While the starkness of the barren Icelandic Highlands, with its endless black deserts, jagged peaks, and inhospitable glaciers, is part of its appeal, that is not all the region has to offer. A particularly special but often overlooked aspect of the interior’s beauty is its far-flung oases, where dazzling colors and unique flora burst from an otherwise lifeless world. Having embarked on a thrilling helicopter ride, I was shooting a range of landscapes impossible to reach by foot, hoping to add a sense of the region’s vastness and emptiness to my portfolio. What particularly stood out to me here was the dramatic contrast in the muddy glacial rivers and the striking azure waters that filled the lake, separated by just a low crater wall, as well as the contrast between the black sand desert and verdant, almost lime-green hills. This piece has become iconic in showing the abstract views from the Icelandic Highlands.