Ice Sculptures

Some awesome rewards for braving the cold of the Alaskan winter, I found all sorts of interesting ice formations in the form of frozen falls, glacial caves and lakes locked in 6′ of ice.  Granted it took about 6 months for me to regain feeling in my toes again, but at the time it seemed like a small price to pay for such wonderful and unique views.

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A cave cut into a thin glacier turns the whole world blue.
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Bubbles from lake bottom collect and get frozen in layers of ice at Abraham’s Lake.
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A small frozen falls in Maligne Canyon, Jasper, which I illuminated with some flashlights.

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A section of Wapta Falls, frozen solid.
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The view from behind the frozen falls pictured below.

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The falls frozen over in Johnston Canyon, Banff
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Falls in Maligne Canyon make a perfect playground for ice climbers.
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The Mendenhall glacier in Juneau cuts its way around the cliffside in its slow descent.

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A small falls was encased in a giant bell of ice, with a hole just big enough for me to fit a lens in.

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A wall of ice shows a bit of the Athabasca glacier under a winter’s worth of snowfall.

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Glacial Lagoons – Jokulsárlón and Fjallsárlón

A collection of images from the glacial outlet lagoons on Iceland’s southside, where calving faces of the Vatnajokull glaciers dump their ice into the ocean.  Although it looks like a frozen landscape, it is ever changing, with the light and land looking drastically every time I visited.  I love sitting around here at night, watching auroras dance over head and sounds loud as thundering from icebergs rolling and crashing into one another.  This place has been on my bucket list since childhood, but its still on there because I’m going to have to go back!

Winds so strong you could stand at a 45 degree angle to the ground!  
Ice arches under the green glow of an overcast aurora.
Ice swirling around as the tides come in.
Volcano’s glow high up on the ice shelf.  

Winter Is Coming

This post is all about putting the ice in Iceland.  Never have I seen such crazy snowstorms in all my life.  While in the north near Akureyri, I got caught in a blizzard and was stuck in whiteout conditions for days.  While most of the first day was spent digging my car out of a ditch i9 careened into, I braved the cold and managed to make the most of it.  After the storms had passed, it was a whole new world, where what had been verdant hills days ago was now white stretching to the horizon.  Glad I brought my snow shoes, because a few times when I went out without them I ended up buried chest deep after falling through snow banks.  Anyway, it was brutal out there, so I hope you enjoy!  

Land of Fire

Iceland is a diverse and ever changing landscape of volcanic activity.  Five geothermal plants generate a vast majority of the country’s heating and power need. The land is also rancid with volcanic features, such as fumaroles, hot springs, and the original geyser, Geysir. The red skies in some of the images below comes from the eruption of the Bárðarbunga volcano high up on the Vatnajökull, Iceland’s largest glacier.  

Dynjandi and Dettifoss

Two of the most epic falls in Iceland:  Dettifoss is Europe’s biggest waterfall, while Dynjandi has more tiers and trickles than any fall I’ve ever seen, covering nearly an entire mountainside.  It may look peaceful where I’m standing, I was drenched head to toe by the time I made it up there.  And even shooting on a 200mm more than 100 ft from the falls, I had to run back and dry off my lens after every take, but easily worth it in my opinion.  

Breiðamerkursandur (Iceland’s Iciest Beach)

Breiðamerkursandur is the sandy shores on which icebergs from Jökulsárlón wash up on, and it is frigid!  Got in a few times to get the right angle on some ice, and after 5 minutes in it took 5 hour just for my feet to feel right again!  Nevertheless, a magical place where the light and landscape changes all the time.