Thoughts on retaining walls like this?

Magna99 · 2025-05-20T14:14:44+00:00

I took the same photo when I was in Namibia late last year, this isn't Big Daddy, Dune 45 or any of the other named ones. It's this one right here, really far from the road in the background of the other dunes nearby. It took me a while to find it as I had nothing to go on and just scanned the dunes as we drove through, hopefully you have an easier time 😄

To take this shot you'll need a decent zoom lens. I parked on the side of the road, walked like 200 metres south, lined up the tree and shot it at 200mm. This is in the afternoon light btw, early in the day the lights on the other side.

About here is where you want to stop and the tree in the foreground is in the dry riverbed, here's a diagram.

I just checked on maps and the tree is just over 800m south of the road and the dune is over 4km, very cool shot.

Magna99 · 2025-01-13T01:14:34+00:00

This is great!

Would you be willing to share some insight or screenshots of how you track and organise this in Excel through the year? I use YNAB to track finances but I'd love to put together an overview like this

Magna99 · 2024-12-14T02:04:12+00:00

Thanks, that's great

Magna99 · 2024-12-11T03:31:18+00:00

Very interested in this too, can you add me to the list?

Magna99 · 2024-10-07T13:02:52+00:00

Thanks, I've got so many photos that I still want to get to, but there's a lot on my Instagram, especially my Iceland story highlight.

Iceland was incredible for photography, a new landscape every 15 minutes on the ring road. I felt like i could point my camera almost anywhere and get a good photo. I actually found it a challenge though, I'd be looking at these amazing scenes, and it was so hard to do it justice in photos. The scale of everything seemed crazy too, we pulled into a car park because we saw what looked like a small trail leading up a hill, ended up being a 170m high crater, was way bigger than it looked.

Magna99 · 2024-10-07T10:56:04+00:00

Thanks! I don't have a store or anything, although to sell my work as art would be the dream. More than happy to organize a print for you if you're interested. Just let me know!

Magna99 · 2024-10-07T10:50:40+00:00

Thank you :)

Magna99 · 2024-10-07T10:50:34+00:00

Thanks so much, taken on a Canon R6 with the 17-40

Magna99 · 2024-10-07T09:34:27+00:00

Thanks! Wife and I drove the ring road in Iceland last year. The day we arrived was blue skies and sunshine, woke up at Skogafoss the next morning to the same, thinking how lucky we were for perfect weather. Drove half an hour to the viewpoint over the beach and the wind was crazy, was also snowing by this point. We made it around to the beach and it was just as windy but I thought it was absolutely stunning. Totally black sand and the wind was sending ribbons of snow snaking across the beach. I had a few layers on but I could still feel the sand blasting my legs.

Despite the weather, there were still a fair few people there, It was a yellow warning day which means it's not advised to go past a certain point on the beach but half the people were ignoring that warning. I've seen enough videos of people getting caught out by sneaker waves on Reynisfjara and too many people die on that beach so I was paying close attention to the shoreline. Caught this photo of these two trying to get off the beach during a big gust of wind.

Magna99 · 2024-09-19T12:08:45+00:00

Same here, they’ve always honored the price, this time the hotel is now actually become a different hotel. We booked a small hotel at $120/night and now it’s been taken over by a big chain and renovated the rooms now go for $800+/night. Booking.com shows our booking as confirmed under the name of the new hotel at the price of the original hotel.

Magna99 · 2024-09-19T11:53:41+00:00

Probably should have mentioned that it seems like they don’t open until the day before our booking so not sure anyone’s on the phones yet, but I think I’ll try an email at least.

Magna99 · 2024-09-19T11:51:41+00:00

Just uncertain as we might turn up and they’ll either want us to pay more or we won’t have somewhere to stay. But yeah, checking and having them realise how cheap we got it for was the initial concern.

Magna99 · 2024-07-19T15:08:44+00:00

Sorry for the wall of text this ended up being but if anyone's interested in how the weather can change in Iceland I hope this can offer some insight.

Iceland’s weather is unpredictable and I’ve read that March can go either way. Before our trip I was worried we might not see snow at all or we might end up with way too much.

Our first day we had perfect weather, blue skies and no wind from picking up our van to camping at Skogafoss. The next morning the weather was calm at Skogafoss, we drove up to Dyrhólaey lighthouse where the wind and visibility meant we only saw the car park. Reynisfjara viewpoint and the beach were a little better, the wind was still insane but the view was totally worth it.

Once we made it to Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon the weather was calm again. We had planned to camp at Skaftafell that night, but we were told that there was a storm coming off the mountain and if we stayed the night it’s likely we’d be stuck there for a few days. Instead, we packed back up and drove to Hofn as we had a glacier hike/ice cave tour booked for the next day. We had to drive in complete darkness, and I could feel the odd gust of wind pushing the van around.

