One of the things I love most about photographing glaciers and icebergs is the incredible colour and textural detail to be found in the ice. On my last winter workshop to Iceland earlier this year I made a conscious effort to really focus on the intimate landscape much more than the grand vista and the glaciers were the ideal subject and source of inspiration (as they always are). I have always been attracted to glaciers, but as I spend more and more time with them I find myself drawn more and more by the details and seductive beauty of an ever-changing ice landscape. There is an incredible beauty in glacial ice that is bought about through time, immense pressure and environmental considerations. These intimate photographs from the Svínafellsjökull Glacier in Iceland I feel illustrate the beauty and color to be found in just this single rapidly disappearing glacier in the south of Iceland.
If you are interested, I would strongly encourage you to beg, borrow and watch the National Geographic documentary Chasing Ice. This follow up documentary to Extreme Ice documents the catastrophic effect global warming is having on the glaciers across the planet. As someone who regularly spends time in Iceland and the Polar regions I have witnessed first hand the dramatic melting that is underway. The worlds glaciers are not just slowly melting. They are melting at an accelerated rate as global warming speeds the process along. Rates of glacial deflation are at never before seen levels and if we do not act now to curbe the amounts of carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere we may well lose these magnificent glacial beasts forever.
Higher resolution versions of these and more photographs from Iceland can be seen on my website at www.jholko.com
www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com 