Iceland Drone Film: Blue Racer Productions’ Aerial Tour of Falls and Ice

Skógafoss, Gullfoss and Dettifoss, the black sands of Reynisfjara, the glacier at Skaftafell and the volcanic caldera of Askja: Blue Racer Productions’ short film I C E L A N D packs a whole island’s worth of landscapes into just under two minutes of drone footage.

The team published the film on Vimeo in 2015. According to their description, it was assembled from an eight-day trip around Iceland, shot entirely on a DJI Phantom 3 and set to “Headlights” by Robin Schulz featuring Ilsey.

The locations in the Iceland drone film

The film’s list of locations reads like a tour of Iceland’s greatest hits, from the south coast to the remote highlands: Skógafoss, Reynisfjara beach, Skaftafell National Park and its glacier Skaftafellsjökull, Askja, Dettifoss, Gullfoss and the town of Eskifjörður.

Skógafoss, Gullfoss and Dettifoss from the air

Skógafoss on the Skógá river in south Iceland drops 60 metres over the cliff that once marked the coastline, in a curtain 25 metres wide. Its spray is so heavy that a single or double rainbow usually appears on sunny days. A 527-step staircase climbs to the top, where the Fimmvörðuháls trail sets off between the Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull glaciers towards Þórsmörk. Legend says the first settler, Þrasi Þórólfsson, hid a chest of treasure in a cave behind the falls.

Gullfoss, the “golden falls” on the Hvítá river, is the climax of the Golden Circle day trip from Reykjavík alongside Þingvellir and the geysers of Haukadalur. The river drops in two steps, of about 11 and 21 metres, into a crevice 32 metres deep. Sigríður Tómasdóttir is remembered for fighting to save the falls from development, and a stone memorial above the gorge shows her profile. The site has been a protected area since 1979.

Dettifoss in Vatnajökull National Park, north-east Iceland, is the heavyweight. The glacial Jökulsá á Fjöllum pours 44 metres into the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon over a width of about 100 metres, with an average flow of 193 cubic metres per second. It is reputed to be the second most powerful waterfall in Europe after the Rhine Falls, and it starred in the opening scene of the 2012 science-fiction film Prometheus.

Reynisfjara, Skaftafell and Askja

Reynisfjara, near the village of Vík í Mýrdal, is Iceland’s most famous black sand beach, with the Reynisdrangar sea stacks offshore, the basalt columns of Hálsanefshellir cave at its eastern end and the Dyrhólaey promontory to the west. Stay well back from the water here: sneaker waves surge far up the beach without warning and have claimed several lives.

Skaftafellsjökull is the glacier at Skaftafell, in Vatnajökull National Park, and one of the few spots in that area of the park where drones may still fly.

Askja is an active caldera volcano about 20 kilometres wide in the Dyngjufjöll mountains of the central highlands. Its great eruption of 1875 killed livestock with its ash, forced farms to be abandoned and helped drive emigration from Iceland. The eruption left behind Öskjuvatn, at 220 metres Iceland’s second deepest lake, and the smaller crater of Víti beside it. NASA trained 32 Apollo astronauts in geology here. Askja is reached by a roughly 100-kilometre 4x4 F-road from the Ring Road, usually open only from late June to early October.

Flying a drone in Iceland today

The rules have tightened since 2015, and several of the film’s locations are now restricted. In Vatnajökull National Park, recreational drones are generally allowed but follow both Icelandic Transport Authority rules and park rules, and commercial filming needs a permit. Under the Vatnajökull National Park’s guidance:

• drones are prohibited in Askja and in Skaftafell, except over Skaftafellsjökull;
• at Skaftafellsjökull, flights are allowed only outside busy hours, for example before 09:00 or after 18:00 from May to mid-September;
• at Dettifoss, flying is allowed only on the west side, within the canyon and at set times;
• at Jökulsárlón, drones are banned from mid-April to mid-July to protect nesting birds.

Everywhere, keep flights short, never fly over people and land at once if wildlife is disturbed. Outside the park, ask the landowner first.

For still photographs from the air, explore Jakub Polomski’s seven Iceland aerial views and twelve patterns in his wider aerial collection.

Related reading

• Jakub Polomski’s Iceland: Seven Aerial Perspectives
• 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
• Iceland Aurora Films: Northern Lights from Sixty Locations
• Ten Iceland Experiences: Waterfalls, Glaciers, Hot Springs and City Life

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