MOUNTAIN MOMENTS

We asked five top outdoor and landscape photographers for their favourite mountain photos – and the stories behind them

FAGRADALSFJALL LAVA RIVERS, ICELAND

Sophie Carr

There is nothing quite like experiencing an active volcano at close range: the sheer heat; the crackling and creaking as the molten mass inches forward; the endless pulses it makes, sending orange spurts high into the sky; the huge rivers of lava carrying red-hot boulders the size of buses.

I was extremely lucky to be able to see Fagradalsfjall on seven different occasions over a two-month visit to Iceland, witnessing various different phases of the eruption; but this is my favourite image. My final visit was particularly special as

I was able to share it with my husband, who'd flown out for the end of the trip.

We'd visited on an earlier occasion, and it stopped erupting literally ten minutes before we finished our hike to the viewpoint (only for it to wake up a few days later once we'd left the area!). Fortunately, it didn't stop erupting on this occasion, and the lava rivers were bigger than I'd seen before, heading off in two different directions in the Meradalir valley, and we ventured quite far across uneven, rocky, steep terrain to get closer to the lava pool.

Using a drone, as I do, allows a whole different perspective; but it gets the heart racing, not knowing if it will come back or not. The man next to me recounted a story of how a few months earlier he lost one of his drones but became an internet sensation overnight, as he'd recorded it flying directly into the lava in the main crater (his video went viral). My drone is a DJI Air 2S, which has a fixed aperture of f/2.8, and that does limit one’s decision-making somewhat.

However, it has a very good gimbal that keeps it steady, so there’s no need to push the ISO up to get a good shot in low light; this photo is taken at ISO100 and 1/120th second. I nervously got my drone up and flew it around for a little while until my shaking got too much (cold + nerves!) and brought it back down. I'm glad I risked it, as I just loved the view I captured from high above, with the pointy Meradalahnúkar hill in the distance with the remnants of light to the north, and the two rivers of molten lava. We walked back the long, dark route to the car as fog returned and covered the volcano from view. It was a perfect end to a long trip in my favourite country.