Lift a camera a hundred metres above Iceland's south coast and familiar landmarks turn into new shapes: a lighthouse becomes a dot on a headland, a glacier becomes a cracked white river, and a waterfall reveals the green plateau that feeds it. Photographer Jakub Polomski's drone series, published in 2015, captures seven of the island's best-known places from above.
Dyrhólaey: lighthouse and lava arch
Dyrhólaey is a 120-metre promontory on Iceland's south coast, close to the village of Vík. It was once a volcanic island, formed by an eruption about 100,000 years ago. Its name, roughly "door hill island", comes from the huge black lava arch that stands in the sea in front of it. The lighthouse on top was built in 1927.
In summer, Atlantic puffins nest on its cliff faces.
Lakagígar: the craters of Laki
Lakagígar, the craters of Laki, form a volcanic fissure about 25 km long in the western part of Vatnajökull National Park. Between 8 June 1783 and 7 February 1784, more than 130 vents poured out about 14 cubic kilometres of basalt lava along with vast amounts of sulphur dioxide and fluorine.
The consequences were catastrophic. In the famine Icelanders call Móðuharðindin, the "mist hardships", about 80% of the sheep and half the cattle and horses died, and roughly a fifth of the population perished. The sulphur haze spread across the Northern Hemisphere, cooling temperatures and contributing to crop failures in Europe.
Jökulsárlón and Fláajökull: lagoon and glacier
Jökulsárlón is Iceland's deepest lake, more than 284 metres deep and about 25 square kilometres in area. It began to form around 1934–35 as the Breiðamerkurjökull outlet glacier retreated, and it keeps growing as the ice melts back. Icebergs calve from the glacier front, drift across the lagoon and wash out onto the black sand of Diamond Beach. Its scenery has appeared in A View to a Kill, Die Another Day, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Batman Begins.
Since 2017 the lagoon has been part of Vatnajökull National Park, which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.
Fláajökull is a smaller outlet glacier of the same Vatnajökull ice cap, about 15 km long and 2 km wide, lying about 40 km by road northwest of Höfn. Its name comes from the Icelandic flár, "slope". From above, its crevasses show clearly how the ice cracks as it flows down toward the lowlands.
Geysir and Skógafoss
Geysir, in the Haukadalur valley of southwest Iceland, gave its name to every geyser in the world; the Icelandic word comes from geysa, "to gush". The great Geysir itself erupts only rarely, but its neighbour Strokkur, about 50 metres away, shoots water up to 35 metres every few minutes. Together with Þingvellir and Gullfoss, Geysir forms the Golden Circle, Iceland's most popular sightseeing route.
Skógafoss drops 60 metres from the old sea cliff on the Skógá river and is 25 metres wide. On sunny days its spray usually throws a single or double rainbow. Legend says the first settler, Þrasi Þórólfsson, hid a chest of treasure behind the falls; a ring said to come from it is kept in the Skógar museum. The Fimmvörðuháls trail starts beside the waterfall and climbs between the Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull glaciers to Þórsmörk.
Flying a drone in Vatnajökull National Park
Recreational pilots need no special permit in Vatnajökull National Park but must follow Icelandic Transport Authority rules and the park's own restrictions. Drones are banned at Jökulsárlón and Fellsfjara from 15 April to 15 July and allowed only at set hours for the rest of the year, and flights at Laki need a ranger's permission. The full rules and maps are on the Vatnajökull National Park drone guidance page.
For more of Polomski's work, see his Iceland landscape essay and the twelve patterns in his aerial collection.
Related reading
- Iceland from Above: Jakub Polomski’s 2015 Aerial Collection
- Inside Langjökull: The Story of Iceland’s Man-Made Ice Tunnel
- Vatnajökull and Its National Park: Icelandic Ice, Caves and Landscapes
- Frosted Iceland: Lana Tannir’s Summer Ice Landscapes
- Ten Iceland Experiences: Waterfalls, Glaciers, Hot Springs and City Life
- Erez Marom’s Iceland Landscapes: Ice, Water and Unusual Light
- Iceland Aurora Films: Northern Lights from Sixty Locations
- Blue Iceland: Andy Lee’s Infrared Landscape Photography
- Iceland’s Blue Lagoon: Geothermal Water and the Landscape Around It
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! <3
ReplyDelete