Elemental Balance

As all my senses contemplated this incredible place for the first time, I immediatly felt transported into some sort of magical realm, where fairies, trolls and...
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As all my senses contemplated this incredible place for the first time, I immediatly felt transported into some sort of magical realm, where fairies, trolls and all other kinds of mystical creatures were sure to inhabit .

My initial excitement eventually gave place to a more serene awareness of my surroundings, and I could feel how perfectly balanced and harmonious all the elements of this landscape were, with the Earth being proudly represented by the magestic Kirkjufell mountain and the beautiful carpets of moss covering all the rocks and pools, the water by the many picturesque waterfalls that stretch all over the place, the fire by the most incredible sunset/sunrise (midnight sun) I have witnessed overbthe course of 2 weeks and the air by the dense mantle of moving clouds and the fresh breeze of pure air with a scent of Nature.

Iceland is indeed a country full of magical elements, which are present in both the mesmerizing landscapes and the myths and legends behind many of them .

Thus, it seemed rather appropriate to name this photo Elemental Balance .

Elementals are mythic beings and Nature spirits that represent each of the different elements , Gnomes - Earth, Undines - Water, Sylphs - Air, Salamanders - Fire .

The star of the show does ofcourse also transmit an incredible balance with its symetrical unique shape, which I am yet to find in any other mountain anywhere in the world .

Story behind the photo :

I never spent so long shooting a location in my life before ! Went there 1hour ahead to have enough time to enjoy the place and explore the different possible compositions. I knew Kirkjufell was one of, if not the most iconic location in whole of Iceland, and the one that has most probably been photographed more often . This makes it harder to come up with new original pictures that can really stand out but on the other hand, it's also a place with an admirable amount of compositions to choose from.

After about 5hours there in my first day I came back to my campervan knowing I had some good shots but not really the shots I wanted . The light was ok but not outstanding ...

I was prepared to move on to my next destination but some gut feeling told me to stay around for a day more . So happy that I did, the cloud formations and the colors on the second day I spent there were absolutely mindblowing, I never could have expected it to be so intense !

I obviously got dozens of different shots and compositions, but I chose this one to post first because it's a bit different from the vast majority of Kirkjufell photos you see and because I also really liked the moss elements in the foreground , which I think makes it stand out a bit :)

I have a lot more photos and will be posting some of them soon, this one was shot when the colors weren't even at its peak yet but I am still quite happy with the final result .

Hope you like it ! :)

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