WATCH: Drone captures beauty of incredible ice-land from the air
It is one of Europe's most stunning countries, featuring raw beauty and jaw dropping landscapes that have to be seen to be believed.
Now the wilds of Iceland have been brought to life like never before, thanks to a pair of film makers from Wolverhampton and their trusty drone.
Entitled 'Island', the short film was shot over several months by Alex Hatfield and his partner Ina Krombholz, who met while studying at the University of Wolverhampton.
Take a look at the stunning footage
Ísland from Skies Untold on Vimeo.
It takes the viewer on a journey across the Land of Fire and Ice, stopping for breathtaking overhead shots of the Seljalandsfoss and Brúarfoss waterfalls, the Vatnajökull glacier at Skaftafell, and the lighthouse at Arkanes, built in 1918 and one of the oldest concrete structures of its kind in the country.
Along the way, the aerial photography and cinematography experts take audiences along deserted highways, swoop among smouldering geysers and halt for close-ups of a herd of wild horses.
Qualified drone pilot Alex, aged 27, who was born and bred in Wolverhampton, has been building multi-copters in his spare time since 2010.
He set up his own company, Skies Untold, with the aim of awakening the world to the wonders of specialist aerial filming.
Camera operator and editor Ina, also 27, who is originally from Berlin, said: “We have wanted to visit Iceland for some time.
"Seeing the it for the first time feels like stepping onto an alien planet that is still in the process of forming; the black sands, endless lava fields, jagged cliffs, waterfalls, glaciers and yellow green moss that carpets huge swathes of land.
"It feels raw and beautifully unfinished. What better place to film?”
The three and a half minute film begins above the Iceland’s Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon.
Without even the faintest whisper of wind, the filmmakers capture the blue skies ahead reflected perfectly below like a gigantic mirror.
It is mainly shot using a DJI Inspire 1 v2 drone, that Alex and Ina affectionately named Gertrude.
The spectacle is heightened by the film’s almost three-dimensional quality, achieved through combining camera movement with foreground and background elements, creating a parallax effect that brings depth to each frame.
“On complex shoots where I need to concentrate entirely on flying, Ina operates the camera," said Alex, explaining that two controllers are used - one to manoeuvre the drone and the other to control camera settings and direction.
"Ina is gifted with a camera and really has an eye for macro photography.
“If she isn't operating the camera she is busy acting as my spotter, keeping the take-off and landing areas clear in case of emergency, and speaking with the inevitable curious passers-by."
The pair,k who both work at Wolverhampton's Grand Theatre, shot the majority of the film during the spring and summer, but they decided it was vital to get a flavour of the Scandinavian country’s winter.
It meant another trip to Iceland in March this year, when unsurprisingly they were met with freezing weather conditions.
Alex said: “They really aren't joking when they say the weather is entirely unpredictable in Iceland! This made filming difficult and we weren't able to shoot a lot of the things we had planned prior to the trip.
"Due to this, a lot of the locations shot aren't the usual tourist spots.
“They are smaller things we just happened across and took advantage of whilst driving the main A-roads around the island.
"We stopped and filmed where and when we could, if the weather allowed. I'm sure these places have names, but a lot of the time they weren't signposted.
“Furthermore, due to Iceland’s latitude and ground make up, magnetic interference can prove to be problematic when flying drones.
"Gertrude has a digital compass which it uses to stabilise and orientate itself, and this would often fail, requiring sequences to be re-shot or abandoned.
"However, we persevered throughout the shoot and I think the end results were more than worth the struggle.”
Following the success of ‘Ísland' - which has been featured on Vimeo’s travel category - the duo’s next project will see them undertake coastal filming around the UK.
They also plan to take Gertrude to explore more of continental Europe in the near future.