Did I say I love waterfalls? Plenty of them here in Iceland
Gulfoss
Skogarfoss
Seljalandsfoss
Oxararfoss
Waterfalls
Katla ice cave
Away from the paved roads into an alien world. Desolate. Windy. And once again bloody cold
The target is Katla glacier in Iceland. Cold winds have covered the icecap during many centuries in volcanic dust
A hostile but beautiful environment
I’m glad we came in these specially prepared ‘super jeeps’ that are able to drive over rocks and ice and through small glacier rivers
Paradise
They’re back! Spoonbills in their regular nesting place: a tiny piece of swamp forest tugged in between a highway and a lake. The archetype nature images in our heads are pristine, without human influence. And I have to confess: as a nature photographer I always try to replicate these images. Even when the pictures are taken in a densely populated and completely transformed area. I think we have a longing and even a need for dreams of purity and paradise. And well, it feels a bit like paradise here.
And now they´re back. All the way from Africa, ready for summer. Temperatures are still quite low here, but every spring when they return my heart leaps up.
And it’s not just one… It’s so many of them!
What a feeling to stand here in the middle of nowhere, and just see, hear, smell and feel nature all around.
This last little fellow brings back memories of the card playing game I had as a child. The bluethroat was my favourite card! I love this time of spring when all these birds have returned with a promise of lovely summer days to come
Geothermal activity
Bubbles of boiling hot vapour push the surface upward until they break through and Strokkur erupts. In the Netherlands we call these geothermal steam-eruptions ‘geisers’. This generic name is derived from this specific spot: Geysir in Iceland…
Steamy Strokkur. Minus ten degrees Celcius (fourteen Fahrenheit) makes it bloody cold right next to this boiling pond.
Geothermical area around Geysir and Strokkur. Steam everywhere…
Another geothermal area is Krysuvik or Seltun. A small path leads through the hot springs and steamy rivers.
The smell of sulfur is all around.
Aurora borealis
As a young boy I had a book of stories from all over the world. It had a drawing of a lone fur trapper in the woods, staring at the northern lights sky. I loved that drawing. Such wildness, such loneliness and such beauty! I dreamt of being in the wild myself and seeing the aurora borealis. But I had visited Iceland in summer once, with 5 days of just clouds and rain and wind (We were camping then, my daughter and I, and after 4 days of rain we fled into the first hotel we could find to get dry. Despite the rain and the clouds and the wind it was a great holiday, for even when it rains Iceland is really beautiful).
So I hesitated. What were the chances of going in winter and having both an active aurora and a clear sky? For years I didn’t dare to take the risk and buy a ticket.
Until last November, when I realised that if I didn’t try, I would surely never see it. I bought a ticket and… well, see for yourself.
There’s no need to go to a special dark place to see the aurora. You can see it right from the city. Reykjavic for instance, or more precisely: the bay of Kopavogur.
Kind of blue
Venus guided us all the way home after the Vienna trip.
The picture from the plane resembles a bit the picture I took at home a few days ago, with Jupiter and Venus in conjunction.
More blue lately:
Angry ocean
Floating. Mesmerizing
Dusk settles
In the footsteps of dragons (part 2)
Let me take you to another magnificent place with dinosaur footprints. Above is the breathtaking view from Monte Pelmetto in the Italian Dolomites.
Turning a little to the right youy see a rock that broke off from Monte Pelmetto and came tumbling down. Look carefully! Do you see the tiny dots?
These prints are even older than the prints from Portugal. They date back to some 220 million years ago, the Triassic period, when the mountains still had to born and this was a flat and muddy area. Three different species have left their marks here. According to sources I cannot verify these were probably Ornithischia, Celurosauri and Prosauropoda.
In the footsteps of dragons (part 1)
A special place in the Algarve is Salema Beach, Praia da Salema, near Vila do Bispo. There you can find well preserved dinosaur footprints right at the beach. As you can see, the toes are round and without claws, which indicates that these are the prints of a herbivore, an Ornithopod, a bit like an Iguanodon.
It is estimated that these prints are roughly 130 million years old, dating from the Early Cretaceous. Standing in these footprints of dragons long ago spurred my imagination with fantasies of time machines and walking between those animals in another era.
Let me show you one of the magnificent beaches in the Algarve! Lovely to spend some time here, in between the chase for dinosaur prints at Salema.
Incredible to witness these dinosaur tracks and imagine how some 130 million millions years ago, huge lizards roamed this place. Salema Beach has more footprints, but they are well hidden. You´ll probably need a local guide to help you out, for even if you are standing close to these vertical rock formations the prints are difficult to see. António Alfarroba pointed them out. As you can see this one does have claws, so it must have been hunting for prey here. I´m afraid I haven´t been able to find out the exact species – if you do know it, you’re welcome to mention it.
Memory lane
Going back down memory lane. Huge flocks of pictures are quietly scratching my hard drive. It’s time set some of them free and let them fly out into the wide wild world. Starting with the Algarve, Portugal.
First one above is the lighthouse at Sagres. Suddenly you’re in an Old Testament scene. A goat herd walking home after sunset in Vila do Bispo
Sunset at sea through a deserted customs building in Vila do Bispo
Sunset ´on the rocks´ near Atlantic ocean in Algarve, Portugal
Algarve beach in twilight after sunset
Same coast from a different point of view and way, way after sunset
Holiday shapes in white
Terug in de tijd
“Geen windmolens meer! Ze ontsieren het landschap!”
Niks bijzonders die uitspraak, ware het niet dat het artikel dateerde uit achttienhonderd-zoveel. Ook toen al protest tegen al dat moderne gedoe dat ons landschap helemaal naar de vernieling hielp.
Het is lang geleden dat mijn vader het artikel liet zien – Ik hoop dat ik het ooit nog ergens terugvind in zijn huis.
Dilemma: ’s ochtends nog even omdraaien in het warme bed, of eruit springen en op pad gaan? De keuze voor naar buiten is eigenlijk altijd de beste. Alle zintuigen worden geprikkeld: je voelt de koelte, het vocht, je ruikt de naderende lente, je hoort het ontwaken van de natuur… Misschien is dit wel de essentie van leven: om de schoonheid van de wereld zo intens te voelen binnenkomen.
En dan dat magische moment…
Terwijl aan de ene horizon de zon opkomt, gaat aan de andere de maan onder.
Er is maar één nadeel op een plek als deze. Je blijft foto’s maken. Elke minuut verandert het licht en is er weer iets nieuws te zien…
Er is maar één nadeel op een plek als deze. Je blijft foto’s maken. Elke minuut verandert het licht en is er weer iets nieuws te zien.
Een laatste blik op de windmolens… en dan op naar de volgende verrassing!
De Portrettenmaker 