Fire Dragon
Start of a lava stream at the Icelandic volcano Fagradalsfjall.
This photo captures the moment when I came into complete contact with the energy of the earth, unexpectedly, against all odds, and with a wonder that completely overcame the fear of an otherwise risky flight.
It was my first day in Iceland, and I had originally planned to go to the volcano at the end of the trip, because what if something happened to my drone, but curiosity made me go right away. I flew some thirty meters above the lava field and felt myself looking directly into another world below me and the creatures that inhabit it. The lava there was a raw, unstoppable force that rolled through the valley no matter what. The heat, the risk, and at the same time the sheer amazement of what was happening almost before my eyes, simply a journey beyond known universes.
And it was also for me about how insignificant we are compared to such a force... that doesn't adapt, it just is, rolling, destroying, changing the world. A sense of complete respect... and connection to something unstoppable and powerful.
That this ancient energy then took the form of a fiery dragon creature... that's just obvious.
Many volcanoes have side openings near to them, from which lava flows (not erupts, or just very lightly) down in long lava creeks. This one was about 3 meters wide at a maximum, but the hot lava lasted for at least a kilometer or two down the valley. I was lucky enough to visit the Fagradalsfjall volcano on an active day, moreover, there were several of these side craters. The opening of this one reminds me of a fire dragon that's been released from the Earth.
(Note: The photo postprocess incorporates a subtle perspective shift).
South Western Iceland
Whitefalls
A creek surrounded by the forest
Northern Bohemia, Czech Republic
Interstellar 1 (Saving Astronaut Ryan)
The DC3 crash site.
In 1973, a United States Navy DC plane ran out of fuel and crashed on the black beach at Sólheimasandur, in the South Coast of Iceland. Fortunately, everyone in that plane survived. Later it turned out that the pilot had simply switched over to the wrong fuel tank. The remains are still on the sand very close to the sea. The photo is almost a rescue mission for a pilot crash landed on another planet - these little red dots are quad bikes of a tour expedition.
(Note: In addition to the limited edition prints, there are a maximum of 3 Artist Proof Prints (AP) of previous versions of this photograph.)
Southern Iceland
Obsidian Heart
A glacial delta river at the South Iceland coast.
South Eastern Iceland
Cross in the lines
Cross Country skiers on a cold January day.
This particular region on the top of Krušné Hory mountains is hugely popular among cross skiers and many international competitions take place there regularly.
North Western Bohemia, Czech Republic
First Snow in Fjallabak 1
The beginning of winter in the Icelandic Highlands
Friðland að Fjallabaki highlands, Central Iceland
First Snow in Fjallabak 4
The first snow at the reserve.
Friðland að Fjallabaki highlands, Central Iceland
The First Snow in Fjallabak 5
The first snow at the reserve.
Friðland að Fjallabaki highlands, Central Iceland
The Flower of Venus
A pipe pumping some oily waste to a partly frozen wastewater pond.
Odkaliště Venuše (“Sludge pond Venus”) is probably the last place where you’d look for beauty in the Czech Republic. In the middle of a land destroyed by mining and industrial activity is a pond with a content you don’t even want to think of. Yet - here we are presented with a magically pretty flower… an acid flower, perhaps.
North West Bohemia, Czech Republic
Moon Herons
A dried out pond before the Fall fish-takeaway season.
In the autumn, fishermen in the Czech Republic remove water from many of the medieval man made ponds they manage so that they can take out fish and especially carp for the Xmas season - with carp being the preferred meal of the Xmas Eve dinner in the country. The "mud ponds" are then a haven for many bird species.
Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic
Silky Paths 2
Wild geese on a glacier river at the beginning of sunset.
Glacial rivers are a major attraction for my aerial photography as Iceland is a true paradise in this regard. These incredible patterns created by the interaction of the river bed, various sediments brought from the mountains, combinations of many incoming streams and the profile of the surface can provide endless possibilities for abstract discoveries. However, the best views happen when you manage to encounter the true local inhabitants of these magical places… like these geese.
Northern Iceland
Silky Paths 1
Wild geese on a glacier river at the beginning of sunset.
Glacial rivers are a major attraction for my aerial photography as Iceland is a true paradise in this regard. These incredible patterns created by the interaction of the river bed, various sediments brought from the mountains, combinations of many incoming streams and the profile of the surface can provide endless possibilities for abstract discoveries. However, the best views happen when you manage to encounter the true local inhabitants of these magical places… like these geese.
Northern Iceland
The Swan Lake
Swans at a pond.
This is one of my most tranquil photos. I feel like this is the Swan Lake that was the inspiration for the ballet, the Tchaikovsky music and everything else which is somewhat ethereal, flowing, quiet, slow yet powerful… I took a polite distance to these swans but had been observing them from their perspective for quite some time, totally forgetting about the areas I originally planned for that day's shoot. I totally don’t regret it.
