During our March stay in Iceland, we booked a trip to the Katla ice cave without planning it much in advance. It was more of a spontaneous decision than a carefully prepared photo mission.
The whole visit lasted about 4 hours and the experience inside was great. The guide was engaging and shared a lot of interesting context about the glacier and how quickly this landscape changes.
I shot the whole session on a Sony A7 IV with a fast 24-70mm f/2.8. It was very convenient in this location because I could switch between wide perspective and details without changing lenses, and the bright aperture worked well in the cave's low light.
What impressed me most was the intensity of the blue ice. In some sections it looked almost unreal, as if the cave had its own light source hidden inside the walls.
Why is glacial ice blue? Over time, snow compresses into very dense ice and loses most air bubbles. This structure absorbs more red wavelengths and lets blue light pass deeper, so old compact ice appears intensely blue.
After the wide frame, I switched to detail work. These are selected images from my Iceland Details series.
The hardest part came later: selection. I came back with a huge number of frames, and almost each one had something worth keeping. Some had color like Formula 1 race cars, others looked like polished marble walls.
If I get another chance to photograph this kind of ice cave, I want to bring additional light, either a headlamp or an external flash. I'd like to place the light source at an angle so the ice glows as if lit from within.
