If any of you have tried drinking out of streams or lakes you would know how polluted it is and how you need to filter it out before you can even drink the water. Really its quite sad and it makes me wonder if our country will ever have nice, fresh, clean, crisp water again. The answer is probably millions of years after we die but who knows. Only mother nature will know the answer to that. Of course, we can try and clean up as much as possible but the sad reality of that is that we have messed up our planet so much that I am not sure what we can really do to make our planet as clean as it was. 

Really its a sad, sad, reality and even though I am hopeful for the progress we have made I'm not sure how much it will really help in the end. 

The interesting side of all of this is if you go to countries like New Zealand or Iceland the water from the streams is fresh. They have no pollution in them and you can literally just refill the water for free. Buying bottles of water at the gas station or grocery store is a waste and really if you want to save some cash then just refill at the streams when you run into them. It's super convenient when you are hiking a really tough hike and you are just dying of thirst and need to refresh your body so that you can keep going onwards. 

Of course, it would be better if it was like that everywhere but you can only ask for so much. If we weren't such heathens to our planet then we might have had a chance of having clean water everywhere and anywhere. If only right? 

So if you ever go out to New Zealand or Iceland, keep in mind that you can save some money if you just use the streams to refill your water. Natural, simple, and refreshing. 

One of the unfortunate things about Iceland is that you can't just camp anywhere. Most of the time you have to camp in campgrounds of some kind. If you pull over somewhere in Iceland and you think it's not owned by someone, you apparently would be very wrong. It seems that every bit of the island is owned by someone. Either someone who lives there or by the national park itself. I'm also assuming that some of the lands just can't be lived on due to it being too cold and the possible snow that could occur. Unfortunately, the biggest difference between Iceland and New Zealand is that they don't have an app that shows you where all the campsites are so you really have to guess on locations. 

The biggest recommendation I can give for that sort of thing is to download the whole country of Iceland's google maps on your phone so that you have something to use for when you don't have any service. Most of the time its accurate as to where you need to go and where the campsites are so if you are worried about getting lost or not having a good guide while you are on the road then check that out. 

Just make sure to not randomly pull over while you are in the country or you could get a little visit from someone who will not be a happy camper or even worse the nice little coppers will give you a visit.  I'm sure you don't want either of those when you are over in a country that you don't know very well. I will say that getting visits from either would probably be a rude awakening after a long day of wandering, hiking and etc. 

So please download the entire google maps of Iceland before you go because there really aren't any good apps out there (that I could find anyway) that will give you the information that you need to know when it comes to camping in Iceland 

I finally finished my drone video and Oh my lord. I am so happy with the results! So happy that I just put the video up.

 Please check it out, like, comment, and subscribe!

While I was in Iceland I happened to have a drone with me. As some of you may know it took some time to finally find a drone that I liked, was reasonably priced and had good quality when it came to the pictures and videos. Before I got this drone I tried a holy stone and after that a Mavic pro clone. Both of them were not worth the time or effort. So I just went ahead and bought a real drone. Specifically, I bought the DJI Spark. Now the spark is a nice little drone. It's not much bigger than the palm of my hand. In terms of travel size, it's quite nice that I didn't have to try and pack a big bulky piece of equipment. On the downside, the propellers don't fold in so you had to get unique when it came to transportation. 

The flight time for this drone is around fifteen minutes at a time and thats if you have a full battery and no issues turning it on and off. It took me some time to figure out how to work it as mine did not have a manual. Now if you buy one of these drones and it doesn't come with a controller, don't panic you can control it on your phone and it works super well. The app is called the DJI GO 4. The app has some nice features on it including a countdown to how long you have with the drone in flight, the pictures you took, it lets you know if you are too close to airports and it even will send the drone away if the magnetic field is too strong in one area (learned that one the hard way). 

The downside to not having the controller is if your phone dies while in flight then you better hope that the drone is somewhere you can reach it so that you can get the battery disconnect from it and stop it completely. 

One of the issues I had with the other drones was the quality of the photos. DJI is known for having good stuff and so I was pleasantly surprised with the quality I got from the drone itself. The pictures were so good and the video, even better. honestly it was great all the way around. So if you want a drone I say just jump right in and go for the DJI drones. They aren't that expensive if you dig around on eBay and they work super well if you want to be able to take photos or videos while you are by yourself on trips. It was almost like having another hand there, just one that lasts only fifteen minutes at a time. 

Yesterday I went and saw Icon For Hire play in Atlanta Georgia. This is my third time in a row that I have seen them and each time I feel like one of them. It's crazy how personable they are. In the past three years that I have gone to their concerts a lot has changed. The first year I saw then I was able to get my DSLR into the venue without any issue. I was snapping away and the photos I got were incredible. I will forever cherish them with all my heart.

The next year I couldn't bring the DSLR in but I could bring in the GoPro and the video I got from that was also amazing. This year they decided to ban not only the DSLR's but also the GoPros. I was surprised by this and had to go back to my car to put away the gear. I guess they really wanted to get a crack on people who are a lot like me. I come in to try and get photos but not to sell them on the internet for a bunch of money but mostly just for my own personal pleasure. I understand why they are getting so tight about it, especially with them being an independent band and everything but at the same time, the slight level of disappointment was there. 

Luckily the car was only a level up from where the venue was so I hurried to the car, dropped the stuff off and came back to get checked in. Truth be told I was hopeful and I really wanted to get the practice for concert photos. Yet it is so hard now with them having so many barriers. You have to have some connection to the band to be able to get press passes or photo passes. 

So I have decided to give it a try. As it turns out I have some friends that know the band pretty well and I'm hoping that they will reach back out to me and give me a press or photo pass for next year. I want to follow them around a bit and just enjoy taking photos of them. I think it would be amazing and doing concert photos is on my long bucket list of things I have always wanted to do. I'm hopeful that I may be able to get them to say yes and considering that they know me by name and that they know how supportive I am, you never know what can happen. 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Not only would it be a dream come true but it would just be an amazing experience in general. To have that kind of experience under my belt, that would be worth everything and more. But now if you ever go to to the masquerade in Atlanta Georgia, keep in mind that not only will they not allow backpacks of any kind but they will also send you back for having "professional" camera gear unless if you have a pass.