This pretty blue lagoon, shaped slightly like a footprint, is Mývatn Nature Baths in Iceland, where I once spent a couple of hours with great pleasure. It's funny that on that trip I chose it as a cheaper analogue of the Blue Lagoon, most widely known outside of Iceland: the price for visiting Mývatn Nature Baths was noticeably less, and Iceland is a beautiful country, but far from cheap, and then it was for me critical.
These geothermal springs are located in the north-eastern part of the island, near Lake Mývatn, and are easy accessible, as they are located near the main road Route 1 (or the Ring Road). For the sake of relaxation in these milky blue geothermal waters, you will have to drive rather far from Reykjavik (about 475 km) - but for a tourist, especially visiting Iceland for the first time, it always makes sense to drive along the entire Ring Road of the island, along which there are many interesting and beautiful places, and if you find yourself in the north of the country, why not stop by here?
I don’t want to say, of course, that the Blue Lagoon is somehow bad; on the contrary, judging by the reviews, it is more luxurious and larger in size, but the lower price and usually fewer one-time number of visitors determined my choice. Therefore, I included the Mývatn Nature Baths in my visit plan, and I did not regret it at all!
The impressions turned out to be amazing: hot, relaxing water, the absence of a large crowd of people, a beautiful natural view - what else do you need after a busy day with walks and driving a car! There is also a steam bath and a cafe, so you can have a meal and drink right on the spot, relaxing and taking your time. I also read on their website that they are currently building a new complex of buildings, which will open next year.
Fortunately, in addition to visiting the lagoon itself, I managed to photograph it using a drone, although there was very little left before the booked time of the visit and the evening was already beginning. Well, at least these two photographs remained with me as a memory, because I didn’t take pictures there with a camera. There are a couple of videos from the drone, but I still haven’t processed and edited them, alas.
I took these shots back in the days when I had DJI Mavic Pro (in 2017), and you know what? I find that the pictures I've taken with it are sometimes not only as good as, but superior to, what I'm currently taking with DJI Mavic 3 Pro in some respects. At least, I don’t remember that at that time I encountered as many difficulties in editing drone photos as I do now. However, the number of successful shots in relation to the total number of shots taken was then smaller, that drone was somewhat more demanding of better light conditions for photography than the current, modern model. Perhaps the most successful drone for me was an intermediate option, DJI Mavic 2 Pro. Or maybe I'm just grumbling :)
It's better to watch the photos in high resolution.
Camera: DJI Mavic Pro
Exposure time: 1/60 sec
Aperture: F 2.2
35 mm equivalent: 26 mm
You can also see my photos in my blog LJ and in my profile on RTraveler. You also can read a short interview with me here.
