Photography

Nacreous Clouds

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We have had a spot of cold weather again with temperatures dropping to -16˚C (3˚F) during the night. One afternoon, as the sun was setting, some features started to appear which indicated that nacreous clouds could be present. Nacreous clouds, or "mother of pearl" clouds, are a type of clouds forming in the stratosphere at altitudes above 15000m, and just after sunset they reflect the sunlight and appear to be glowing as patches of mother of perl. I grabbed my camera and rushed of gambling on my hunch being correct. Perhaps not the most spectacular specimen, but at least I did not make the trip in vain. Hope you like it.

Nacreous clouds, or Polar Stratospheric Clouds.

Eyjafjallajökull

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Here is another shot from the Iceland PODAS. The glacier in the background is Eyjafjallajökull. I May 2010 flights all over Europe where grounded due to the ash-cloud spreading from the volcanic eruption here. The fields and the farm at the foot of the mountain was covered in a thick layer of volcanic ash. Two years later there are hardly any traces of the ash left.

M8 Summicron 35mm, ISO160 f/5.6 at 1/750s - two shots stitched in PhotoShop

Iceland, en route Vatnajökull

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On the road with the PODAS outfit on our way to Vatnajökull, we drove across this desolate stretch of road crossing the Skeiđarársandur. A stark contrast from the grass covered slopes a few kilometers to the west and east of the sandur. 

The Skeiđarársandur is a floodplain south of the Skeiđarárjökull, a branch of the Vantnajökull complex, and eruptions from the subglacial volcano Grimsvötn often causes a jökulhlaup, or a glacial flood. The lavaflow will melt the ice over and around the volcano, and at some point the water will force its way under the ice and gush out under the glacier front. Water and huge chunks of ice will sweep away anything in it way like for example bridges and power lines. There was an eruption at Grímsvötn in May 2010, preceded by a jökulhlaup in the autumn 2009 which took out a couple of bridges. The last big jökulhlaup happened in 1996. 

M8, Summicron 35mm ASPH, ISO160 f/5.6 at 1/1000s

M8, Summicron 35mm ASPH, ISO160 f/5.6 at 1/500s

Jökulsárlón, Clear Ice up Close

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Like I said, there is just something about the clear ice, and as I mentioned in the Iceland PODAS article, we where treated to a zodiac ride in the Jökulsárlón and got to see the icebergs up close, at least the clear ones.

M8, Summicron 35mm ASPH, ISO160 f/5.6 at 1/1500s

M8, Summicron 35mm ASPH, ISO160 f/5.6 at 1/750s

M8, Summicron 35mm ASPH, ISO160 f/5.6 at 1/750s

At Winter Solstice

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This image is shot just after sunset a few days after winter solstice. In spite of the low quality JPEG and the limited gamut of the sRGB color space, which does not do this image justice, I hope you get an impression of the quality of the light at this time of year and time of day.

Fog and Snow

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The week leading up to Christmas the weather has been quite cold, but temperatures rose and we have had a lot of snow. With the mild weather and the snow the fog rolled in and wrapped everything in a special kind of light where all distant objects and features blur into shadow like features. Like this tree line which is just a couple of hundred meters away.

Approaching Winter Solstice

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We are approaching the winter solstice, and where I live the sun barely gets higher than seven degrees above the horizon this time of the year. To put this into perspective - if you extend your arm and close your fist, the height of your fist represents about ten degrees.  The sun rises around nine in the morning, and sets at about three in the afternoon. The light in the hour before sunrise and after sunset can be quite special though.

Basalt Columns at the Black Beach

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Here is another example of basalt columns. This is from the Black Beach west of Vik. The sand consists of grains of black volcanic rock, and even faint sunlight will make the sand warm to the touch. (And for the fans of Bon Iver, if you have seen the "Holocene" video, these are the very columns the boy is climbing on towards the end of the video. You'll find the video on Vimeo.)

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach LS 80mm f/2.8 - ISO50 f/9 at 1/30s

Svartifoss

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Svartifoss in Skaftafell National Park is one of Iceland's iconic waterfalls. The basalt columns cover the wall of the bowl shaped basin carved over time by the water. These basalt columns are said to have inspired the icelandic architect Guđjón Samúelsson, and Hallgrímskirkja church in Reykjavik is one of several building which have column like features resembling the basalt columns seen here.

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach LS 80mm f/2.8 - ISO50 f/18 at 0.8s

More from the Jökulsárlón

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There is just something about the clear, translucent ice that fascinates me. The way it catches and scatters the light. Here are a few more examples from the Iceland PODAS. The first two images are taken shortly before sunset, and the low angle of the sun really makes the clear ice shine. The ice only stays clear for a few hours. As soon as it is exposed to warm air and sunlight the ice will become opaque and appear white due to a steadily growing number of small cracks. You can see this in the third image. Eventually the chunk of ice will break apart, turn over and expose a new portion of clear ice.

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach LS 150mm f/3.5 - ISO50 f/12 at 1/160s

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach LS 150mm f/3.5 - ISO50 f/10 at 1/160s

M8, Summicron 35mm, ISO160 f/5.6 at 1/1000s