“Once upon a time – 20:45 on Friday, March 19th 2021 to be precise – a fairy-tale volcano was born at Geldingadalir, `The Valley of the Geldings᾽, by Fagradalsfjall.”  So begins the story of this extraordinary natural event. After almost eight hundred years of peace, Southwest Iceland᾽s Reykjanes Peninsula was shaken by a swarm of 50,000 earthquakes and the eruption of the most beautiful and dramatic volcano that Max Milligan had seen in a lifetime of photographing seismic activity. 

This awe-inspiring spectacle combined the immense powers of creation and destruction: nature᾽s glory in full force. In Birth of a Volcano, the world-renowned photographer Max Milligan harnesses natural light and curated moments from the first three months of eruptions to create an exceptional painterly account of this unexpected historical episode.