Photographer Creates a Unique Temporary Camera Lens Out of Glacial Ice From Iceland’s Diamond Beach

Glacier Photo Lens

French filmmaker Mathieu Stern, whose incredible work we’ve previously posted, shares how he created a unique but very temporary camera lens out of 10,000 year old glacial ice found upon the black sands of Diamond Beach in the South Region of Iceland. Stern prepared for this project with a 3D printed lens case and a hacked ice sphere press and while his first few attempts didn’t pan out, the fourth time was a charm.

Shooting photos using an ice lens was my dream for almost 2 years. After some research I saw that almost no one ever tried this crazy idea, mainly because it’s hard as hell to find pure ice, and even harder to get a clear image. … If it’s hard to find pure ice in my city, maybe I should go where I could find some 10 000 year old pure ice : Iceland’s famous ” iceberg beach”. …we arrived on the beach at 5AM and had the chance to see some huge icebergs all over the beach. We stayed there for almost 6 hours in the cold to create… only one true working ice lens.

Scott and I were recently in Iceland and also captured footage and photos of this incredible beach (sans glacial lens).

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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