The Icelandic photographer Gunnar Freyr Gunnarsson (@gunnargunnar) has spent nearly ten years traveling around Iceland looking for angles that no one else sees.
This image, known as “The Eye of the Volcano”, wasn’t a matter of luck: Gunnar needed time, exact weather conditions, and enormous patience to capture the precise moment when the smoke, lava, and texture of the rock formed that figure that seems to be watching you from the crater. The photo is part of his book Stunning Iceland, in which he documents hidden corners of the country that rarely appear on tourist postcards.
Today the image circulates around the world as one of the most striking natural postcards ever captured on the island, and it reminds us of something simple: behind every nature photo is someone willing to wait as long as necessary to get the perfect shot.