Skaftafell is Icelands’s second largest National Park. The combined forces of fire and water (volcanic and glacial activity) have contributed to a landscape of contrasts. In some places, the moorlands and distant peaks reminded me of the Alps. One of the coutry’s more famous waterfalls, Svartifoss with its overhanging basalt columns, is nestled here as a requisite destination. While this was nice, I particularly enjoyed the scrubby trees found within the small canyons in the foothills. I made several images late into the night. The photograph of the “dancing” birches was made at 3am!
Ever since seeing Al Gore’s An Inconvenient truth, I’ve been interested in ice. At home I’ve been exploring with my lens the subtle visual poetics of melting ice. In the context of Iceland, that translated to glaciers. One hike afforded a dramatic overlook of Skaftafellsjökul or Skaftafells glacier. From this vantage point, one can see far across the sandur or outwash plain from the glacier, along with the ribbons of melt-water running out to the sea. I was also able to get close to the ice, in particular, the receding terminus of the glacier with its associated lagoon. This park is very large. As with Thingvellir, I hardly scratched the surface with the time I had.
