Discovering The Virgin Colorful Lakes Of Iceland With A Drone

I am a photographer/videographer. My experience with Iceland is long and goes back for 9 years and 8 journeys. I have seen it transform from a peaceful serene place to an overcrowded tourist circus and each and every year it broke my heart. So I know that because of what I do I contribute to the phenomenon and yet I still hope that by adding a few words might just convince a few people that places worth going to are places you discover yourself or with the help of friends like this case. Going to a place where everybody goes not only ruins the place but also the experience is pretty much a joke, a shadow of what nature feels like. But I guess the only way to know that is by having something else to compare it to and most people will live without ever knowing. And the herd instinct always prevails.

This year I got a DJI Mavic Pro and started something new, photographing and filming places off the beaten chart as much as possible. I spent most of my time inland on some of the most deserted and dangerous roads and of course I got some drone footage of places I knew from before but I never seen them from the air. By mistake, looking at one of the photos, a friend of mine asked me if I knew about this place. There was an ancient video from an airplane and nothing else about it. He knew the location but never quite made it there. Since it looked like the perfect place (no drone has ever gone there as far as I know and I was unable to find any mapped photos from within that area) I did my best to find a way to it no matter what it takes. Unfortunately after 2 attempts I gave up as getting to the exact spot required crossing a 2 meter deep river of freezing temperature or hiking on the other side for more than a day on unknown vicious terrain . I will probably try again next time, this time bringing an inflatable boat or something with me. THe scenary was beautiful and the simple fact that there was not a soul for tens of kilometers, no footsteps, no sounds, only water, ice, sand and grass. And I did get close enough and the results were just amazing.

Anyway, in the end I want to say that there is still plenty of space for discovery and new beauty. And I do hope that the world will change its way and will protect the landscape not by adding fences and stairs and banners but by changing itself. By not encouraging in any way mass tourism. And by people realizing there is something more to life than going to those already known postcard places. Don’t live in vain.

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