Hans Christian Sivertsen, a student in Sisimut in Greenland caught these fantastic images of the northern lights dancing above his campus in Sisimut in Greenland on the night of January 25th. Resulting from a geomagnetic solar storm the northern lights were exceptional that night, and Hans Christian was ready to capture it with his camera from the balcony on his campus.
Hans Christian used a DSLR camera and created this awesome time-lapse video from it.
Driving in the winter time can be tricky in Iceland. We've had a lot of snow in the last few weeks and roads have been closing down frequently due to snow and storms.
I've been travelling quite a bit in the last few days as I've been teaching my course in Social media marketing in both Isafjordur in the Westfjords and Kirkjubæjarklaustur in the east. The roads were icy, I caught storms and on the mountains there was a lot of snow on the road. But I was well prepared and really enjoyed my trips. Though I was driving in the dark all the time I used the opportunity to take a few photos of the northern lights and the beautiful winter scenery :)
The right vehicle I recommend you rent a 4x4 with studded tires and take into account that you might need a few extra hours for the trip.
Be prepared For safety you should also make sure you have extra food and drinks in the car and a warm blanket in case you get stuck somewhere. Have a full tank of fuel and let someone know at the hotel or where you're staying when you expect to arrive, so arrangements can be made if you don't show up. You can call 1777 for updates on traffic conditions before you head out into the country side in winter time.
The sign in Seltún, Krýsuvík where you can find geothermal springs. The wind was over 20 m/sec, snow and very little visibility.
An angelica standing in the ice by Seljalandsfoss waterfall.
A fishing boat in safe harbour in Súðavík, in the Westfjords.
Better not drive too fast on the icy roads. This one had lost control and rolled over in the snow. Luckily, no one got injured.
A charming old farm in Hestfjordur in the Westfjords with the northern lights dancing above it.
A picture can never do the northern lights justice, but they simply filled the sky right above me, and were reflected below on the semi-frozen sea. It was impossible to capture the scale of it, but here is a glimpse. To realize the size of it, the mountain in the picture is about 3-400 meter high.
The northern lights were so bright that you could have driven with the headlights off. I don't recommend it though ;)
The Northern lights above my house last night - and the Imagine Peace Tower in the distance.
This year and the next are exceptionally good for viewing the Northern lights here up in the Arctic. Last night was no exception. The light pollution from the cities sometimes makes it difficult to see the northern lights but last night they were so intense that filled almost the entire sky. They had the classic green colour but I have seldom if ever seen them as wide as last night.
If you've ever wanted to see the Northern lights, I highly recommend starting to plan a trip to Iceland this winter or the next! You will not regret it. We can't guarantee you'll see them lights, but it's close!
The Northern lights over Reykjavik last night (shot from a balcony in Reykjavik by Eva Olafsdottir):
And these are of the Northern lights in Qaqortoq in Greenland last night (by Gert Hansen):
Don't miss out on this unique phenomenon! Come on over! :)
The midnight sun in Iceland has captivated many travellers who have visited us in the summer time. But few travellers have captivated it like Joe Capra of Scientifantastic has done with this amazing time lapse video. With a lot of hard work and patience he manages to bring out the best of Icelandic landscape and lighting.
"For 17 days I travelled solo around the entire island shooting almost 24 hours, sleeping in the car, and eating whenever I had the time. During my days shooting this film I shot 38,000 images, travelled some 2900 miles, and saw some of the most amazing, beautiful, and indescribable landscapes on the planet. Iceland is absolutely one of the most beautiful and unusual places you could ever imagine. Especially during the Midnight Sun when the quality of light hitting the landscape is very unusual, and very spectacular." says Joe Capra
Sunsets are a popular topic for photographers, so having up to 6 hours of sunset/sunrise combination is a photographers dream. Sean Stiegemeiers Eyjafjallajokull time lapse video caught attention amongst photographers, and others around the world during the Eyjafjallajokull eruption and we've been seeing some excellent images ever since. This one from Joe Capra is one of the best I've seen though:
I recommend viewing the video in HD and full screen to get the best of it :) And Joe Capra recommends you visit Iceland:
Iceland is a landscape photographers paradise and playground, and should be number 1 on every photographers must visit list. Iceland during the Midnight Sun is in sort of a permanent state of sunset. The sun never full sets and travels horizontally across the horizon throughout the night, as can be seen in the opening shot and at the :51 second mark in the video.
During the Arctic summer, sunset was at midnight and sunrise was at 3am. The Arctic summer sun provided 24 hours a day of light, with as much as 6 hours daily of "Golden light". Once the sun had set it wouldn't even get dark enough for the stars to come out, and they don't start to reappear until August.
My advice to everyone out there, photographer or not, is simple... You MUST visit Iceland sometime during your lifetime. You will never regret it.
Thank you, Joe Capra, for creating this awesome time lapse video!
The moon is landing on Skarðsheiði in Iceland as the first rays of sunlight hit the mountain tops. This magnificent image called Moonage Daydream was taken in January 2008 by photographer Hrannar Hauksson.
My twitter friend Simon Martindale shared these beautiful images of the Arctic light. They're shot in April 2011 and show the beauty, the freshness and the tranquility of this amazing region.