Eastern Bohemia, Czech Republic
Rainbow Surfers
An early bird couple takes a morning stroll on a beach on Xmas day at the Canary Islands.
This Canary beach is actually a man made lagoon, which made the sea completely flat, especially in the early morning. Very soon, the beach got very full, but this moment must have had been serene from the ground, as it definitely was from the air as well.
Canary Islands, Spain
Cracked Waters 1
Gulls over a dried out pond with a few centimeters of water.
The Czech Republic saw some heavy droughts in the Spring 2020. Many ponds dried out, especially in South Moravia. When rains brought a few centimeters of water in later, it did not dissolve the dry mud and a "cracked water" pond full of birds was born.
Note: In addition to the limited edition prints, there are a maximum of 3 Artist Proof Prints (AP) of previous versions of this photograph.
Eastern Moravia, Czech Republic
Between Love and Hope
A path between two ponds called Love and Hope
This curious path separates two man made ponds. My theory is that the curious shape was there before the ponds, which probably only filled the areas on the side of an already existing road between villages in this part of South Bohemia.
Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic
Interstellar 3
A river on a black moss beach covered with autumn-colored moss.
The black sand beaches in South Iceland look especially otherworldly in late September.
Southern Iceland
Cast Away
A tiny island on a little pond in the Autumn.
South Bohemia is a region with hundreds of man-made lakes and ponds dating back to the medieval era. These ponds are scattered by many muddy islands, often providing home to many bird species.
Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic
Torn
An island on a little pond close to Káraný in a chilling January weather.
I took this photo on an early morning drive on January 2nd from vacations in the mountains to get a shot at a doctor’s and then coming back to join my group. This image - one of the first photos I took in 2020 - then became a strong symbol of a torn mind, dualities, things we need to reconcile…
This island isn’t man made - nature presents us here with a torn mind of this complicated island. The January morning freeze painted the trees white, while it wasn’t cold enough to make the water freeze and hide the sand and mud texture of the island “lagoon”.
Eastern Bohemia, Czech Republic
Bursting Out
A pseudocrater covered by autumn moss.
It is not a classic volcanic crater because it is not "connected" to the magma in the earth and has never spewed lava. Still, these craters were created thanks to lava streams from nearby volcanoes flowing over a wet surface in the past, creating massive explosions of steam.
This was one of my last photos of the day. It was too late and very quickly the wind began to rise from the south (at the top of the photo), which brought a lot of clouds, fog and rain. My drone very much dislikes these conditions, so I took this picture and headed for the landing quickly.
North Eastern Iceland
Sailing the Spring
South Moravian hills and fields in early spring.
The large agricultural country area of South Moravian hills is quite difficult to photograph from above - but when you get to the right place, it literally flies. I I spent a lot of time with this photo sailing on its waves, because it contains several almost optical illusions (sometime due to eroding surface due to removed trees, which is nothing great actually), at the same time the colors of the South Moravian spring are difficult to interpret, let alone when you want to extract the spirit you feel there. I found this particular place between Bílovice and Čejkovice by chance, it is not one of the usual South Moravian photo locations.
I found this particular place between Bílovice and Čejkovice by chance, it is not one of the usual South Moravian photographic locations.
Southern Moravia, Czech Republic
Pulsing Flow 2
Glacial river before finding its entrance to the ocean over a black sand beach.
Many of my places were not pre-planned and I found them by sheer chance. One of them is this magical place, which is not at all one of the tourist attractions of Iceland. I was driving around the coast and from the road I could see the river and wondered how it would get to the sea. Only from the air, flying over the shore, did I see the incredible almost optical illusion that the river looks almost 3D due to the play of sediments. But... it is completely flat (except for a small sand barrier between the river and the ocean), there is no ice and the water flows freely. After checking the maps afterwards, I found out that this pattern is only temporary, aerial maps from other periods showed a completely different picture. So now it's probably gone too... How lucky we were to witness this!
(The photo is created using a technique of composing several perspectives.)
Southern Iceland
Baby Island
A micro island covered by autumn vegetation in the middle of a glacial river.
This river has a wide delta stretching for more than a kilometer before entering the Atlantic ocean. The colorful surface - which you can see really only from the skies - is caused by sediments brought by the stream from the mountains and their interaction with the bedrock. I could fly there for hours… no, days… and still find mesmerizing new abstract views.
Northern Iceland
River Rhythms
Braided river in Northern Iceland.
A glacial river, but it could also be a tree, a vein, a fractal, an ancient organism that lives its own life down there in the valley. From this height, the scale disappears, and we don't know whether the view is of a river or a vast riverbed stretching into the distance... and it doesn't matter.
