Without a doubt my favorite part of our 2 weeks in Iceland was the ice-beach. Over at Jkulsrln (pronounced Yo-cool-sar-lon) the lake is created as the Vatnajkull glacier melts. Ice-bergs float along the lagoon before passing through a channel into the Atlantic Ocean. The waves break down the icebergs into smaller chunks and then wash onto the black lava sand beach. At low tide smaller chunks wash ashore and at high tide the beach is blocked up with larger icebergs.
We arrived at the Jkulsrln Ice-Lagoon as a storm began to brew. Colby Brown was teaching a workshop of eager students and I had a really nice chat with him before I made my way over to the beach. The low tide meant that I could get down into the water, close to some of the smaller pieces of iceberg. I waited until a wave came up to the ice and then started firing away. I loved the way the water and the ice danced together over the black sand beach.
Because the ice is so cold is is free of most air-bubbles. Additionally, silt from the nearby mountains gives the icebergs an amazing blue color. At one point the glacier touched the Atlantic Ocean but since 1970 has retreated almost a mile inland, creating this 7 square mile lagoon. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip
Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S:
17mm, f/11, 1.3 sec, ISO 100
