In the heart of Iceland’s glaciers, mystical ice caves are formed that show sublime landscapes. But there are times when the natural spectacle is elevated to other dimensions when the lighting allows the glaciers to be painted in amber colors thanks to the play of light from the sun’s rays.
Ice caves in the glaciers
Iceland’s ice caves are natural formations that live in the iciest countries in the world. Iceland is among the northernmost nations, which means that it is very close to the Arctic, and that is the reason why it presents ice formations during the winter season.
But it is also home to several glaciers that are identified for surviving the summer. Although the ice appears during the winter, the glaciers are characterized by sheltering ice extensions that enlarge and retreat according to the weather, but that always present ice, unlike the snow that only appears in the coldest seasons.
Thanks to this, the island has two types of caves: ice caves and glacier caves. The former live only in the coldest seasons, while the latter can be visited all year round. It is these glacier caves that are the protagonists of this story.
Amber sparkles show the beauty of glaciers
Sarah Bethea has been devoting her life to her greatest passion; photographing nature and its wonders. Born in Portland, Oregon, Sarah was in contact with ice from a very young age, as she used to ski with her family on Mt. Hood. She later developed a passion for photography, and in her professional career, she decided to combine both passions.
This is how she came up with her project that portrays the iciest landscapes of the planet and its wonderful biodiversity. Part of Sarah’s work shows electrifying auroras with icy landscapes in the background and wild animals of the iciest ecosystems. But undoubtedly her most extraordinary photograph is the one she managed to capture during a trip to Finland.
Sarah’s idea was to visit the ice caves that form in the middle of the glacier blocks on the Finnish coast to the south. She was hoping to capture the sublime turquoise hue that characterizes glacier ice caves, but instead, she got some extraordinary views from the sun’s rays.
Although it was midday, just as Bethea clicked the shutter, the sun aligned with the cave entrance and illuminated the ice completely to give it an amber hue. The result is a sublime photograph in which Sarah seems to be in a completely unknown world.
The photographer admits that she always wanted to be a nature conservationist but is confident that her captures of the most amazing landscapes are a way to inspire love and respect for nature. She fervently believes that the art of photography helps us to understand landscapes that we would otherwise not be able to observe and encourages us to understand the urgent need to save these landscapes that are endangered by man-made climate change.
Story originally published in Spanish in Ecoosfera
