The crater lake Ljótipollur (“Ugly Puddle”) in the central Highlands of Iceland was formed in an explosion in the 15th C along the Torfajökull Volcanic System. “The name in Icelandic has the contradictory meaning of “Ugly Pool” and could be explained by geothermal activity and murky water shortly after the eruption, of which there is…
These are photographs from the volcanic region of Mývatn in northern Iceland. In the first image, the peaks of Námafjall are circumscribed by a section of the Ring Road. Steam is seen rising from vents in the earth in this highly active geothermal area. One evening around sundown we stumbled into a dreamscape…
The Reykjanes Peninsula of Iceland is a place of haunting beauty. Descriptions of the region are usually dotted with clichés such as “stark,” “surreal,” “desolate.” That is because Reykjanes is, in fact, stark, surreal, and desolate. Andrew Evans in Iceland, Bradt Travel Guide, 2008 p. 187 The southwest peninsula of Reykjanes or ‘smoky point’, is…
During a recent visit to Death Valley in California‘s Mojave Desert, I overnighted in the desert town of Ridgecrest to photograph the nearby Trona Pinnacles. This atmospheric locale has served as a setting for several well-known sci-fi movies and commercials. The basin with its Trona Pinnacles, the adjacent Searles Lake salt pan serviced by an…
