Fagradalsfjall arial shot from a helicopter with a helicopter in the smoke of the crater

The above photo may be one of the best photos I've ever taken, and might be one of the best photos I ever take in my lifetime. And it's also a photo that leaves a lot to be desired.

On our trip to Iceland, we got to see Fagradalsfjall twice. The first was 3 days into the trip and we hiked to the lava flow in the valley. The weather was spotty. Sun for brief moments, but mostly clouds that brought a light rain. The cold rain hitting the freshly hardened lava produced cool looking bits of steam throughout the lava flow.

We were able to get right up next to the flow and see beautiful color contrasts of red rock on the black. And some cool bits where rock was engulfed by the lava to become something new. The whole area felt very primal. Our hike took us about an hour plus the time we spent photographing. But we inevitably cut things short because of the rain and we had to get to our next spot before it would get too dark. That meant not climbing the hill that would lead to a view of the crater.

Our second visit was 13 days into the trip and the day before we'd leave Iceland. We were lucky to get a spot on a helicopter that would take us over the crater and land near by. Again weather would be a crapshoot as well as the conditions of the volcano, would it be erupting? Tracking the weather that morning it looked like some ugly stuff would be coming in near our take off time. But luckily it held off just long enough for our flight.

The volcano was not erupting that day. It had just gone dormant after several days of erupting. While that was disappointing, it's really no less incredible. I think we're all intrigued and attracted to moments of chaos and color, which is what an active eruption embodies. Molten magma is just fun to say. But the results of the fury and fire are also breathtaking. The black trail of scorched earth and the discoloration left from the lava. The tiny bits of new growth that had taken root. It was an amazing sight of the life cycle earth has been experiencing for 4.5 gigaannum.

One thing I did not expect when we landed was to step on the scorched moss. Throughout Iceland there is moss everywhere. It is an important part of the ecosystem. To walk on it is spongy. You can imagine just laying down and taking a nap it's so comforting. The scorched moss near the volcano's crater was no different. It had just as much bounce as the green moss had.

From our landing spot we had a view overlooking the lava field we had hiked to just 10 days earlier. It was cool seeing people moving around down there. So tiny. Next to this volcano we are all tiny.

My best photo came after we took off again. Earlier I had been in one of the 4 seats in the back of the helicopter. But on the way home I got to sit in the co-pilots seat. It was from that vantage point that I got to frame up the crater and the other helicopter levitating amongst the smoke. The helicopter gives the whole thing a sense of scale and again that feeling of smallness. The photo would certainly be more dynamic with an erupting crater and flowing lava. But as is it's still incredible. And I'm proud of it.