Rapture

"Rapture" | Sigoldugljufur Canyon, Icelandic Highlands

There are places so unexplainably beautiful that it becomes difficult to accept them as fully real. We've grown used to the ugly aesthetics of daily life and urban settings, and becoming enthralled with a natural landscape became unfortunately limited to the realm of movie theaters and imagination.

And so we passively accept the lack of wonder and awe in our lives, missing the opportunity of realizing how a place like the Sigoldugljufur Canyon is quite real, and how witnessing it can transcend our senses and mentally transport us to a unique place, where "bliss" is no longer just a clichéd word but rather a real body-deep experience.

Story:
Last year I visited Iceland for the fourth time and for the first time finally had the chance to visit the Icelandic highlands. The Sigoldugljufur Canyon was one of the places I wanted to visit the most, located in the famous F208 road to Landmannalaugar, in a difficult to find location. Iceland is definitely the land of the waterfalls, but this canyon topped all the records, with more than a dozen waterfalls in one of its sections. After spending the end of the previous day shooting an overcast sunset at this place, as well as spending the night capturing the canyon with the northern lights above it, the best light finally came as the day awoke, with a beautiful sunrise light that just made my day.

Sony a7R | Venus Laowa 12mm f2.8 | Exposure: 10 seconds | Aperture: f-11 | ISO: 100 | 4 stops Medium ND Grad Nisi, 4 stops Full ND Nisi | FLM CP30-XL Pro tripod | Wireless remote shutter
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