THE HEAT OF LAVA
- as close as possible -
Close-up wide angle shots at Fagradalsfjall volcano, Iceland 2021.
My great passion are active volcanoes and seemingly extraterrestrial landscapes. My biggest dream is a journey into space.
Volcanoes allow me to look into the heart and the formation of our earth. Since 2008 I have been traveling on all seven continents in search of natural fireworks.
When I saw the first pics of the eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland at the beginning of 2021, I knew immediately that I could realize some pictures there that I had been dreaming of for a long time. Close-up shots with a wide-angle lens right next to the hot lava.
When I was there myself, I had the great fortune that a total of eight craters were active. The whole, at that time still well accessible area, was almost littered with lava flows.
So I took my 14mm lens, pulled a cloth in front of the and the hood in the face and approached the lava as far as I could just stand it. An estimated 400 to 500 degrees Celsius was the temperature of the lava still at this point. With the camera on my long arm, I quickly took a few shots until I felt like the skin on my forehead was about to burn just now. A short retreat, a little cool down, a check of the picture on the monitor and again back close to the hot action, until I had exactly the pictures "in the box", which I wanted to make. Pictures on which you can literally feel the heat and have the feeling to stand directly in front of the lava and to be able to grasp it with the hands.