Michael Wilkins
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Long-exposure photograph of Seljalandsfoss in winter, a single tall waterfall dropping from an undercut basalt cliff into a dark pool, blue icicles clinging to the rock and deep snow banked on both sides.

Behind the Curtain

South Coast, Iceland · January 2018

1D X Mark II, 24 millimetres, f 22, 10 seconds, ISO 100

You can walk behind this one. In February you very much should not.

Seljalandsfoss drops off an old sea cliff that the coastline has long since retreated from, and the undercut means you can walk right behind the water — in summer. In February the path round the back is a sheet of ice and the spray freezes onto everything, including the front element. A long exposure smooths the fall into a single column; the blue in the icicles is real, not graded.

Part of Iceland in Winter, a series.