Gudmann and Gyda, both native Icelandic photographers, decided to leave the drone at home on their first few trips to the new volcanic eruption. But this time they headed back with their drone to capture some incredible aerial footage and abstract shots of the lava flow.
As well as making art with integrity, photographers need to meet the bills. That's why Gudmann and Gyda, who both live and photograph in Iceland professionally, took their camera and audio equipment on their first trips to the newly erupting volcano site in Gelingadalur, near Reykjavik. They make their living through still images, well-known across the world for their images appearing in the Icelandic passports, on the front of the chocolate boxes in the tourist shops, and in multiple books focusing on Iceland, its wildlife, and landscape. That and adding a drone (a DJI Phantom 4 Pro to be precise) to an already full kit bag makes things super heavy and hard to trek the 1.5 hours needed to get to the site.
After they captured what they needed though, they headed back with a drone to concentrate on a different perspective. Something that they couldn't achieve with land-based photography equipment alone. Einar Gudmann guides us through the video in his inimitable dulcet tones discussing how the change in ambient lighting affects the colors captured in the lava photos, and how they succeeded in capturing aerial images that were better than they ever dreamt of. Especially when looking to create large prints for the home and office. However, they made a terrible mistake after hiking for so long to get to the location, watch the video to find out what it was and if they overcame it.
