As soon as I discovered of the Fagradalsfjall eruption I booked a plane to Iceland. I already know that I was a bit late, and the eruption was going to stop, but I could not miss the experience of seeing an active volcano from close. I spent there two days and a night, trying to capture this majestic event and making literally tons of pictures and hours of videos.

The experience was great in terms of feelings, but a bit difficult to frame in a good way...but I think that this shoots, even if in their semplicity can tell the story. The location wasn’t easy. The only two options for framing were: on top of the nearer hill, or from the bottom, near the lava field. In the first case you would be far from the volcano but you could see the inside of the cone, in the second case you would be nearer but too low to see inside. This video was almost entirely made from the hill, with a 600mm to zoom in and capture “the action”. I love the “lava rivers” and the boiling crater from this high point of view. I’m really glad to has been able to see a so incredible event.

I spent a long cold day on the volcano. The weather was not the best, a lot of wind and sometime some rain… but that helped with the pictures mood. Here you can see a wider view of what was in front of me that day: a land of smoke and fire. The final image is a timebland. The base is a staking of several shots made in the early bluehour, to merge multiple eruptions and have the entire crater full of exploding lava. The lava river at that time was already cold, so to have the red lighs I made a timebland with a shot made in the same position that afternoon (spending all the day sit on the same rock was a good idea, after all).

I love the contrast between the red of the lava and the blue of the light on the scene. I really like the result: so dark and gloomy, especially all the smoke coming from the hot lava field and the low clouds covering the top of the opposite hill. After the shot I collected all my things and went down near the lava field. I spent the night there, and I slept having the volcano as "bedside lamp"... an incredible experience.