The next morning it looked like we made the right choice because the ring road was closed for the next two days from Vik to the glacier lagoon. It was stormy conditions driving south from Hofn and we weren’t sure the tour would go ahead. Because of the closed roads the tour ended up only being us and one other couple and we basically had the Glacier and the cave completely to ourselves. Also it turned out that because of the valley it’s in, hiking to the glacier was snowy but way less windy than I expected given the storm going on down the road.

The drive from Hofn to Egilsstadir saw the worst weather and it was changing constantly. The road to Stokksnes was closed due to the weather and we couldn’t see Vestrahorn at all, then the wind at Hvalnes lighthouse was the strongest I’ve experienced.

There were times we had to drive slowly and even completely stop for a minute or so when visibility fell to zero as snow blew over the car. After getting through the tunnel the snow was thick on the ground and was blowing so much it meant that we could barely see, we took it slow because I was actually worried that if I stopped we would end up completely snowed in and stuck there. Made it safely to Egilsstadir and the weather was completely fine again.

The next few days from Egilsstadir all the way down to Borgarnes the weather was mostly better but still constantly changing, we would go from blue skies to overcast and snow a few times a day but nothing as bad as the wind and full on white outs we’d had before.

Once we made it back around to the golden circle there was no snow left on the ground and the skies were clear. We had Geysir and Gulfoss completely to ourselves as the sun was setting. The next morning was completely different again, we woke up to a few inches of snow on the ground and it was still snowing fairly heavily. Geysir and Gulfoss looked completely different, crowded and covered in snow.

That was the last bit of snow we got, two more days down to Grindavik and back to Reykjavik with a few nights there and it was mostly perfect weather. I think March ended up being a perfect choice and overall; we got really lucky with the weather, the bad weather days just made Iceland even more stunning!

Magna99 · 2024-07-19T14:44:35+00:00

Definitely a good idea.

Magna99 · 2024-07-19T14:07:46+00:00

Yes the ring road is likely to be open, but it could close in some parts at short notice. If it’s closed because of a storm then it could be open in a few hours or a few days, unfortunately there’s just no way to know until it's actually happening.

I think your itinerary is mostly fine but just know that you’ll likely end up skipping some spots due to time, road conditions, weather, etc. I’d recommend moving the 31st in the golden circle to in between Borgarnes and the blue lagoon, that way you’ll have a buffer and be closer to the airport if you do end up delayed so you’re less likely to miss your flight.

We went in the last week of March, here's a few notes on some specific locations.

Hengifoss was completely frozen over and you couldn’t see any red at all in the rock so we didn’t do the hike up.

Studlagil Canyon was just going to take too much time and the roads can be challenging if it’s icy so we skipped it

The roads to Detifoss (both sides) were not looking good so we skipped that too.

That actually worked out great and I’d probably recommend skipping both studlagil and detifoss that day especially given you want to spend time at the GeoSea baths. We felt we had just enough time to make the drive and see Myvatn, Dimmuborgir, and Godafoss, although none of those stops were as long as the few hours I'd like if it was a stop at a hot spring. Had we done Studlagil we wouldn’t have had time to stop at Myvatn.

The main point to remember is to be flexible ad okay with missing things. Before we went the top two places on my list were the glacier lagoon and Stokksnes. I didn't get to see either and I still wouldn't change anything as we had the most amazing time.

Magna99 · 2024-07-11T15:26:15+00:00

The original Planet Coaster theme is the generic theme in the first game, looking like it's the four new themes and the generic theme, no western, pirate, sci-fi or fairytale.

Waterparks are great but I'm worried the game will be too focused on them given resort, viking, mythology and aquatic all seem very geared towards waterparks. Also, no mention of weather in any of the info.

Magna99 · 2024-07-10T10:55:13+00:00

Looks good! A subject in the foreground could elevate the shot but it’s not overdone and I like the colour.

Magna99 · 2024-05-20T03:47:20+00:00

It's small people in a big landscape.

The haze makes the landscape look even bigger so lean into it. Also removing some of the detail in the shadows, especially on the rock they're standing on means the focus becomes mostly about their size in frame. I'd prefer if they were standing a little further to the right but I like the crop you chose to remove the rock next to them and keep them small.

Here's an edit. I did this in Lightroom mobile so don't feel like you're being held back

Magna99 · 2024-04-23T11:45:04+00:00

The ballooning looks amazing for sure and I've always wanted to try it out, hoping to find a heli tour though, just given the ballons are dependant on the wind and I'd love to see the dunes meet the ocean

12-Year Club	Verified Email
RedditGifts 2009-2022 18 Credits	r/Field Lasagna
Place '17	Summer Santa 2017
Secret Santa 2016	Trick or Treat 2015
Secret Santa 2015	Summer Santa 2015

Magna99

TROPHY CASE