Iceland from Above: Jakub Polomski’s 2015 Aerial Collection

A glacier can look like branching brushstrokes. A crater can become a ring. A small island can sit in the frame like a single piece of colour on a plain background. In Jakub Polomski’s Iceland aerial photographs, the higher viewpoint reveals a vocabulary of shapes as well as a collection of destinations.

Jökulsárlón — 3. A curve dividing rough and smooth textures. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

Glacier ridges spreading into pale muddy water in an overhead view — 1. Branching lines at the glacier’s edge. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

These images come from his July 2015 trip and original aerial photo essay. The collection’s aerial perspective brings out coastlines, settlement patterns and changes in terrain. Looking for those recurring forms offers a way to compare the photographs and see how each composition is built.

Circles, islands and contained colour

Aerial view of a broad volcanic crater and the surrounding landscape

Dark volcanic crater seen from directly above — 2. A ring with a clear centre. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

Small turquoise lake enclosed by broken volcanic ground — 4. A bright colour held inside an irregular outline. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

Small green island surrounded by dark blue water — 5. One isolated shape and a simple background. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

Rounded green landforms and narrow tracks beside blue water — 6. Repetition with small differences. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

A clearly enclosed shape gives the eye a natural boundary. The dark crater has a strong centre, while the turquoise lake relies on colour to separate water from rock. The small island is simpler still. In each case, the space around the subject helps explain its outline.

Notice what happens when the shapes repeat. The rounded green forms are similar enough to create rhythm, but different enough to keep the scene from becoming a perfect diagram. Nature supplies variation; the photographer decides how much of it to include.

Lines that lead somewhere

Foaming river bending around green ground in an overhead view — 7. A diagonal that keeps the eye moving. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

Waterfall descending into a long valley above a dark lake — 9. A line connecting the high ground to the water. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

Green coastal slope and narrow path beside a blue fjord — 10. A path running between land and sea. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

A shoreline can divide the picture into two textures. A river can connect parts of the landscape that initially seem separate. A narrow path gives the viewer a route through a large scene. These lines are useful because they organise attention without needing a person in the foreground.

Try following each line with your eye. Does it leave the frame, lead towards a subject or turn back into the picture? That question can help when composing a photograph from an ordinary bridge or hillside viewpoint too.

When texture becomes the subject

Snow patches winding across coloured mountain ridges — 11. Pale shapes breaking up darker ground. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

Branching stream channels and tracks across green terrain — 12. Several small lines joining a larger landscape. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

The highland images ask for a slower look. Their interest lies in broad colour changes, scattered snow and smaller branching channels. A strong composition can hold those details together without one obvious landmark at its centre.

For a practical exercise, choose three of your own landscape photographs and describe each using only shapes: curve, band, triangle, patch or line. It is a simple way to see beyond the place name.

Current flights require current planning. Vatnajökull National Park lists regional drone restrictions; check the responsible authority for every location. For a place-led companion, see seven Iceland aerial views. For moving images, watch Blue Racer Productions’ Iceland film.

An aerial journey across several regions

Polomski’s original list extends beyond the familiar waterfalls and glacier lagoon. It includes Dimmuborgir, Mývatn, Álftafjörður, Berserkjahraun, Látrabjarg, Flateyri, Kerlingarfjöll, Hvalfjörður, Berufjörður and Þingvellir, alongside other locations. These names reveal a broad journey through different regions rather than forty activities that could be completed from one base.

The creator described travelling about four thousand kilometres during two weeks in July 2015, using a DSLR for ground-based landscapes and a drone with a twelve-megapixel camera for this aerial work. Those details place the photographs within a particular production period. They are not specifications a viewer must match to appreciate the shapes or make a thoughtful landscape image today.

Try reading one frame first as a map and then as an arrangement of shapes. In the first pass, the location and surrounding features matter; in the second, notice how a channel, ring or patch of colour organises the picture. Polomski's series holds both readings together. The named places keep the photographs connected to a broad Icelandic journey, while the elevated view reveals patterns that may be less apparent from the ground. Neither interpretation needs to cancel the other, and moving between them gives a large gallery more depth than searching only for the most recognisable landmark.

Sources, photography and further reading

Original feature and image attributions:

Iceland from Above: Jakub Polomski’s 2015 Aerial Collection

Circles, islands and contained colour

Lines that lead somewhere

When texture becomes the subject

An aerial journey across several regions

Sources, photography and further reading

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