Photographer Drew Doggett is known for traveling the world, capturing extraordinary landscapes, people, and cultures.

One of his most enchanting series to date, titled In the Realm of Legends, captures the one-of-a-kind beauty of Icelandic horses, who majestically roam the surrounding territory.

Though many opt to capture the stunning landscapes that Iceland has to offer, Doggett takes it one step further by also embracing its unique equestrian population to create a union of myth and fantasy that’s almost too good to be true.

During his time in Iceland, Doggett stayed on a farm with hundreds of horses. He was initially drawn to the enchanted landscape by tales of folklore. Such takes included the famous, eight-legged Icelandic horse named Sleipnir who is believed to be the spirit animal of the mythological god, Odin.

The stunning equine series highlights the relationship between the majestic breed of semi-wild horses—who are believed by some to be the “real-world” descendants of Sleipnir—and the extreme environment that they live in.

Reminiscent of a utopian world, the landscape features snow-covered expanses, roaring waterfalls, black sandy beaches, and icy lagoons. The majestic horses gallop, graze, and stand proud against the otherworldly backdrop, exhibiting their regal resilience to the extreme elements.


While Doggett usually shoots in black and white, he decided to use color for this series. “The light created brilliant hues that added a sublime texture to the entire series,” he explains. “Coupled with the contrast between the landscape and the horses, I knew this body of work demanded color.” The incredible photo series captures snow-white and beautiful brown horses contrasting against the pale, glacial blues and the dark shades of the sand and rocks.


Each image visualizes the horses’ powerful but calm natures amidst a wild landscape in constant chaotic motion. “The waterfalls are incredibly loud and almost violently beautiful, yet the horses were calm, standing mere feet from the millions of gallons of rushing water,” Doggett recalls. “Other times, we’d be shooting in thigh-deep snow in windy conditions, as the horses stood completely still.”
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These incredible photographs of the aurora borealis captured the moment the lights formed the outline of a phoenix – the giant fire-eating bird common in many ancient mythologies.

 With outstretched wings and a striking bird-shaped profile, the image – captured by photographer Hallgrimur P Helgason – wowed stargazers in Kaldarsel.

Mr Helgason, 64, said that the bird showed up in the night sky an hour after he got there and started snapping.

He said: ‘It’s really a thrill shooting the aurora, especially when they are so playful like they were that night. I have to admit that I always get an adrenalin kick when the lights burst out like that – that particular shot was the top one of the night.’

He uses a camera and tripod to photograph the lights, and advises snapping in the dark away from city light pollution and never using a flash.

He said the Northern Lights were mainly showing in green and yellow colours when he was shooting that night but also sported red and blue, suggesting the aurora was strong. (Source)


The Northern Lights feature prominently in Norse mythology. One legend suggests that the lights were reflections or glow from the shields and armour of the Valkyrie, female warriors who would choose who may die in battle and who may live to fight another day. Dying in battle seemed to occupy Norse mythology quite a bit and the Aurora was also believed to be “Bifrost Bridge”, a glowing and pulsating arch which led those fallen in battle to the warriors final resting place in Valhalla.


Saami indigenous people believe these lights are their ancestors visiting them. The Salteaus Indians of eastern Canada and the Kwakiutl and Tlingit of Southeastern Alaska interpreted the northern lights as the dancing of human spirits. The Inuits who lived on the lower Yukon River believed that the aurora was the dance of animal spirits, especially those of deer, wolf, seals, salmon and beluga. In Finland, a mystical fox was thought to have created the aurora, its bushy tail spraying snow and throwing sparks into the sky.

This spectacular video of the Northern Lights was created by blending thousands of shots from DSLR cameras near Gullfoss, southwest Iceland.

Displays of the Northern Lights occur when solar particles enter the Earth’s atmosphere and on impact emit burning gases that produce different coloured lights (oxygen produces green and yellow; nitrogen blue).

The scientific term for the lights is the Aurora borealis (named after the Roman goddess of the dawn). A similar spectacle in the southern hemisphere is known as the Aurora australis.(Source)

The Northern Lights, more properly known as the Aurora Borealis, have long enchanted visitors to Iceland.

With their dazzling colors and otherworldly glow, they might look like magic, but the science behind them is well understood:

The shimmer arises when electrons from solar winds interact with the earth’s atmosphere, and the flowing, stream-like movements result because the winds follow the planet’s magnetic force.

Mostly green – the result of wind interaction with oxygen molecules about 60 miles above the earth – they can sometimes glow red when higher altitude molecules are encountered. (Source)

Fin whales near Iceland get another reprieve this year. For the second year in a row, Iceland has suspended it's whale hunt. It is a good call for the fin whales which are the world’s second largest animal and are listed as an endangered species.

In 2011, Iceland postponed its fin whale season because of a lack of demand for fin whale meat in Japan after the tsunami. This year, luckily for the whales there is the speculation that fin whaling giant Kristjan Loftsson – the man responsible for all of Iceland’s fin whaling – failed to reach collective agreement with the Association of Icelandic Fishermen on salaries and conditions for deckhands.

However since 2006, Iceland has killed 280 endangered fin whales and hundreds of minke whales since it resumed whaling that year in violation of the moratorium on commercial whaling. Iceland dramatically increased its self allocated fin whale quota to 150 animals a year in 2009. This was more than three times the catch limit that the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee considers sustainable for the species’ survival.

Unlike other countries that rely on whale meat for subsistence purposes, Iceland has only a limited domestic market for minke whales, and the Iceland people have not traditionally eaten fin whales. Although Iceland had hoped to find a profitable market in Japan, it's warehouses were already filled with thousands of tons of excess whale meat from its own whaling program. The demand for whale meat is also at an all-time low in Japan following the 2011 tsunami.

There has been an outcry and actions taken against Iceland in the recent past for its renegade whaling program. In December 2010 a petition was filed under the Pelly Amendment to the Fisherman’s Protective Act urging the Secretaries of Commerce and Interior to certify and enact sanctions against Iceland. Then in September 2011President Obama enacted diplomatic sanctions against Iceland. He found that “Iceland's actions threaten the conservation status of an endangered species and undermine multilateral efforts to ensure greater worldwide protection for whales."