Photographer is Terje Sørgjerd (TesoPhotography) who catches these magnificent colours as the sun just tilts below the horizon, but her colours never do, before she comes up again. This is something that can not be described, only experienced. And Terje does a fantastic job catching it on film! It wasn't easy though, as Terje describes on his Vimeo page:
"And almost as if planned, the trip would turn out to become very difficult indeed. I had numerous setbacks including: airline lost my luggage, struggling to swim ashore after falling into the Arctic sea: twice, breaking lenses, filters, tripod, computer, losing the whole dolly rig and controller into the sea, and even falling off a rather tall rock and ending up in the hospital. As much as I wanted to give up, the best way Out is always “Through”. I am glad I stuck it through though because there were some amazing sunrises waiting. At 1:06 you see a single scene from day to night to day which is from 9pm to 7am. Think about that for a minute.. 10 hours with light like that."
It's been 24 hrs since the eruption in Grimsvötn Volcano in Vatnajökull glacier started. It's not as picturesque as the previous eruptions last year, but here are some of the pictures that have been caught from the eruption and the ash fall south of the glacier.
Norðurflug, the helicopter service that flew both tourists and camera crews to Eyjafjallajokull Volcano last year, flew a camera crew on to the glacier earlier today which got some incredible footage! Image by Anton Brink/visir.is.
The Norðurflug helicopter flying just above the Vatnajokull ice cap, and the black ash cloud from Grimsvotn volcano that is hovering over the helicopter. Image Anton Brink/visir.is
Fantastic image showing the plume rising up from the Vatnajökull glacier and the ash spreading fast in the strong wind in the area. Image from visir.is.
A thick layer of volcanic ash is laying like a carpet over everything below the glacier, like we see on this Nissan Sunny (or mayby Not-So-Sunny) in Kirkjubæjarklaustur. There's no sign of it in Reykjavik though. Image Egill Adalsteinsson.
ICE-SAR members have been distributing masks for the 1.000 people that live in the area worst hit. Image Eggert Jóhannessson/mbl.is.
The bright summer nights are not so bright. The darkness of the ash fall was so black when it was worst that people could barely see their own feet even though they searched for them with a flash light! Image from dv.is.
Live is really hard for birds and livestock now. The lambs are just being born and not all survived the night. Farmers are trying to get their sheep, horses and other live stock back to the houses. Image dv.is.
No matter how well you try to close doors and windows, the ash gets through everything. Image visir.is.
You can follow me on twitter for regular updates on the development of the eruption.
Hey, what are you looking at? Photo by Nunni Konn.
Eyjafjallajokull volcano started erupting exactly one year ago today. It's probably one of the most memorable eruptions in Europe, as millions of people were stranded as the ash cloud from the powerful volcano moved over most of Europe grounding flights. Peaceful days in the air but maybe not so on the ground.
The eruption has stopped, and it looks like it's permanent. We never know though ... You can read about the predictions about the next eruption in "Volcanic Activity in Iceland - The Next Eruption?" To "celebrate" the anniversary of the 2010 Eyjafjallajokull eruption I have collected a few amazing photos from the eruption:
The northern lights above Eyjafjallajökull, by Sphyror.
Heading to the burning glacier. Photo by Frederik Holm.
Amazing lightning storms were seen in the ash cloud the first days of the eruption. This stunning photo is by Sigurdur Hrafn Stefnisson.
You know, when they in the medieval ages described the eruptions as raining fire and sulfur with the days as black as if it was the middle of night, they actually weren't exaggerating. Photo by Sverrir Þór.
The eruption heated up with an eruption in Fimmvorduhals, the perfect "tourist eruption" with popular sight seeing flights. This photo is by Steinar Hugi.
It was possible to fly pretty close to the eruption! Photo by Gitzo.
It was a spectacular eruption with the tallest lava falls seen in modern history, over 200 meters high. And it was "easily accessible" from across the valley. Well, for the Icelandic modified super-jeeps at least ;) Photo by Vignir Már.
Two girls having a "Dante's Peak" moment in their parents car, all covered with volcanic ash. Photo by Ingolfur Juliusson.
Live continues despite the ash fall. Here the milkman is arriving at Thorvaldseyri farm, just below the volcano. Photo by Eythor Arnason.
Nature was not willing to give up to the thick layers of ash. Lupines fighting their way through the black ash. Photo by Hulda Mjöll.
The thick cloth of ash was depressing for those living under the volcano. It turned out to be not as bad in the long run as people had feared and around the country crops were extra good due to the good fertilizing effect from the ash. As the photographer describes it on Flickr: "Above you see the reward for my troubles. I cleaned the backyard three times, first I removed most of the wet ash and a week later I cleaned the dried up crust. Finally I cleaned up the fine ash and today, June 9th, I mowed the yard, almost choking the lawnmower with the fine dust that billowed up." Photo by Leifi Eggertsson.
And just in case you're getting rusty in how to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull:
This fantastic image of the Supermoon was shot last night from the top of Grábrók, a small volcanic mountain in Borgarfjordur, Iceland. Supermoon is when the moon is full while it is within 90% of it's closest position to Earth. Last night the moon was in its closest position to Earth in 18 years. The photographer is Ágúst Atlason but you can see many of his fantastic Icelandic landscape pictures here.
Hjörtur Smárason, an anthropologist, an internet junkie and a traveller seriously infected with insatiable curiosity. A father of five and a marketing specialist in my daily life. You can also read my blog about internet marketing: Marketing Safari.
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