Many of you have probably seen those surreal, incredible, abstract images that, upon closer inspection or after reading the description, turned out to be Icelandic glacial rivers. I first saw these images about 12 years ago from one remarkable photographer, Andrey Ermolayev, who, unfortunately, is no longer with us. I wrote Andrey a message, and he responded, which led to a correspondence. He not only told me about the most beautiful places to shoot but also gave me many invaluable tips.
Before drones were invented, this type of photography wasn’t cheap. You had to rent a small airplane, with one hour of flight costing about €1300, and shoot through a small opening in the window. I’ve done this four times in my life, and only one of those shoots can I truly call successful. On that day, I was incredibly lucky with the weather and light, which doesn’t happen often in Iceland. Sometimes, you’d have to wait for three days just for weather conditions suitable for flying.
What tips can I give for this kind of shooting?
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The ideal lens is a 24-105mm.
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You can safely shoot with an open aperture.
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I shot at a shutter speed of 1/800 seconds and used a polarizing filter to remove reflections.
But the main advice lies elsewhere: always wear gloves so your hands don’t freeze, but make sure the fingertips are free to handle the zoom. Most importantly, hold your lens very firmly. The plane flies at high speeds, and the wind can rip the lens off your camera — the bayonet mount won’t save it. I know more than one person who lost their lenses this way. For the entire hour of the flight, I constantly kept my hand on the lens to secure it.
Shooting from a plane allows for some of the best images since you’ll be using a high-quality camera and lens that drones don’t yet support. Additionally, you’ll see much more because the plane flies further. Be prepared to think and react quickly — unlike a drone, a plane can’t hover. Often, a missed shot can’t be recovered.
However, as I mentioned, this type of photography is significantly more expensive and, perhaps, more dangerous. The most well-known pilot among photographers in Iceland, Diego Haraldur, who flew with many of my friends, tragically crashed his plane with three clients in 2022 during poor visibility.
All the photos in this post were taken from a plane. In the next post, I’ll share how to best capture rivers with a drone, give tips for drone photography, and share some of the most interesting stories related to it. Shooting with drones isn’t easy either. Stay tuned! Wishing you good luck and great light!🌍✨
