I had the pleasure of receiving a message from Ross Vaughn the other day who recently visited Iceland armed with his Canon camera and drone. He made excellent use of this equipment and created a lovely Iceland drone video called Iceland: Fire & Ice (please see below).  I was especially impressed to see a drone footage of the wonderful Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon. Ross also has a nice shot of one my favorite Icelandic mountains, Lómagnúpur. The shot of the Reynisdrangar sea stacks is also most impressive. I am also always gratified when people pay attention to the beach and icebergs at Breidamerkursandur. But my favorite segments were from the crawling glacier of Svínafellsjökull glacier and the massive Hvítserkur monolith in the North West of Iceland.

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Thank you
Jon Heidar, Editor of Stuck in Iceland Travel Magazine

Lovely northern lights.
Lovely northern lights.

Tell me a bit about yourself and your background

I’ve always had a passion for traveling. Since I was a little kid, I was blessed with parents that enjoy seeing the world and experiencing different cultures, so a lot of that was instilled in me at a young age. Now that I’m on my own, I find it even more important to not get caught up in the lulls of daily life, and to take any opportunity you have to see the world.

Seljalandsfoss waterfall.
Seljalandsfoss waterfall.

So how did you get the idea for this Iceland drone video?

My goal in my travels is to learn about and experience as much as I can. I also want to push people to break free from their daily routines and get out and explore. So I decided that I wanted to film my adventures in Iceland with hopes to inspire more people to check out the beautiful world we live in! The result is this Iceland drone video.

You are shooting on many impressive locations, what were your favorite places and why?

I definitely enjoyed shooting the Svínafellsjökull Glacier…It was just simply amazing to think about how something so big is constantly changing and evolving, but has still been around for thousands of years and seen so much happen in time

Reynisdrangar. Impressive as ever.
Reynisdrangar. Impressive as ever. And with killer seagulls who hate drones.

What challenges did you face when making the Iceland drone video?

When shooting the sea stacks, I almost had a serious problem with my drone! You can see in one of the shots, a seagull gets pretty close to the camera, making for an amazing shot. What you don’t see is me immediately, and perhaps recklessly, flying the drone back to me while being chased by multiple seagulls. I don’t think they were too keen on the drone haha.

Crawling glacier.
Crawling glacier.

What advice would you give to those who are visiting Iceland for the first time?

Spend as much time there as you can. You don’t have to book the fancy hostels or pay for expensive tours. I flew roundtrip, rented a camper van, paid for food,drinks, and gas all for around $1,300 USD. If you want to make something happen, do it. Don’t let money be an issue, get out and see the world!

 

Iceland: Fire & Ice from Ross Vaughn on Vimeo.