day and it went smoothly! We started with a delicious breakfast at our hotel (see video spread) and Ellie and I headed over to the education room early to set up. It’s a beautiful space inside the Blue Lagoon building. It’s only 8 participants so I love the opportunity to really support and get to know each of them. They are incredibly kind hearted and beyond excited to be here! I had the opportunity to teach 2 segments of the education portion and it filled my cup to the brim :) My topics were wedding planner/wedding photographer relationships and multi-cultural weddings. They were active listeners taking notes and asking questions, the best part had been all of the one on one follow up conversations on our many car rides together and in the lagoon. Ellie taught some different portions specifically on international wedding photography and I so enjoyed listening. I love learning so many new things about photography and Iceland each day!

    In the afternoon was the first photo shoot! It was about a 45 min drive away to reach the star of our shoot, 2 beautiful Icelandic horses :) Ellie takes care of the artistic vision and teaching while I handle logistics. So my main job during the shoot was timing each person/group to ensure participants got equal opportunities. If you come here and are looking to go on a horseback ride, I can’t recommend Viking Horses enough!

    We made our way to a delicious 3 course meal at the Lava restaurant at the Blue Lagoon (our home base). We got back to the hotel just in time for 1 hour of soaking in the lagoon. I loved reflecting with the participants and hearing their life stories. I then reflected on the day with Ellie, made a game plan for how we could improve tomorrow. I returned to our room (filled with flowers because my roommate is the florist!) and started attempting to wind down and close the black out curtains as tightly as possible 😂.    Read more

  • TravelerIceland!
    Day 4

    Day 4

    July 18, 2023 in Iceland ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Black Sand Beach & Volcano

    I have truly never seen a country with the natural beauty and diversity of Iceland. So far, most of our time has been spent in the part of the country surrounded by lava fields but yesterday was our first opportunity to see more of the rolling green hills (filled with sheep and horses), waterfalls, cliffs and ocean. The pictures through the bus window don’t begin to do it justice.

    It was a 3 hour drive so we left at 9am and arrived around noon. We got the participants set up for lunch while Ellie, Jenn (florist) and I went to the Black Sand Beach to scout and set up. I love the role of helping to make game plans that will best support our participants. For example, when we arrived there was a HUGE crowd by the basalt structures and we knew that would feel stressful to them. So we found a quiet spot on the beach where Ellie could give them a pep talk before they began, they could begin working with the models with plenty of space, and then venture into the big crowd.

    Our professional models were *stunning* and flown in from Spain! They blew us away and are literally on the cover of British Vogue this month! We also had another professional model from the US who was friends with one of the participants and happened to be in Iceland at the same time. The participants were in heaven! My role was helping to ensure everyone got fair turns and time as well as supporting the models with whatever they needed.

    We made our way back to the hotel, stopping for pizza on the way home for dinner. I fell asleep on the ride home, thinking as soon as we got back I would go to bed for the night. But I woke up and to my surprise a group had figured out how we could get a view of the active volcano. I was sooo sleepy and the thought of hiking 6 miles in the cold sounded miserable BUT Jenn convinced me not to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity! I rallied and boy am I grateful for Jenn’s push. It was incredible!!! It was cold, insanely windy and exhausting because it was so late (we left at 10:30pm and got back at 2am) but magical. I feel exhausted today but it was totally worth it. The last photo is from one of the participants drone!    Read more

  • TravelerIceland!
    Day 5

    Day 5

    July 19, 2023 in Iceland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    We kicked off the day with education and I loved learning more about destination weddings. This week has really gotten me excited to start advertising more of them! Our shoot today was “80s vibe” with an antique travel coach, bold coolers and the coolest (and most hysterical) models. We made our way to an area where we could get cliffs, mountains, lakes, and flowers for a variety of shot locations for the photographers. They had a blast and we were able to rework the schedule to give them ample time to document. My favorite role of today was getting to climb on top of the bus to build a charcuterie board for photo happening up top! I got to spend ample time getting to know our models Isabella and Jess from London in car rides back to the hotel and to dinner. They had us laughing hysterically as we learned British phrases we had never heard of 😂 We had my favorite meal so far to end the night!Read more

  • TravelerIceland!
    Day 6

    Day 6

    July 20, 2023 in Iceland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Final full day, we fly home tomorrow! We packed our bags and said goodbye to the Silica hotel and headed out on our “bonus day” adventure. Two of our participants were celebrating their 10 year anniversary this month and invited whoever wanted to stay an extra day along to capture it. Although every shoot we did was a blast, this one came with alll the emotion since instead of models it was two people I have come to love deeply. On the very first day when they introduced themselves, KC and Aaron said “we’ve had a hard life, and we love to be open with our struggles so others feel comfortable sharing theirs and we all feel less alone”. And that’s exactly what they did all week long. They created an environment where everyone was vulnerable, friendships went beyond surface level and manyyyyy tears were shed. It was quite beautiful to witness the impact 2 people can have on a group, and this workshop wouldn’t have been the same without them ❤️

    It was extra special that I then got to serve as their day of coordinator- calming their nerves, holding the bouquet, adjusting the dress, managing the crowds who wanted to take photos of them, etc. Their vows brought us all to tears and dancing on a cliffside to their first dance song from a decade ago was the icing on the cake.

    We celebrated with a delicious dinner and I conducted “exit interviews” with each participant to get their feedback on the week. Their words brought tears to my eyes- from their gratitude to the impact the week had on them emotionally and professionally. I feel beyond grateful to have played a small role in bringing Ellie’s vision to life. Our strengths (and weaknesses or as we call them “opportunities”) really balanced one another out and made for a beautiful partnership.

    On our way into dinner I spotted a “playground” with a zip line and we ended the night all taking turns and laughing hysterically. We said our tearful goodbyes and a smaller group of us made our way to the air bnb where we are staying tonight before flying out tomorrow afternoon.    Read more

  • TravelerIceland!
    Day 7

    Day 7- Heading Home!

    July 21, 2023 in Iceland ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Writing from the airplane as we fly over Iceland. It’s bittersweet to be leaving but someone 1 week felt like 1 month with our 16+ hour days due to the help of the 24 hours of Sun! A group of us spent the night at a cute farmhouse on the way to the airport and our night was filled with lots of delirious laughter. We only had 1 bathroom for 8 of us so my role included creating and enforcing a shower schedule that took me back to the days of coordinating camps for youth! Once showers were complete, I went around and passed out cookies and melatonin gummies as we knew due to the heat and beds we could use some extra help. First thing one of the participants said when she woke up was “Aneesa, you drugged us! I haven’t slept that well all week!” 😂😂😂 It gave us all a good laugh. We made our way to a small town called Selfoss for a delicious breakfast and souvenir shopping before heading to the airport. Ellie and I were able to drive separately so I could share with her the feedback from the participants and brainstorm for the future!! As of now, it’s looking like we will do this same workshop July 2024 for new participants and (by popular demand) a round 2 for this amazing group Summer 2025 in Italy 🎉 I loved reflecting with her on the good, bad and opportunities for growth as well as on the direction for our businesses over the coming years. I feel so very lucky to have her as a colleague and friend.

    We made it with plenty of time (thank goodness because I was randomly selected for the FULL TSA check 🤦🏽‍♀️), got some lunch and boarded the plane. Bye bye, Iceland!! Thank you for your beauty, kindness, weather (believe it or not we didn’t freeze all week), tasty water and natural wonders! Hope to see you next Summer :)    Read more

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