Glowing lava, fiery fountains and difficult climbs: For some motifs, some photographers go to the limit. They are rewarded with spectacular pictures.

Olympus E-M5 Mark II | 9 mm | ISO 800 | f / 4.0 | 1/40 s

Experience report volcano photography: With the camera to the mountains of fire A look into the heart of the earth Special glow Fire and Ice: Untamed Nature in Siberia Lighthouse of the Mediterranean Sea Item in c’t Digitale Fotografie 6 / 2020 read My forearms are bleeding, pain from a fall. Toxic gases bite your nose despite the protective cloth. The camera in my hand feels like it will glow in the next second and there is a threatening hiss and hiss in the air. Still, I move forward, one more step towards the fiery seething hellhole. It is like being drawn to me by magic. Attracted by the fascination of natural but powerful fireworks.

A look into the heart of the earth I am in the middle of one of the most hostile regions on earth, the Danakil Desert in the east Ethiopia. This is exactly where Africa is literally being torn apart by three continental plates. And it is precisely in this place that I look directly into the heart of our planet. At the Erta Ale volcano up to 800 degrees Celsius hot and boiling lava from deep inside our earth to the surface. For many years it has been pouring into a fiery, pulsating lake with a diameter of approximately 50 meters. A so-called lava lake, of which there are not ten on the entire earth.

I would like to take a second step towards the boiling spectacle for a better perspective, but that would be suicide. Deep cracks in the black, cooled lava open directly in front of my feet.

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Sign in and read Register now and read the article immediately More information about heise + Experience report volcano photography: With the camera to the mountains of fire A look into the heart of the earth Special glow Fire and Ice: Untamed Nature in Siberia Lighthouse of the Mediterranean Sea Item in c’t Digitale Fotografie 6 / 2020 read