Darkfall by Simeon Patarozliev
I've seen a single photo of Aldeyjarfoss before departing for Iceland. I thought it looked quite apocalyptic and I should definitely see it with my own eyes. It's situated just 40km south of Goðafoss. There are two gravel roads on both sides of the river that seem to lead to the falls, somehow. I check my map, I check the quality of the road on both sides and choose the one I think will be more used by tourists. There are but a few farms around here and I have no hopes of any locals picking me up. After 30 minutes of waiting, I decide that there is no point in standing like a statue and I start walking. As it happens often, after the first 200m., a car stops beside me - it saves a few hours, probably some walking in the dark and gives me an opportunity to photograph the sunset.
In a way, the feel of this place is very close to my initial impression. But it's not so much the waterfall - it's the surrounding landscape. A vast desert. Magma rock that has dried a long time ago, black sands, an occasional patch of moss, a few blades of yellow grass here and there, the wind... and me. It's actually a lot for a desert, a place one would usually associate with nothingness. The lack of a sunset doesn't stop me from taking a photograph.
I remember a few years back, seems like a lifetime, lying in a hammock near the sea shore in a small forest. A friend told me that the sound of the sea was calming. I thought it was noise. Now I'm setting up my camp here, just twenty metres away from the waterfall. It's not the biggest waterfall I've seen or camped near, but it is powerful, to say the least. The whistle of the wind, the sound of the little black grains of sand hitting the walls of my tent, the melody of the raindrops, the rumble of the falling water. I sleep like a baby. Things don't change, but perspectives do. On the next day, I walk the forty kilometres back.
This photo is part of my ICELAND project.
Take a tour in the INTERACTIVE MAP of my journey.