The second day of Iceland photos, from September of 2008.
This is why they call it Iceland. Jökulsárlón – a glacial lake, with bits of glacier always breaking off and floating into the sea. This is the first thing in the morning.
Clouds above Jökulsárlón, in the first rays of dawn.
Dettifoss – the biggest waterfall in Europe!
First mountains of the morning.
Behold the glowsheep. Seriously, under flash, their eyes glow Cherenkov blue.
The bridge at Jökulsárlón. This bridge crosses the narrow section of the glacial lake that empties out into the ocean.
Jökulsárlón at sunrise.
More floating ice.
Dan taking photos from surface level, while I take photos from a hill.
The devil’s spine. Some floating ice blocks are clear – others are blue. Still others are an ominous black.
Close-up of said devil.
Don’t mind the dog, it’s just… cleaning itself. The dog came along with a German couple who had come to Iceland to take photos… the humans went off to take their photos, and the dog came to hang out with us!
Ice in infrared.
More ice. More infrared.
Shake hands! What an adorable dog. That’s me – I managed to snap this photo with my fisheye lens, while the dog was busy formulating the plans by which to hump my leg.
Moving along eastward along highway 1.
Mountains in fog.
Highway 1. The fog refuses to clear.
More of highway 1 – in infrared this time.
Sheep are everywhere.
Complicated highway sign.
Highway 1, heading into yet another spat of rain.
Old, pre-1965 cast aluminum sign. On the main road of Iceland – highway 1! In the northeast of the country, all civilization falls apart, and just because it is labeled as primary and as the one way through does not mean it is actually any new!
Swans – and some swanlings too!
Highway 1 going through the mountains.
And here we go through the mountain pass.
Approaching Dettifoss… note that it is the biggest waterfall in Europe.
What is this sign doing at the restroom about 500 feet from the waterfall??
Looking down the waterfall. I am mercilessly afraid of heights – you don’t want to know how slowly and deliberately I crawled over to the ledge to lean over it and get this photo!
Retreating safely from the sheer verticals of the waterfall… here is the road that leads us from Dettifoss to the coast; and here is a rainbow too.
Roadside sheep. For all your sheep needs.
Highway sign at dusk.
The road to Vaðlaheiði – there are plenty of old alignments across Iceland, and this was once a Highway 1, across the mountains… nowadays it has been bypassed by something more sensible, with more than one lane.
Coming down the mountain.
Just after dusk.
And just a glimmer of the Northern Lights! Note the red fringe on top of the green!
Next day … more northern lights, more scenery… and most of all: more goats!
The dog photo ought to be in Nat’l Geo. Yes, out of all of them, just that one. Also, baby swans are cygnets, but I’m sure you knew that.
Jake, come back to metal archives and give reviews cuz I’m running out of good (thrash) bands.
nice pics btw. :)
I think society in general is running out of good thrash bands!
yeah, anyway I like your style of doing reviews. I mean… I don’t care if don’t like Metallica MoP (0%), AJFA, et cetera or any other bands that I like. The idea is that I appreciate your sincerity, you tell things the way you see it.
hells_unicorn, autothrall, Noktorn and other boring people from metal archives are lame because they say the same cliches over and over again.
sorry for my english, I’m from Romania. :)
I don’t know who any of those posters are… been a really long time since I posted there.
the new Overkill kicks ass. there’s your review :)
Artillery’s ‘When Death Comes’ it’s kinda cute. And I don’t complain about the new vocalist, he’s ok.
In other news it sucks that Metal Church is no more. ALL of their albums range from good to great.
Yeah, I listened Ironbound, but the Overkill that I like more is with Bobby Gustafson. Anyway the new Overkill is good.
PS: Nevermore, Opeth, In Flames… suck to the extreme, but you know that already :))
had not heard of the new Artillery – any others after BACK I should know about?
after BACK they took a time out for about 10 years so… here you go the new album is ‘When Death Comes’. I think is the best comeback by a thrash metal band. It’s quite a good album. Anyway my favorte album is the first one.
Oh, and I have to check out the new Heathen album (The Evolution of Chaos), the new Megadeth & Slayer (I have my doubts but let’s give it a try).
Besides thrash metal, I like slow stuff. quite weird considering that I like the superfastbrutal Darkness Descends. :)
bands such as : Skepticism, Esoteric, Evoken – all funeral doom ; death/doom metal bands such as Katatonia, Paradise Lost, Anathema, My Dying Bride (first albums), etc.
and of course traditional doom metal – Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus,etc.
Or if you like prog rock (prog metal is shitty) check out the OLD-SCHOOL sound from “the new band in town”, Black Bonzo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH3W3Y9dklE
dear Jake,I work for a newspaper in Germany (DIE ZEIT) and I came across the photo “First mountains of the morning. “, during my search for Landscapes from Island. The photo woke our interest and we would to use the photo for some sales material. Could you please tell us which are “the Terms of use” for the picture.
Thank you very much in Advance for your fast reply.
All the best,
Laura
hello Laura,
thank you for your interest! please contact me at jake@aaroads.com and we can discuss this further.
Jake
Greetings!
Thank you SO much for sharing such WONDERFUL shots of the Icelandic world. Breathtaking.
For me, Iceland is the greatest place on this planet, Heaven on Earth, if you will. I dream to someday, very soon, immigrate to Iceland and spend the rest of my days there.
You’re very wise, in my opinion, to have taken the time to go there.
May I ask? What did you take away from the experience? Has it changed how you view anything? Did you feel overwhelmed, at all, by the magnificence of this place? Did you get a chance to visit the infamous Blue Lagoon?
Respectfully,
James “Psiotic” O’Connor