For me, this photo is in the category of images that I sometimes purposely look for in a landscape - it's about the rhythm of shapes, colours, energies, contrasts in the whole and in the details... I sense a rhythm in it, I see something moving, dancing, I can hear it.... It's not a symphony with fixed rules, it's more like jazz, constantly changing, full of improvisation, where for example here each element of the river has its own motif and plays its own solo and you don't know what's coming in the next bar, but still all the instruments and their notes are connected by the same line. For me, the contrasts and blending here create music that you can't see but you can feel.
And I stand there as a silent observer, a listener to a concerto, played by masters for millennia. I'm not creating, just perceiving and sharing the experience. I'm humbled by the beauty and power that's happening in the shapes and colors... and all that jazz that's going on.
This photo is a crop of a huge 600 megapixel composite I made with my drone covering a larger area of the river. I then opened it at home, taking crops of the source image and looking for patterns and rhythms.
Northern Iceland
Treencarnation
River mouth bringing dead trees and sediments into the lake.
The river that flows from the Alps to the lake brings in all kinds of messages from the mountains - should it be trees or various colorful sediments. Of all the rather more complex images I took at this area this one strikes out clearly… a combination of happiness vs endings, tranquility vs. strong currents, merry colors vs. the blackness of decay. It really depends on what you want to see in this and there’s definitely tons more stories than what the simple view would tell.
Northern Italy
Pulsing Flow 1
A glacial river tries to find its way over the lava sand barrier to the ocean.
This mesmerizing puzzle of shapes, patterns and shades is painted by a river flowing from nearby glaciers straight to the ocean - provided that there isn’t a lava sand barrier between the river and the waves. It took the river a few hundred meters around the shore to finally find the opening and enter the Atlantic ocean. This day was very dark, windy and rainy and flying around taking photos was quite an adventure.
(Note: In addition to the limited edition prints, there are also max. 3 Artist Proof Prints (AP) of earlier edits.)
Southern Iceland
I saw a comet
A forest on the top of a mountain ridge.
I found this place by a pure coincidence - as is the case of quite a few other photos here - when flying from a site that actually didn’t prove to be as appealing as I’d have guessed from the online “satellite” maps (this also happens quite often). But I’m glad I did. And after seeing this photo in large prints, I understand why people sometimes take this part of the forest to their homes!
(Note: The photo employs a technique of several composed perspectives)
North Western Bohemia, Czech Republic
Acid Flower 3
A dump into a wastewater reservoir in an industrial area.
These dumps are very uninspiring from the ground and nobody comes to visit. However, from a bird's perspective, a wholly different realm opens up. I love flying, whenever possible, above these areas - definitely being avoided by an average tourist. But again, if you look at them with a different perspective, and a different attitude, perhaps, they reveal flowers of a wholly different kind.
Western Bohemia, Czech Republic
Heart of Rychleby
A former quarry now filled with water.
This quarry heart is one of the many man made tiny lakes in the very remote area of the Rychlebské mountains on the border of the Czech Republic and Poland. These quarries are a fantastic destination for a couple day hike through the wilderness of the mountains, but from the sky, they reveal even another level of beauty.
Nothern Moravia, Czech Republic
Extinguished Candles
Two dead trees in the middle of an autumn-colored forest.
In the autumn, it’s a real therapy to take walks in the forests around Prague. And there are a few places to capture the color madness from the air - even to realize that death, which met these two drying out trees, can highlight a beauty everywhere.
Central Bohemia, Czech Republic
The Last Ones
Last group of trees with leaves amidst a deep autumn forest
I was concerned that I may not get great photos in this area, coming to the area so late in the autumn with most trees already having shaken their leaves down. However, some patches still could be found and especially in the bright sun of that day they created incredible views.
Central Bohemia, Czech Republic
Falling Light
A late Autumn forest in bright afternoon sunlight.
The Koněprusy area is a place covered by many fairly deep forests, which are also a favorite destination for many weekend hikers or tramps. I so much wanted to take a photo of another location a kilometer from here but I managed to crash my drone a few days before that. Thanks to a friend who lent me her drone I managed to get to the place anyway, but my original location didn’t reveal anything that would speak to me that day. In some disappointment, I just flew around the area rather randomly, only to discover this forest. It had almost all leaves already fallen and the sharp yet low-angle sun created an incredible canvas out of it.
Central Bohemia, Czech Republic
Acidragon
A wastewater substance in a puddle in the surface mining area.
Another of my photos which were taken on completely randomly discovered locations. I actually went to photograph something different, but parked right next to this puddle, which caught my attention right after the take off. Needless to say, I spent a generous time right at my spot looking at this colorful beast before flying to my final location (out of which, as far as I remember, not significant photo was made…)