U3A ‘visits’ land of fire and ice
In February and March 2019, photographer Rob Heffer visited Iceland, the land of fire and ice, the land of volcanoes and glaciers and black volcanic beaches.
His recent captivating talk took members of the U3A on a photographic journey of epic proportions around the circumference of Iceland.
Through photographic imagery and drone footage, he showed us geysers, “diamond“beaches, blue ice caves, glaciers, basalt rock formations, magnificent auroras, calving glacial icebergs, waterfalls and more.
He also related stories of the wonderful Icelandic people and some other interesting facts and myths about this incredible island, a pristine, yet fragile land of the utmost beauty.
Heffer was so inspired years ago by images that he had seen of Iceland from fellow renowned South African landscape photographer, Hougaard Malan, that he undertook his own epic winter photographic journey to the island in 2019.
Heffer described his experience as “the trip of a lifetime”.
He said Iceland was unique in that it had more than 30 active volcanoes, more than 10,000 waterfalls, it is illuminated by the northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, during the dark winter nights, has black volcanic beaches, glaciers, ice caves which reflect their translucent blue filtered light from above, icebergs and smaller blocks of ice that reflect like diamonds on glacial beaches.
Fumeroles of boiling geothermal water that lie just beneath the surface of the land was piped into most towns for their hot water supply, he said.
It is a harsh land that can unleash winds well in excess of 100km/h “but can also deliver the most incredible, almost haunting calm, where the only sound that you can hear is that of icebergs rubbing together as they make their way from the glacial lagoons out to sea”, Heffer said.
He wrapped up his talk with some enthralling video footage of a glacier calving and creating something of a tidal wave, hurriedly forcing people at the water‘s edge onto higher ground to avoid the waves crashing onto the beach.
The talk also cautioned us against the severe effects that global warming is having on these highly sensitive areas of the planet.
Heffer grew up in Makhanda and was educated at St Andrew’s College, and then studied through Unisa for his BCom degree. In 2021, he retired from Nedbank as the Eastern Cape provincial credit manager in the business banking environment.
His love of photography began in 2010 when he picked up a camera and realised that, until then, his eyes had been closed to the beauty of this planet, from the tiniest flower to the magnificence of a beautiful landscape or seascape, he said.
He received his Fellowship from the Photographic Society of SA (or FPSSA) for photographic excellence in 2020, and in 2021 he was appointed to the board of directors of the Photographic Society of SA.
Heffer is currently the society’s Eastern Cape regional director.
He has judged images from club level to national and international salons and in 2022 he was appointed to the National Honours Judging Panel for PSSA.