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I recently participated in the World Landscape Photographer 2022 photography contest. To my excitement I won first place in the Abstracts category with my Lava Dragon!

Some of you might know that while photographing the eruption in Geldingadalir, I spent a lot of time trying to find patterns and shapes in the flowing lava. One of the most interesting ones I found was a fiery dragon’s head. A piece of solidified lava perfectly matched up to make it look like the eye of the dragon.

I’m really proud of this photograph and I’m over the moon that it got this recognition!

To celebrate, I am giving 25% off on my Lava Dragon as well as my book about the eruption, New Earth. No discount codes needed! Valid until July 19th 2022.

Here’s what the jury had to say about my photograph:

What a photo! One of those once-in-a-lifetime shots. The photo, which is taken with a drone, is of molten lava that is running down the side of an active volcano in the shape of a dragon’s head. Due to the cooling of the lava on top of the stream, different shaped sheets of colder rock are being formed, which creates what looks like the scales of the dragon. Due to the patterns it looks like the dragon is moving. As a former World of Warcraft player it all reminds me of the dragon Deathwing – look him up on Google. There’s also a fascinating depth to the photo due to the streams of lava running on top of itself revealing a second interpretation of a hand with fingers. I’m also fascinated with the darker parts of the photo, where you can see cracks of molten lava. Despite the direct top-down view of the drone that usually creates a rather flat look, Jeroen has managed to capture a once-in-a-lifetime unique and dynamic photo with loads of depth and several interpretations. WOW!

Mads Peter Iversen

Support Jeroen’s Work

As an independent photographer, Jeroen partially relies on your support to keep producing worthwhile content such as blogs, photographs, books and much more. If you want to support his work, it is possible to do so by buying his e-books & books, prints or calendars.

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Thank you for considering!

Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove

Jeroen is an award-winning Belgian photographer based in Iceland. The past years, he dedicated his photography to the Central Highlands & volcanic eruptions. Most recently, he received international attention for his work at the Fagradalsfjall volcano.


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