Facebook, twitter, myspace, iTunes, blogs, personal website. I am not a citizen of this world. The digital world. I don’t even take digital pictures. And I am professional photographer. An analog one. I want to smell the world. The digital world doesn’t have a smell.

Even a HD television cannot bring the real feeling of a football match to life, like last week at Stanford Bridge, London, where Chelsea FC humiliated the other team, as always.

The noise, smell, atmosphere, sun and London rain, and action no television camera can grab. Not even with the latest HD lenses. The best picture is outside the frame.

A football match should be watched with the hooligans. I love the noise. That is a big part of the pleasure of watching this beautiful game.

Even in the digital world with news constantly coming and going, I like to read today’s FT in the mornings here at the office, the same morning that the paper is printed in London and distributed in Reykjavík. I find it better to read news in ink. On the internet I just grab headlines.

No, I am not a citizen of the digital world. But I do like google earth. If I could only have access to one website on the world wide web, that would be my page. It teaches you how to fly, to dream.

On the other hand, when I have to look at a map for my next trip or decide the captions for the magazines we publish, I choose the old fashion way: Atlases.

The big The Times ATLAS for the world and ÍSLANDSATLAS for Iceland, also a great big book. Very Impressive. These two books are the only ones that have a permanent place on my desk.

The same goes for ÍSLANDSATLAS as for google earth. When I open the book I see pictures, pictures I have taken or am going to take in the near future.

Like the spread on pages 105 and 106. They are completely white, depicting the center of Vatnajökull, Europe’s biggest glacier. The next spread is even better: the edge of Vatnajökull where the ice has a clear blue, white and even black color.

And it’s easy to get there, just over 300 kilometers east of the capital on ring road one. And on the way, don’t forget to make stops along the way, in places like the village of Vík. Walk down to the black lava beach and feel the power of nature, the power of the North Atlantic Ocean. Listen to the roar of the endless waves crashing against the shore.

Under your feet are small stones, shaped by these forces. They are still changing the face of this young land that we call Iceland. And don’t forget to bring your camera the next time you visit. Then you will see that the land has changed, a lot. That’s the magic of Icelandic nature. It’s never the same.

And from the land of ice, I’m traveling to a totally different kind of place. By now I will be in Abidjan, in... Yes, what country? A hint: the country is three times larger than Iceland with population of 18,373,059 (2008). The capital is Yamoussoukro.

I will be there taking analog pictures with my Hasselblads for the next seven days or so.

Temperature 34°C/94°F, humidity 90 percent. And no iPod.

Páll Stefánsson – ps@icelandreview.com