Beauty Observed in an Icelandic Volcanic Ash Field

The pictures you’re about to see are not what you might think them to be.  I am imagining the many inferences flitting through your mind at this very moment: a series of watercolor paintings, the product of someone’s bored Thursday afternoon tinkering around on the latest Adobe Photoshop program, or magnified snapshots of bloated raffia cells from a scientist’s lab. What good inferences you make! But alas, Brewing Culture informs us that these pictures are something very different from a first glance’s telling. You’ll be pleased to find that these pictures are something much better than the other options. They’re photographs of the real observable world, surreal even, as a Dali landscape–but dreamily beautiful.

Russian photographer Andre Ermolaev captures the volcanic ash fields of Iceland from an aerial view, including wispy-watered rivers sweeping through the glacial landscape.

Nia James Kiesow

Nia James Kiesow

Nia James Kiesow likes culture, historical fiction, Japanese ramen, illustrating, and technology. Born and raised in San Diego, California, she now lives in Gramercy in NYC. Nia is currently the admin