Nature’s Amazing Lenses
When Life Magazine celebrated its 30th anniversary in 1966, it wanted to show an image from the dawn of creation – “the first picture in the history of the world” – and the impossible task was given to Lennart Nilsson. The idea was to photograph a volcanic eruption through a raindrop – the first lens.
He has taken the world’s first picture – the birth of the Earth through a drop of water. Standing on the edge of the crater on the newly born island of Surtsey, off Iceland, with glowing magma simmering around his long legs.
Adrup, Dagens Nyheter, 1980
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"Nature's Amazing Lenses", Life Magazine, 23 december 1966 -
"Nature's Amazing Lenses", Life Magazine, 23 december 1966 -
Surtsey fotograferad genom en vattendroppe, 1966. ©Lennart Nilsson/SPL -
"Nature's Amazing Lenses", Life Magazine, 23 december 1966 -
Kvinna sedd genom mänskligt öga, 1966. ©Lennart Nilsson/SPL -
"Nature's Amazing Lenses", Life Magazine, 23 december 1966
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"Nature's Amazing Lenses", Life Magazine, 23 december 1966 -
"Nature's Amazing Lenses", Life Magazine, 23 december 1966 -
Surtsey fotograferad genom en vattendroppe, 1966. ©Lennart Nilsson/SPL -
"Nature's Amazing Lenses", Life Magazine, 23 december 1966 -
Kvinna sedd genom mänskligt öga, 1966. ©Lennart Nilsson/SPL -
"Nature's Amazing Lenses", Life Magazine, 23 december 1966
Together with engineer and friend Werner Donné, he travelled to the volcanic island of Surtsey, off Iceland’s south coast. The island had formed only three years earlier, and the ground was still hot, covered in lava. Just 25 metres from the lava flow, he managed to capture the volcano in a drop of water on a glass plate placed in front of the lens. The photographs resulted in the feature “Nature’s Amazing Lenses”, and the cover of the anniversary issue was adorned with Lennart’s image of the human eye seen from the side.
See the feature in Life Magazine.
