Selfoss

Day 60 to 61. 27th to 28th August. Selfoss, Iceland (Northeast).

Selfoss and Dettifoss are accessible from the same carpark (so for a map, see the previous post). There is a walking trail of twenty or thirty minutes to either of them though the trails go in different directions. I took this image with the last of the light after photographing Dettifoss (previous post) and walking a way down the Selfoss trail.

Next morning I got up before sunrise. Here I was still some distance from the waterfall and the light was changing fast.

Now getting closer, for an overall view.

Though the light was getting brighter, my exposures were getting longer….

There’s an interesting story behind this image for those who know a little about photography. It is a 30 second exposure, Nikon D3s, 85mm f1.4 at f11, 1600ISO. But when I was in Greenland, on one of the last days, on fumbling with camera settings under a camera rain cover, I inadvertently changed the specifications for saving files. Instead of 16MP, I was saving files at 2.8MP, though at least they were TIFFs (should have been full-sized RAWs). This affected 350 images out of about 6,500 for Spitsbergen, Greenland and Iceland.

I only discovered this a few weeks ago. Last October, not having noticed I was working with a small file, I entered a print of this image into the Canberra Photographic Society monthly competition and received a score of 5 (out of 5). I had actually cropped down somewhat in the sky for the print and the file size was in fact 2.2MB. I did print on matte paper but even so….

Dettifoss

Jan18

Day 60. 27th August, Dettifoss, Iceland (Northeast).

Having parked on the western side of the falls, this is the walking track leading to Dettifoss. It is just after 9pm (assuming the camera time is correct) and direct sunlight is fast disappearing.

Dettifoss and Selfoss are about fifty kilometres from the Myvatn Camping Grounds. One guidebook I have says the 862 road is not suitable for two wheel drive vehicles but I don’t recall having any problems.

You can see from the path to the falls that we are still a fair way back from and above the edge.

You can only get so close. The rocks may be slippery near the edge and you need to stay out of the spray to take a photograph.

Some images show the effect of different shutter speeds.

Dettifoss, at 100 metres wide and 44 metres high, is the largest waterfall in Europe by volume of water.

Krafla

Jan15

Day 60. 27th August, Krafla, near Mývatn, Iceland (Northeast).

Krafla is a dormant volcanic cone in a geologically active area. Though it was now very late summer, there was still some ice around.

Krafla is near Mývatn and about seven or eight kilometres down the road from Hverarönd (previous post).

The Krafla caldera.

Kandinsky’s pallette, perhaps.

Looking beyond the crater, towards the west.

There is a geothermal plant beside the mountain.

The crater from the far side.

Something of a small ice cave, as water flows beneath the ice.

Looking down on a stream flowing through icy ground.

The geothermal plant again.

Hverarönd

Jan14

Day 60. 27th August, Hverarönd, Iceland (Northeast).

From Mývatn I proceeded to the Hverarönd Thermal Area.

Hverarönd is just a short distance from the Mývatn Camping Ground.

Unknown person beside a vent.

The rocks look as if they have been added. In fact, some appear to be parts of bricks. I suspect this is to prevent especially foolish people sticking their heads over an open vent just before it blows.

Artistic patterns in gypsum and sulphur.

Boiling mud.

Miniature landscapes.

It’s as though there are creatures here trying to escape….

(Click for a larger view if you like).

The area is on the edge of the volcanic fissure that goes right through Iceland.

Perhaps once boiling mud.

Can you see the footprint here and the other one beside it where the crust has given way? People have been severely burned here. I remember a case in the 60s in Rotorua in New Zealand where someone was playing lawn bowls, the bowling green gave way end he fell through into superheated water or mud. That one I think was fatal.

Mývatn

Jan12

Day 60. 27th August, Mývatn, Iceland (Northeast).

Mývatn means Midge Lake but I have no recollection of midges. This is from Dimmuborgir, where a lake of lava, about ten metres high, dissipated, leaving strange lava formations behind.

The previous day I drove from Aldeyjarfoss to Mývatn and stayed overnight at the camping ground. I drove down the east side of the lake the next afternoon. Most of the images are from Dimmuborgir and Höfði. Two others are probably from the road between those two places. However, it is just possible I took them from around Skútustaðir and then drove back to Höfði.

Dimmuborgir means Dark Castles.