This haunting wreck of a U.S. Navy Douglas DC-3 lies stranded on the black sands near Vik, Iceland—a surreal relic from the Cold War era. In 1973, the aircraft crash-landed on Sólheimasandur beach after running out of fuel. Thankfully, all crew survived. The skeletal fuselage has remained ever since, slowly weathering into one of Iceland’s most iconic photography destinations.
Adding to the cinematic mystique, the nearby cliffs and beach were used as the backdrop for the opening scene of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, where the character Galen Erso is found by the Empire.
When I arrived, the sun was already slipping beneath the horizon. A couple was on top of the plane taking wedding photos and, despite the rapidly fading light, they wouldn’t move. I didn’t have time to set up a tripod—so I had to adapt. Sometimes as artists, we’re not handed the perfect situation, and we have to think quickly and work with what we’ve got.
With little time to spare, I shot a handheld bracket of 9 images, spaced a stop apart, hoping I’d be able to recover detail and dynamic range later.
This final HDR image was built manually using a series of complex masks. Instead of relying on auto-merge tools, I selectively hand-painted exposures together, balancing the light from the shadowed fuselage to the glowing horizon.
And yes, I cheated a bit—there was a massive volcanic boulder nearby that wasn’t quite in frame, so I moved it digitally. It likely ended up there thousands of years ago, hurled by one of the region’s legendary eruptions. It just belonged in the shot.
