Zack Seckler's best photograph: wild Iceland from the air

By Dilip -

‘The pilot flew me around the volcanic coast in his tiny homemade plane – with the door open and me hanging out taking pictures’ shot this off the southern coast of Iceland, from a ultra-light aircraft, in the days before drones were ubiquitous. I love the stark nature of the Icelandic landscape and its contrasts. Deltas form from glacial meltwater running down towards the shoreline, picking up silt and different materials along the way to create these ribbon patterns. There’s all sorts of wildlife too – birds, beautiful wild horses, seals.
In Flight, 2015, by Zack Seckler.
 In Flight, 2015, by Zack Seckler. Photograph: Zack Seckler/Courtesy of ClampArt, New York City
So a few years ago after a lot of research, cross-referencing Google Earth with books and photography by others, I took a red eye from New York to Reykjavik. It was kind of funny to take a jumbo jet, have three hours upon landing to rent a car, check into my hotel and nap for 20 minutes and then turn around to meet a pilot and spend the day up in the air again in his homemade plane.

You can do all the research you want for these projects, but nothing compares to actually seeing things in person. Being in an airplane above that landscape was really magical. Emotional, even.
At first, when you’re flying around in a tiny plane, opening the door and hanging out to take pictures, it’s a little nerve-wracking. You see your life flash before your eyes. But I’ve become quite comfortable doing it and am able to be extremely focused…. read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jul/17/zack-seckler-best-photograph-wild-iceland-from-the-air

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