Holes in the sky.
Sólstafir (pronounced sole-staa-vir) is the Icelandic word for crepuscular rays.
Sólstafir in Arnarfjörður
5D Mark III, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II
Sólstafir in Hérað
5D Mark III, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II
The bluish cast seen in the second image is on account of the SO2 gas released by the Holuhraun eruption.
The first is one of the great masterpieces of landscape photography, minimalism at its best.
Congratulations – one can only guess at the years of effort and travel in remote and dangerous locations which make this sort of image possible, as your sad note above attests.
That first shot is truly art, Rajan, beautiful, melancholic, hopeful, mysterious – I could look at that for a long time!
Thank you, Jackson. There is a sad coda to this image: Magnús Björnsson, who drove me on the Svalvogar loop where this scene presented itself, drowned last week when his fishing boat capsized in the waters off the remote region of Hornstrandir in the Westfjords. His 3 companions survived.