ON FILM: ICELAND GLACIER PHOTOGRAPHY
DAVID BELLARD ARCHIVE PHOTO SERIES
LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, ICELAND - 2011
ALL PHOTOS SHOT ON 120 MEDIUM FORMAT FILM USING
A FUJICA GM670 RANGEFINDER, 100MM F3.5 LENS.
TREKKING ON LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • ILFORD DELTA 3200
The photos in this archive are from 3 rolls of film I shot in 2011 on a hiking tour of the Langjökull glacier in Iceland, the second largest glacier in the country which is located approximately 2 hours Northeast of the capital city Reykjavik. Langjökull means “long glacier” in Icelandic, and it’s known for its extremely blue ice walls and caves. In some places the colors are so bold and vibrant they almost seem lit by electricity.
LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • FUJICOLOR 400H
Unlike the majority of tourists to Iceland, I visited the island nation in the dead of winter, December 2011, and my stay was marked by a pretty big snowstorm that kept the skies grey and mostly cloudy for most of my visit.
LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • FUJICOLOR 400H
The black stuff you see covering the ice and snow is actually the soot from a volcano eruption the previous year on nearby Eyjafjallajökull glacier. The eruption caused massive air travel disruptions around the world, shutting down air travel almost completely in Iceland and effecting 20 other countries for six days.
HIKING GROUP ON LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • FUJICOLOR 400H
HIKING GROUP ON LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • ILFORD DELTA 3200
LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • ILFORD DELTA 3200
ICE VALLEY ON LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • KODAK PORTRA 800
CREVASSE ON LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • KODAK PORTRA 800
HIKING GROUP ON LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • KODAK PORTRA 800
LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • ILFORD DELTA 3200
40 METER HIGH ICE WALL ON LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • FUJICOLOR 400H
It’s hard to conceptualize just how massive everything is on the glacier by looking at these abstracted photos of the ice walls and crevasses, particularly with no perspective reference like person in the photo. The photo above was taken from behind an ice ridge that you can see running diagonal downward (out of focus) in the bottom third of the photo, and the immense blue wall of ice and soot rising up behind the ridge, approximately 40 meters high.
VALLEY VIEW ON LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • KODAK PORTRA 800
DEEP CREVASSE ON LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • FUJICOLOR 400H
DEEP CREVASSE ON LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • FUJICOLOR 400H
DEEP CREVASSE ON LANGJÖKULL GLACIER, 2011 • ILFORD DELTA 3200
NOTES ABOUT THIS SERIES
The photos in this series were shot using a Fujica GM670 with three different types of 120 medium format film. The Fujica GM670 was a medium format rangefinder camera produced in Japan in the 60’s and 70’s, and is notable for being designed to function like an SLR, including interchangeable lenses. These cameras are referred to as “Texas Leicas” in the photography world due to being an extremely large rangefinder.
I also shot several rolls of Super 8 film in Iceland which I used in various music videos and later compiled for the film series Cinema Super 8 in 2015. You can see the entire 30 minute Iceland episode here, and below is one of the music videos - for the experimental super group LOTUS EATERS - using the film footage I shot on the glacier.